Amado Maurilio Pena Jr. (born 1943) American, Framed Painted Ceramic Tile. Shows a native figure carrying a vase on their head in a desert landscape. Signed and dated 1999 bottom right. Original label on back with information on back including the title: "Portadora de Zia" (meaning "the carrier of Zia," a tribe in New Mexico). A black and white photo is attached to the back with a personal message and artist's signature across it. 

Overall Size: 11 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.

Sight Size: 6 x 6 in. 

#5247  

Amado Maurilio Peña Jr. was born in Laredo, Texas in 1943. Growing up in a working class family in a border town he witnessed firsthand the conditions that led to the Chicano Movement. He received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art and education at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He has taught art at various Texas schools in Laredo, Crystal City, and Austin. In the 1970s Texas-based Chicano artist and educator Mel Casas inspired Peña and others of his generation to create art aimed at documenting Mexican American culture and life. Peña began to learn more about the indigenous side of his family, particularly after the painter Jose Encarnacion Peña chose to mentor him as well. Peña refers to himself and his art style as Mestizo due to his mixed Mexican and Yaqui ancestry, and he is recognized as a primary artisan by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona. Peña was featured in the 1990-1993 exhibition Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation that traveled to ten major cities in the United States, the most extensive and widely seen show of its type to date. Peña continues to make art, particularly working in printmaking, and his work can be seen in the United States Art in Embassies Collection and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.