Artist Victor Hugo Zayas inducted into PHS Hall of Fame

Painter and sculptor Victor Hugo Zayas, Class of 1980, is one of two Poway High School alumni being inducted into the Poway High School Hall of Fame this year.

Zayas is being honored for his accomplishments in the arts.

Zayas said he is looking forward to attending the Hall of Fame recognition dinner on May 21, where he will be honored. “I’m very excited to be there,” he said. “Poway High was where I got my beginning (in art) and where I developed. I’m grateful for everything they did for me.”

Born and raised in Mazatlan, Mexico, Zayas moved with his family to Poway as a teenager. “I barely spoke English (when I moved to Poway). Everything was new. In Mazatlan, I lived two blocks from the beach. Even the weather was different here.”

Zayas said he assimilated easily to living in Poway, and enjoyed his time attending Poway High School. “My experience at Poway High was very positive. I took my first-ever art class there. I would love to find out who my art teacher was,” he said.

Though he didn’t take art classes until high school, Zayas has been drawing since he was very young. “I loved art, so I took a class. My first reaction was that’s what I love, so it’s natural to be pulled in (to take an elective art course).”

Following his time at Poway High, Zayas attended San Diego United States International University, where he was awarded a Robert Kanyon Memorial Scholarship to attend Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he earned his bachelor’s in fine arts in 1986.

From 1987 to 1993, Zayas taught at Loyola Marymount University, and in 2005, created the Maestro’s Fine Arts Program at LMU, underwritten by the Irvine Foundation, which took him into South Central Los Angeles to teach art. The program lasted for two years. “We gave services to a community that had never been exposed to art,” said Zayas. “It transformed my life.”

Zayas said he had hoped the program would last longer, but it ran out of funding. “It was a great experience, I was happy to do it,” he said.

While Zayas has lived and worked in Los Angeles for the past 20 years, he also works in Ensenada, Baja California, which honored him by naming him a commissioner of arts.

He has had over 60 exhibitions of his work and has done numerous public and private commissions in the United States and Mexico. One recent exhibition featured his paintings of the Los Angeles River.

Zayas is best known for his landscapes and cityscapes, according to a press release from the PHS Alumni Association.

The other alumni being honored this year is Marvell Wynne II, class of 2004, a professional soccer player.

The recognition dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 and will be held at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, 12280 Greens East Road. Tickets are $35 and include a buffet dinner and no-host bar. For tickets and more information, visit PHSHallofFame.eventbrite.com.