Nearly everyone who has grown upalong the border region has played orhas seen the Mexican bingo-style

game of lotería.The game is often a fixture of birthdayparties and church bazaars, and in schoolsas an interactive way to teach basicSpanish words. But more recently, loteríahas become an art form, with artists creat-ing lotería sets with themes ranging fromStar Wars to Día de los Muertos, as well asEl Paso landmarks.It’s even become a major fundraisertheme for Creative Kids, and oneactivist/artist has even created a “Votería”version to spur political involvement.The game may have been around for cen-turies, but today there are more opportuni-ties than ever to shout “Lotería!”

A brief history of loteríaLotería (Spanish for lottery) has beentraced back as far as the 15th century inItaly, but made its way over to Mexico inthe 1700s. To make the game more chal-lenging the caller may give a riddle orsmall poem instead of reading or showingthe card.For example, instead of saying “El gallo(the rooster), the call may mention “onething that sang for St. Peter and will neversing for him again.” The most recognizable images that manypeople still play is the “Don ClementeGallo” version designed by a French busi-nessman who came to Mexico in the man-ufacturing business (including food pack-aging designs) in 1887. Several other ver-sions have been created as well, althoughnot as well known. The Don Clemente Gallo images are fea-tured on everything from notebooks toclothing, and the Don Clemente lotería setcan still be purchased for around $10 orless.

The Catholic Church even came up withtheir own designs, featuring traditionalCatholic images, in the 1960s.In El Paso, lotería sets range from inex-

pensive sets for all ages, to more collectorworthy sets by local artists.Anne Hussmann Mitchell, owner of the

“So El Paso” store in Kern Place, carriessets ranging from traditional lotería for justunder $5 to custom “El Paso” sets by artistCandy Mayer for $28. Mitchell said theysell quite of bit of both sets, and haverecently begun carrying Mayer’s “Day ofthe Dead” set.“A lot of people buy Candy’s, and framethe individual cards as gifts for peopleleaving El Paso or for people who grew uphere,” Mitchell said.Mitchell said not as many younger kidsin the area know what lotería is, whichwas always a mainstay for many adultswho grew up in the area.“Heck, we always played in school withthe pinto beans but I guess they don’t dothat anymore,” she said. “Maybe the cardsare not politically correct. Maybe becausethey don’t teach a language until highschool. Who knows?”She joked the game was so popular, someadult customers have told her they haveeven made it into a drinking game.“We also have people say they playlotería with shots of alcohol,” she said. “Ifyour picture is called, you have to drink.We didn’t play that one in school, though.”For area artists, the lotería game is morethan just a party game; it is wealth ofinspiration for original works.Two El Paso artists who have been get-ting much attention for their lotería workinclude Roman Martinez’s “Estar Guars”and Mayer’s two sets of lotería cards,“Lotería El Paso” and “Lotería Día de losMuertos.”

El Paso and Día de los MuertosThe first set she created, “Lotería ElPaso,” features images from her popularseries of buildings and landmark designs.“You need to have at least 50 images tomake the game playable,” she said. Aftershe did all the preliminary design workherself on the playing cards, she tappedinto the talent of Mark Fernandez ofZephyr Works Photography for the com-puter work on the game boards, makingthem look professional. “When I first did the El Paso Lotería, itwas an original collage using 16 images ofEl Paso,” she said. “I used 5” x 7” printson a large canvas and was going to use thecollage to makeprints. I saw hownice it lookedand decided toprint the games,after checkingwith CrossroadsPrinting to makesure it was finan-cially feasible. Ihad more thanenough El Pasoimages to choosefrom, so it wasjust a matter ofdeciding which ones.”The idea for the second set came as shewas working out-of-town arts and craftsshows, and she realized the market for anon-El Paso related game. She already hadpainted a variety of Día de los Muertosimages and was selling those prints, so thatseemed like a natural next step.“So, a year later, I designed the Díade losMuertos game,” Mayer said. “I love thebright colors and the whimsical nature ofthose images, and again, I had lots ofimages in that theme.”

These cards are popular souvenir items atlocal galleries and gift shops such as TheMarketplace at Placita Santa Fe,Collectibles, So El Paso, Hal MarcusGallery, Magoffin Home, Museum ofHistory, and Cattleman’s in Fabens.Having grown up in Iowa, Mayer neverplayed the game as a child, but learnedabout it in her Spanish classes. When shemoved to El Paso, she began using theimages in her collages.She said she has been very pleased withthe response toward her lotería games.Sometimes at shows, she even puts out agame for people of all ages to play.“Many of the games go to family andfriends who no longer live in El Paso, butstill want reminders of the area,” Mayersaid. “Many people tell me that they getout the games at family gatherings, that ithas become a tradition for them. Teachershave bought them for their classrooms.”

