making art downtown: a conversation with Pasco cafe owned Saul martinez
In the heart of Downtown Pasco lies a place where you can order a latte and leave with a new perception about what it means to create art. Owner Saul Martinez, art teacher and artist himself, has designed it that way.
Cafe Con Arte, was once a vacant building sitting right next to Peanuts Park, a flexible plaza and recent City investment. Every week, the plaza hosts the weekly farmers market, where hundreds of people buy and sell produce from eastern Washington's many farms. But during the week, it mirrors the rest of Downtown: it's a place that few choose to utilize, and some even avoid.
Framework's work to implement the Downtown Masterplan has been aimed at reversing this trend of inactivity through adaptive reuse of buildings, regular events, and better use of public space. Much of this work has been focused on updating codes and interpretations that create barriers. For example, when the Master Plan was adopted, a space like Saul's wasn't even legal — it took lifting parking requirements to allow the building to become a coffee shop.
We sat down with the cafe owner to talk about what drove him to quit a job where he could “finger paint all day if he wanted to” and plant roots in a Downtown that is struggling to ditch its reputation and blossom as a cultural hub. He talks to us about the potential for art to be a tool for youth empowerment in Pasco, and how he thinks the City could be support folks who want to take a chance Downtown. Enjoy an abridged version of our interview below!
Sitting Down with Saul
Saul cleared off a table full of art supplies to make room our recording equipment.
the origin of cafe con arte
FRAMEWORK:
You can introduce yourself however you want…
SAUL MARTINEZ:
My name is Saul Martinez. I am a Chicano artist and new business owner in downtown Pasco, Washington, which is on the east side of the state.
FRAMEWORK:
And we're here at Café con Arte, where you started this really cool thing in downtown Pasco. Can you talk about how this idea was conceptualized?
SAUL MARTINEZ:
Oh boy, those are kind words. I've been reflecting on this question a lot in the last eight months, and I used to just kind of simplify the answer to, "why not?"
I am an educator by trade, and so working with kids in this community, it just really broke my heart that they were embarrassed about the space that they were from — the East Pasco community.
When I first moved to Tri-Cities about 12 years ago, everybody was like, "Yeah, Tri-Cities is a great place to live and grow and raise kids. Just avoid East Pasco." And for the first two or three years, I actually listened to that advice. Even as a teacher here in Pasco, I would just never go to downtown East Pasco — until I did. And then it was just like, "Oh, why have I avoided it this whole time?"
It started with coming downtown more frequently with my art club. We were hanging Christmas lights and painting windows to beautify the area. And it was also just to put them out there so people could see that my New Horizons kids were amazing kids, because they are. I saw their aptitude. I saw their willingness to give back. It was just a beautiful thing.
There we would engage with all sorts of community people and we leave with this impression of downtown Pasco as a diamond in the rough. Just somebody needed to activate it…
“The process that we use in the classroom—why can’t we use this in the community?”
From art teacher to cafe owner
SAUL MARTINEZ:
One thing that I noticed in my classroom was that kids — even though they seemed to be proud of themselves — when they would talk, their body language spoke differently. You could see them walk down the hallways with a proverbial “tail between their legs.” They just seemed so embarrassed… My question in my classroom was: How do I change that? That was my focus mid-COVID.
I came to the realization that “dead art” wasn’t speaking to them. Why was I trying to teach them classical when all they cared about was hip hop, or country? So I started teaching them contemporary works, I started highlighting artists that were expressing their experiences in unique ways.
Immediately their conversations changed. They opened up a lot. They started talking about their own experiences. It was back and forth. No more monologue — we were having a conversation..
The process that we used in the classroom — why can’t we use this in the community? How can we further that conversation and start looking at ourselves through a lens of reverence, of being valued and celebrated?
That was that. Again, I went back to teaching and I thought that question would never resurface — until I met a person in the community named Alexia Estrada. Just a brilliant young lady with so much excitement about what this community could be.
She said, “I want a third space. I want a coffee shop in downtown Pasco.” We shook hands within the first 10 minutes and agreed that we were going to do something.
FRAMEWORK:
What I’m hearing is that you saw that contemporary art was missing from your student’s education but also from Pasco as a whole.
SAUL MARTINEZ:
Not missing, but maybe room for more.
If you look at more modern or previous art forms and movements, it was about capturing a moment. Contemporary art is more about speaking about our immediate needs — as individuals or as a community. It highlights what’s right, what’s wrong, and everything in between.
And as an artist, with great power comes great responsibility. It’s important to use your skill set to speak about the things happening in your community or beyond.
“‘Dead art’ was not really speaking to my kids. Why was I trying to teach them classical when all they cared about was hip hop, or country?”
“To Be Or Not To Be” by Periko the Artist. Acrylic and spray paint.
you caught me: I wanted a gallery
FRAMEWORK:
The room we’re sitting in has paper cups full of crayons, paint brushes, plants, chalk… Art is clearly happening here, it’s all over the walls. And before we started recording you cleared off the table, which had seemingly been the site of some kind of art making.
