Meeting DeGrazia

While living in Tucson I remember days, usually but not always, a weekend day, when the traffic, sounds and movement stopped. Odd. Could have been the heat, it was like someone blowing a playground whistle, recess is over, now eveybody inside.
Sometimes during these pauses, I enjoyed walking or biking in the desert landscape. Of course having lived next to acres of east side Sonoran Desert was an ideal situation. I especially remember walking past groupings of trees and lush vegetation on a hot and dry day, and feeling a distinct, slight cool "breeze" emanating from the plantings, it would wisp across my legs and face, accompanied by a wonderful earthy scent, that is something I will never forget and hope to revisit again.

It was on one of those days that I decided to visit the Gallery in the Sun for the first time. I can't recall if I biked or drove up to Ted DeGrazia's gallery. I knew of his work from Arizona Highway Magazines and could see his "tchatchkes" at every gift shop, restaurant and department store from Flagstaff to Nogales. A prolific artist there were, prints, plates, tiles, kitchen magnets and now after his death Goebel Hummel figurines. By the way he was very up-front and proud of his art being commercially successful.

I first visited the mission or chapel and took in a little meditation time. A lovely adobe structure it is, hand built by DeGrazia. At the gallery I happened to be the only visitor at the time and to my surprise I was greeted by Ted DeGrazia himself, loaded down in turquoise & silver, wearing levis and hat. Browsing around the place, I had a feeling Mr. DeGrazia was waiting for me to leave so he could lock up. He asked if I wanted to buy something, no thanks I said and started to leave, and then he locked the door! I introduced myself as did he and offered me a drink. We walked out into a courtyard and sat. There he told me his life story. I listened like a child, taking everything in. I suppose today he would be called a character, he certainly was outspoken, his art was his life, and he was, deep down, a very humble, kind and thankful person. I learned that he worked with Diego Rivera and others, and of his visits to Yaqui and Seri Indian villages in Mexico as well as well as Navajo country. This was obviously the inspiration for his unique, signature child figures. You can find much more than I can tell about the artist DeGrazia on the net.


DeGrazia thought he knew me, I told him that my dad was a native Tucsonian and I still have family here but this was my first time at his gallery, since relocating from Sedona. DeGrazia went on to invite me to participate in one of his upcoming horseback riding tours into the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix and/or a casual trail ride with him in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains of Tucson. Regretfully, I never took him up on either.

The following summary of a story was covered nationally:

In 1976, he protested for himself and for other artists who had achieved financial success by burning in the Superstition Mountains some of his paintings(est.$1.5 million) because of what he perceived as unfair inheritance tax on artists' estates.Mr. De Grazia said he burned them because the Internal Revenue Service, by comparing his work with market values, made him ''a millionaire on paper and my heirs will have to pay taxes for which there is no money.''

I had read about this, but to have him tell me why and how he did it was very remarkable. I'm sure he repeated this to any ear he could catch. There was one thing that stays with me, he did not only burn canvases, some were blank he said, but he also buried and hid paintings in caves and between large boulders in the Superstition Mountains and the upper Catalina foothills of Tucson, rolled up and protected, if found they were finders keepers.

(1979-1981)