An artist can find beauty in the unexpected -- and come up with a poetic title to match.
“Champagne Horses,” Sandra Esparza said, referring to a canvas in her home splotched in purple, orange, yellow and white. “It always had a lot of movement, but it’s like you can feel the champagne now.”
Esparza is married to an accomplished artist, Henry Esparza.
“He wanted to be known as an artist, and he would sacrifice everything for the art,” Sandra Esparza said. “His knowledge of music, poetry, art – for me, it was like 34-35-year education."
Sandra Esparza is now the caretaker of her husband’s life work.
“This is a finished piece here,” Sandra said, walking through Henry Esparza's basement studio at their Parker home. “Those three are all complete. They’re beautiful pieces.”
Sandra Esparza stopped at three pieces laid on the studio floor.
“I actually haven’t touched or moved these pieces yet,” she said. “I just have left them where they were.”
Sandra Esparza is surrounded by unfinished work. There’s so much of it. And it’s difficult. Sandra Esparza lost her husband in May.
“It was a sudden occurrence,” Sandra Esparza said. “He had a disease called Arterialvenous malformation that we had no idea that he had.”
Sandra Esparza described it as a malformation of the arteries and veins in the brain. In the days that followed Henry Esparza's death, Sandra Esparza came up with the idea for the paintbrushes. She put them in vases around the home.
“They can be my flowers,” Sandra Esparza said.
Sandra Esparza didn’t have to think about what to do with her husband's art. She already knew.
“All I could think about is, 'What am I going to do for him?'” she said.
Sandra Esparza worked with Bitfactory Gallery in Denver to put together a final exhibition of Henry Esparza’s finest work.
“This one I really just want to get Henry’s art out there,” said gallery owner, Bill Thomason.
Thomason visited the Esparza’s home and selected 32 pieces.
“Their basement and two guest rooms and I think a master suite is just full of stuff,” Thomason said.
On Sept. 21, Bitfactory presented Henry Esparza’s work for a solo show titled, “Remember Every Bird.”
Thomason shuffled around shows and moved up the date of the exhibition. Timing meant everything to Sandra Esparza.
“What she’s dealing with and to be able to keep going and still have the drive to try to get [Henry’s] artistic vision out there is just – blows me away,” Thomason said.
Last May, Sandra Esparza discovered she had a brain tumor. She had extensive brain surgery, and she went through radiation and chemo twice.
“Lost my husband and three weeks later was told, 'Nothing’s working.'” she said.
Sandra Esparza gave up on treatment, but not her purpose or her promise to her husband.
“I said, ‘I just want to honor him and pay tribute to him,’” Sandra Esparza said. “That’s all I want.”
Henry Esparza's finished work went to the gallery. His unfinished work went to the classroom.
“[These] are collage materials that he left over,” Mark Hollenbeck said.
The art teacher set the moving box of materials on a work table.
“In the brown box, he has some ribbons,” Hollenbeck said, showing off the rest of the contents.
Sandra Esparza donated Henry Esparza's art supplies and many of his unfinished pieces to Hollenbeck’s Art Academy class at Lutheran High School in Parker.
“I thought it was the perfect thing for the Art Academy students,” Hollenbeck said.
Sandra Esparza also gifted an idea. An idea for an assignment that may have terrified some of the students new to abstract art.
“Yeah! So scary!” said senior Ashley Larson.
The assignment? Finish the pieces Henry Esparza started.
“I really had to step into the shoes of someone else,” said senior Sabrina Moskoe. “I think by doing this, I really like found a personal – a more personal connection with Henry.”
Moskoe and her fellow classmates spent a couple months completing Henry’s paintings in their own style.
“It took me two months to do this tiny, little thing!” said Adam Ballou, a senior photography student.
“I think I went through a lot of the same emotions that the students did," Hollenbeck said.
The students researched Henry’s Esparza’s life and incorporated themes from his work, like nature, stillness and beauty. A terrifying project became a tribute well-worth the struggle.
On Sept. 26, students invited Sandra to their school for an unveiling of the artwork they helped complete. Each of the students met with Sandra Esparza and spoke to her about their piece.
“I’m incredibly honored by the students and how they took ownership of the project – how they embraced themselves in learning about Henry,” Sandra Esparza said. “I’m very touched by it. I’m very humbled by it, as Henry would be.”
The lesson students learned is now an artist’s legacy. Even in loss, there’s beauty left behind.