The creative journey continues with two local women
By Agnes Olive

The Creative Journey
Joan Columbus & Lena Bartula
Tues, Dec 11, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The Creative Journey is celebrating its second anniversary and ninth presentation with a special presentation. For the occasion, Agnes Olive has invited guest artists Joan Columbus and Lena Bartula. They will show slides of their art and talk about their personal journeys as professional artists. The focus will remain “What inspires us to create, where do the ideas come from and how do we as artists transform them into our work.” There will be a question and answer period after the slides. We invite anyone interested in the creative process to come, be inspired and at the same time support the local orphanages with your 50-peso donation.

Joan Columbus

As a child Joan’s favorite activities were reading and drawing. It is no surprise that she followed two career paths, one in the visual arts, and one in book publishing.

After graduating from Parson’s School of Design in 1957, Joan held jobs in advertising while also raising two daughters and taking commissions as a portrait artist.

In 1985 Joan moved to Goshen, New York where she could enjoy a home with sufficient space for an art studio. At this point in her life she gave herself permission to concentrate on portraiture. She received several commissions, and ultimately a one woman show in the local Museum of the Trotter.

Since moving to San Miguel in 1997, Joan has begun to paint full length, life-sized portraits of people, creating a spiritual or mythological ambiance that she perceives as their living environment. The gradual unfolding of this creative process is surprising and exciting. She is looking forward to new adventures in her creative process.

Joan’s paintings are being enjoyed in the US, England, Mexico and Italy.

Lena Bartula

Lena Bartula is an interdisciplinary artist and writer who moved to Pozos from Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2004. Her combined studies of art, poetry and language are reflected in her art which mixes imagery with pattern, textured layers and words or letters inspired by poetry. Paintings in oil and collage on wood or canvas, book arts, printmaking and most recently constructions all inspire and feed each other.

Lena was born in Ft. Worth, then lived in Oklahoma City for seventeen years, where her art career blended naturally with her work as director of Woodland Cabin Gallery and later, as publicity director for the Oklahoma Museum of Art.

In 1994, she was invited to Guadalajara to install a 9 ft. x 40 ft. mural that she painted, describing the early history of Santa Fe as related to its origins in Mexico. The seed was planted. She fell in love with Mexico but returned to Santa Fe and with the director of Santa Fe Arts Council organized a festival and art exhibition for Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron of Mexico and also New Mexico, on her feast day of December 12.

Her current exhibition “El Silencio” in Mexico City at la Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, is part of a series which pays tribute to female figures, whether human or mythological, who have been maligned, forgotten or suppressed by history. The central part of each exhibit is a huipil, a traditional blouse which “covers up” vital parts of a woman’s body—the breasts, the belly. Each huipil, created from paper and/or canvas, embodies the essence of the personage in mind, uncovering and reinterpreting the very traits that led to her suppression. Other women in the series “Las Negadas” (Women Denied) include La Malinche, Coatlicue, La Llorona, Maqueda and Mary Magdalene, to name just a few. Lena’s works are widely collected in Mexico, the US and Europe. Her published writings include “Migration,” in the recently released Solamente en San Miguel. Her exhibit “El Silencio” continues through December 21.

Winning against windmills
By Margaret Failoni

Art Opening
Molinos de Viento
Fri, Dec 14, 7pm
Mesones 79

Inspired by Don Quixote’s windmills, Molinos de Viento represents the culmination of the dreams of a young pair of art lovers and jewelry designers, Mira Silverman and Marcel Manuel. They envision it as “a place to share their skills with those in the community with limited means, opportunities or abilities.”

With a tight budget and high standards, the couple found the perfect location, a house with a central patio right in the heart of town. The idea was to invite a group of artists and artisans to participate by showing their creations and in some cases, teaching their trade.

One interesting idea from a social level is to invite five girls at a time from the Don Bosco home—as close to 18 years of age as possible—and teach them the art of jewelry design. The collective would exhibit and sell their work and the girls get to keep the monies, learning as well the skills of promotion, sales and financing. As Marcel explained it, this would give the girls a decent and hopefully lucrative occupation to count on when they go out on their own. Jewelry design would be taught by the different jewelers joining the group.

Very convenient rents would be charged for the atelier spaces and classes by anyone wanting to learn the trade would be made very affordable. The main idea is to help artists and artisans who cannot afford the ever-rising rents for space in San Miguel.

