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![Prominent Denver artist and former Marine Ray Espinoza, cq, stands in front of a mural at E 47th Ave. and Baldwin Ct. in Denver, Friday June 30, 2006, he painted and dedicated to those Marine Corps. members who have served and fallen in war. Prominent Denver artist and former Marine Ray Espinoza, cq, stands in front of a mural at E 47th Ave. and Baldwin Ct. in Denver, Friday June 30, 2006, he painted and dedicated to those Marine Corps. members who have served and fallen in war.](https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/home-family/voices/veterans/info-2022/marine-wish-of-a-lifetime/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body1/container_body_cf/container_image/articlecontentfragment/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/home-and-family/voices/veterans/2022/09/1140-mike-espinoza.jpg)
Denver-based artist Ray Espinoza, 86, is skilled in painting, drawing, sculpture, writing and singing. But his art career didn’t take off until after he left the military and used the GI bill to attend art school.
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As a child, he enjoyed painting and drawing. But when he was 9, he began working alongside his migrant farmworker parents, helping harvest vegetables in the fields. “In my hometown there was nothing to do but join the Marines, go to jail or be poor,” he says.
He enlisted in the Marines at 17 during the Korean War and was sent to Japan, where he helped distribute arms and supplies throughout the region. His two older brothers and his younger brother were also Korea veterans.
During his eight years in the service, the self-identified Chicano, an American of Mexican descent, remembers encountering only a few soldiers with the same heritage as himself; he formed friendships with them that he still values today.
An illustrious career
When Espinoza left the military in May 1962, he started focusing on his artistry, calling upon his upbringing, love of art and respect for the military.
After he graduated from the old Rocky Mountain School of Art, he helped found the multi-institutional Auraria Campus, where he taught art, Southwest history and art history. His platform and influence would help him become a well-known Chicano artist throughout the Southwest.
“Some of my sculpture work is related to Indians in the Southwest. I’ve gotten a lot of Mexican portraits and studies that I’ve done,” he says. “I even wrote a manuscript about the history of Chicano music, which one day I hope to be published.”
Espinoza estimates that he has written 10 manuscripts, 2,000 songs and 10 poetry books. “That’s why my memory is active,” he says.
Throughout his career, Espinoza maintained a platform of using his art to give back to his Chicano and military communities.
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