Local women artists show latest creations
By Jade Arroyo

Art Opening Córazon Gitano Sat, Dec 22 & Sun, Dec 23, 10am– 6pm Hernández Macías 96

The holiday spirit, with its attendant cheer and celebrations full of color, music, parties and magic, inspires us to enjoy life a little more. In this festive season, Córazon Gitano opens its doors to six women artists, each with a unique talent, who will show their work over a weekend filled with magic, soul and holiday refreshment.

Graciela Arroyo’s dramatic, head-turning jewelry is inspired by a mix of ethnic and modern styles. Jenny Norman creates colorful and unusual mosaics on bowls and wall decor, handmade soaps and healing crystals for the home. Also, expect to see Patricia Parnall’s beautiful and delicate watercolors, Myrna’s entertaining jewelry and ornamental and aromatic candles of the finest quality in many colors and configurations by Adriana Hardesty. One-of-a-kind niches (decorated boxes) by Jade Muriel will also be on display, most inspired by Frida Kahlo.

The Heart of Frida exhibit returns
By Beryl Wolfe

Art Opening  The Heart of Frida Talk by Arturo Garcia Bustos and Rina Lazo Fri, Jan 11

Exhibition Tues– Sun, Jan 12– Feb 24, 10am– 6pm  Museo de Arte de Querétaro Allende Sur 14, Centro

The Heart of Frida, a collection of emotional and poignant letters and drawings of Mexico’s most famous woman artist, will reopen this winter at the Querétaro Art Museum, its first museum showing. The January 11 opening event will feature a short talk by Arturo Garcia Bustos and his wife Rina Lazo. Bustos, who authenticated the collection, is one of Los Fridos (students of Frida Kahlo) and a distinguished Mexican muralist. 

The 37 intimate notes and letters and six drawings had been hidden for over half a century in Mexico City, until discovered in a traditional Michoacán laquered box with the letters “FK” on the lid and “Coyoacán Frida Kahlo 1950” hand-painted on the inner lid.

Last year, 5,000 visitors saw the exhibit when it opened here in San Miguel at the Casa Maxwell Gallery. The exhibit raised 850,000 pesos for the San Miguel Red Cross.

The letters and notes written by Frida to herself are considered to be the most revealing ever seen by the public. Handwritten during the last four years of her luminous yet tragic life, the letters and notes dwell on her stormy relationship with her husband Diego Rivera, on her pro-Stalinist politics, and on the pain and suffering she endured as a result of more than 30 major orthopedic operations. 

Eight bereavement letters were carefully addressed by Frida to herself at Coyoacán, where she lived near Mexico City, each of them pouring out her feelings about Diego Rivera, ranging from deep love, to hope, to repugnance: “Your hands made me tremble all over…Give me illusion, hope, desire to live, and do not forget me…Every time I talk to you I end up dying more, a little more.”

The six drawings were produced in 1945. Four were drawn on the backs of losing lottery tickets by Frida, an inveterate gambler who never won the Gordo (the big prize). Two of the drawings are multimedia renderings on brown paper. One of these is a self-portrait of Frida as a mysterious butterfly. In a note under her signature, she wrote: “The pain of being a butterfly and to die stuck down by a pin.” The most recent sale of a Frida Kahlo self-portrait (Roots 1943) was through Sotheby’s in May 2006 for over US$5 million.

Barbara Levine, an artist and former director of exhibits at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, called the collection a “jewel of an exhibition,” when she toured it on June 1 of this year. Others agree. “The exhibition, The Heart of Frida, is truly amazing,” said Peter Fish, editor-at-large of Sunset magazine in California. “It’s an intimate, vivid, and sometimes shocking self-portrait of a remarkable artist. Anyone interested in Frida Kahlo should experience it.”

“The letters and drawings have elicited very emotional, dramatic responses from visitors who attended the initial showing in San Miguel,” said Graeme Howard, owner of the collection with his wife Joanne. “Many visitors have cried as they read Frida’s brave, sad or angry messages to herself.” Frida’s letters have been translated into English and appear next to the originals at the exhibition. An English-language explanation also will be available to visitors. In addition, enhanced versions of the original letters and drawings will be shown to facilitate understanding.

For more information on the collection, Frida Kahlo, or to see visitors’ comments, go to www.frida2007.com  or call collection manager Kristopher Kegel at 011 52 (415) 152-6551or Marcela Herbert Pesquera, director of Museo de Arte de Querétaro at 011 52 (442) 212-2357 and 212-3523.

Reception for remarkable young Huichol yarn painter
By Susan Page

Art Opening Cilau Valadez Sat, Dec 22, 11am– 1pm Open House Sat– Sun, Dec 22– 23, 11am– 6pm Galerìa Atotonilco 185-2225

Galería Atotonilco invites you to enjoy a special reception for Huichol artist Cilau Valadez and to attend an open house to view new ceramics acquired recently.

Cilau’s father, Mariano Valadez, is a famous yarn painter whose work appears in the Banamex collection Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art. Cilau learned from his father as a young boy, but he did not start serious work until a couple of years ago. Although Cilau Valadez is only 19, his work is already in high demand. Presently there is more than a year-long waiting list to commission one of his pieces. His very first large work is a museum-quality piece, and though it has already been purchased, it will be on display at the open house.

Cilau’s work, though well within the tribal tradition, is innovative and original. The images all derive from the ancient spiritual life still practiced by about 10,000 Huichols in their remote mountain homeland in Jalisco and Nayarit. Cilau, who is bilingual, contributes to this tradition a rich palette of colors and entirely novel compositions.

Cilau will be working on his current commission during the reception and open house, providing a glimpse of how these unique works are created. A board is covered with a delicate mixture of beeswax and resin. Then yarn is painstakingly pressed into the wax. Cilau works freehand, never drawing his images ahead of time.

Galerìa Atotonilco, which has the area’s largest collection of both vintage and new yarn paintings available for purchase, shows a range of excellent Huichol art, including Huichol beaded jewelry. The gallery also exhibits an array of folk ceramics, fabric folk art from all over Mexico, vintage Mexican textiles, historic photographs and country antique furniture. Acquired recently is a collection of small ceramic figures selling pottery, carrying milk cans, delivering fruit and cooking tacos. These pieces had been made in Telaquepaque for many years but have only recently been revived there. Many items are sale priced for the holiday season.

Galería Atotonilco is housed in a remarkable Mexican-modern home designed by House and House architects, which was recently featured in Phoenix Home and Garden magazine. 

Directions to the gallery— drive five miles north from the Libramiento intersection on the Dolores highway. Turn left at the giant Pepsi billboard and then after only a short way, follow the main road as it veers left. Drive a half mile on the dirt road to a white house and yellow house together on the right. Take the driveway that runs between these houses and follow it to the red gallery building. The gallery is always open by appointment: 185-2225.

Susan Page is the author of five books about relationships and is the founder and coordinator of the San Miguel Authors’ Sala.