1. By Mike Salbato
Trinidad State
McIntosh set to
join Lady Trojans
Trinidad State Junior
College Softball Coach Steve
Swazo is proud to announce
the signing of Tashena Mc-
Intosh, an infielder from
Canon City High School.
McIntosh hit .531 her senior
year with 25 hits, 34 RBIs
and four homeruns. She
also played summer ball for
the Colorado Springs Aqua-
sox organization.
“Tashena will provide us
some additional power and
will challenge for the vacant
spot at third base since we
graduate a sophomore at
that position after this sea-
son,” Swazo said. “She is a
hard worker and a good stu-
dent. I believe she will be
up for the challenge here at
Trinidad State.”
During her senior year,
McIntosh was a 4-year let-
ter winner, was named sec-
ond team all-conference in
2012, and first team all-con-
ference in 2014. She was a
Senior All-Star selection for
her conference and was se-
lected by her teammates as
the Offensive Player of the
Year. She is the daughter of
Tom and Billie McIntosh.
Middle Infielder
signs with TSJC
Trinidad State Junior
College Softball Coach Steve
Swazo is proud to announce
the signing of middle in-
fielder Jaunita Gallegos of
Pueblo Central High School.
Gallegos was this year’s de-
fensive MVP and received
All-State and All-Conference
honors.
“Juanita is a player that
will come in and challenge
for a spot defensively right
away. She has a great glove
and moves very well side to
side,” Swazo said. “One area
of improvement will be to
make her a more consistent
hitter and we are confident
we can make that happen.”
As a senior, Gallegos hit
.302 with 32 hits and 16 RBIs.
She is the daughter of Ver-
non and Paula Gallegos.
Muniz set to play
softball for TSJC
Trinidad State Junior
College Softball Coach Steve
Swazo is proud to announce
the signing of first baseman
Olivia Muniz from Westmin-
ster High School in Denver.
Muniz is coming off a senior
year in which she hit .552
with 29 hits and 37 RBIs. She
also hit four homeruns.
“Olivia is a great student
and will get better in the
two years she will play for
us here at Trinidad State,”
coach Swazo said. “She has
a great bat and this past year
showed that she can also hit
the long ball. We are looking
forward to having her as part
of our team for next fall.”
Muniz was also a 4-year
letter-winner and was First-
Team All-Conference her
sophomore, junior and se-
nior years. She has a 4.2 GPA
at Westminster. She is the
daughter of Christopher and
Rebecca Muniz.
Page 6 Monday, January 19, 2015 The Chronicle-News Trinidad, Colorado
earned acknowledgement as one the great
masters of line drawing working in the
United states today. Boulden talked about
how Sawa goes about his creative business.
“He does the abstracts on the computer,
but it wouldn’t be right to call it computer
generated, because the
computer doesn’t cre-
ate it, he does,” Boulden
said. “He just uses the
computer as his palette,
his canvas. He draws it
all into the computer,
and then we bought a
big, professional giclee
printer, so that we can
do the large printing
ourselves. You’ll see
that used a lot where
people do an oil paint-
ing or watercolor paint-
ing and then they’ll do
a photograph of it, and
they’ll do a lot of copies
on canvas and on paper.
The gicleéée is the type
of printer they use. He
will create it in the com-
puter and then we print
it out, so we can get the
colors just right. We also do our own fram-
ing.”
They use a special, pre-coated photo-
graphic paper that prevents the lines from
running, and has little reflection. Sawa
puts 400 to 600 hours of painstaking work
into just one of his abstracts, with a level of
detail that is simply incredible. They pro-
duce about 20 reproductions of each image
that Sawa produces, with each image being
considered an original artwork.
“The best way I can describe is as a 21st
Century lithograph, where every piece of it
is done by the artist and each one is con-
sidered an original,” Boulden said. “That
way we can bring the price down to where
people can afford the paintings. He’s also
started doing his traditional figures in the
computer and printing them on paper. We
keep them at a smaller size and do a limited
edition of 100 on those. Framed right now,
they’re running at about $250, if they can’t
afford the larger ones. With his abstracts,
I’ve had other gallery owners tell me that
they thought Fumio was among the top five
percent of artists working in the United
States, because he’s breaking new ground
that nobody else is doing.”
Boulden said Sawa’s work can grab
a viewer from clear across a gallery, and
many times different viewers interpret
the meaning of the same piece of artwork
in different ways. He told the story of a
woman who gazed in wonder at one the
artworks for a long time, and then said the
abstract work was a near-perfect image of
her mother’s life. He’s often surprised and
sometimes mystified by the viewer’s reac-
tions to Sawa’s work. Each image speaks
to the viewer, and the
image is more strik-
ing the closer a viewer
gets to it. He said Sawa
could be creating the
image in his mind that
he wants to produce
with his computer-
based line drawing.
“He can be listening
to music, or be outside
listening to the wind
blow, but I know that
in his mind he’s creat-
ing his next piece of
artwork. He plays clas-
sical piano music and
he’s constantly creat-
ing, and he sees these
in his head before he
puts them together.”
Sawa took private
line drawing lessons
for many years from
Michael Thornton, who also now lives in
Trinidad. Boulden said the two men bond-
ed as closely as brothers through their
shared interest in creating beautiful art
works.
Another key element in the new gallery
will be artistic glassworks from the Victo-
rian period, which will be used to highlight
Sawa’s futuristic line drawings. Other art-
ists will also be invited to share the gallery
space during special exhibits.
Sawa and Boulden hooked up in Kansas
City, Mo., where Boulden worked for the
University of Missouri at Kansas City, and
they co-owned an art gallery there for sev-
eral years. The both fell in love with Trini-
dad on a visit here and decided to move
their lives here and open a new art gallery.
The long commutes from Kansas City to
Trinidad are now mostly over. Boulden is
the new executive director of the Trinidad-
Las Animas County Economic Develop-
ment organization. They’re both delighted
to be a part of the burgeoning arts commu-
nity in their new mountain home. They
said they’re both looking forward to that
golden day when the Fumio Sawa Fine Art
gallery is ready to open its doors to the art-
loving public.
“We’re very excited to be this close to
opening our new gallery,” Sawa said. “It’s
wonderful to be a part of the Trinidad arts
community.”
... Continued from Page 1
Fumio Sawa Fine Art
Photo courtesy TSJC
Tashena McIntosh signs her letter of intent.
Photo courtesy TSJC
Juanita Gallegos signs her letter of intent.
Steve Block / The Chronicle-News
Fumio Sawa
Photo courtesy TSJC
Olivia Muniz signs her letter of intent.
COLLEGE RECRUITING
TSJC Softball names
trio of prep signees
SPORTS&ART
Artwork courtesy Fumio Sawa and www.fumiosawafineart.com
A selection of Fumio Sawa’s abstract artwork which can be viewed at www.fumiosawafineart.com.