The Avenida Guadalupe Association (AGA) has made a significant move toward realizing a major new public art monument by the recently deceased San Antonio artist Jesse Treviño.
In late March, the board of the neighborhood development group voted to dedicate $34,000 toward the project to fund the construction of a scaled-down prototype of the more than 100-foot-tall steel monument Treviño and his collaborator Gabriel Velasquez envisioned to tower over Elmendorf Lake Park.
The monument, titled La Ofrenda and intended to honor military veterans, would be mounted on a small island in Elmendorf Lake. At full scale, the sculpture would be visible throughout the West Side neighborhood around the lake and its surrounding public park.
In addition to working as Treviño’s caretaker over the last decades of his life, Velasquez serves as AGA president and CEO. After Treviño died in February, Velasquez called a meeting of the long-dormant Hispanic Veterans Monument Committee formed in 2011 to see if progress could be made on the La Ofrenda project.
A small-scale failsafe
Though initially supported by Bexar County Precinct 2 Commissioner Paul Elizondo, who died in 2018, the project faltered due to its complexity, shifting political winds, the coronavirus pandemic, and Treviño’s declining health.
But the artist’s death sparked renewed interest in bringing to fruition major public artworks envisioned by San Antonio’s most revered artist.
Funds initially raised through a gift by Elizondo and a veterans 5K run in support of the project sat in an AGA account for more than 10 years. The board’s vote finally allocates those funds to move the project forward, said Roberto Ramirez, a local attorney who serves on the monument committee.
The scaled-down La Ofrenda prototype will serve as a failsafe, also made of galvanized steel and capable of standing as a permanent public sculpture, according to Roberto Treviño (no relation). The former District 1 councilman and architect was asked by Velasquez and Treviño to create the 20-foot-tall prototype in his Forma fabrication studio.
But the hope is to use the model to spur further investment toward realizing the full-scale version. “The prototype is an effort to take it to the next level as we continue to believe in this thing,” Velasquez said.
Roberto Treviño said other funders have agreed to match the AGA’s allocation, though he declined to divulge who would be contributing. The ultimate cost of finishing the prototype might be two or three times the $34,000 amount, he said, and he estimated the final cost of the full-scale monument as $1.5 million to $2 million.
He said the prototype will be completed by fall.
Tile mural
The fate of another major Treviño public artwork is less clear.
Velasquez and Treviño had planned a new tile mural to adorn the side wall of the restored Alameda Theater building, at a scale rivaling Treviño’s famous Spirit of Healing tile mural on the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio building nearby.
The mural would pay homage to 1930s-era San Antonio singer and actress Rosita Fernández and the Spanish-language theater’s history.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Elizondo’s successor, Bexar County Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, have both expressed support for the project, which faces several potential hurdles, from review by the Historic and Design Review Commission to approval of the Alameda Theater Conservancy, and fundraising in an amount that could reach from $750,000 to $1.5 million, Velasquez said.
Nirenberg reaffirmed his support during a meeting last week, Velasquez said. The mayor’s office also confirmed his understanding that the cost will be shared by the city and county and that Velasquez and Treviño’s intent was for the project to function as creative workforce development for artists and artisans in the city, with a number of master artisans and apprentices involved.
In the meantime, the La Ofrenda project has momentum and is moving closer toward becoming a reality, said Roberto Treviño.
“It’s such a beautiful way to honor Jesse,” he said, praising the “delicate details” and symbolism of the sculpture, from a marigold honoring the dead to the metal structure recalling the artist’s own prosthetic right arm.
“His artwork has really helped to capture history, memories, and really unite the community in [its] symbolism,” Treviño said.
