Jonathon Garza’s Vision of Nature and Memory: “Regeneration”

Jonathon C. Garza is an admirer of the everyday nature in our world. His Regeneration, a Master of Fine Arts Thesis exhibition, reflects this appreciation through richly layered compositions that echo the organic beauty of nature.

As a young child, Garza and his grandfather maintained a garden at his grandfather’s home in Corpus Christi — a home that Garza now owns. In Regeneration, Garza transports viewers from the Weil Gallery at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi into his own garden, which he continues to cultivate at that very home today.

In Fall, Garza conveys the energetic frenzy of a firebush. To create the intense density of these bushes in his season paintings, he layers acrylic paint and screenprint ink onto approximately seven-foot-tall, four-foot-wide canvases. He starts by rolling on a base layer of acrylic paint. Once the base dries, he places the canvases on the floor, working on his hands and knees to apply multiple layers of screenprint ink. After the ink dries, Garza places the canvas back upright and continues adding layers of acrylic paint over several weeks. Throughout this process, he negotiates leaves, flowers, dark spaces, and light with time. The result of this layering is an intricate jungle of light and shadow.

One of Garza’s artistic inspirations is Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Like Monet, he maintains a garden at home. He draws inspiration from its fleeting changes, experimenting with light and form on canvas.

Garza’s season paintings, like Fall, encourage viewer participation. He invites people to stand in front of the artwork and contemplate their own spiritual relationship with nature. In a one-on-one interview, he states that his season paintings represent “the layers of duality within ourselves. I don’t only think about the physicality of the garden. I also think of the garden as a spiritual place in my soul.” This duality — between the tangible and the spiritual — runs through all of Regeneration.

Spring depicts the liveliness of a firebush in bloom. Clusters of red tubular flowers punctuate the composition, guiding the eye through bursts of warm color. Our vantage point is within the bush, surrounded by its dense foliage, like a bug nestled among its branches. Unlike Fall, which immerses viewers in an untamed, layered chaos, Spring employs oil and acrylic paint over ink layers, rather than using only acrylic. This technique allows leaves and flowers to emerge distinctly, making the composition more immediately legible. This shift in clarity mirrors the seasonal transformation itself: a movement from fall’s dormancy and disorder into spring’s renewal and growth.

On a humid spring day in South Texas, with the heaviness of the air, the scent of damp soil, and the distant hum of cicadas, you might find an unexpected companion in your yard — a toad. While many might shoo toads away, Garza welcomes these creatures, intentionally leaving small refuges for them to inhabit, such as gloves and buckets. He immortalizes these amphibians with Found Gloves with Toad, transforming an ordinary encounter into a lasting tribute to the delicate, intertwined relationship between humans and nature. In doing so, Garza reminds us of our quiet power to shape and nurture the environment around us. 

Regeneration reflects both the past and the present, bridging memory and renewal. Through his thoughtful blending of media, Garza invites viewers to engage with his work on a deeply personal level. For those in the Corpus Christi area, I highly recommend taking a moment to experience his art — step into his world, ponder nature, and perhaps see it anew.

 

Regeneration is on display at the Weil Gallery at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi until March 29, 2025.