La Adelita, new store from local artist

   Recognized for her colorful and picturesque skeletal drawings, Francella Salgado, an El Paso artist, has been painting professionally for 15 years and her drawings have been showcased in the border and in Washington, D.C.

“I was honored that one of my paintings, ‘Si Se Puede,’ was used as a logo for the women worker 10-day hunger strike that began on Nov. 8, 2010,” Salgado said. “La Mujer Obrera organization not only addressed the needs of the community and working women but also focused on the poverty and violence along the border.”

Salgado’s drawing depicted the iconic image of “Rosie the Riveter,” and portrayed her as a skeletal semblance that imitated Día De Los Muertos folk art. Referred to as Rosalina La Obrera, Salgado’s painting symbolized the women workers of the border who have constantly made an effort to advance professionally while working themselves to death, she said.    

Although it has been almost two years since her contribution to La Mujer Obrera strike, Salgado continues to be part of it in the Mercado Mayapan, a traditional indoor Mexican market located in South Central El Paso that offers fresh groceries, household items and artisan crafts.

“I’ve had a booth for the celebration of Día De Los Muertos for the past two years,” Salgado said. “I have had a great turnout and amazing feedback from El Paso and the community.”

As October draws near, Salgado will get ready to set up a booth for this year’s Día De Los Muertos celebration. She has also said she will get ready to embark in the next adventure of her professional career.

“Thanks to my participation on the Mayapan market and the great reaction I have constantly gotten from the audience towards my drawings, I was offered the great opportunity to open up my own store here in El Paso,” Salgado said.

Salgado’s new store, La Adelita, will open Oct. 13. The store will feature artwork by talented artists, along with hers.

 La Adelita will have a lively atmosphere, filled with vibrant colors and different mural paintings on each wall, which according to Salgado have been very tiring to paint.

“I am done painting walls,” Salgado said. “I’ve been busy for the past month, but everything has come along just fine. I wanted to decorate my store in a way that as soon as I would walk through the doors, I would feel like I’m home.”

Salgado, who’s early work was inspired by Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dalí, said she refused to have any other job that didn’t exceed her expectations taking her love for art to a whole different level.

“I started to doodle since my freshman year,” Salgado said. “It wasn’t until I graduated that I realized that I could do more than just doodle and decided to do it professionally.”

According to Salgado, her parents weren’t sure of her decision to pursue art as a career, but over the years they have been very supportive and have promoted her work along the way.

“Art has been what I’ve lived and breathed for a very long time,” Salgado said. “I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life.”

Randy Iglesias, junior pre-pharmacy major has been familiar with Salgado’s artwork over the years and appreciates the uniqueness that Salgado implements into each of her paintings.

“What I like about Francella’s portraits is the colorfulness and the amount of detail she puts in them,” Iglesias said. “I have also seen her jewelry, I think it fits perfectly for people in the city of El Paso, thanks to the vibrant colors that makes them pop out.”

Salgado, who has family in Juárez, said that living in the border has influenced her art in many different ways.

“Thanks to me living in the border I’ve been more aware of the serious conditions that people have and are facing to this day, being able to reflect it through my drawings,” Salgado said.     

Aside from doing art through portraits, she has also been working at Monsterland Tattoos as a tattoo artist.

“Being a tattoo artist has helped me incredibly,” Salgado said. “In a way that I gained more recognition. However if I had to pick between being a painter and a tattoo artist I would have to choose being a painter.”

Salgado purchased her first tattoo kit in 2006 and has taught herself ever since, she has professionally done it for almost four years now.

According to Salgado, she has more liberty as a painter, since most of the times clients have a particular drawing that they would like inked.