Jose Rey Toledo

Although Jose Rey Toledo was born at Jemez pueblo, Toledo's mother was from Zia pueblo. Artistically inclined from an early age, the young artist drew on whatever surface was available. Later he decorated his mother's Zia pottery. Following high school he moved to Santa Fe to live with his uncle, Zia painter Velino Shije Herrera. Herrera proved to be a wonderful influence for his talented young nephew.

After painting for the WPA from 1939-1942, Toledo won his first major art award in 1947 when he won the grand prize at the Annual Indian Painting exhibition at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Later Toledo taught art at the Santa Fe Indian School (1949-1956). He attended the Albuquerque Indian School in the 1930s, then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico. In 1965 he received his MA in Art education at the University of New Mexico and a second MA in comprehensive health planning from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972.

Late in life Toledo augmented his art making activities, appearing as an actor in 11 films including Flap, The Man and the City, Bobby Joe and the Outlaws, The Legend of the Lone Ranger and Nightwing.