Gabriel Ayala is starting his 22nd year as a full-time artist. He is self-taught, and sells his copper art throughout Arizona and New Mexico, through the many art shows at which he exhibits. For him, nature has laid the groundwork for his inspiration. He spent many years living on his remote property in Western New Mexico, just north of the Gila national forest. This experience filled his days with the adventures and the tribulations of high-country living.

To reduce some travel time, he now creates art from his valley home in a quiet part of northeast Mesa Arizona. The copper sculpture he is creating today consists of unique trees, vines and branches, hand tooled and fabricated from sheet copper, all without the use of complex machinery.

Native influences have inspired Gabriel Ayala’s much sought after hand hammered and tooled Sun Shields.