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My life in pencil lines

by Francisco X. Mora




I was born Francisco Xavier Mora Paz, in Mexico City in the year 1952.

My Father, Luis Mora, was an artist, an art teacher, and a man with a great sense of humor. My mother, Luz Paz, was a storyteller with a wonderful imagination and the largest list of tales I have ever heard.

It seems that I was born drawing. Since as long as I can remember, a pencil or a crayon has been in my right hand. These are as familiar to me as part of my body. In 1964, this passion took me to join the Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre (The Open Air School of Painting), where I spent every Sunday for the next two years drawing from props, models and nature. The year 1968 marked my entrance into El Taller Libre de la Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes (The Open Studio at the National Academy of Fine Arts) San Carlos, where I started my formal education in a traditional and academic fashion. I then met some of the artists that later would influence my life and my work. In 1971, I was admitted to La Escuela Superior de Pintura y Escultura, (The Superior School of Painting and Sculpture) La Esmeralda, where my teacher was acclaimed artist Arturo Estrada. At the time I didn't know why his work was so intriguing to me. It was filled with stylized forms and very bright colors. His paintings were soft reminders of our Mexican folklore and culture. Later I learned that he had been a student of the late Frida Kahlo. From Estrada I learned everything I know about color harmony, design, and composition. My first one man show, held in 1972, was at Galerias Balance in Mexico City.

In 1974, while all my classmates were searching for a style in contemporary, conceptual, abstract, non-representational and the avant garde, I decided to search for my own style in Mexican art. That year I took a position at the Centro Nacional de Conservacion de Obras de Arte (National Center for the Conservation of Art) in the mural painting department. For the next two years, I traveled from one mural site to another cleaning and restoring the works of David Alfaro Siqueiros at the Universidad Nacional (Mexico City University) and later the murals of Diego Rivera at the Secretaria de Educacion Publica, SEP (Department of Public Education). Later that year we completed the restoration of Orozco (the famous mural painting "La Trinchera") at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, as well as works by Jean Charlot, Jose Chavez Morado and others.

During these years I was admitted to the Escuela de Diseno y Artesanias, EDA (The School of Art and Design) in Mexico City. I had always wanted to learn about the making of silver jewelry for which Mexican artisans are so renown. During this same period I submitted a couple of paintings for the Bienal Nacional de Pintura en Mexico; I received very nice comments but no special awards.

In 1977 I returned to Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, enrolling in the School of Fine Arts. My energies focused on ceramics and printmaking, and soon encompassed tapestry making and textiles as well. That same year I submitted a pair of tapestries for the Bienal de Tapiz in Mexico, again with great comments but no awards.

During my formative years, I was honored with the teachings, guidance and friendship of some of the most influential artists of Mexico: Arturo Estrada, Alfredo Zalce, Francisco Zuniga, Ricardo Martinez de Hoyos, Arturo Garcia Bustos, Rina Lazo, Tomas Zurian, Arnold Belkin, Feliciano Bejar and many others. For this I am very grateful.

With 1979 came the opportunity to visit Italy and, joining my friends Fernando Barragan and Giovanni Miceli in their Florence studio, I gained first hand experience in their techniques in bronze casting sculpture, dry point and aquatint printmaking, and magnificent Eggplant Parmigiana.

In 1980 I came to the United States and, while visiting Milwaukee, I met Robert Burkert, an artist and instructor at UWM (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee). He invited me to visit UWM's Printmaking Department. From this visit I decided to enroll in one of his introductory classes, a decision which resulted in more prints, more etchings, more stone lithographs, and a greater knowledge and appreciation of the printmaking process.

The subsequent year I took a silk screen class at UMW with Armando Villasenor, followed by two years of extensive work in serigraphy and woodblock printing, amassing enormous amounts of papers and prints. In 1983, at the workshop of Teresita Val in Uruapan, Michoacan, Mexico, I tried to incorporate contemporary images, abstract motifs and new ideas into the traditional lacquered wares of the area. Though I was able to produce some pieces, I must admit I was not very successful in my attempt to change their tradition.

SELECTED CHILDREN’S BOOKS
“Delicious Hullabaloo” by Pat Mora, Arte Publico Press, Houston, TX
“The Little Red Ant and the Great Big Crumb”, by Shirley Climo, Clarion Books, New York, NY

“Listen to the Desert”, by Pat Mora, Clarion Books, New York, NY

“Juan Tuza and the Magic Pouch”, by Francisco X. Mora, Highsmith Press, Fort Atkinson, WI

“La Gran Fiesta”, by Francisco Mora, Highsmith Press, Fort Atkinson, WI

“The Legend of Two Moons”, by Francisco X. Mora, Highsmith Press, Fort Atkinson, WI

“How the Indians Bought the Farm”, by Craig Kee Strete, Greenwillow Books, New York, NY

“Fox in the Moon”, A Peruvian folktale, Hampton Brown, Carmel, CA
“La Mas Hermosa”, A folktale from Yucatan, Mexico, Hispanex, Boston MA

“Tiger and the Rabbit”, A Mexican folktale, Children’s Press, Chicago, IL

“Just Listen,” Reading Anthology, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA

“Welcome Baby Brother,” by Anne Sibley O’Brien, Macmillian, New York, NY

“How Crow Played a Trick,” A Native American Folktale, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA

“Tuko and the Birds,” by Shirley Climo, Henry Holt and Co., New York, NY

“Mr. C’s Dinner,” Reading Anthology, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA
“The Circle of Life” and “Bullying, anyone listening?” two schools and community oriented books published by Creative SHARP Milwaukee, WI

My life in pencil lines by Francisco X. Mora I was born Francisco Xavier Mora Paz, in Mexico City in the year 1952. My Father, Luis Mora, was an artist, an art teacher, and a man with a great sense of humor. My mother, Luz Paz, was a storyteller with a wonderful imagination and the largest list of tales I have ever heard. It seems that I was born drawing. Since as long as I can remember, a... More