SAN ANTONIO — Famous San Antonio artist Jesse Treviño has passed away, his nephew told KENS 5. He had been battling throat cancer. He was 76 years old.
More than 20 years ago, Treviño created the nine-story tiled mural on the south-facing exterior wall of Christus Santa Rosa Children's Hospital. It depicts a boy who is holding a white dove and who is protected by a female guardian angel standing behind him.
Another landmark piece of his art is La Veladora, Treviño’s 40-foot-tall 3-D mosaic mural of a votive candle outside the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.
The last photo on Treviño's social media was taken at Wells Fargo Bank, where his Imagenes de Mi Pueblo mural was commemorated.
Many people had been commenting on his posts, sending prayers and love his way. You can view his website here to learn more about his background and admire his artwork.
KENS 5 spoke with Treviño in October 2017, meeting with him at his downtown studio, his apartment and his warehouse on Roosevelt Avenue. It’s a place crowded with a lifetime of work and creativity.
Treviño’s entire life reads like a screenplay. His family immigrated from Monterrey to San Antonio. As a student, he won scholarships to prestigious art schools.
Then, in Vietnam, a sniper's bullet and a booby trap sent him home, literally a broken man. He suffered from multiple wounds and PTSD. Eventually, he lost his right arm, his painting arm. But he called the experience transformative.
"What happened to me in the Vietnam War, it woke me up," he told KENS 5.
In the 1970s, he had to start over, learning to paint with his left arm, and he applied to the MFA program at UTSA. He was told it would be a difficult process. But none of it stopped him.
"I had to find ways of doing something, a little unorthodox. But the bottom line, you get it done!" Treviño said.
He won many national awards, earning a place in the Smithsonian as well as the esteem of presidents, all by representing the people of San Antonio.
"I wanted to raise their dignity, the guy who worked at Kelly Field or the guy who sold raspas, to lift all of them up,” he said.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg released a statement after hearing of his passing:
“Jesse Treviño was an American hero. The wounds of the Vietnam war, which took so many of his friends and neighbors from the West Side of San Antonio, never left him, but he used those scars to bring healing to millions of people. His kindness and courage will live forever in our hearts, as will his works of art that are now icons across the landscape. He is the embodiment of patriotism. Rest in peace, my friend.”