Of and on paper
By Margaret Failoni, Sept 22, 2006

Leigh Hyams & “Paper Works” Saturday, September 30, 5–8pm

Generator Gallery, Fabrica La Aurora Design Center

Leigh Hyams

This show, consisting of a series of large, unstretched canvases and a few exquisite works on paper, is Hyams’s first in San Miguel de Allende and is long overdue.

Hyams paints plant life, mostly flowers, as metaphors for balance, movement and the poetry in beautiful, living organisms. His are imaginary flowers, similar to yet not the real thing; something much more vivid and alive. The colors are vibrant, wet, running, transparent, loosely applied like huge, magnificent watercolors dripping down in endless streams of beautiful color.

The artist uses various techniques for her works on paper. Some are drawings, others are gouaches or monotypes: She presses leaves and twigs onto richly applied pigments to create patterns on paper. She is also the creator of very fine artist books. Her paintings and books are part of major museum collections in the United States, Europe and Latin America. The Achenbach Foundation at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor has 2 of her books and 18 of her mixed-media works on paper in their collection. “Nacimiento,” a large canvas painted in her Colonia Guadalupe studio in 2001, is in the San José Museum of Art.

An International Fulbright Scholar, Leigh Hyams’s work will be part of “Building Bridges through Art,” an invitational exhibition in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2006 sponsored by the US Fulbright Commission.

She has been an artist in residence in various artists’ colonies and is highly respected as a brilliant, independent and unorthodox instructor. She has taught in the San Francisco State College of Arts and Crafts, at the JFK University Graduate School and at the Djerassi Resident Artists Project in Woodside, California, to name a few. Hyams continues to accept invitations to teach and/or lead workshops in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Paper works by 10 artists

Ten exceptional artists—Patricia Alvarez, Jane Evans, Lynne Gleason, Sioban O’Donahue, Ornella Ridone, Alejandro Rivera Leal, Lavinia Ruiz, Gary Slipper, Edgar Soberón and Umberto Spindola—present very distinct visions of paper and works on paper.

Ever since the Egyptians turned papyrus into paper, this valuable material has been at the epicenter of the arts. Writing and printing onto paper is a far cry from etching into stone. Thanks to paper, we are able to admire ancient manuscripts and books, including Leonardo DaVinci’s codes, and magnificent art created on a paper surface. In more recent times, artists have been able to move away from the flat picture plane into the world of three dimensions. Paper has been and is the ultimate medium for creating in multiple techniques and styles: drawings, water- and oil-based paintings, etchings, lithographs, screen prints, collages and, now, sculpture or free-standing, three-dimensional art. Picasso used paper and paperboard to create the maquettes for his sculpture (see the Picasso Museum in Paris) and, to my taste, these little masterpieces are freer, fresher and absolutely marvelous compared to the always masterly large bronzes.

In more recent times, both Anselm Keiffer and Mexico’s Jan Hendrix have presented very large, important works by uniting ink and paint images onto rice paper and then layering each sheet one on top of the other to create ethereal yet strong works of art.

The exhibition “Paper Works” brings to view the creative endeavors of a group of contemporary artists’ work, from Mexico City and San Miguel, all using paper as their main medium of choice.

Patricia Alvarez, from Mexico City, presents us with some very original sculptural pieces made with ticker tape and tea bags. Her recent show at the Galleria de Arte Mexicano was a huge success.

I have long admired the work of Jane Evans. Originally a master printer, creating beautiful semi-abstract landscapes in aquatint etchings, Evans has turned her talents to photography. Enamored with the Sierra Gorda mountain chain in Querétaro where Evans has built a home, the artist photographed the mountains using digital cameras, which enabled her to connect the mountain ridges and valleys to create striking photographs of this monumental landscape.

Lynne Gleason is no newcomer to the San Miguel art scene, always renewing our admiration for her incredible artistic abilities; she is equally fantastic in paper works as with her oils and bronzes.

Sioban O’Donahue comes from a line of great Mexican artists (painter/architect Juan O’Gorman and interior designer Patricia Bubela) and with her outstanding talent continues with the family legacy. Unlike other artists in the exhibition, she has always created with paper, from tongue-in-cheek collages to beautiful treasure boxes. The only other name that comes to mind to describe O’Donahue’s exceptional boxes is Joseph Cornell. Like Cornell, O’Donahue uses paper along with other materials to create whimsical, touching works of art.

Ornella Ridone’s art has exploded on the Bajío art scene, from a superb exhibition at the Museo de la Ciudad in Querétaro to the recent Film Festival/Kunsthaus exhibition of recent works. Ridone’s work is best known for its pathos and presentation of women’s plight through the use of embroidery, pins and needles concocting strong testimonials and criticism on women’s role in society, especially in the Third World. For this exhibition, Ridone uses paper along with pins and nails to create two disquieting works of art.

Alejandro Rivera Leal is being very secretive. He’s not presenting his usual, beautifully drawn images but instead mentioned something about collage. But to be sure, whatever he shows will be sensational.

Lavina Ruiz has temporarily and arbitrarily (almost) abandoned the possibility of a brilliant career as an accomplished artist to establish San Miguel’s most successful frame atelier. Good framing is also an art, but her beautiful drawings and pastels are a temptation for any collector. Hopefully, she’ll find more time for her art.

Gary Slipper is no stranger to the San Miguel art scene. He is equally brilliant on paper as on canvas, creating ever more lovely dream worlds. A master artist and teacher, perhaps one of the best teachers in San Miguel, Slipper was New York’s Parsons School of Design’s loss but our gain. His masterly drawing and prints are a collectable treasure.

Umberto Spindola’s work can be found in every major museum dealing in 20th-century Mexican art. Spindola has taken the very Mexican art form of cut paper (papel picado) to a heavenly plane. Sometimes combining cut paper with collage, he is most definitely the present-day master of this technique.

Thiel wins first prize in art competition
By Lucille Kligerman

Ana Thiel recently won the first prize at the Glass Museum www.museodelvidrio.com   in its first Biennale for Art in Glass held in Monterrey, Mexico. The 120 contestants are from Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela. From among the 33 artists who made it to the final round of judging in the category of contemporary art, Thiel won by unanimous decision.

Her sensibility and talent are evident in her many sculptures. Thiel has exhibited in many countries, and her work is included at the New Library in Alexandria, Egypt; the Corning Museum of Glass; the Contemporary Art University Museum in Mexico City; Monterrey and Querétaro. Her work is also in the collection of the Musée Atelier du Verre, France; the Ebeltoft Museum in Denmark and the Finnish Glass Museum, among other collections.

Thiel is included in the Dictionary of Mexican Sculptors of the XXth Century, edited by Lili Kassner; Contemporary Glass, by Susanne Frantz; Three Decades of Plastic Expression, edited by Rodolfo Rivera; Who’s Who in Contemporary Glass Art, edited by Joachim Waldrich; and Contemporary Outdoor Sculpture, by Brooke Barrie, among other publications.

Concept of the sculpture “Trine”
By Ana Thiel

“Trine” is a sculpture formed by three columns; each one is built from open, cylindrical cast-glass segments.

Some of these enclose elements of nature such as pebbles, leaves or twigs; others have within their surface metal washers or braided steel bands, which represent technology and industry. Finally, there are segments that show the impression of a hand—the human element.

The columns are hollow, and the glass they are made of plays with light and thus fills the emptiness, symbolizing Spirit in its invisible presence.

The columns stand on a circle of tezontle, a very Mexican stone, from the country they are standing on.