Martinez’s ‘Estar Guars’Artist Roman Martinez has given createda market for his own “Estar Guars” loteríainspired by some of the most iconic char-acters in pop culture, Star Wars.Martinez (who’s also a sales associate forEl Paso Scene) said he had seen otherartists doingtheir own ver-sions of lotería,and decided totry his versionout with 12designs.“I received areally goodresponse anddid 12 more andthen four more,”he said. “Being

El Paso Scene Page 21April 2018

The Art ofLotería

Please see Page 22

‘Mexican bingo’ has become its own art form in El Paso Story by Lisa Kay Tate

Creative Kids’ oLotería playing cards Above: “Votería” by Rogelio Lozano

Left: “Estar Guars” (Star Wars) by Roman Martinez

more than half way of the 54 designs for anormal set I decided, why not?”Martinez’s sets not only sell well

through area shops and artist markets, andhe also leads Estar Guars lotería games atfandom events such as Alamo Drafthousemovie screenings. He said the hardest parthas been coming up with names that fit thecharacters, and making sure the referencesjust feel right. He said his wife and cousinhelped him with that part. “I always picked the Star Wars charactersover adhering to the original names of thegame when picking names,” Martinez said.He admitted it is hard to pick a favorite,but one would be “El Frijolero,” an imageof Cassian Andor (portrayed by DiegoLuna) from “Rogue One” is a personalfavorite of his for what he represents in theStar Wars universe. Other favorites include“El Chupacabra,” (a wampa) “El Cucuy,”(a rancor) “La Llorona,” (Asajj Ventress)“La Canija” (Ahsoka Tano) and “la Paleta”(Han Solo in carbonite) because they are“just a lot of fun.”As a huge fan of all the Star Warsmovies, Martinez said it has been nice tosee such an enthusiastic response from allthe fans that appreciate the work and thelove he put into it.“Some of my favorite responses are see-ing the fans of both the game and moviesas they laugh at the names given to the dif-ferent characters,” he said. “I’ve heard onmultiple occasions that seeing the cardswas the hardest that they had laughed in along time.”

Playing lotería is a childhood memory ofmany area residents, but Martinez said hedidn’t play the game until a lot later in life.Working on the set, however, stirred upplenty of memories of the franchise thatinspired his set.“I vividly remember my dad taking me tothe drive-in in Dallas as a 4 year old andsitting in the seat in the back of a 1977Subaru Bratt,” Martinez said. “I thoughtthe screen was a giant magnifying glassand we were watching it in real time. Thefact that the airport was behind the drive-inhelped sell the idea that those were X-wings and Tie fighters flying in the dis-tance. I’ve been a fan ever since.”

Other local artistsMayer and Ramirez are among the grow-ing number of regional artists whoselotería-inspired images are as varied as thepersonalities and style of the artist them-selves.Lotería cards have been featured morethan once in the work of well-known bor-der region artist Francisco Romero. Bornin Juárez, Romero was influenced stylisti-cally by the works of Fernando Botero andDiego Rivera, and his art includes colorful,loving and often humorous depictions ofeveryday life in Mexico. One of his worksis even titled “La Lotería,” depicting awoman enthusiastically bicycling on herway to a game, with her lotería cards fly-ing from her shoulder bag.El Paso photographer Ruben Gomez,whose work is often seen at the DowntownArt and Farmers Market on Saturdays, aswell as at various local galleries and giftshops and events like Chalk The Block,has turned some of his favorite El Paso

images into alotería set, fea-turing photos inboth color andblack-and-whiteof sites fromChico’s Tacosto the GlobeMills Building.Even tradi-tional loteríaimages, such as those used in the “ElGallo” set, are used in coasters, cards andother handcrafted items from local arti-sans. Juice Martinez, who creates pop-cultureinspired pieces in vintage tattoo art style,said teaching a friend about the gamehelped give her ideas for her work, whichfeature characters from the animated series“Rick & Morty.”“Between having to explain what loteríawas to an out-of-town friend, and using ‘ElBorracho’ as an example, Rick Sanchezwas the first person that came to mind,”she said. “’You know ... a drunk like Rick(Sanchez) from Rick & Morty?’ I couldn’tpass up the pun for the art.”

