July 10 marked the completion of our deck, built by the artist/handyman Rafael Vega. Drew and Liz helped us inaugurate the deck, and we've spent many wonderful evenings since then gazing at the mountains and enjoying Steve-the-bartender's creative concoctions.
Our deck builder's bio from the Taos News:
Ancient arts provide inspiration
Raphael Vega balances trade as an electrician with interest in metaphysical art
Although born in the canyons of New York City in 1951, Raphael Vega has spent much of his adult life in the canyons of the South-west. His parents, Antonio and Anna Maria Vega were born in Puerto Rico and are descendants of the Taino cul-ture, the first indigenous people encountered by Christopher Columbus. They moved from Puerto Rico to NYC in the 1940s.
As a child growing up in the Bronx, Vega said he was not interested in art and his parents were neither artists nor art collectors. They did not take him to museums or art gal-leries and they did not have art hanging on the walls. To this day, he has had no formal art training.
At the age of 10, he and his family moved to Patterson, N.J., about 25 minutes from mid-town Manhattan. At Eastside High School he had a substitute teacher who greatly influenced him because the teacher intro-duced him to metaphysical studies, particularly, The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa.
Vega was first introduced to art during school trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Muse-um of Natural History, the Guggenheim Museum and Museum of the American Indian, all in New York City. These trips sparked his interest in the indigenous cultures of the Americas and inspired him to travel extensively throughout the South-west, Mexico and Guatemala, studying the art, architecture and ceremony of these people. These treks to archeological sites and museums gave Vega a deep appreciation of their artistic tradi-tions.
In 1981, Vega headed west, crisscrossing the country bound for Denver, Colo. He visited many of the archeolog-ical sites he had read about as a child. He visited Acoma Pueblo and said he was awed by the potters at work in one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America.
“In 1985, an accident while working as an electrician changed my life,” Vega said. “During two years of physical therapy, I first began to recognize the need to express my own creativity. I began paint-ing simple petroglyphs on deer skin. This led to experimenting with jewelry to reproduce the works of the primitive cultures I had visited.” Ten years later, Vega’s art took a turn and he began working in metal and stone furniture and sculptures relating to the American Southwest and Meso-American cultures. Using different art materials, and adding leather, feathers, beads, bone, wood, shell, antler and stone, his distinctive style began to develop. Now, his sculptures include warriors and “shaman” figures in a variety of sizes and forms.
“My pieces are not a literal interpretation of cultural or religious beliefs,” Vega said, “but are my own interpretations based on my extensive studies of primitive cultures. I used to wonder where the next idea would come from, not realiz-ing that the art itself tells the artist how to pro-ceed. Every hike to a remote region, every visit to an archeological site is a catalyst for new work.” Vega first came to Taos in 1983 to visit a friend and while here he attended the (Sept. 30) San Geronimo Day celebration at Taos Pueblo. He said he was drawn back for several visits in 1999 and finally returned to live in Pilar part time in 2000. He soon became acquainted with several artists in Pilar who supported him in his work.
While not working on his art, Vega works as an electrician and general handyman, or he is out hiking in the mountains. He said he is involved in “the spiritual community of Lakota Sweat Lodge and Sundance.” He said that during the past six years, the response to his work has grown due to Pilar Stu-dio Tours, art shows at Kit Carson Park and gal-leries in Taos. I always know that if there is an arts and crafts show in Kit Carson Park, Vega will be in the far northwest corner. Here he shows his “shamanic sculpture” that brings together the energies of the natural and the spiritual worlds.
Vega will be showing his free-standing and wall pieces of petroglyph-inspired sculptures Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 12-13), at the Community Against Violence benefit Arts and Crafts Show on Taos Plaza. You can also see his work at Open Space Gallery, located underneath Ogelvies restaurant on Taos Plaza. Look for him under the name “Ancient Shadows.” Today, Vega’s parents reside in “ La Isla del Encanto,” in Puerto Rico and Vega lives in “The Land of Enchantment.”
