Painting is a passion for woman from Chile

When Elena Sepulveda was a young girl, she would spend breaks between classes selling her artwork for a peso apiece.

"During class of math, I was drawing, drawing. I hated math," the Latino painter said in her home art studio. "All my life I paint. It's my great passion."

Sepulveda was born and reared in Chile before moving to Venezuela with her husband and two daughters. There, she started her own art gallery and taught history and art. She moved to Utah in 2001 to continue studying but quickly realized the great artistic opportunities in America were a trade-off for the challenges associated with the language barrier.

Once a well-respected teacher with a degree in history, Sepulveda, 62, now works full-time as a housekeeper.

"In many places, this is the reality of the immigrant," she said. But, "I am not a frustrated person, because I am painting. I am selling, I am displaying. It is my dream because I am doing all I wanted to do with my life. All my life, I wanted to be a painter and study painting every day."

After she finishes work at 1 p.m., Sepulveda spends up to nine hours painting on wood, acrylic and ceramic. She displays and sells her pieces at various exhibitions and this year is one of 12 featured Utah artists at the third annual Arte Latino at Park City's Kimball Art Center.

While most of her art centers on historical Roman images, she loves painting American Western art, specifically relating to Utah's history. One piece in her studio shows the face of Brigham Young, surrounded by covered wagons, horses and images of the pioneers who settled the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

"Always, I'm studying about the life of the people that come here, the pioneers," she said. "I'm inspired by Brigham Young, all his suffering."

Utah's history is not the only thing she studies. Sepulveda spends hours poring over art books — a must in the profession, she said, because every piece is a new challenge.

"Now, I am studying with a great painter like Leonardo (da Vinci) or Rembrandt and I study a lot and understand everything is important — the hand, the foot the expression," Sepulveda said.

It's her third year as an artist at Arte Latino, which begins tonight at 6 p.m. and runs through April 20. The exhibit celebrates Latino art in the Beehive State and has been a "tremendous success" in the community, said Kimball Art Center director Pam Crowe-Weisberg.

"Latinos are an important part of the Utah population, and it is an honor to celebrate their art and rich culture," she said.

Next for Sepulveda, a legal resident who hopes to get her citizenship later this year, is hand surgery. She has no idea what recovery time will be like, but said she will never stop painting. "It's my life."

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E-mail: astowell@desnews.com