Award-winning artist Ignacio “Nacho” Moya led around 75 students in a guided painting experience to explore Mexican heritage at “Paint Night with Moya Arts” on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
As part of Hispanic Serving Institutions Week, the event, hosted by the Otter Cross Cultural Center, El Centro and the Otter Student Union, provided students with traditional Mexican food, art supplies and guidance from Moya as they learned to paint nopales.
Nopales, a cactus commonly used in Mexican cuisine, is “something really symbolic from Mexico, they’re even [on] the Mexican flag,” said Aileen Rivera, a first-year cinematic arts and technology major.
This cultural connection was an important aspect of the event for Sophia Renteria, also a first-year cinematic arts and technology major.
“I think art is a way to tell a story…to learn more about where you come from and the people that come from the same places,” Renteria said.
Through painting, Moya hoped to share insights from his own story with students, tracing the course of his journey from a young boy in Mexico to a professional artist in the United States.
Growing up in Guanajuato, Moya recalls that when he started his education his mother didn’t have money to buy him the necessary school supplies.
“I was always comparing myself to other students about what they had and I didn’t,” Moya said.
All of this changed, however, when he reached sixth grade and entered an art contest.
Despite his lack of resources, Moya knew he had a love for drawing and, with an early interest in environmental issues, he submitted a piece depicting two boys on a fishing boat, “but instead of catching fish, they were cleaning the ocean, getting all the garbage out.”
Moya’s piece won the contest — a pivotal moment in his life.
“I discovered that I was a rich kid because I found my talent. I found something that I wanted to do forever,” he said.
However, Moya’s path to pursuing art full-time was not easy. When he came to the United States in 2000, his family told him that he had to become a construction worker. While he enjoyed working in construction, he knew that his real goal was to be a professional artist.
Eventually, he began taking art classes at Gavilan College in Gilroy, working in the retail industry to pay for his education.
“At some point, I realized I was using so much energy for other peoples’ dreams. What if I used this energy for my own dream?” Moya asked himself.
In 2016, with that thought in mind, he quit his retail job to pursue art full-time. The following year he opened his first gallery.
At first, “it was hard just to keep up with the bills,” said Moya, reflecting on early challenges.
Eventually, his hard work paid off. Moya, who still lives in Gilroy, is now an acclaimed artist, with multiple awards and celebrity clients, including actress Eva Longoria, comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and jazz drummer Harvey Mason.
“My goal here is for the students to get inspired by my story and believe in themselves,” said Moya.
“I don’t have a job, I don’t have a check in the mail every week. I just do art… if I can make it just doing art you can make it too.”
If there was one lesson Moya hoped students to take away from his story, it was the importance of hard work.
“The dream is in your mind. It just stays there until you start working. You have to work hard to bring it to reality.”