Creative Kids’ oLoteríaThe lotería game is often incorporatedinto church fundraisers and kermeses, aswell as school carnivals and bazaars. Thegame has also been the purpose of “MeetUp” events including a weekly game nightat the taproom in Whole Foods Market lastsummer.El Paso non-profit arts organizationCreative Kids has built an entire fundrais-

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ing event aroundthe game, namedafter its oLoGallery.As an organiza-tion “dedicatedto providing ahigh-qualityyouth develop-ment programutilizing thevisual arts to empower youth,” one of thehighlights of the oLotería events is gettingto see the new, original game cards featur-ing art created by area youth.Creative Kids co-founder and ExecutiveDirector Andrea Gates-Ingle said the ideaof a night of lotería arose as a way dosomething a little different that just the tra-ditional “shopping night.” It has sincebecome the organization’s most popularfundraising event.“We feel like fundraisers sometimes canbecome stagnant so we decided to get ridof our ‘Shopping Night’ where we featuredproducts our kids designed that were forsale,” she said. “We kind of merged thatwith oLotería where we still have theproducts for sale but incorporated Mexicobingo with it. Since the name of thegallery is oLo, ‘oLoteria’ came naturallyand our most successful fundraiser wasborn.“I think (we always sell out) because it isa fun night where you are raising moneyfor a good cause and you can interact withyour friends and guests and don’t have tosit silent through a program, she said. “Wealso have really great prizes, such as a pairof Lucchese boots, a pair of SouthwestAirlines tickets and Creative Kids originalartwork.” In addition to return patrons, the idea ofthe lotería-centered fundraiser alwaysdraws new guests.“Every year we see new faces and peoplewho are genuinely interested in supportingour organization,” Gates-Ingle said. “It isfun to interact with them, give them a tourof the gallery and then watch everyonehave a really good time being competitiveto win.”This year’s oLotería is set for Friday,May 4 at the oLo Gallery, and celebratesthe 20th anniversary of Creative Kids.Tickets are available on the organization’swebsite.

‘Votería’ raises awarenessWhile some lotería games help to raisefunds for local causes, others help to raiseawareness for local issues.Artist Rogelio Lozano has created a seri-graph lotería set to encourage area resi-dents to become more engaged in thepolitical process.His standalone image “El Lagarto,”inspired by the alligator sculpture by LuisJimenez in San Jacinto Plaza, was origi-nally created as part of this set.“‘El Lagarto,’ was inspired by a projectthat was done with the Equal VoiceNetwork of El Paso,” Lozano said. “Theidea was to create a ‘Juego de Votería’ toplay and engage voters with public issueswith each illustration and card tying inwith a relevant issue in the community.”The “Votería” has been well received,

and the work hasbeen recognized andarchived in theLLILAS BensonLatin AmericanStudies andCollections in Austin.El Paso Equal VoiceNetwork weaverCemelli De Aztlanexplained the work ina recent article forthe site LatinoRebels, on how seeing familiar images inthe form of a nonthreatening game makesit easier for people to learn about differentissues affecting the area.“It’s like a lotería card, but each imageon the card of this game is a specific ElPaso issue,” De Aztlan said. “We playVotería with people, and it’s a way to getthem educated and invested on why theirvote matters.”Mostly, the idea of lotería is about fun,and the playful spirit of the game is some-thing every artist tries to capture in auniquely personal way.With the growing interest in this regionalfavorite, Martinez hopes to see even morein the future. Martinez encourages artiststo take on the creative challenge of makingtheir own sets. “Jump in and do it,” he said. “There’salways room for more lotería, but be sureit’s something you love and people willrespond to your passion.”

El Paso Scene Page 23April 2018

LoteríaCont’d from Page 22

El alacrán (scorpion)El apache (Apache)El arbol (tree)El arpa (harp)El Bandolon (mandolin)El barril (barrel)El borracho (drunkard)El camarón (shrimp)El cantarito (littlewater pitcher)El catrín (dandy)El cazo (saucepan)El corazón (heart)El Diablito (little devil)El gallo (rooster)El gorrito (little bonnet)El melón (melon)El mundo (world)El músico (musician)El negrito (black man)El nopal (prickly pear)El paraguas (umbrella)El parajo (bird)El pescado (fish)El pino (pine tree)El sol (sun)El soldadero (soldier)

El tambor (drum)El valiente (valiant man)El venado (deer)El violoncello (cello)La araña (spider)La bandera (flag)La bota (boot)La botella (bottle)La calavera (skull)La campana (bell)La chalupa (canoe)La corona (crown)La dama (lady)La escalera (ladder)La estrella (star)La garza (heron)La luna (moon)La maceta (flowerpot)La mano (hand)La muerte (death)La palma (palm tree)La pera (pear)La rana (frog)La rosa (rose)La sandia (watermelon)La sirena (mermaid)Las jaras (arrows)

The Original 54The traditional Lotería game uses DonClemente Jacques’s 54 images. Here’s aquick run-down of the original cards: