San Antonio artist Oscar Alvarado’s connection to the city goes beyond the distinctive mosaic sculptures he has created.
“My family has been in San Antonio for about 285 years,” he tells Robert Rivard on the bigcitysmalltown podcast, adding that he is a descendent of the only two signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence who were actually born in Texas.
Alvarado joins Rivard to discuss his artistic beginnings, work process and some recent personal struggles.
Initially, Alvarado focused on a career in business. “I never took an art class. I got a Bachelor’s (degree) in Business Administration from UTSA in 1985,” he says. Moving to Los Angeles, he found work selling computer systems, but “was completely bored with that.”
“I got a couple of basic tools and started making things,” Alvarado says, including mosaics made from pieces of rubble he picked up from demolished buildings that he had walked past.
By the end of 1988, he had enough money secured to end his computer career and travel to Europe, where he took inspiration from artists such as architect Antoni Gaudí.
He returned to San Antonio “to just live a different lifestyle altogether” and develop his artisty. He has since created over 30 public art pieces in the city, using steel and concrete covered in mosaic tile and glass.
The process in creating these sculptures takes time, hard work and some creative engineering. “I do the work. People think the artist sits there and maybe paints a pretty picture … but it’s really hard work. I have cuts in my hands to prove it.”
Over the years, Alvarado has continued the hard work in expanding his artistry, even as struggles become personal — his wife, S.T. Shimi, died after being struck stepping off of a VIA bus in 2020 and he is currently finishing treatment for stage 3 cancer.
An upcoming project for Alvarado is a series of mosaics that will decorate walls inside the amphitheater courtyard at the Alamo Colleges District headquarters. Years ago, he created a mosaic for the stage when the building was first developed.
“It’s hundreds of square feet. It took me two weeks just to start to cut the tile and prepare it. And I have it all in bins and boxes in my studio. I had to create a special easel… that makes it comfortable for me to work” and prevent the mosaic pieces from sliding off.
“I kind of enjoy doing all this engineering,” he adds.
