Consuelo Soto Murphy
THE HEART AND SOUL OF AN ARTIST
WRITTEN BY Picky Heasley
Consuelo Soto Murphy is extremely proud of her heritage, and it shows in every painting she creates. Her work is displayed on the covers of The Grape Vine newspaper and the Tri-Cities Tourism booklet, in Sunset Magazine, and on the first commemorative Walter Clore wine bottle. The bright colors pop off the page, demanding to be noticed, appreciated, and understood.
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“I knew I was an artist in the first grade,” Consuelo told me. “I couldn’t speak English, but I could communicate through my artwork because I could make my work really pretty.” Then, in second grade, Mrs. Lindenberg, her teacher, had her stand up in front of the class. She held up Consuelo’s drawing of an octopus and announced, “This is Consuelo the Artist”. Consuelo has a message for Mrs. Lindenberg: “If she is still alive, I’d like to thank her very much for making me feel special and for making me feel like I had something to offer when I felt like I was nothing. I felt bad that I could not speak English and that my customs were looked down on. It wasn’t until later that I grew to appreciate how special, and bonding, our customs were.”
Consuelo’s history and heritage growing up in Sunnyside has provided great fodder for her art. Her family of 11 was very poor. Her mother had a brain tumor when Consuelo was very young, and her father had to quit work to take care of his disabled wife. She and all of her siblings worked the fields, with Consuelo starting when she was in first grade. While you may think that’s not a positive thing, Consuelo looks fondly upon those times because they gave her the opportunity to spend a lot of time with her family. “Working the fields with my family was wonderful,” Consuelo said very enthusiastically and sincerely. “I loved it! I never thought it was demeaning.” That togetherness still holds today. Her immediate and extended family numbers around 80, and they all get together every Sunday, unless someone is having a party on Friday or Saturday.
Consuelo is very proud that she is the first in her family to graduate from college. When she was planning to go to college in 1979, her parents told her that good girls didn’t go to college. Instead, they were expected to stay at home, get married, have children, and take care of the family. But, she was determined to get a college education. When she left home to start school, her father gave her $50 and told her to go with God. She struggled through college, often taking a quarter off to make money for tuition for the next quarter, sometimes taking on several jobs at a time. All that hard work and dedication paid off, with her graduating from Eastern Washington University. She is now an art teacher at Richland High, where she has taught for 20 years with the philosophy that students’ time in her classroom should be a positive and creative experience. Her husband, Shawn, whom she met at Eastern, is also an art teacher at the school. They met while working in the Art Department at Eastern. She applied for the art position at Richland High and then helped him with his application. Guess who got the job? “Shawn can coach football and I can’t,” she said. Together, they have a very important second job of promoting Consuelo’s paintings, doing what they can to expose more and more people to her talent.
Consuelo is not the only artist in the Soto family. Her older brother, Pablo, has painted murals at Stanford University, as well as the wall of the Richland High Bomber stadium.
Consuelo recalled the first sale of one of her paintings. It was in Junior High School. Her art teacher, Mr. Wade, had given her her first small canvas. Her creation, an ocean landscape in the evening, was displayed on teacher conference day. The Rodriquezes, both teachers at Sunnyside Junior High School, bought it for $15. After that success, Mr. Wade got her a job painting a window for Christmas. Although the elves turned out looking meaner than she intended, it was the first of many holiday windows she painted.
As Consuelo experimented more and more with her painting, her college art teacher, Tom Askman, convinced her to paint large. So, she moved to larger canvases and began to create much larger pieces.
The first time I saw Consuelo’s paintings was at the Richland Farmers’ Market. The one I was particularly attracted to is titled Nordstrom Bitches. I had a friend who loved to shop at Nordstrom’s and had just begun working there, so I knew I had to buy that print for her. I watched Consuelo work and looked through her paintings and fell in love with the vibrancy of each and every piece. Many are agricultural in nature, but there are also many that show a sense of sisterhood, of women together, enjoying one another. I was drawn to her immediately. Having lived in Texas for ten years, I had many southwestern paintings. Consuelo’s paintings reminded me of that genre, but many steps beyond in the intensity of color.
The Soto Murphys have three sons, Shane, Brian, and Chad. According to Consuelo, Shawn really wanted to name them Michelangelo, Diego, and Vincent. Chad, the youngest, might be the next Soto Murphy to be an artist. He has sold a few snowman paintings, but has declared he doesn’t want to do it anymore.
Consuelo has sold two paintings to a doctor with a second home in London. A woman from Florida, who saw Consuelo’s art in a brochure on a flight to Seattle, purchased one of her pieces and periodically buys prints. A Seattle developer is taking one of his paintings to his other home in Hawaii. Her works are displayed at the Sixth Street Art and Gifts Gallery in Prosser. Carol Ashby, the owner, first saw Consuelo’s work at the Richland Allied Arts Show and knew immediately that she had to display Consuelo’s pieces in her shop. Consuelo has also displayed at Allied Arts and at wine events at Hogue, Thurston Wolfe, and Olsen wineries. Each year, she and Shawn have a booth at the Issaquah Salmon Days event in October. According to Shawn, they do a great business there and it provides a lot of exposure to those on the western side of Washington.
“I sell them as fast as I can paint them, so I really don’t have a lot to show,” Consuelo said. “I just don’t have time to do that much original art because I have a full-time teaching job. I wish I didn’t have to sleep because I have so many ideas I want to paint.”
What she’s really looking for, she explained, is her own Alfred Stieglitz (Georgia O’Keefe’s benefactor). If there’s an Alfred out there, Consuelo would love to meet you!
One of her newest projects is illustrating a children’s book for Josh Hurst, a Richland author. That partnership is currently in the works.
When asked what her plans for 2009 are, Consuelo replied: “I want to do more. I want it to be my coming out year. Things are getting better and better!”
Shawn’s desire is that those who look at his wife’s paintings see not only the beauty of her talents but see also how she depicts life in the field. He hopes they feel the beauty of the fields and recognize that those who work the fields are a very valuable contribution to our communities.
When you see her paintings, that is exactly what you see.
For More Information:
Consuelo Soto Murphy
Sotoart.com
