Lorenzo Cassa.

Profile.

I was born in Phoenix Arizona in 1955 to Chester and Geneva Cassa Manuel and was raised on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. I am a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, of the "Red Jagged Rock Protruding Darkly" clan. The clan originated from one of the two main Apache groupings situated in the Southwestern United States. This group included the Aravaipas, Pinalenos, Coyoteros, White Mountain and Tonto Apaches. and other local bands. These groups are situated on what is now the San Carlos and Fort Apache Indian Reservations in east central Arizona and the smaller Tonto Apache Indian 
Reservation near Payson Arizona.

After learning of my artistic ability at a young age, I began to sketch objects around my environment, not often but it gave me an interest. I created drawings of people and native characters. My art education includes studies in Junior High, High School and College. In 1976, I enrolled at the Institute 
of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe New Mexico and received an Associate of Fine Arts Degree in 1978. I continued studies in two-dimensional design at the Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta Georgia. I attended courses in Wildlife and Business Management at the Gila Pueblo College and the University of Phoenix in Arizona. "Before I start a new painting, I go into prayer and ask for guidance and the path I should undertake for that particular project. Every painting is a personal spiritual journey for me, in that by continually embracing the initial inspiration of a depiction given me, my mental sense of purpose to my objective remains intact, thereby not misguided by outside influences unsupportive or irrelevant to the overall statement of my image for integrity and innocence.

I am always overwhelmed and rewarded by the potency of my passion for realistic rendering, seen in the people’s faces, mesmerized after viewing my paintings as it beckoned them into the story they interpreted. I want to let my art speak for itself in however way it appeases or transcends the viewer from the pressures 
of life to a peaceful state of mind, while captured to the moment in time depicted. I think that is an ability few artists are able to attain. I love this painting from the heart where my models are reverted to the traditional history of the daily task of Apache survival without the bells and whistles. Of course that makes me an eccentric artist when it comes to what many define today as two dimensional Native American fine art, but I would have it no other way. "

"The grandeur of two dimensional design is how unique you can duplicate an original, painted only by God."

All of the art displayed here is available in gallery wrapped limited edition giclée on canvas prints. If you are interested in buying the original, Please visit my website and see more, by clicking on the icon below

This page was created for Universal Love ©2009 with the kind permission of Lorenzo Cassa. All rights reserved.