Monterey County celebrates 150 years of the pioneering artist Jo Mora.

JO MORA WAS A SCULPTOR, ILLUSTRATOR, WRITER AND MAPMAKER whose work can be found at the Carmel Mission and the Monterey County Superior Courthouse in Salinas. Yet the Uruguayan-born artist, who spent his later years on the Monterey Peninsula and died in 1947, remains relatively unknown.

Peter Hiller, who has studied Mora for more than 25 years, says he’s never met anyone who learned about the artist and didn’t want to know more. Mora’s 150th birthday offers a chance to introduce him to a wider audience through three exhibitions in Salinas and Monterey.

Hiller also helped secure a home for the Jo Mora Archive when it faced the possibility of being divided. The Monterey History and Art Association acquired the collection in 2022, preserving Mora’s professional work alongside family photographs, journals and correspondence.

That decision gives the three exhibitions something special: the chance to see Mora’s work in ways that might have been lost had the collection been divided. At the John Steinbeck Library, for example, visitors can see his original drawing of a horseman beside Californios, the book featuring that same illustration on its cover. It’s one thing to admire a finished work; it’s another to see where it began.

MHAA archivist Tanya von Giese was invited to curate her first exhibition for One Main Street in Salinas, where she explores Mora’s versatility in Like an Octopus: Eight Segments of Jo Mora’s Life and Career, highlighting his roles as photographer, sculptor, commercial artist, illustrator, mapmaker, writer, traveler and father.

Although best known for his pictorial maps, von Giese points out that Mora was much more than that. “His greatest artworks aren’t even what he’s well known for,” she says.

First and foremost, Mora was a father, and his affection for his family shines through in the elaborately illustrated birthday greetings he called “bologneys.” Part birthday card, part family chronicle, they captured the events of the preceding year in playful verse, mixing household happenings with observations about the wider world. In one dated June 27, 1944, the artist surrounded his handwritten account with colorful illustrations: a woman balancing two automobiles, miniature scenes of family activities tucked into curling vines and a procession of figures across the top.

“Dad made a sketch of Sam in clay; although with seeds he’d rather play,” reads one couplet. It’s a passing family joke, but for von Giese, it also offers a clue. Mora kept a planting diary documenting the vegetables and flowers he grew, along with journals and other records of his daily life. By comparing those records with the birthday greeting, researchers can connect the garden references to particular periods in his life and potentially establish when the clay artwork mentioned in the verse was made.

Another card features a rabbit in green overalls, boots and a striped shirt carrying a bundle of vegetables. The inscription reads, “Happy Birthday to Budgee’s Grandma, From all the Moras.”

Budgee Budgee Cottontail was a character Mora created during a family voyage aboard the Silver Willow. His daughter Patti gave the rabbit his name, a detail preserved in the family’s travel records. Though no one can say for certain, it’s speculated that naming Budgee Budgee made Patti his honorary mother, and therefore Mora’s wife, Grace, his grandmother – a charming possibility that suggests just how beloved the imaginary rabbit had become within the family.

In the photographer section, Mora’s 1904 illustration of Vernal Falls in Yosemite appears alongside his photograph of the same scene. His intricate penwork captures the towering cliffs, dense evergreens and rushing water with astonishing precision. Displayed side by side, the photograph and drawing reveal just how faithfully Mora reproduced the landscape, down to its smallest details.

At the John Steinbeck Library in Salinas, Susan De Lay curated an exhibition highlighting Mora’s work as an author and illustrator. Among the displays is MacMartin’s Cabin – Last Chance, a drawing of a snow-covered cabin nestled among towering evergreens, with a lone figure carrying a rifle through the snow, displayed alongside the typed manuscript MacMartin’s Ghost.

The exhibition also includes A Day with the Hounds, an unpublished, handwritten story. De Lay was particularly taken with Mora’s beautiful penmanship. Preserved together in the Jo Mora Archive, these works reveal the connections between his original drawings, storytelling and published books.

At Monterey History and Art at Stanton Center, the exhibit Jo Mora & Family: Through the Lens of Lewis Josselyn offers a glimpse into Mora’s life beyond the studio. Friends and fellow members of Carmel’s Abalone League baseball team, Mora and Josselyn shared a connection that extended into the community.

One photograph shows Mora’s daughter Patti at the piano, with a lamp her father created and a painting inspired by his Arizona travels behind her. Both original artworks are displayed alongside the photograph. Mora didn’t just create art for a living. He made it part of everyday life, weaving his creativity into his home, his family and his community.

JO MORA 150TH BIRTHDAY EXHIBITIONS

Jo Mora 150 Year Birthday Celebration

At John Steinbeck Library, 350 Lincoln Ave., Salinas. Open 10am-4pm Monday and Friday; noon-6pm Tuesday-Thursday. Free admission. Open now through Dec. 18. (831) 758-7311, library.salinas.gov.

Like an Octopus: Eight Segments of Jo Mora’s Life and Career

At National Steinbeck Center, 1 Main St., Salinas. Open 10am-5pm daily. $7-$15; free/youth 5 and under. Open now until Dec. 20. (831) 775-4721, steinbeck.org.

Jo Mora & Family: Through the Lens of Lewis Josselyn

At Stanton Center, 5 Custom House Plaza, Monterey. Open noon-4pm Thursday-Monday. $10; $8/seniors, military; free/youth under 18, members. Open now through Dec. 18. (831) 649-9161, montereyhistory.org.