(1923-2004) Cochiti
Quite a lot to live up to, Joe Hilario Herrera was the son of the early significant American Indian painter, Tonita Pe
ña. However, this highly educated individual, an artist as well as an educator was one of the first Indian artists to grow beyond the Santa Fe studio school style of painting. Herrera embraced abstraction with a keen sense of design and color. His Indian name See Ru translates to Blue Bird.
In 1940 Herrera earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later earned his Masters of Arts Education while attending the University of New Mexico (1962). While at the University of Puerto Rico he studied briefly under Raymond Jonson.
He was known to have worked in oil, acrylic, watercolor, graphite, pen and ink, as well as pastel and casein. Herrera completed commissioned murals in Santa Fe at the Indian School and at Maisel's Indian Tradition Post in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Public collections including his work numbered fourteen (14) in 1995. Most certainly that number has grown over twenty five years later. His exhibits have been staged in three continents.
