ELISEO JOSE RODRIGUEZ New Mexico Oil Portrait Jeremias. Important Hispanic listed artist 1915-2009. Oil painting on board, Signed on front, titled on back with artist's full name and address.

Size: 16 x 12 , outside of frame: 24 x 19 Biography taken from ASKart: Biography Eliseo Jose RodriguezBiography from the Archives of askARTGrowing up on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, Eliseo Rodriguez couldn't help but be exposed to art. In the 1920's, at age 12, he worked various odd jobs for the legendary group known as Los Cinco Pintores* (The Five Painters). His father was a weaver and while herding goats, he would fashion miniature wagons with a pocketknife from stalks of wild corn. Thanks to a benefactor, a local writer, Eliseo attended the Santa Fe Art School, becoming its first Hispanic student. Then he attended Santa Fe High School where he continued his art education, and he excelled in oil painting, reverse glass painting* and furniture making. During the Great Depression, Eliseo was directed towards the Federal Art Project*, a work-relief program sprung from the WPA, and the director of the program approached Eliseo with a proposal that would change his artistic focus and ultimately define his art for the rest of his life. The Director asked him to resurrect the Hispanic art form from the 18th and 19th centuries called "straw appliqué." Using glue, razor blades, straw and pieces of wood, Eliseo experimented and art historians today credit him with single-handed reviving of the colonial art form, which is sometimes referred to as "poor man's gilding." This was a Spanish colonial art form found in the villages of northern New Mexico and is the use of straw to emulate gold leaf in the decoration of crosses and retablos (religious screens) found in the churches. His enthusiasm for the art form spread to his wife, Paula, whom he married in 1935 and whom he credits for much of his success. Straw applique became their passion, and together they researched, experimented and refined the craft and it became their creative passion. They were the first artists to exhibit straw appliqué* in the Spanish Market, eventually becoming recognized by museums and private collectors. In the 1970s, a conservator at the Museum of International Folk Art discovered their work and encouraged them to show their work at the Spanish Colonial Arts Society's Spanish Market. Due to this exposure, the fact they were the only exhibitors of straw applique, to the resulting publicity and their willingness to teach others, including members of their own family, straw applique is once again a thriving tradition in northern New Mexico. One writer has said of the inspired work of Eliseo Rodriguez: ". . .true spirit doesn't give figurative speeches. It sings in golden figures."Eliseo and Paula Rodriguez also raised five children and from an their original two-room home expanded to 13 rooms, they taught their children and grandchildren the unique art method they had learned. As a result of successfully reviving a dying art form, public recognition ensued. They received the Master's Award for Lifetime Achievement, were named Rotary Club Distinguished Artist of the Year, The Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts and a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship award.In a true testament to his artistic longevity, Eliseo's name is embedded in the sidewalk in front of the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe among the names of his early 20th-century mentors - the Cinco Pintores. His plaque lies between those of Fremont Ellis and Willard Nash, two of his mentors.

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