Artist: Jerry Rael - Phone: 720-371-0063

Emma Lynch, LA VOZ, August 10, 2011

Not only will you find the sweet spicy taste of the chiles beckoning you to the annual Chile Harvest Arts Festival, but you won’t want to miss the exquisite talent and artwork either.  Featured below are three artists presenting their work at the festival that takes place Aug. 27-28.

Teresa Duran has been attending the Chile Harvest Arts Festival since 1993. Duran created this year’s selected artwork for the CHAF poster and was also chosen for the honor in 1994. Duran’s style is  traditional Spanish Colonial and she has been creating retablos for 20 years. Her poster art shows the figure of Saint Isidore (San Ysidro), the patron saint of farmers, ranchers and crops.  The legend depicts an angered employer criticizing the saint for praying instead of working. One day however, the employer happens upon the saint and saw him praying while an angel drove a team of white oxen to plow the fields. The poster portrays the saint harvesting the chile while the angel washes it.  Faith is what sustained the early Spanish settlers in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico; the same strong faith Duran says is “what sustains many of us today.” You can find Duran’s work at the Tesoro Spanish Market in Morrison in September and the Winter Market in Santa Fe in December.

Shay Guerrero said ever since she could hold a pencil she has been creating. The young artist has always been a fan of the pin-up style of artwork, but has branched out of traditional mediums. Combining many different styles, Guerrero says today she has a Day of the Dead style with some rockabilly flavor. “It is a contemporary style that you will either love or hate,” she laughed.  The plain white canvas is not her forte, but instead you will find her making jewelry, jewelry boxes, 3D day of the dead style masks and purses.  Her work is never bland, but always eye catching colorful. She confided that she will put art on “anything that will take paint.”  Find original work like this at her booth at the festival and year round at the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council Gallery on Santa Fe.

At 56, Jerry Rael has just begun getting his feet wet in the Denver art world. As a nurturing teacher at Lake International School, Rael previously self identified himself as a “closet artist.”  Much of Rael’s work is influenced by Native Americans. As a child, Rael was fascinated by the culture, of which he shares his own blood, the way native peoples have been treated and the images that tend to tell stories within the culture. His works from paintings upon flagstone to murals tells a story of his culture and traditions. Although new to the scene, Rael has participated in shows in Colorado and New Mexico and he has a 800 sq. foot canvas mural on the walls at University of New Mexico. His garden flagstones and paintings adorned with ristras will be available at the festival.