The whole plan is very ambitious. One walks into a lovely patio embraced by beautifully muraled walls on either side. Off the patio are several spaces for exhibiting jewelry and an art gallery exhibiting painting, sculpture and really exquisite pottery. A small café, with tables also out in the patio, will offer coffee and pastries with exquisite edible works of art provided by the master chocolatier, Je T’Aime. At a restaurant with indoor/outdoor space, guest chefs will impart the history of Mexico through its cuisine, from Mesoamerican times to the present, underlining the Spanish and other international influences and fusions. Cooking lessons also will be available.

In the main hall of the building which leads to the restaurant are two sets of stairs ascending to atelier spaces and terraces; all repainted, clean and inviting with fantastic light. As Manuel and Silverman describe it: “When we first found the property for Molinos de Viento, we felt both excited and scared.

On the one hand we knew immediately it was the perfect place for the artists’ collective/community center we had always dreamed of. On the other hand, as individual jewelers, we had few resources with which to make it happen. But we knew it was an opportunity we could not let pass. So we took the leap and decided yes, we would find a way.”

The list of artists and artisans who immediately responded to the couple’s idea is impressive:

Amella Boudreau, Cili, David Godinez, Isabel Goode-Deblanc, Javier Hernandez, Enrique Loza, Joe Miller, Jenny Norman, Federico Rebis, Alejandra Riquer, Alifie Rojas, Rommy, Alan Tarbell, Lamine Thiam, Tosco, and Nina Wisniewski.

The exquisite jewels I saw could rightly be describes as wearable sculpture. For instance, the jewels designed by Manuel and Silverman for their Inspirare Art jewelry are made from precious and semiprecious stones mounted on unique silver designs or strung in fascinating fashion and mixtures. Some are glimpses into the past, using unique materials such as agatized dinosaur bones, meteorites and an array of fossils combined with the exquisite colors of emeralds, rubies, opals and stones collected from around the world, transforming pieces of nature into wearable art. 

Other great jewelry designers include Federico Rebis and Cili for their Aleacion label with their philosophy that each piece has its own unique voice. The SUA label displays the works of designer Javier Hernández, originally from Bilbao, Basque country. For more than 10 years he has worked with precious metals and fossils, fascinated by the behavior of combining contrasting materials. Alan Tarbell is a visual artist whose love of travel, nature and culture provides the inspiration for his work.

The exhibition spaces all will be open for the December 14 reception, and so will the cafè, we hope. The restaurant may take a little more time, but the studios and ateliers for classes and conferences should be available.

Given the quality of the works available and the social and artistic aspirations, I hope the community will embrace the Molinos de Viento, transforming it into a dream come true.

Margaret Failoni is an independent curator and art historian who has lived in San Miguel for 13 years. She curates exhibitions of contemporary art for museums, public spaces and some galleries in Mexico after a full-time career in Rome, Italy.

Reinventing beauty in the classic forms
By Ana Quiroz

Art Opening Rocío Gordillo The Beauty of the Void Sat, Dec 15, 7–9pm Kunsthaus Santa Fe Santa Fe 22A

Despite Rocío Gordillo’s short career to date, she has been inspired and led by many excellent teachers to develop a clear and concise style. Since her graduation from the Instituto Allende, she has focused on portraits—the most classic genre in painting—but with a completely original and unique point of view, reinterpreting the images to be something original for the audience. They peek out of texture and form in a playful and unexpected way.

On Saturday, December 15, Rocío Gordillo, presents the exhibition “The Beauty of the Void” at Kunsthaus Santa Fe. Rocío Gordillo studied Visual Arts at Instituto Allende, Since her graduation in 2004, she now lives and works in her native city, Mexico City.

In 2007, Rocío exhibited at La Estación Gallery in Chihuahua, “Aciones para no olvidar”—a series of portraits of couples of friends, focusing on expressions of affection and tenderness, while playing, pinching, kissing or flirting. In the following years, in addition to painting, she has worked closely with the contemporary art scene in Mexico City. She has established friendships with artists, worked with young graduates of La Esmeralda, as well as worked at the Museo Rufino Tamayo and Arroníz Contemporary Art Gallery.

In this exhibition “The Beauty of the Void,” Rocío is continuing her research on the portrait. With the idea of building a person’s face, Rocío captured her friends with her camera.

After the photos were printed on paper, she crumpled the pieces into balls that were followed through to the painted final product. The face of the person is transformed into something grotesque and funny. You will never find anything complete— there is always a cut, a fold, or a distortion. Through these paintings weaves a fantastic new character with smiles, eyes, cheeks, mouths, hair, everything has changed and has different proportions.

The opening is on Saturday, December 15 and will remain open until January 30 of next year.

