Arte de la Vida
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  • Home
    • Arte Blog
    • Media
    • About
    • Contact
  • Trees of Life
  • Clay/Ceramics
  • Huichol
  • Pottery/Ceramics
  • Tlaquepaque
  • Tonala
  • Oaxaca
  • Dinnerware
  • Glass
  • Textiles
  • Clothing
    • San Juan Textiles
  • Jewelry
  • Devotional
  • Retablos
  • Saints/Sinners
  • Wood
  • Masks
  • Tin/Metals
  • Lighting
  • Mexicana
  • Old Pueblo
  • Sonoran / Native
    • Archives
      • New Uploads
520.398.6720

MEDIA

We're in the media!
Enjoy our eclectic mix of articles and interviews about our craft, and events we've hosted over the years.
A Mexican Folk Art Fantasy
A pair of collectors are drawn to vibrant and vintage folk art from south of the border.
Picture
October 10, 2019, by Rebecca L. Rhoades

It all started with a candlestick. Kevin Pawlak and James Goodreau had always admired Mexican artwork—like many Arizonans, they owned a few Day of the Dead pieces. Then one day in the mid-aughts, Goodreau, who worked at a consignment shop, brought home a ceramic candle holder made by Héron Martinez...
Kevin Pawlak & James Goodreau - photo:Tom Spitz, PHX H&G
Kevin Pawlak (in purple) and James Goodreau pose with their dogs, Arturo (left) and Jack. Photo: Tom Spitz, PHX H&G

Heron Martinez Website

Collectors Tales
Kevin Pawlak came upon Martínez’s work quite by accident in Phoenix, AZ, because of a candelabra found in a consignment shop.  At once, he became enamored by the dichotomy exhibited -- a brightly colored clay piece with a child-like imagination on one hand, yet also a well thought out balance and execution on the other...
Heron Martinez candelabra

Border Lore

Picture
Arte de La Vida Comes to Tucson
December 17, 2012

A yellow china hutch baroquely adorned with hand-carved faces on the doors sealed the fate of James Goodreau and Kevin Pawlak as passionate collectors and curators of vintage Mexican folk arts. Scouting estate sales in search of ideas to decorate their newly merged households, James ran into the oddly beautiful piece of furniture at a Phoenix-area home about ten years ago...

Sonoran Arts Network

Sonoran Arts Network
October 2015 Feature
Galería Senita, Tucson, AZ
by C.J. Shane

“Galería Senita is our way of giving back to the community,” says Kevin Pawlak.  He and James Goodreau, co-owners of the Southwest’s premier vintage Mexican arts and crafts shop, Arte de la Vida, are opening a new art gallery this month, Galería Senita...

AZ Daily Star

Tucson art gallery seeks local artists to create Loteria cards
May 17, 2018, by Gerald M. Gay

The owners of Arte de la Vida and Galería Senita are seeking local artists to help create a Tucson-themed deck of Lotería cards, the colorful game of chance from Mexico similar to bingo in the U.S.  The themes will represent the “places, plants, people, food and history of Tucson”...
2016 Lotería cards on exhibition at Galería Senita
Some of the 2016 Loteria cards on exhibition at Galería Senita, 41 N. Tucson Blvd. (Photo: Kevin Pawlak)

Working with a full deck: Loteria exhibit
Sep 24, 2016,  by Kathleen Allen

Daniel Martin Diaz wanted the devil.
Robin Westenhiser couldn’t believe her luck when she picked the watermelon.
And Ron Kovatch just wanted something out of his comfort zone.
The Tucson artists are among 40 who have contributed pieces to the Galería Senita’s upcoming Lotería! de Tucson exhibit...

Photo: Ron Medvescek/AZ Daily Star
Liz Vaughn paints her interpretation of a Bandolon, a stringed instrument, at her home studio in Tucson, for a local gallery having an exhibit with artists' interpretations of the Loteria cards. (Photo: Ron Medvescek/AZ Daily Star)

Store specializes in vintage Mexican folk art
Jul 20, 2014, by Kristen Cook

Arte de la Vida is a bit off the beaten path.
The colorful store that specializes in vintage Mexican folk art looks like something that belongs on the border, not off of Broadway in a mixed business complex made up of a hairdresser, law office and appointment-only vintage clothing boutique...

Photo: Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star
Liz Vaughn paints her interpretation of a Bandolon, a stringed instrument, at her home studio in Tucson, for a local gallery having an exhibit with artists' interpretations of the Loteria cards. (Photo: Ron Medvescek/AZ Daily Star)

Antique Register

Tlaquepaque: A Highly Collected Mexican Trade
June 25, 2014,  by Kevin M. Pawlak and James Goodreau

Since the late 1920-30s and the arrival of the great highway that linked the Americas, Mexico tourism has grown by leaps and bounds. Border towns prospered with Americans looking for an easy ‘foreign’ experience and shopping in a much more affordable marketplace as the economy in the States was struggling...
Tlaquepaque and Tonala pottery

Vintage Arbol de la Vida—Tree of Life
August 26, 2014 by The Antique Register

Shown on our cover is a beautiful vintage Arbol de la Vida (Tree of Life) from Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico, done by the late master Francisco Flores. This colorful art photography was provided by Arte de la Vida in Tucson...
Antique Register cover sept-Oct 2014

Best in Antique Mexican Folk Art Found at Arte de la Vida in Tucson
October 24, 2013 by C.J. Shane  

Tucson shop dedicated to the best in vintage and antique Mexican folk art, is becoming a key destination for local, national and international collectors.
Just about anything that falls under the category of Mexican folk art can be found here...

Arte de la Vida 2013

This site presents samplings from our store.

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Tucson, AZ 85716

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  • Home
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  • Textiles
  • Clothing
    • San Juan Textiles
  • Jewelry
  • Devotional
  • Retablos
  • Saints/Sinners
  • Wood
  • Masks
  • Tin/Metals
  • Lighting
  • Mexicana
  • Old Pueblo
  • Sonoran / Native
    • Archives
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