From French artist Henri Matisse’s vibrant collages, to Salvador DalÃ’s distorted reimaginations of the world, nature has often had a big influence on the work of many artists.
Joe Montijo is among those artists who has a passion for the world around him. But he said studying art was not his initial plan at Fresno State.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to be, so my mom convinced me to be a business major,” Montijo said. “I tried that for a semester, failed some microeconomics classes, [then] tried art and that’s when I decided to make the switch.”
Montijo said he never considered a career in art until he took a painting class after failing one of his business classes. During the class, he said he saw the potential of his work.
Montijo has experimented with a variety of art classes including glass-blowing but said his favorites are drawing and photography.
“You can be anywhere around campus or around the city and have a sketchbook and just start drawing that, so it was the most convenient at the time,” Montijo said. “For photographs, you can always carry around a camera, or smart phones have amazing cameras now so it’s nice to capture that in the moment.”
During his time at Fresno State, Montijo has had his work featured in Broadway Studios during ArtHop, an art event held in downtown Fresno on the first and third Thursday of every month. His work has also been displayed at the student art show on campus in 2016 and at UC Davis.
Besides painting and photography, Montijo said he would like to branch out and create more work with larger scale ceramic sculpting.
Montijo said he hopes to raise awareness to a variety of issues that he is passionate about and use his art as a form of activism.
“I’m realizing with the direction of my art, I want to focus more on environmental issues or pollution issues,” Montijo said. “So maybe having it [displayed] places where a lot of people can see it and understand that feeling that I’m trying to convey.”
In 2016, Montijo joined a nonprofit charity, Dig Deep, that does work in Kenya by providing help to communities in need. He is currently fundraising for both the charity and for funds to travel to Kenya to help in person.
“With the art scene in Fresno, I’ve talked to some artists recently, and I’m trying to collaborate and get an exhibit in the March ArtHop,” Montijo said.
Artists are encouraged to donate pieces to be sold during the fundraising exhibition.
This event during ArtHop is one of the ways Montijo hopes to raise enough money in order to travel to Kenya.
“His art really resonates with a lot of people,” said Gaston Villanueva, a Fresno State student and friend of Montijo. “His passion seeps through it, and it’s always for a good cause or an interesting way of looking at things.”
Montijo said focusing on art has made a large impact on his life.
“Incorporating art into everything has changed how I view everyday life,” Montijo said. “I notice that there is art in everything, and a lot of people say ‘Oh, I’m not good at drawing’ or ‘I probably can’t be an artist,’ but I think everyone has that potential once they find something that they love.”
