Historical Highlight: Hector and Carol Garcia, Love and a Life in the Arts

Sue Slick, Collection Information Specialist

From 1966 to 1997, Hector Garcia was an instructor of sculpture and drawing at the Fort Wayne Art School, which was merged with the School of Fine Arts; Indiana University – Purdue University (IPFW) in 1976. In addition to his long career as an art professor, Garcia was known for his public art and commissioned work throughout the city. One of his most recognized public sculptures is the monumental figure of Little Turtle in Headwaters Park, dedicated in 1976. His public works also include the Jesuit Priest, 1974, and a bust of John Nuckols, 1985, Fort Wayne’s first African American city councilman. Garcia’s The Good Shepherd plaque, 2009, adorns the entrance of the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission and a sculptural tribute to K9 police officers is in a place of honor at the Fort Wayne Police Department. Garcia also produced numerous medals, plaques, awards and portrait busts.

When Hector Garcia passed in his sleep at 91 on March 28, 2024, Fort Wayne lost an icon, “a quiet warrior for the arts in the community”.  It’s nearly impossible to describe all that Garcia contributed to his community, and to his students, colleagues and family. He spent his life in a continuous cycle of learning and teaching and creating. The learning and the teaching were not just art-centric but eclectic, spiritual and philosophical.  Garcia liked to embed life lessons into his sculpture and life drawing classes and into conversations with his students over the several decades he spent as an educator. His children attest to their father’s nature to lead, guide and set an example of disciplined hard work.  

Passport photographs of Hector Garcia and Carol Yattaw, circa 1957. Courtesy of the Garcia family.

What many do not know about the Garcia family is that Hector became part of a dynamic creative team when he married the talented, determined and hard-working artist, Carol Yattaw. The two met while in undergraduate school at the John Herron Institute of Art, Indianapolis in 1953.

Though Carol and Hector were raised worlds apart they were surprisingly alike. Both had a singular drive to create art, both were tough-minded and disciplined. Neither would take any foolishness from anybody. They both brought with them qualities and strengths acquired from family experiences that were not always ideal but were founded in compassion and strong family ties. These sensibilities made their partnership work for the nearly 70 years of their lives together – the boy from the Bronx and the girl from Anderson, Indiana. Together they created art and their family in a home imbued with beauty, creativity, learning, and a sensitivity to humanity.

Hector, born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, lived on Kelly Street in a Puerto Rican neighborhood set between Jewish and Irish neighborhoods.  When Hector was about three, an only child his parents split. As his mother strove to get her feet back on the ground after the divorce, she and her young son lived with family both in New York and Puerto Rico. One of Hector’s early memories of life in his grandmother’s Puerto Rican home was making small wax figures of soldiers and other characters from her storm candles and matchsticks. Even as a small child, his fascination with sculpting the human figure was apparent.

Hector’s mother returned to the Bronx with her son when he was still in grade school where he was held back because of language challenges after spending early childhood years in Puerto Rico. There were other challenges that worried his mother though.  Hector was getting old enough to begin encountering gang kids from the neighborhoods around his home.  The last straw for his mother may have been when Hector began tinkering with making zip guns to appease gang kids who wanted to recruit him. His mom swallowed her pride and called Hector’s dad and second wife in Indianapolis to ask if they would take him in, thinking they could offer a more stable living situation than she could in New York.  Cocky young Hector met his match when he moved into his father and stepmother’s home in Indianapolis. Hector’s stepmother was a tough, diminutive woman of Irish descent who ran her household with a strict hand. When he tried some Bronx back-talk on her, it did not go over well. He straightened up.

His mother’s eventual marriage provided stepsiblings as did his dad’s new family in Indiana, extending the family bonds that were central to his life. The stability of a strong family structure wasn’t the only thing that grounded Hector. He had begun taking art classes for high school students at Herron; they set him on his lifelong path which also brought him face to face with Carol Yattaw, a stunning young Hoosier with her own artistic interests.

Hector and Carol’s son, Piero, told me that his mother always drew and painted. Like Hector, Carol had an innate affinity for making art as a young child. Both of his parents won awards for their artwork when they were kids, both won Scholastics wards, and Carol won prizes in poster contests. Born on Christmas Day, 1934, she was raised in Anderson, Indiana, a small city northeast of Indianapolis. Carol was an only child whose dad was a union steel worker, often away from home traveling by train throughout the region following the work. His wife and young daughter were left on their own much of the time and the long absences took their toll, the marriage failed when Carol was very young. Carol’s mother supported her daughter and herself by working in the ladies’ lingerie department at the Fair Department Store in downtown Anderson.

