Cruzando Los Traques

In an effort to illuminate the story of the fight for equality in the San Luis Valley, the Maestas  Case Committee commissioned the bronze relief 'Cruzando Los Traques' (Crossing the Tracks) by artist Reynaldo "Sonny" Rivera.

 

Rivera also created smaller 3D bronzes and a larger aluminumed cast version that was unvieled and installed at the Colorado State Capital when Colorado honored the Maestas case with a joint tribute from both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly. It went on to tour at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, El Pueblo History Museum, Fort Garland Museum, Alamosa Welcome Center and is awaiting a permanant installment at Historic Zapata Park in Alamosa, CO. 

​

Mr. Rivera is a native of Mesquite, New Mexico. Before becoming a professional artist, Rivera served 4 years with the U.S. Navy and had a successful career as a barber.  His first love had always been art, so at age forty he went off to art school in Chicago, and later continued his education in Italy, Mexico, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Rivera has over 40 public art commissions, principal public artworks have include: La Jornada/Cuarto Centenario in the collection of Albuquerque Public Art; the Santa Fe Trail sculpture at Museum Hill in Santa Fe; a “9-11 Memorial” for the city of Broomfield, Colorado; a Korean War Medal of Honor recipient for the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque; world-renowned author Rudolfo Anaya for the City of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. 

​

The Maestas Case Relief was donated by LeRoy and Rosalie Martinez, San Luis Valley natives whose families homesteaded in the Valley in the mid 1800s. The couple believes that education is the great equalizer. They felt moved to donate the bronze relief to commemorate the Francisco Maestas et al vs. George H. Shone et al. case, so future generations would continue to learn from the past and push forward to a brighter future.

​

The relief was permanently installed in the entrance of the Alamosa County Courthouse on

October 1st 2022 and is still on public display.

​