As the youngest in his family, art teacher Jose Luis Gutierrez would find ways to entertain himself, like melting action figures together over the stove to indulge his creativity.
He also remembers being really into G.I. Joe toys and figurines.
“When I reflect on that, with all this experience that I have now, I can realize that I was being influenced to think that guns and violence were a good thing and that that’s what makes a man really strong,” Gutierrez said.
These are lessons he takes to his classroom.
Gutierrez, 44, teaches art to sixth through twelfth grade students at Anawakalmekak International University Preparatory of North America in El Sereno, the only Indigenous school in Los Angeles County. The school is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and serves K-12 students. It teaches curriculum in English, Spanish and Nawatl.
Gutierrez’s Nawatl name is Tepeyolotl, which translates to Mountain Heart. The name was given to him by Marcos Aguilar, the co-founder and executive director of Anawakalmekak, and Tata Cuaxtle, who served as the Nawatl language and cultural bearer at the school.
“[Tata Cuaxtle] was a really strong elder for a lot of different communities that wanted to regain their Indigenous traditions and practices. He gave me that name. It’s a lot of responsibility,” said Gutierrez, whose family has roots in Michoacan, in the territories of the Purepecha people.
At Anawakalmekak, Gutierrez teaches about decolonizing art.
Decolonizing art is about “incorporating Indigenous values,” Gutierrez said, which includes being connected with nature and working toward the protection of it. Art that’s made out of recycled material can be considered decolonized art, he said.
“When I see that kind of stuff, I’m not sure if the artist is conscious [that] they’re doing something that has to do with Indigenous values, but they are,” said Gutierrez, who grew up in the north side of Pasadena.
He wants students to question the meaning of their art to see how it will evolve into something deeper. It’s about making it authentic to the students and the experiences in their lives, he said.
“I usually start off with asking students … what is the emphasis of your work? What do you really want to say? Because in my opinion, or in my beliefs, art can save lives. I believe that art saved my life,” Gutierrez said.
His approach is figuring out what students are interested in — whether it’s books, cartoons, music, sports — and pulling them toward “these Indigenous type of ways of thinking and the values that we hold,” he said.
For a toy design project, Gutierrez recalled a student who was into boxing. Gutierrez researched if there was any type of Indigenous boxing and learned about Mayan boxing. “Those who participated [in Mayan boxing] weren’t doing it for money or for fame,” he said. Rather, it was a “ceremony where they’re shedding sweat and blood onto the earth so that the earth is fruitful for that season.”
“I was able to share that with the students. So he went from understanding himself as a boxer or interested in boxing to, ‘wow, this is ancestral.’ So he’s able to make connections that way,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez has been teaching at Anawakalmekak for about 20 years, and he’s been working with students since he was 18 as a mentor for a program called Soledad Enrichment Action. He mentored students who were kicked out of school or who were dropping out. Gutierrez said he sought to guide them “while I was really young myself, and discovered who I was at the same time.”
He also worked at the Armory Center for the Arts as a teacher’s assistant and later got his associate of arts degree at Pasadena City College. He received his credentials in art education at Cal State Northridge.
Looking back, Gutierrez sees his cousin Jeanette Garcia as a big artistic influence in his life. She was into comic books when they were younger and he remembers the characters she would draw. She was also part of a danza group he started finding interest in, and eventually, danza became a big passion of his.
To Garcia, it felt special to see “that the drums called him.”
“That he was willing to make whatever sacrifices he had to as far as time goes, and being humble when you’re learning a tradition,” she said.
“It just felt really good to know that he wanted to express himself that way, and that I was going to get to share in those battles, those experiences with him,” Garcia added.
Outside of school, Gutierrez said he finds inspiration in collaborating with his wife, who is a photographer. He enjoys creating art using her photography.
He also enjoys exercising, eating healthy and meal prepping. “Having a solid structure is something I take pride in,” he said. “I feel like that causes me to have good energy. I’m happy, and I go to work at the school, and I’m there with a smile on my face.”
“Not only do I show up to work happy, but I try to demonstrate and share how other students can practice this so that they can have a healthy lifestyle,” Gutierrez said.