Sonya Fe

Last updated
Sonya Fe
Born1952 (age 7273)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materArt Center College of Design
Known forPainting

Sonya Fe (born 1952) is a Chicana painter born and raised in Los Angeles.

Contents

Biography

Fe is one of eight children born to Jewish-American mother Ruth Goldfein and father Joseph Williams who was Narragansett and Mexican-American. [1] During her childhood she lived in the William Mead Housing Project in Downtown Los Angeles. [2] As a young person, she witnessed and was visually influenced by the Chicano art movement. [3]

Sonya always had full support from her parents to pursue art, along with her seven siblings. She would go out with her father and was encouraged to draw whatever interested her the most, this became how Sonya would learn how to paint. [4] At the young age of 13, Sonya Fe received her first art scholarship to attend Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. She received her BA degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 1976. [5] [6] After her time at the Art Center she was able to walk away with new techniques in how to mix colors and how to turn art into a career. However, Sonya claims that she was not able to learn how to paint in school, instead, Sonya taught herself how to paint simply by experimenting with paint in any way she could. She was not concerned with the final product of her paintings in the beginning because her goal was to learn the craft and how to express her thoughts and feelings in each painting. [7]

She now lives in Elk Grove in Sacramento County, and is married to Arturo Vasquez, a children’s book author [8] and they have a son who is a graphic designer. [9]

Art

Fe's work often makes use of wax, oil, and earth tones, [10] and they reflect social and cultural issues with themes centering on child abuse/neglect and the woman's place in society. Fe admits "The figures themselves are not anatomically correct-some have little definition. However, the faces are very defined, making the face the center of attention. My main concern is clearly with the relationships among these women's varying physical presence and at the same time bringing into equilibrium the active lines, and the colors that define them." [11]

As a Hispanic American artist, Fe's work reflects issues and inequalities in gender, race, and human thought. [12] “Chicana artist Sonya Fe paints for women. She paints for children. She paints for those who bear the weight of the world without being seen.” [13] Her work has been featured in magazines such as Forbe's Sunstorm Magazine, [14] Sacramento Magazine, [15] and Sixteen Magazine . [16] Pat Villeneuve describes her paintings as "relatively large....and are done in wax and oil" and her drawings as "done in colored pencil and other media, [and] are more personal representations..." [5]

Fe illustrated a children’s book titled You Can Draw Too, published by Publishing Children’s Stories, a press she co-founded. [3] In 1998, she received the national Artist Award from the California State Senate. [17]

Fe's work has been exhibited nationally and are in the collections Carnegie Art Museum, [8] the Cheech Marin Collection, [8] [18] and the Smithsonian Institution. [8] [19] In Los Angeles, she worked with other artists to restore the Great Wall of Los Angeles. [1]

The most known Sonya Fe exhibit is called “Are You With Me?” being shown from October 16, 2021- May 29, 2022 which included 27 oil paintings and 18 mixed-media drawings. [17] [20] The exhibition sought to be a biographical depiction of her own life as well as depicting images of women’s roles decided by society as well as children’s innocence. [13] The exhibition catalog includes the Sonya Fe quote explaining her exhibit, “I want the viewer to stand with me while looking at the world. I want them to feel, see, and understand what I am saying- to not be left behind. I want to ask them, ‘Are you with me?’” [17] The exhibit “Are You With Me?” was curated by Norma Chairez-Hartell, and embarked on a national tour after it was shown at the Riverside Art Museum. [17]

Prior to her “Are you with me?” exhibition she made her mark throughout California, across the nation and even into Mexico and Japan. Her art had first been shown in museums and galleries in California in an exhibition that started at the Las Cruces Museum of Art by Nrma Chairez-Hartell from May 7, 2021 to July 24, 2021 in addition to a solo exhibition at the Morris Grave Museum. [8]

In an interview with PBS, Sonya Fe shares what initially drew her to the world of art and what continues to inspire her contributions to Chicano culture. She expresses her love for painting with raw emotion, allowing the audience to interpret her work through their own experiences. Fe has played a significant role in increasing the visibility of Chicano art and strongly believes in the movement that Chicano artists are building. [21]

Collections

References

  1. 1 2 Mitchell, Linda (1 July 2004). "Mexican-American painter Sonya Fe". North Coast Journal . Archived from the original on 29 December 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  2. Kelliher-Combs, Sonya . Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. 28 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Artists: Sonya Fe". Wide Open Walls . Archived from the original on 11 August 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  4. "Represented Artists - Sonya Fe". Acosta Strong Fine Art. Archived from the original on 17 September 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  5. 1 2 Villeneuve, Pat (2002). "Sonya Fe". Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: Artists, Works, Culture, and Education . Vol. 1. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press. pp. 218–219. ISBN   9781931010115. OCLC   49805924 . Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  6. "Four artists examine Chiana(o) identities". The Pacifican . 90 (20). University of the Pacific: 10. 9 March 2000. JSTOR   community.36022435 .
  7. "Sonya Fe : Artist Spotlight". Jewel Spiegel Gallery. Archived from the original on 18 March 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Banks, Melissa Richardson (16 September 2021). "Son Cuarto: Cheech in Conversation with Sonya Fe". CauseConnect. Archived from the original on 27 August 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  9. "Sonya Fe". Sonya Fe. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  10. "Brushes Of Fire". Avenue 50 Studio. Archived from the original on 23 August 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  11. Fe, Sonya. "Sonya Fe". Aaagiclee.com. Florida Fine Arts. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
  12. Curry, Othello H. (14 June 2012). "Spotlight on: Sonya Fe, Contemporary Artist". Sacramento Press. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  13. 1 2 Eberhardt, Jenna (4 July 2022). "Sonya Fe Paints For Women, Children, and Those Who Bear the Weight of the World". Not Real Art World. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  14. "Ready to Soar, After a Dance with the Wolves". Sunstorm Magazine. 1993. pp. 37, 39.
  15. "13 Women to Watch". Sacramento Magazine . July 1999. p. 39.
  16. "Brushes of Fire". Sixteen Magazine . No. 13. February 2013. pp. 54–57.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Exhibitions: Are You with Me?". Riverside Art Museum . 2022. Archived from the original on 23 June 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  18. Ramirez, Cindy (6 July 2022). "Borderland artists' work featured in 'The Cheech' Chicano art center". El Paso Matters. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  19. 1 2 "Artist: Sonya Fe". Smithsonian American Art Museum . Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  20. May III, Richard Allen (24 March 2022). "Gallery Rounds: Sonya Fe". Artillery . Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  21. Sonya Fe - Creating Awareness (Video). Departures. PBS SoCal. 19 October 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  22. "Exhibitions - ¡Atención!: Chicano Movement in Print from the Mexican Fine Art Center Museum's Permanent Collection". National Museum of Mexican Art . 2006. Archived from the original on 19 February 2025. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  23. "Humboldt Arts Council". Humboldtarts.org. Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2013-10-03.