Handmade gifts become artistic expression for Joel Fraga

Joel (pronounced Jo-elle) Fraga has a history, but doesn’t want to elaborate.

“Basically I’m not ready to start writing the final chapter on my road to perdition. I guess instead of talking about it, I want to be about it,” he said. He is downsizing and starting fresh, utilizing the simplest of tools, scissors, a glue gun and aluminum cans, to create single roses, a blooming plant, fish, a matador and bull, or a woman fighting her demon.

The latter, Fraga said, is more in the direction that he wants to move into. It depicts a woman whose hair streams behind her. She is pulling, or pulling away from, a smaller woman. It is a definite struggle and full of angst. “Eventually, after refining this medium that I’m working in, I do want it to reflect some of the pain and struggles that many people endure,” he said.

The flowers are delicate in contrast to what they are made of: tin cans that are abundant in landfills and on city streets. Fraga’s bull and matador are made from cans that once contained energy drinks, adding to the forceful nature of the sport.

Fraga was born in Mexico. When he was 5, Fraga, his mother, father and seven siblings immigrated to Kennewick in 1970, where his mother nurtured his creative side, allowing him to try new things from crayons to the guitar to building things out of other things. His older sisters were artistic and influential. His father, legally blind since birth, a hard worker and successful tax preparation business owner, has been an inspiration. Fraga worked in sales and marketing, had three children, and ended up in Spokane less than a year ago.

He began his can creations a few years ago. “It was a mix of creativity and competition,” he said, “We have a large family and exchange handmade gifts. I tried to make the best.” He saw that creating his sculptures helped him focus and relieved stress. “I keep refining it and getting better,” he said.

He calls his work Pop Culture, referring to the medium as well as the symbolic nature of the medium, representing just one of a culture’s addictions.

Fraga has been posting his work online and has received good feedback. He will display some of his pieces at City Perk, a coffee spot in the Spokane Transit Authority Plaza. He plans on working on a much larger scale in the near future. “A commission would be good,” he said. He is currently working on everlasting Mother’s Day bouquets.