Ana Quiroz is the director of Kunsthaus Santa Fe.

Art to support San Miguel youth
By Ana Julia Aguado

Art Opening Arturo Rodriguez Döring Thurs, Dec 13, 7pm Ana Julia Aguado Gallery Plaza Principal 18, second floor

On December 13, the Ana Julia Aguado Gallery will host a benefit cocktail party featuring the works of Mexican artist Arturo Rodriguez Döring. The event will seek to raise funds to help José Guadalupe Granados, a local high school student from San Miguel el Viejo, continue with his education. 

Gallery owner Ana Julia Aguado has been supporting and encouraging Granado’s education and development for several years, and in 2006 helped him win a scholarship to study in the US for a year at the Kuemper Catholic School in Iowa.

This time Ana Julia and colleagues at the gallery want to extend to the San Miguel community at large the opportunity to help Granado. Despite his humble origins, Granado has shown great potential as a serious student, having received numerous local and national academic accolades, primarily in physics and math. The gallery will donate a percentage of the evening’s sales to his education fund, and will accept all direct donations for the same cause. A suggested minimum donation of 200 pesos by each attendee would be greatly appreciated.

Rodriguez Döring’s work will be unveiled exclusively for the evening’s benefit party. He has been professor and director of the painting and sculpture academy La Esmeralda, Centro Nacional de las Artes.

He also directed the Laboratorio Arte Alameda (Pinacoteca Virreinal), Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. His works have been shown worldwide in Tokyo, San Francisco, Denver and Quito, Ecuador, to name a few.

The gallery is on the second floor of Plaza Principal 18 (Calle Canal) across from the Jardín.

Ana Julia Aguado is the founder and director of the Ana Julia Aguado Gallery in San Miguel.

Finding imagination in nature
By Atenas Becerril Hurtado

Art Opening Rivelino La Búsqueda del Interior Sat, Dec 15, 6pm Florence Riestra Gallery Fábrica la Aurora

The Florencia Riestra Gallery is pleased to invite you to the Rivelino exhibition, entitled “La Búsqueda del Interior.” The ceramic and bronze figures that Rivelino calls guardians have been dominant in his recent production. Monotonous variations at times, evocative and sometimes unexpected, intrigue the specters because Rivelino combines objects with expression.

The artist, an industrious creator, has wanted and found in his forms numerous rituals, myths, scriptures and elements that he constantly re-invents and re-interprets for each project. The techniques used by Rivelino in each of his projects ranges between mud, bronze and pottery.

In Rivelino, one always finds a contemporary artist, a creator of figures and images that we recognize, because his explanation in his sculptures always relates back to his inspirations in nature. We identify them because of his background in zoology and his roots in anthropology. Then, the effect of his figures stimulates us to think about the inspiration of the future to the next concept and idea.

In this exhibition, Rivelino again offers images, figures and materials that reveal the talent and aesthetic value of his vast imagination.

This show opens December 15 at 6pm in the Gallery Florencia Riestra in Fábrica la Aurora.

Atenas Becerril Hurtado is an assistant at the Florencia Riestra Gallery in Fábrica la Aurora.

Honoring the power of nature
By Cyr Casas Derrien

Art Opening “Nature Spirit” Fri, Dec 14, 7pm Contemporary Art Museum Presidencia Municipal Across from Jardín Principal

The Museum of the H. Ayuntamiento of San Miguel de Allende will open its doors for a contemporary exhibition, “Nature Spirit,” curated by Magaly Padilla. The artists invited for the exhibition are focusing on Gaia, the Pachamma and other personalities given to “Mother Nature,” who sustains all life on this planet.

Recent dramatic occurrences in Mexico provide the motivation to create this contemporary art show. Multiple and constant devastations over five continents—fire, inundations, hurricanes and all the catastrophes caused by pollution and climatic change—urge us to see the emergency created by human consciousness in order to respect and be assertive with these new global situations.

This multidisciplinary show will integrate sculpture, installation, painting, photography and graphic art by local artists and those from different parts of México. The opening will feature a ritual dance with pre-Hispanic music dedicated to the natural forces and energetic harmonization for all.

The interdependence between humanity and the rest of natural creation is an aspect that we most value, understand and develop. Understanding human fragility, we thank nature with humility. This exposition is a tribute to the forces of creation and destruction. Because of them we are here. We want to promote respect and attention to our ecosystem so we can immediately take action to stop the pollution that we have made.

