Anyone interested in learning more about the life and legacy of San Antonio artist Jesse Treviño has a chance to go in-depth with an expert panel on Wednesday evening at the Central Library.
The free panel, titled “Su Vida y Arte,” features Treviño’s biographer Anthony Head, who wrote the 2019 book Spirit: The Life and Art of Jesse Treviño; local television journalist Randy Beamer, a Treviño friend and documentarian; artist Cesar Martinez, a veteran and contemporary of Treviño; and Gabriel Quintero Velasquez, president and CEO of the Avenida Guadalupe Association and artistic collaborator with Treviño.
Scholar Ellen Riojas Clark, professor emeritus at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a close friend of the artist will serve as moderator. The panel is sponsored by the city’s Department of Arts and Culture.
Attendees will have a chance to view Treviño’s signature artwork, the 1972 Mi Vida wall painting that was rescued from his former home and preserved, eventually making its way to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art as a centerpiece of the 2019 exhibition Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975.
Mi Vida has been installed in the newly renovated Central Library, and will remain on view through March 2025.
Treviño’s death in February sparked an outpouring of recognition and reverence for the artist’s talent and persistence in facing many challenges throughout his life, from losing his painting hand in Vietnam to enduring two bouts with throat cancer.
Velasquez, who had been at work with Treviño on two major new public art projects at the time of the artist’s death, said “public events like this one will galvanize continuing efforts to further Treviño’s legacy of major public artworks in San Antonio.”
The Wednesday 6 p.m. panel is free and open to the public.
