Meet Our 2023 Earth Day Poster Artist: Nacho Ruiz

Here at The Environmental Center, the coming of spring also means our annual Earth Day Fair & Parade is just around the corner!

This colorful community event is one of our favorites: food, friends, festivities… and, as is typical for April in Central Oregon: uncertain weather! Of course, we are hoping for blue skies and sunshine, akin to the beautiful Earth Day poster art for this year! 

We’re excited to reveal the official poster art, painted by Madras-based artist Nacho Ruiz (Instagram: @nachoruizart). The piece, titled Raíz, will be on display at the Saturday, April 22nd event, where you can meet the artist in person. For now, we’re pleased to introduce you to Nacho through his bio and what inspired him to create this piece. 

Meet the artist

Nacho Ruiz (he/him) is an artist based in Madras, Oregon. While Ruiz is an artist that primarily focuses on traditional painting and drawing, he has explored the digital art world more extensively and has grown to really enjoy it. Some themes commonly found in his work are relationships (with yourself and others), human anatomy and sexuality, tuning in with your Divine feminine and masculine, other forms of spirituality, and the connection to his Hispanic roots. Nacho knows that not everyone can freely express themselves for the fear of being judged, so he hopes to create a personal connection between the audience and the art. In the future, he hopes to move to a city that appreciates the arts so he can continue to grow as an artist and as a person. 

Raíz

“My goal with this piece was to connect with my Purepecha roots. Before the colonizers came to the Americas, our indigenous ancestors Worshiped the earth in their own unique ways. Since my family is mixed, I didn’t really get a chance to learn about my indigenous roots. I still don’t know much about my roots other than the fact that our tribe once existed and the numbers are very small today. 

I have learned a bit about my history, and my ancestors’ ways of worshiping the earth, but many people today think that is witchcraft. One of the reasons for doing this specific piece is to show that our ways of worshiping the earth were not the same as witchcraft practices. There are many misconceptions about practicing spirituality, and I hope that this piece shows that we just care for the earth in our own unique way.

This piece is painted with acrylic paint and some add-ons are gold foil, and jewels. The elements represented in this piece are earth, air, fire, and water. Fire, air, and water are represented in the jewels. The setting is in a forest in the state of Michoacán, Mexico.”

Many of Nacho’s other pieces are similarly colorful and vibrant, while varying in medium (acrylic, digital) and subject matter. 

We are grateful to Nacho for sharing his talents with us and with the world! We invite you to check out the piece, among the many other offerings, at the annual Earth Day Fair & Parade in Downtown Bend on Saturday, April 22nd from 11:30am-3pm. See you there!