Visiting artist conducts workshops, classes at EOU for National Native American Heritage Month celebration

Click here for a complete schedule of activities
LA GRANDE, Oregon – Eastern Oregon University will celebrate National Native American Heritage Month for two weeks in November with visiting artist, Professor Jesus Pastor, of Guanajuato, Mexico.

                                             Photo/Gaby Ochoa
Professor Jesus Pastor, of Guanajuato, Mexico,
with examples of some of the Mexican figures
he crafts using traditional and modern materials.

On Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Monday, Nov. 20, Pastor will lead a series of workshops and classes both on and off campus. All sessions are free and open to the public. On Monday, Nov. 6, Pastor visited classes at Central Elementary School, La Grande Middle School and La Grande High School.

Pastor is a fine arts graduate form Escuela de Arte Teatral at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. His expertise is in Mexican folk art and he will teach how to craft body figures using special paper mache, bake traditional sweets and make figures out of sugar. He will also do a workshop on Mexican paintings focusing on artist Frida Kahlo’s work, “Fridomania.”

Pastor will also teach how to make masks, cornhusk dolls and flowers, model cars, murals and other crafts. He works with students of all ages and his classes will be individually geared for small children through adult.

EOU senior Gaby Ochoa, of Ecuador, helped to organize the Native American Heritage Month activities. She and another student worker in the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Sarah Queenes, assisted Diversity Director Luz Villarroel in bringing Pastor to campus.

“We want to involve South and Central American culture, blending with the International Education Week activities planned for Nov. 13-17.” Ochoa said.

Villarroel is on the board of directors of the Mexican Consulate, which arranges for speakers like Pastor to come to the United States.

“This is an avenue to support diversity through art appreciation,” Villarroel said. “We learn that art here has relevance to art there.”

Another highlight of the two-week celebration will be the presentations of traditional storyteller Fred Hill, Sr., of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He will speak on Thursday, Nov. 9, from 6-8 p.m. in the Hoke Main Lounge, and again on Wednesday, Nov. 15, from 6-8 p.m. in Pierce Library. Hill is a culture and language teacher at the Nizyaawii Community School in Umatilla.

Pastor’s transportation to La Grande was funded by the Salem-Keiser School District, which hosted Pastor as an artist in residence prior to his arrival at EOU. The EOU Senate Allocation Committee is funding his extended stay.

In collaboration with Consejo Nacional para la Cultural y las Artes, Pastor devoted 10 years to developing projects to help stimulate an interest in Mexico and Mexican culture. He created courses for teachers and the general public to increase the appreciation of Mexican popular art. He currently travels full-time conducting classes at schools, giving lectures, and visiting festivals and fairs across the country.

Pastor’s work has been exhibited in Hungary, Toronto, Canada, Habana and Cuba. In the U.S. his work has been seen in Portland, Salem and Eugene and as far as away as Pennsylvania, Atlanta and Arkansas, among others.

To view a complete schedule of classes and workshops go to www.eou.edu/ua/news/naheritagemonth or call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 962-3741.

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