By Leslie Duarte. KSBW Action News 8
WATSONVILLE, Calif. —
On Sunday, the Watsonville Film Festival showcased more than just movies. In a special exhibit, the festival unveiled the artwork of Watsonville native Juan Fuentes.
Fuentes said he feels honored to come back to his hometown, where he once helped his family pick strawberries from the Pajaro Valley Fields.
“Both of my parents had no schooling, no education. Neither could read or write, but we had a family, and we worked in these fields,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes graduated from Watsonville High School at a time when art classes were not available to Chicano students.
“We didn't have any galleries. The downtown galleries weren't showing our work. The museums weren't interested in our work, so we had to create our own venues for it,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes took his first art class when he enrolled at the University of San Francisco in 1970. That is where he learned to use designs on woodcuts, screen prints and posters to tell the stories of farm workers and other political issues. He said the social movements inspired his work and empowered him to keep going.
“I embraced it because I knew exactly what it meant for people working in the fields,” Fuentes said.
His pieces have continued to inspire artists far beyond the frame. Consuelo Alba is the executive director of the Watsonville Film Festival, and was one of Fuentes' art students at Cabrillo College. She invited him to present his work at the film festival.
“It's very powerful work that we can all connect with because we can only identify with it," Alba said.
The art exhibit is on display at the Pajaron Valley Arts building in Watsonville and will stay open until May. It will open to the public on Fridays.
The film festival will run until Sunday, March 12. For more details on other events, visit: www.watsonvillefilmfest.org.