Rosa María Calles
Visionary Artist
Through her distinct art form, she applies delicate brush strokes to her paintings
An Accomplished Playwright
Rosa María Calles was born in Tomé, New Mexico. Even though the family lived in Barstow, California because of economic reasons, Rosa María’s parents, whose roots run deep in New Mexico history, were adamant that their children would be born in their native land. Within a few weeks of her delivery date, Lola, her mother, took a train back home to insure that Rosa María would be born in the land of her ancestors. After the required 40 days rest period for her mother, they both returned to Barstow to live there with her family for the next nine years, finally returning to their homeland, Tomé.
Her inspiration for her art, as related by Rosa María, comes from this personal account. “At the age of seven, we had moved to a new neighborhood in Lenwood, California and my parents were not familiar with the new local church’s mass schedule…I felt a strong desire to go to church. Since my family did not have the time to go with me, my father, Adolpho, took me to the nearby church and sat me in a pew and told me to wait for the next mass which would begin in one hour. Sitting alone in a very quiet church, I began to observe the large mural at the front of the church. Although I didn’t know it at the time, it was a reproduction of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. The image of God, I thought, looked very stern, with mean eyes.” At that moment, Rosa María vowed that when she grew up, she would draw Him with a happier face, so everybody would love Him. In observing her many paintings of God figures, I can attest to the completion of that promise.
Growing up in California and starting school there, she did not talk except at home where she could speak her family language, Spanish. Teachers at her school threatened to send her to another school for speaking Spanish, which would have been a transportation hardship for her parents. So, lovingly, her parents advised Rosa María, “Be quiet, don’t talk at school.”
Gentle, spiritual, passionate and compelling, all qualities that describe the essence of this remarkable individual, Rosa María Calles, traditional and contemporary artist of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her home, which she shares with her husband, Ray John de Aragón, borders the bosque of the Río Grande in west Albuquerque, and is filled with their personal and captivating art forms and paintings. Visiting with Rosa María, I felt a certain “comadreship” with her, and was anxious to tell her story as told to me.
Sagrados Santos