By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
Rolando Diaz, ACU alum and accomplished artist, began Wednesday’s Chapel service with a blank piece of paper.
While a vocal group from Central Dallas Ministries, joined by George Pendergrass, director of the Office for Multicultural Enrichment, sang select negro spirituals, Diaz painted.
In 30 minutes, he used oil paints, oil sticks, chalk and charcoal to create a work that will sell for $5,000.
The money will go with an ACU Spring Break Campaign to Mexico City, where it will benefit children with HIV.
Dulce Vidana, co-leader of the SBC to Mexico City and junior management major from Mexico, saw the serious needs of children there with HIV this past summer.
“I just walked around the streets, seeing orphanages everywhere, thinking, ‘I really need to do something,'” she said.
Pendergrass initially called Diaz to arrange for the vocal group to sing in Chapel in honor of Black History Month.
Diaz didn’t hesitate to offer his services, suggesting that he sell what he would paint and use the money wherever it was needed. Pendergrass told Diaz about the campaign to Mexico. Diaz enrolled at ACU in 1974 but had to take more than a year off to work and save up enough money to finish paying for school. He graduated in ’81 but still considers himself a member of the class of ’79.
After graduation, Diaz worked at Eastern Airlines for eight and a half years, Advanced Metering Infrastructure investments for a few and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit for five.
Through all of this, he never stopped painting; he just filed all of his work away.
There came a point, though, when Diaz tired of stacked paintings and jobs he had no passion for.
“I had to just say, ‘I’m not doing this anymore,'” he said. After his fifth year with DART, he left the workplace to pursue art professionally. He has lived and worked in downtown Dallas for the last 17 years.
Diaz and friend Seth Simmons started a show they named “Euforia.” The performance, typically an hour to an hour and a half in duration, consists of Simmons, an accomplished
pianist and composer, playing on stage while Diaz paints an original work.
“We truly feed off each other on stage. It is not a commercial atmosphere,” Diaz said.
Diaz understands that many might wonder how a piece completed in 30 minutes, like the one painted in Chapel, could be worth its $5,000 price tag.
“It takes more than 20 minutes; it takes an incredible amount of knowledge, confidence and most importantly, time,” Rolando said. “I’ve been painting for a long time, much longer than I’ve been painting on a stage. When they watch me, I want people to be able to see and appreciate the progression of an artist.”
