Jose Maria (Chema) González Cox, known as Chema Cox, is the grandson of the sister of Rafael González, San Pedro's first painter. Economically impoverished like many other Pedranos, he was determined to get an education to become a schoolteacher, and financed his studies in Quetzaltenango by selling drawings and paintings. He then returned to San Pedro and obtained a teaching position.

Unfortunately, and perhaps because of his intellectual nature, he came under suspicion by the military operating in San Pedro at that time. He and another teacher were kidnapped, beaten, and jailed. His mother sold her coffee and cornfields to pay the kidnappers a ransom, but Chema was not released. Discovering a trap door in the ceiling of his cell, he fled to Mexico until some years later, when word arrived that the military members had been arrested. He returned, married, and now has three daughters.

Seeking a unique approach, Chema diverged from the typical Pedrano style of painting and adopted the more European style practiced by painters in Antigua Guatemala. He began working in paler tones, eventually turning to watercolors. Chema paints late into the night because, since the beatings by the military, he can only sleep a few hours each night. His watercolors, which portray man in the context of a vast nature, have grown increasingly accomplished. Chema's depiction of the Mayan world, done in a European style, offers an effective counterpoint to the purely Mayan graphic style practiced by the other Tz'utuhil artists. He uses his art earnings to help school children in some of the poor towns on the other side of lake Atitlán, and to build a Tz'utuhil regional cultural museum.

Choosing the New Mayor

Indigenous People of Guatemala

Procession in San Pedro

Canoes

Rice Drink (Atol)

Selling Ice Cream