When author and entrepreneur Jose Larraga sold off television stations he owned and retired a decade ago, he made a project of visiting nursing homes, assisted living facilities and memory care facilities in San Antonio.
Larraga admired the creativity of residents expressed through artworks made in art therapy sessions but was chagrined that rarely did anyone besides the residents themselves get to see it.
The result is Larraga’s 2022 book Hidden Art, an illustrated collection of artworks made by resident artists living in senior care facilities throughout San Antonio — and an exhibition at Hindes Fine Art on Sunday afternoon.
Artworks shown in the book will be on display, and several residents will be in attendance.
Carla Mendiola will be there with her mother Bertha, a memory care resident who has three paintings featured in Hidden Art.
One painting, titled A Virgin of Miracles, is of the Virgen de San Juan del Valle from a shrine near Bertha’s hometown of McAllen. Another, titled Purple Tree, is a colorful rendering of a voluminous tree with a big blue crown and a rainbow trunk.
The latter is Mendiola’s favorite. “That trunk to me is the most expressive example of the three,” she said. “And that’s all her because she picked the colors and she wanted to put them there. And I think it’s just so beautiful.”
Rebecca Calvillo resides in an assisted living community and said she had always had an interest in art but never had the chance to pursue it until a fellow resident sent her a box of old art supplies and an activities coordinator spurred her to try her hand at drawing and painting.
Calvillo had a stroke a couple of years ago and was bedridden for a month, unable to move her arm. Her belief in God, “the ultimate creator,” motivated her, she said. “Look at our world. Look at the sky, the little birds, the flowers, the leaves. Everything is a painting right there unfolding before you.”
She would wake up early feeling inspired to make art that reflects the beauty of the world. “It would push me to get up out of bed and get a pen and paper in my hand,” she said.
“It is the inner spirit of a person that works through them to want to overcome obstacles in life, a stroke, any kind of disability, mental, physical, whatever it is,” Calvillo said of making art. “It is the spirit of a [person] and the Lord helping you to create and want to be a creator of your own world.”
The resident artists feel pride in their work similar to how a child might in proudly presenting something they’ve made to their parents, Larraga said.
“They love it, and they are so proud, and they show it to you,” Larraga said. Their sense of accomplishment catches on, he said, inspiring other residents to make art.
Larraga recognized the potential of the first Hidden Art book and decided to undertake publishing a new volume each year, expanding the range and reach of senior artists to be included in what he named The Hidden Art Project.
“When you help people, you are doing God’s will,” Larraga said. “That’s my goal in life.”
The Hidden Art Project is self-funded. But the retired businessman believes he should share his success.
“So now everything is for the people I love. And that’s the people in nursing homes and memory care facilities. … My purpose in life is to inspire them and to believe in their dreams,” Larraga said.
None of the artworks on view at Hindes Fine Art are for sale, but copies of the book can be purchased through major booksellers. The Hidden Art Project exhibition at Hindes Fine Art is free and open to the public, Sunday from 3-5 p.m.