Distinctly San Miguel
By Sheridan Sansegundo

Art Exhibition Art & Whimsy Holiday Exhibition Sat & Sun, Dec 8–9, 11am–4pm Casa las Ranas La Cieneguita

The upcoming Art & Whimsy show promises to feature the whimsical artwork and jewelry of Anado McLauchlin and the exuberance of Patrice Wynne’s designs—from kimonos to handbags—made from stunning fabrics printed with Mexican icons such as Day of the Dead skeletons, Frida Kahlo, the Virgin of Guadalupe, or La Sagrada Corazón.

Although the art show is the featured attraction, it is also a rare treat to see Casa las Ranas, undoubtedly the most surprising house in San Miguel.

Imagine a mix of Gaudi and Hundertwasser put together by an anarchic and playful imagination with a sense of color inspired by all things Mexican, and you have the extraordinary house and rambling gardens where McLauchlin and his partner, art historian Richard Schultz, live with six dogs, six cats, three burros and a decidedly eccentric parrot.

There is a pink wall covered with cows’ skulls and a towering Xuchil crucifix made from the cucharillo plant, a purple wall with a monster mosaic lizard, a 20-foot high mural of the Indian elephant god Ganesha, bare-breasted mermaids and the Virgin of Guadalupe, witch balls and bottle sculptures, fountains and fishponds. And that is just outside. The inside of the house makes the outside look like Donald Judd at his most minimal.

Patrice Wynne founded her company, San Miguel Designs, five years ago, after a neighbor, Dolores Hernandez, unable to pay school fees, came to her for help. Knowing that the woman was a fabulous seamstress, she bought some fabric with an image of Guadalupe and the two of them set about making and marketing kimonos.

Wynne also needed to find a way to make a living for herself because her famous independent bookstore, Gaia, in Berkeley, California, had been forced to close. She had to support herself financially but was equally determined to incorporate the Mexican community in the business, which she has done successfully.

“I think I have entrepreneurship in my genes,” she said. “You have to have the capacity to bring an idea to fruition and to respond to every challenge—and believe me, there have been many—with creative solutions.”

From the kimonos, she gradually increased her line to include men’s shirts, aprons, handbags, curtains and ties and moved from selling at the artisan fairs at the Instituto Allende to now selling in Mexico City at Palacio de Hierro, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Popular, Mumedi: Mexican Museum of Design, Bazaar del Sabado, Galería de Mexican Diseños, Plaza Ciudadela as well as in many stores in San Miguel, New York and San Francisco.

And Sra. Hernandez recently bought her family a truck.

Anado McLauchlin says that he has a hard time keeping up with the demand for his one-of-kind necklaces but promises there will be plenty at the holiday show. They won’t hang around long. “I call them talking beads because there are so many unusual beads in each necklace and they are strung together in linear form to tell a story.”

The Art and Whimsy Show also offers a rare opportunity to meet two special guests from Mexico City—Aran and Margot Shetterly—publishers of Inside Mexico magazine, the English-language magazine for foreigners living in Mexico, who will be in San Miguel for the weekend.

“Patrice and I really encourage everyone to come,” said McLauchlin. “Not only for the sale, but for the sense of community and festivity. Plus, Richard makes a good cup of chai.”


Those who can’t make it to the show can always call the artists for an appointment to see their studios and work. McLauchlin can be reached at 155-8044 and Wynne at 150-0058. They can also be called for directions to the house.

Sheridan Sansegundo recently retired as the arts editor of The East Hampton Star on Long Island, N.Y., and now lives in San Miguel.

Quiet and elegant, whimsical and light

Art Opening Esmeralda Torres, Selección Sat, Dec 8, 7pm Mero Arte Contemporáneo Zacateros 24

Mero Arte Contemporáneo is proud to present Esmeralda Torres, the young, talented artist from Querétaro. This one-person exhibition promises to please. Torres’ work is quietly feminine, delicate and thoughtful, and distinctly Mexican. The paintings are mostly abstract with some presence of recognizable figuration. Color is used sparingly, supporting the idea that less is more. Four large-format paintings demonstrate to great effect the pictorial range of this young painter. They are quiet and elegant, whimsical and light. When speaking of her paintings, Torres stresses the importance of her environment as inspiration when she is in her studio. She paints an interior, personal synthesis of her surroundings. She observes and absorbs, then translates onto the canvas a distillation of personal experience. Her paintings are better felt than analyzed. The artist says, “I paint to know who I am because it is through the act of painting that I recognize myself. I paint with nostalgia for the past, for what no longer exists. Painting is my language and the medium that allows me to create a personal reality. The city where I live, time and memory are the recurrent themes in my latest series.”