Master Artist Creates Mural at Local Restaurant
by D’Victoria Flores
Shawn Nelson “Turquoise Man” is a Master artist from the Navajo-Dine tribe. He was born in East Los Angeles 2-15-58 as a boy his family moved to live with his paternal grandparents on the reservation in Wide Ruins, Arizona where he was introduced to the native traditional ways to recognize and learn about the native way and the sands from the Four Corners for the traditional sand paintings.
For the past 40 years Shawn went to art schools, took many classes where he was taught what other sand painters learned, as he combined with his creative mind using other mediums such as: acrylic, oils, wood, recycled materials to create 3-Dimension effects with his art pieces.
This has been a very challenging years 2020-2021 due to the pandemic because art shows or venues are very limited. But this was our lucky day!
We were in the area of Oceanside,Ca. We passed by Los Amigos Restaurant Mexican Food on 3935 Mission Ave. and had the best albondigas soup ... Shawn met with both owners/chefs brothers Mario and Julio Chairez. They we’re opening another larger location on 2011 Mission Ave. also in Oceanside,Ca.
That is where Shawn created 4x8 foot paper mache mural painting of the city of downtown Zacatecas, Mexico. Because all recipes were passed on to the Chairez brothers from their mother’s heart to the kitchen in their home in Zacatecas. The restaurant’s menu has a variety of foods that if you order for one month you will always have a special meal each day.
Thank you, and blessings for a new start of the holidays to come...
Artist: Shawn Nelson “Turquoise Man”
Email: turquoiseman25@gmail.com
