Strange how things happened the last time I saw Alvaro. It was a few weeks before his passing. I was finishing a meal at a popular neighborhood diner when a man came up to me and said my name. In Spanish, I said “sorry I don’t recognize you” he said “Alvaro”! I realized how his serious health issues had taken the solid hearty robust man I used to know. He was headed out the door with a caldo de pollo (chicken soup) take out and asked me to call him this week. I called and we talked about the many shows we had over the years, including the Chicano/Latino exhibits with Casa de Unidad alum Nora Mendoza, Diana Alva, Hector Perez. Collectively we were curated into many national and international shows that mention our connection to SW Detroit. Of course, in this last conversation we had to talk about planning a retrospective of his latest and greatest sculpture.
Looking back, I first met Alvaro in the late 80’s at the Michigan Gallery and Diana Alva. The three of us were gradually learning how to deal in the Then happening Detroit art scene. During that time, we became part of the cultural creative community at Casa de Unidad in SW Detroit next to Clark Park. It’s not easy remembering Alvaro without mentioning Diana, who we recently lost.
We shared a strong work ethic and respected our personal philosophies about art and art making. It was the very similar Mexican border barrio upbringing and early childhood memories that basically shaped our lives as artists.
We became close friends and had a lot of laughs! Everyone knew about Alvaro’s classic sense of humor, sharp wit and intellectually sharp comebacks, reminded me of Groucho Marx.
On a last note: the one thing that always came up when referring to Alvaro was his caring and kindness. For this article, I reached out to Todd Erickson, longtime close friend of his for a remembrance. I think his essay, that incidentally Alvaro asked Todd to write really captures his spirit and art.
In honor, love and respect.
Vito J. Valdez – July 5, 2026
Alvaro Juardo was raised in a border town on the Rio Grande River where he grew up way too fast. His artwork indicates he steadfastly held a sense of wonder and innocence. His incorporation of toys and found treasure expresses a child’s kindness, humor and compassion.
His father “got a good job at Ford” and moved his family north to southwest Detroit where Alvaro finished school, worked on the railroad and other industries before settling in for many decades as a local expert of the Detroit salvage and antique market.
All the while, Alvaro practiced his passion for making art as well as being gregarious, generous and kind to his family and wide circle of friends. He was invited to show at the Detroit Artist Market by Mary Denison which encouraged his passion and energy for making sculpture.
I first met Alvaro in the early 1980’s when I taught a community education foundry class at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit MI. He and many other local artists populated the class. Many of them were alums and had studied with Jay Holland in the Sculpture Department. Alvaro along with Robert Bielat, Jim Crawford, Gary Kulak, Dennis Knight, Gordon Newton, John Piet and Gilda Snowden found comradery and competition in the setting of mold making, wax work, and pouring molten metal, (bronze, aluminum and iron).
Alvaro showed confidence and courage while making his sculpture in our foundry. He worked directly and seemingly by instinct while simultaneously engaging with others and often helping them to create sculptures or make a mold. Alvaro has the amazing skill and poise which allows him to gift people belief, respect and confidence through humor and humility.
In the CCS Foundry, Alvaro was quick to move beyond the traditional sculpting media (clay and wax) to using the flotsam and jetsam amassed from a life of collecting artifacts, odd pieces, natural history and bits of antiquity. These interesting objects often surviving elements of Detroit’s urban evolution were removed from their original purpose and hard to recognize.
Alvaro knew exactly what every bit and piece was and where it was found or had originated from but that did not seem to drive his inventive assemblages. He respects his materials but his task is transforming them into sculptural forms, sometimes vertical and semi-traditional, but more often that not, the forms are unique in form and posture.
Alvaro Jurado creates sculpture that is a synthesis of his experience, his journey and his spirit. His work does not try to be “sculpture” in the heroic sense but rather is artwork that does not have to prove itself. The work is a personal narrative with a Detroit backdrop, distilled by a courageous visionary. It is art paying homage to history and an event unto itself. The crafting and making of the work unravels as we look deeper. Masquerading as assemblage of found materials, his sculpture is representative of life’s struggles, successes, questions, answers and relationships.
Alvaro makes sculpture that often contains very old architectural remnants such as “ginger bread”, toy cars, trucks and games or sticks and twigs from his walks in Delray. These finds give the viewer, a chance to remember our own childhoods with sentimental emotion. His ability to connect forms, objects and disparate ideas is so natural and fluid that reading his sculpture is magically easy and makes the viewer feel they are part of the creation. Collecting, combination and transformation create a very believable invention from the soul. Playfulness and optimisim is solidified in cast metal to capture our imagination, attention and respect.
Álvaro’s work brims with positive assertion’s, playful imagery and a sense of natural that is rare.
As an artist and person, Alvaro seeks the path of new discovery. He exercises good instincts to create peaceful, engaging and meaningful art and relationships. Only an artist of his caliber can combine, subtract, bend and build his own world, such a long way from that rough beginning along the Rio Grande.
Resiliency, creativity, confidence and kindness are great human traits. Alvaro carries these traits in his life and uses their powers in making his sculpture. His muse is life’s remnants, exposing the left behind artifacts of our fight for realization, survival, and fulfillment.
By Todd Erickson-Sculptor – College for Creative Studies , Detroit, MI – 4/11/2022
Rest in peace artist Alvaro Jurado. Alvaro was such a kind and generous person. He’ll be missed by the Detroit artist community. My condolences to his friends and family.
From his sister, Lupe Arboleya: “My brother, Manuel Jurado, and I hope you can join us on Friday, June 12th at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Redeemer Church in Detroit for a memorial mass to honor his life.”
Jeff Cancelosi – June 10
I met Alvaro when he was putting up his exhibit at Casa de Unidad in 1997. It was a solo exhibit in our galleria.
I was quite impressed at his variety of collages. But he also had sculptural toys that he made; found objects and created objects. I found his perspective very fresh.
On a personal note, I found him very personable, very funny, very fun. He was a kibbitzer. He would make clever observational humor; these remarks that I wouldn’t always get at first But I realized how quick-witted he was. It was never mean-spirited. He has these anecdotal observations. He commented on the culture in general – not just Latino culture. I wasn’t always able to figure out what he said at the time, but got it later.
He lived in the neighborhood, and he was a very kind, gentle person; very respectful and appreciative. I haven’t seen him in years, but I have fond memories of him.
Reflections from David Conklin
I am saddened by the news that Alvaro passed away recently.
Alvaro had a hearty laugh and terrific sense of humor. He was loyal to his friends.
Art wise, I appreciated his sculpture and unique assemblages featuring found objects. He was one of the few Chicano artists in Detroit who also worked in abstraction.
He definitely left his handprint on the Latino arts community.
Dr George Vargas
Art Historian/artist/art activist
