the couple adopted a fifth child, Iris Grisel. However, his wife did not completely support his artistic endeavors, which he considered to be the most important thing in his life. However, he does admit that he did have problems with alcohol during his marriage. Some years later, he married his current wife, is Norma Elizabeth Campos Galindo. This marriage produced two more children, Itzel and Metzi, as well as Núñez becoming stepfather to Luis Arturo and Alejandro Cortez Campos. Career Despite a four-year stint in the army that interrupted his professional education, Núñez says he never doubted that he wanted to be an artist of some kind. He began his formal artistic education at the Centro Universitario de Arte, Arquitectura y Diseño at the University of Guadalajara. Sometime later he would finish that degree in visual art from the recently established School of Painting, Sculpture and Handcrafts of the Juarez University of the State of Durango. His early years as an artist and artisan had elements of experimentation. He once did a series of turtle figures with the faces of politicians. However, his artistic expression has since focused almost entirely on the preservation of Mexican and Durango traditions. Núñez's career as an artist has spanned over forty years. Although partially retired, he is still active, both as an artist and as a teacher. As an artist, he works with his wife and son, Gerardo Núñez Rodríguez. Núñez's most widespread impact has been as a teacher and researcher. He has taught students of just about all ages, from classes in adobe homes to those in university. He estimates that he has taught over 8,000 students over his career, many of which have gone on to promote Durango culture both inside and outside the state. He began his teaching career in 1968 while still a student at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Handcrafts in the 1970s, with which he also worked researching the state's clay deposits. Early in his career, he was a cofounder of a group called the Black Spider Circle, professors and artists who supported the first graduates of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Handcrafts. He was one of the founders of the Workers and Employees Union of the Juarez University of the State of Durango, which was the model for similar organizations for professors. From 1992 to 2012, he was a full professor at the School of