I had already done a few quarantine cartoons for the New Mexican. I want to make people laugh and educate them at the same time. I’m improving on getting my point across, which is why it may seem that it has a role during these times. Without Reservations has always been just a cartoon. It’s like my character the Chief is talking to them. If I can play a part and offer them some advice, being a parental figure, if you will, it’s awesome. I just love doing that sort of thing, knowing that because of what I do, people value my opinion and what I have to say, especially when it comes to kids. Today I addressed the Santa Fe Indian School middle school students coming back for their distance learning. Read More: New Mexico's state historian offers a fresh take on New Mexico’s rich and complicated past. Don’t be surprised if his sketchbook is open to a pencil drawing of an idea in the works. You can sometimes spot him at what amounts to his downtown Santa Fe office-the Cowgirl BBQ, on Guadalupe Street. Among his accomplishments this year was publication of the Stoodis NM Coloring Book (“stoodis” being slang for “let’s do this”), which was aimed at educating Native children about COVID-19.

And he drops social media truth bombs featuring his main cartoon characters, the Chief and his antagonist, the General, and the people of his tribe, using humor to examine issues both historical and contemporary. He arranges donations of art supplies for the children of his native Kewa (Santo Domingo) Pueblo. His toon-based paintings are featured in galleries and museums throughout the state. With it, Caté delivers his trademark form of Indigenous wit 300 times a year in The Santa Fe New Mexican and the Taos News. He’s best known for Without Reservations, the nation’s only Native-produced comic strip in a mainstream newspaper. Ricardo Caté juggles many roles as he moves through life. Photograph by Minesh Bacrania.ĪRTIST, CARTOONIST, ACTIVIST, DAD, Marine veteran, and farmer.

Cartoonist Ricardo Caté creates paintings inspired by his well known series Without Reservations.

Without reservations ricardo cate