The Herron Institute of Art indelibly altered the lives of Hector and Carol as young adults both drawn to formal art education. Each enrolled in the 5-year BFA program, Carol from 1953 to 1958. Hector, who entered Herron on a scholarship, attended from 1952 to1957.

Hector’s interest in the lovely Carol was sparked one day at Herron while he was hanging out with some classmates in the hallway. As their beautiful tall classmate passed the admiring boys, Hector’s friendly flirtation was ignored, and she waltzed by without acknowledging the smitten young artist.

A disappointing moment, but Hector’s hopes were not dashed nor was he thrown off of his academic course, and in time he would win Carol’s heart. For five years Hector applied himself diligently to sculpture studies under the guidance of David Rubins who was head of the sculpture department for nearly half a century. One of several awards Hector earned while at Herron was for three months of study in Mexico.  His highest honor came as his fourth year closed, Hector was awarded the Mary Milliken Memorial Scholarship, an award established in 1929 for an outstanding student, graduate or instructor to travel at least 500 miles from Indianapolis to pursue art studies. Always an admirer of skilled drawing, part of Hector’s journey across Europe included travels to Germany to visit Albrecht Dürer’s home. 

Carol, equally diligent, had applied herself in painting and mural design, studying under Garo Antreasian.  During her third year of study, she won a commission via third -year student competition for a large mural to be created at the new headquarters of the Bryant Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis. She had also been commissioned, while a student, to create a large wall piece for a gallery in Chesterfield, Indiana. Her outstanding work was recognized again in her fourth year. Carol won the Milliken award the year after Hector won. She planned her travels around the Dutch Masters and exploring European folk art which she had a lifelong interest in. Her two-month itinerary lists a whirlwind of European cities and sites. And by then Hector and Carol were sweethearts. A Western Union cablegram she received in London on June 29, 1958 reads:

DEAREST WELCOME TO LONDON I HOPE ALL IS WELL REGARDS FROM HOME MISSING YOU MUCH LOVE YOU

HECTOR

Carol Yattaw working on the Bryant Manufacturing Company mural, Indianapolis, Indiana, and a reproduction of the mural on the cover of a Bryant brochure. Circa 1956. Image courtesy of the Garcia family.

Carol and Hector were married on January 3, 1959, in Indianapolis and moved to Dubuque, Iowa almost immediately where Hector had taken a job teaching drawing and sculpture at Clarke College.  Their two sons, Piero and Carlo were born while they were in Iowa. Carol continued to paint as time allowed. She loved the beauty of the lush rural landscape and the Americana flavor of the town’s architecture. Hector earned several commission projects during these years as a young father. His largest project was for the renovation of the Sauk County (Wisconsin) Courthouse in Baraboo – eight large relief panels portraying the history of the area.

When the commissions wrapped up and the teaching stint at Clarke came to a close Hector entered graduate school at Indiana University. His family lived in a trailer until graduate student family housing opened up in a modified former barracks building. He delivered milk for the local dairy to make ends meet. His MFA, completed in 1966, brought offers from a college in Hawaii, the General Motors design operations in Detroit, and also from the Fort Wayne Art School.  Hector and Carol chose Fort Wayne for the good of the family and because, “they needed a sculptor”. Hector taught sculpture and life drawing for over 30 years through the transition from the Fort Wayne Art School to the IPFW Department of Fine Arts. Carol taught night classes in watercolor and also worked on commissions around the city including stained glass designs for local churches. Her passion for theatre was fulfilled by years of work in costume and set design as a member of the Civic Theater Guild supporting the Fort Wayne Civic Theater. A collaboration between Hector and Carol produced the altar pieces, ornaments and stained glass panels in the sanctuary of the Gethsemane Lutheran Church on the north side of Fort Wayne. They also collaborated on a dance performance, Sonnets, produced by the Fort Wayne Dance Theatre and the Fort Wayne Ballet in 1979. Carol designed the costumes and Hector produced large sculptures that were the set pieces the dancers interacted with.

Throughout their long marriage, Hector and Carol continued to be independent in their own creative work while also acting as supportive sounding boards to each other. Hector said Carol was his best critic, the only one he would ever take seriously because she had no qualms telling him when a piece wasn’t quite working.

Carol passed on December 5, 2022, after her seven-decade romance with the kid from the Bronx. Hector followed her on March 28, 2024. Theirs was a love story dedicated to art, family, and community and both are dearly missed by many.