[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 33 (Friday, February 17, 2023)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E128-E129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING SAN ANTONIO ARTIST AND VETERAN JESSE TREVINO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOAQUIN CASTRO

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 17, 2023

  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in honor of the late 
Jesse Trevino, an internationally celebrated artist whose work has 
significantly influenced San Antonio's cultural landscape.
  Jesus ``Jesse'' Trevino was born on December 24, 1946, in Monterrey, 
Mexico, and moved to San Antonio when he was 4 years old. One of 12 
siblings, Jesse grew up on our city's Westside in the Prospect Hill 
neighborhood.
  Jesse won his first art award, at the age of 6, for drawing a pair of 
doves in a student art competition sponsored by the Witte Museum.
  As a young adult, he spent a year studying at the prestigious Art 
Students League of New York before he was drafted into the United 
States Army and sent to Vietnam. He was not a U.S. citizen at the time, 
but he felt an obligation to serve the country he called home.
  In Vietnam, Jesse served in an infantry battalion deployed to the 
Mekong Delta until his unit came under fire in February 1967. Sprinting 
towards a helicopter, Jesse ``felt a pair of crushing explosions 
nearby, and then a third thundering blast suddenly lifted him from the 
ground and flung him about 50 feet into a rice paddy.''
  When Jesse reflected on that moment in a 2009 interview with the San 
Antonio Express-News, he said he thought of his mother, brothers, and 
the barrio he grew up in. Jesse wanted to use his talent to paint these 
people and images.
  However, life as he knew it would change forever. Jesse's injuries 
were severe and resulted in an amputation of his right hand. He was 
discharged from the Army in 1968.
  Two years later, Jesse enrolled in San Antonio College and taught 
himself to paint with his left hand. It was through Jesse's love for 
the arts and his determination to capture San Antonio's Chicano culture 
and history that he became one of San Antonio's most famous artists.
  Jesse is responsible for signature pieces, including ``Mi Vida,'' an 
8-by-14-foot pop art-inspired mural, ``The Spirit of Healing,'' a 93-
foot-tall mural on the side of the Children's Hospital of San Antonio, 
and ``La Veladora,'' a three-dimensional, 40-foot-tall mural of the 
Virgin of Guadalupe. Some of his works have also been featured in the 
Smithsonian American Art Museum.

[[Page E129]]

  Sadly, on Monday, February 13, 2023, Jesse Trevino passed away after 
a battle with cancer. He was 76 years old.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in honor of the late Jesse Trevino, 
an American hero who used his gift of art to heal from the horrors of 
the Vietnam War and memorialize the Chicano culture that was dear to 
him. San Antonio was his canvas, and our city is blessed to have his 
artistry displayed throughout our neighborhoods.
  I am grateful to share Jesse Trevino's legacy with the rest of the 
Nation. May he Rest in Peace.

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