Author: Ida

Armando Romero, a local artist who is a guidance counselor for several elementary schools in the Douglas Unified School District as well as at Loreto Catholic School, said doing this kind of artwork is relaxing and rewarding.

“I was born and raised here,” he said. “I attended Faras (Elementary), Ray Borane (Middle School), graduated from Douglas High School, from there went to NAU, graduated from there, went into the Army as a medic for my four in, four out. Graduated from Grand Canyon University with a master’s degree. I wanted to come back and help make a difference.”

Romero said it was about a year ago he became interested in wood-burning art.

“There are pictures that I have burnt onto birch wood,” he said. “I have a laser that imprints the image and from there I epoxy it. The epoxy is meant to help it last forever. From there, I use wood glue and finish nails and apply a router on the side. I put it all with a backing.

“Each one comes with an inscription on the back called the Kiddos Club ,which is a mentorship program I am starting here in Douglas. It has my name, a serial number and a little description. I have them cataloged. My goal is to eventually have these on display in Tucson, Phoenix, hopefully Las Vegas with the ultimate goal being New York.”

Romero said he has more than 50 pieces on display this month, along with some pieces he’s selling foir $10 that have what he calls defects because the glue didn’t adhere right, or something else occurred.

Most of Romero’s artwork sells for about $100 per image.

“To make these images takes a long time,” he said. “Just the printer takes six to nine hours. The epoxy takes a whole day. From there it takes three days to clear. Then I come back, and hand make the frames. That takes another day or so. I usually do one or two at a time. I typically start one on Monday and will hopefully finish it on Friday or Saturday.”

Romero’s images on display range from wild to domestic animals, religious, scenic and military. He even has a few images of Poncho Villa as well as the Gadsden Hotel.

“I bought the rights to many of these pictures,” he said. “I make one of each image. I don’t mass copy.”

Romero said David Velasco has been very helpful in helping Armando refine his art.

“The first day I came in here I was lucky enough to meet him,” he said. “He saw my original one and helped me refine some of my pieces. He also does custom work so if someone gives him a picture he will do it for them.”

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Eric Braverman exhibited his collection called “Last Supper Museum” The exhibit includes more than 55 last supper depictions and is guarded by two suits of armor.

“I was born in Buffalo, New York, but have lived my whole adult life in Phoenix until I moved down here to the Douglas area,” he said. “We consider this place ‘The Disneyland of the Wilderness.’ I’ve been to Portal many times as well as the other side of Ramsey Canyon because I was in caving with the National Forest Service. When Phoenix got to be too much for me (I lived in a farming area), I wanted to relocate to the safest place with the best weather in America, and that’s the Douglas area. We moved here in March.”

Braverman recently purchased the old pharmacy building on the corner of 11th Street and G Avenue that up until a few months ago was a flower shop. He said while walking around town and getting to know people, he stopped by The Gallery and was informed that it did not have a show for December.

“So, I offered to share my collection of my Last Supper Museum,” he said. “I started collecting Last Supper displays in 1972 after seeing a very scary Last Supper in a wax museum in Phoenix. And now I have the largest and most noted collection in the world. I hope to put it downtown and help augment things like Art Car World, which is a world-class museum that not enough people know about. Most of these ideas come from the art world itself.”

September’s Exhibit Of Francisco Moreno Photography

Francisco Moreno shared this with us  “I’ve always asked myself what the purpose of art is. I have learned that art allows for a better life and humanizes us because art is an essential part of a person. in these works, I attempt to use a language with the image to produce meaning. This meaning creates a dialog with which we communicate among us. The communication it creates is one of the most important aspects that take place when standing before a work of art. The works I selected for this exhibition are the most stunning. Perhaps viewers will feel that these works are not beautiful or lack meaning, but they may awaken the need to converse.”

Francisco Moreno and his wife Virginia are both retired city employees of the Douglas Post Office.

“I lived in Douglas for 24 years and moved to Tucson after retiring,” he said. “I graduated from the University of Arizona with a fine arts degree. For me, photography is just another media to create. My last exhibition was in 2020 at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Due to the pandemic, it was a virtual exhibit and viewed by many countries around the world. This exhibition was called ‘Picturing 2020: A Community Reflects.’ A picture of this exhibit, titled ‘Mardi Gras,’ is currently on display at The Gallery.

Francisco says the exhibit at The Gallery consists of three groups of photos: retrospective, iPhone, and the use of a super telephoto lens, creating varied, interesting images.

Art Awakenings