Artist Spotlight: Santos Barbosa

Santos Barbosa
‘Villagers Celebrating’ 8×12 acrylic on board

Santos Barbosa was born and raised in McAllen, Texas. He has resided in Tucson since the 1960’s. He has drawn sketches of people and places since he was a young man. While he has taken a few art classes as an adult, he is largely self taught. He honed and grew his skills as a fine artist while working as a sign painter for Pima County to support his family.  Through the years, his oil and acrylic paintings of cowboy and native American scenes, historical buildings, missions, stagecoaches and trains have developed a wide following. He won second place at the Phippen Show in Prescott in 1992. More recently, he won Best of Show at the Empire Ranch Show in 2011, the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum- Four Corners Gallery Show in 2015 and was honored as Friends of Western Art’s 2017 Artist of the Year.