Esteban Villa (August 3, 1930 – May 16, 2022) was an American

muralist A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

, artist, and Chicano activist. A

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California, United States. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is part of the California State Universit ...

, his teaching career began in 1962 at the

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

level and included assignments at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

D–Q University Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl University or D–Q University was a two-year college located on Road 31 in Yolo County, west of California State Route 113, State Route 113 in California. Founded in 1971, it was among the first six tribal colleges and ...

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, and numerous lecture and slide presentations, art exhibits and mural projects at universities mainly in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and surrounding states. He served as an art consultant to schools and organizations including Centro de Artistas Chicanos, and did art programs in the

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

system. He was a founding member of the

Royal Chicano Air Force The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in Ca ...

, a collective of artists, professors and students, which was formed amid the Chicano ''Movimiento'''s push for social and political rights. In addition, Villa was involved in the production of the KVIE-TV

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''Pilots of

Aztlán Aztlán (from or romanized ''Aztlán'', ) is the ancestral home of the Aztec peoples. The word "Aztec" was derived from the Nahuatl a''ztecah'', meaning "people from Aztlán." Aztlán is mentioned in several ethnohistorical sources dating from t ...

'', a film about the Royal Chicano Air Force, which he co-founded. This film, in which he appears along with other RCAF members, was aired on KVIE in January, 1995. He exhibited a major survey of his paintings and related works at the Galeria Posada in February through March, 1995, titled ''The Art of Esteban Villa'', and was in a group art show at Encina Art Gallery during Feb/March, 1995. Born in

Tulare, California Tulare ( ) is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 68,875 per the 2020 census. It is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, south of Visalia and north of Bakersfield. The city is named after the Tul ...

on August 3, 1930, Villa died in

Sacramento California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

on May 16, 2022, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa, Esteban 1930 births 2022 deaths American artists of Mexican descent Artists from Sacramento, California