What’s happening here at Cafe Con Arte?
Saul Martinez:
You know, the big picture of Cafe Con Arte — I would call it a conceptual art piece.
If we go back to my kids and what I wanted them to see, I wanted to hold up a mirror and say, “Look at yourself. You are of value. You are worth anything and everything. You are visible, and I see you.”
I want that for the community, too.
FRAMEWORK:
From what I’m hearing, you saw this opportunity to nurture arts in Pasco, but you didn’t just open an art gallery, you opened a cafe…
SAUL MARTINEZ:
I wanted a gallery, you caught me. But I know what the art market looks like in the Tri-Cities, it’s almost nonexistent. You can count the galleries in the Tri-Cities – a population of 300,000 people – on one hand. How fair is that to a community? It’s embarrassing. I feel like it was a calling, a need. I wouldn’t say it was a dream, it was just like, I can’t go another day, another year, complaining about it. I have to do something about it.
The coffee shop? I have to pay the bills. In the Pacific Northwest, you can’t go a block without seeing a coffee shop, but drive around Downtown Pasco and there were none. To me it’s a no brainer. And it’s just the beginning - I feel like, third spaces downtown, coffee, food, toys, games, books, events at night, that’s all going to be a part of it. It’s more than just coffee.
FRAMEWORK:
You’ve already been having art classes here, speakers… You’re doing a lot. What’s been the reception of those events?
SAUL MARTINEZ:
I’m trying a bit of everything… Just like we are teaching the community that we now have sit-down coffee in downtown Pasco, [we’re also] teaching people that paint-and-sips are a thing. People come in expecting paint-by-numbers, but that’s not what we do here! We’re gonna put you through a little stress because that’s growth, and you’re gonna love what you walk out of here with.
t’s time for us to be San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Fort Lauderdale, or wherever… You can basically spin the globe, point at it, and find communities that have said enough! We can be who we want to be!
PASCO’S IDENTITY AND VISION
FRAMEWORK:
Let’s talk about Pasco. Pasco has been working on changes downtown to make it a place where the culture is visible and people want to be. What makes Pasco’s culture unique?
SAUL MARTINEZ:
I think it’s the population, I think it’s the moment we’re in, where the community can choose what it wants to be. I don’t feel like it’s ever felt like it had the liberty to do so. For some reason it felt like it needed a top-down definition: This is who you are.
But with a 56% Latino demographic — maybe closer to 62% — it’s time for us to be San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, Fort Lauderdale, or wherever… You can basically spin the globe, point at it, and find communities that have said enough! We can be who we want to be! There’s no shame in that in fact, quite the opposite.
The Tri-Cities and Pasco, with this influx of transplants and people who have deep roots here, there’s this really cool opportunity.
FRAMEWORK: When you think about downtown Pasco and the changes you want to see, what does that look like?
SAUL MARTINEZ:
Vibrancy.
I want people to experiment with what a vacant lot can be. There’s so much repetition because it’s safe. I want people to take risks—throw that Hail Mary pass at a plant shop, or a tattoo parlor, an antique store — even if it might not work out in the immediate future.
People need those walking spaces between Café con Arte and the Italian restaurant right down the street. Another coffee shop, bring it! I think with more options, come more people, more foot traffic… I welcome that.
I know what the art market looks like in the Tri-Cities, it’s almost nonexistent. You can count the galleries in the Tri-Cities – a population of 300,000 people – on one hand.
supporting third spaces
FRAMEWORK:
What could the city do to better support places like Café con Arte?
SAUL MARTINEZ:
Remove all restrictions. There are so many barriers, so many hoops to jump through. And when you get through those hoops you find mini hoops that you have to jump through.
There needs to be access–I’m sure there’s grants out there but as a one man show running Cafe Con Arte, by 11:30 or 12am when I’m done book keeping and it’s time to look for grants I find myself asleep on the couch. There’s never enough time.
It would be great if someone had all the resources. I feel like a lot of organizations are doing similar stuff but they’re not connected.
And then there are the vacant lots — I can point to six vacant lots over here, three right next to me. I don’t think that attracts culture. I think we need to have these spaces filled, so looking at Vacancy Tax, or something like the program “Vacant to Vibrant” in San Francisco.
I think the City needs to be loud and clear about what they hope from for the community. I think they need to tell us that they’re stepping aside for creatives. I think we all have this creative nature about us, we are innovators. We just need to know that it’s a safe space for us to do so.
I have major faith in this community. There’s a lot of excitement and buzz around what Framework is helping and I think it’s only a matter of time.
“I think the City needs to be loud and clear about what they hope from for the community. I think they need to tell us that they’re stepping aside for creatives. I think we all have this creative nature about us, we are innovators. We just need to know that it’s a safe space for us to do so.”
the plan
A copy of the Downtown Pasco Master Plan sits on the counter at Cafe Con Arte, reminding visitors that there is much in store for the future of Downtown.
Written by Hope Freije @Framework
