At a recent farmers’ market in Anchorage’s Mountain view neighborhood, a pair stuck out from the diverse crowd that included refugee and immigrant growers and small business owners, as music played and vendors sold produce, confections and crafts.
A tall man in glasses selling brightly colored paintings smiled as he towered over a diminutive nun with a look of adoration.
Noel Perez Delgado started out as an architect in Cuba before coming to the U.S. But a global pandemic, a debilitating illness and an injury left him unemployed — and homeless — in Anchorage. Then he met Sister Lucia-Lam Nguyen, a Catholic nun, who taught him to paint.
Now, for the city’s October First Friday, Delgado’s art is headed to gallery walls.
Delgado had met Nguyen during a painting class at Brother Francis Shelter, the homeless shelter in Anchorage run by Catholic Social Services, about a year earlier.
She helped change his life.
“I have to be grateful every single day for Sister Lucia,” Delgado said.
The 54-year-old Delgado’s story is one of resilience, of losing everything and finding something else: a new way to express himself, thanks to Nguyen.
Nguyen said she quickly noticed that he had talent and, just as important, something to say.
“The first few paintings, I recognized the gift, but he did not really believe in me at first,” Nguyen said. “But after so many people around in the Brother Fancis shelter, the clients, the staff directors, nurses, everybody come to give him compliments, and he start to think maybe that is really good.”
Before meeting Nguyen, Delgado did know how to sketch.
Born in Cuba, Delgado studied at a university there and built a career as an architect, designing resorts on the island. He never gave moving to America much thought, he said, but at the age of 34, a surprise win in a visa lottery changed his path. He decided to head to the United States, working around the East Coast, then headed west to Seattle. While Delgado’s professional credentials were not automatically valid in the U.S., he was eventually able to use his background to get jobs as a drafter and architectural designer.
It was all going well until COVID hit. He was laid off. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition, which left him unable to work.
“In around two months, I have pain all around my body, in joints and things like that,” Delgado said.
The climate in Seattle aggravated his illness, so he decided to give Anchorage a try. He arrived in May of 2024.
Delgado was shocked to learn how costly housing is here. He couldn’t afford it. He camped, stayed nights in hotels and used Craigslist to find places to crash.“But I was done running out (of) money, because I wasn't expecting it was that expensive here,” he said. “The food, the transportation, everything here is kind of crazy.”Then came the first snow. Delgado slipped outside and needed medical care. For insurance purposes, that meant he also needed a permanent address. So, as a Catholic himself, he headed to Brother Francis Shelter, where Nguyen and painting entered his life.
“I think I really talked him into it, really persuaded him, because he said, ‘Oh, I never painted, I'm not a painter,’” Nguyen said. “So he told me his background is an architect, and I said ‘No, so you have the skill of, many skills of, a painter.’”
Through her encouragement and mentorship, Delgado began painting nonstop, producing around 100 pieces and even helping other residents get creative when Nguyen wasn’t at the shelter.
Delgado uses his knowledge of color theory and design to create vibrant paintings, combining pointelism with bold lines, from abstracts to stylized figurative pieces.
“I think he has a lot in his mind. It's just a matter of how to bring it out,” Nguyen said.Becky Stephan, of Stephan Fine Arts, is hosting the First Friday event featuring Delgado’s paintings. She said it’s not just his story that drew her to his art, he also has serious talent.
“It wasn't a charity deal. Yeah, he had to have the quality and the body of work, just a body of work alone, but then having a cohesive body of work and having a voice was pretty impressive,” Stephan said. “And beyond that, I have to like the person, and he was likable. I think that's important, and I think it comes through in the artwork.”
Delgado said he’s thankful for all the support he’s received from the community.“Everybody has (been) trying to find the best in me and to put what they have in my hands. It's not just me, (it) is a group of people, but it was amazing,” he said. “And it's huge. I'm grateful for that.”
Delgado still lives at the shelter and said he hopes to eventually move back to Seattle to pursue architecture again. He’s using the sales of his art to pay for the medicine he needs and a plane ticket back to Seattle.
But in his free time, he will of course continue painting.
