Benefit Huichol art and jewelry sale,
Feb 2, 2007

Benefit Huichol art and jewelry sale Galería Atotonilco in El Cortijo Sat, Feb 10, 11am–6pm 185-2225

Mexico’s spiritual and artistic Huichol people live in such a remote region of the Sierra Madre mountains that neither the Spanish conquerors nor the Franciscans ever found them. More than most Mexican indigenous tribes, they retain their pre-Columbian religious ceremonies and way of life. They still preserve valued religious stories and symbols through their extraordinary embroidery, yarn paintings and beadwork. As they work to blend ancient traditions with modern life, they now also create extraordinary works of art and jewelry to sell.

Galería Atotonilco will host an exhibition and sale of exceptional quality Huichol art and jewelry, proceeds of which will benefit The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts. The Center’s director, Susana Valadez, will be present to answer questions about the work of the Center. (She will also present a slide show and lecture the evening before the open house, as a guest of the San Miguel Authors’ Sala: www.sanmiguelauthors.com ).

Galería Atotonilco is located five miles north of San Miguel. Drive north on the Dolores Highway. At El Cortijo, turn left in front of a small stone arch. Go 500 yards and turn left again where the main road turns left. Drive a half mile to a yellow house on the right. Turn right into the Galería Atotonilco driveway. Follow the long, curving driveway to the red gallery building. 

For a taxi driver who knows the location of Galería Atotonilco, call Alfredo López at 152-4749; Victor López at 044-415-103-6590 or David at 044-415-101-9294. For more information about the exhibition, call 185-2225.

Fantasy and caprice in Pinilla’s painting

Art Opening Paintings by Felipe Pinilla Sat, Feb 3, 5–7pm San Miguel Historical Museum Cuna de Allende 1

Fantasies, allegories and whimsy fill the symbol-laden canvases of Felipe Pinilla’s paintings. His imagination, which thrives on stories, fables, myths and legends, gives rise to his own particular form of seeing life. Color is an important component of his visual vocabulary and submerges us into a world that each must interpret according to his or her own life experiences. Pinilla uses oil and encaustic as a poet uses a pen.

The exhibit remains open during February between 10am and 4pm.

Fábrica la Aurora celebrates three-year anniversary

Part I
By Edward Swift

Anniversary celebration Sat, Feb 10, 6–9pm Fábrica la Aurora Calzada de la Aurora

On February 10, Fábrica la Aurora celebrates its third anniversary as an arts and design center. For over 90 years, La Aurora was a textile factory, and it has been owned and operated by the Garay family since 1932. The factory was equipped with cylinders, spindles and looms for cleaning, ginning, cording and spinning raw cotton into thread. Manta (unbleached muslin) was the primary fabric produced at Aurora. Some of the manta was of a very high quality and was used to make indigenous clothing and household linens. By 1970, production included heavy canvas for tennis shoes. The Alborada, the annual celebration of San Miguel’s patron saint, was instituted by the Aurora textile workers and is still celebrated today. Because free trade agreements brought many changes to Mexico, the textile factory was closed in March 1991. The magnificent building stood empty for 10 years until Christopher Fallon, Merry Calderoni and Mary Rapp rented studio space from Paco Garay, general director of La Aurora Associates. Before 
long, Garay asked Christopher Fallon whether he would be interested in renovating part of the factory. Fallon was no newcomer to Mexico or the art of renovation. He had already lived in the Yucatán and Chiapas, where he designed clothing using native textiles. Moreover, he was an established 7th Avenue fashion designer whose firm expanded to include furniture, interior and house designs. Although he has a master’s degree in Spanish from Middlebury College, he says that design has always occupied a major part of his life.

Phase I of the renovation of La Aurora, which included several shops and a large apartment, got underway. Fallon moved his own design studio from the center of town to La Aurora and ended up living in one of his renovated spaces for two years. His design studio occupies a space near the café, which his wife, Caroline, runs, leaving Fallon time to concentrate on the design of houses and interiors. 

Now there are over 35 shops, studios and galleries in Fábrica la Aurora, largely due to Fallon’s early enthusiasm. At first, Garay was a little skeptical that an arts and design center was the way to go, but public response changed his mind. “At the beginning there were only four or five of us,” Fallon recalls, “and at our first opening over 1,000 people showed up. After that, Paco realized that we had something viable.” 

Fallon is proud of the effort he has put into the place. “I like the idea that we’ve been able to put an old empty building to creative use and pour new life into it. And now that we have a restaurant, a café and a wine bar, it’s a great place to wander around and spend the afternoon. Plus, you can always find a parking space.” 

Next week, in Part II, we focus on artists Merry Calderoni and Mary Rapp.

Edward Swift is a novelist and visual artist. He shows his work at the Vandiver gallery. 

The color of Mexico

Art Opening “The Color of Mexico” Photographs by Gary Geiger Fri, Feb 2, 6–9pm Fortuna Fine Frames, Pila Seca 3

Photographer Gary Geiger has traveled the world for almost 40 years on assignments in over 50 countries. In the early 1980s, a traveler in Asia told him about San Miguel de Allende, a beautiful mountain town in Mexico. A year later, Gary visited San Miguel and it changed the entire direction of his photography. 

Geiger has continued to photograph Mexico as an ongoing project for over 20 years. His images are exquisitely produced on watercolor paper and canvas to reveal the intense colors of Mexico. 

The opening, which includes wine and live music, is hosted by Fortuna Fine Frames, which offers San Miguel’s largest selection of domestic and imported moldings, as well as imported acid-free matboard and adhesives. Call 152-7782 for more information.






Vivituri te salutant! 
By Erika Larsson 

Art Opening Sculptures and poems by Omar Fattah Wed, Feb 7, 6–9pm Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública

If you appreciate innovative, imaginative and transformative art, then you will enjoy Omar Fattah’s surreal sculptures and accompanying poetry. This art wave is sure to set new standards for art lovers and creators all over the world.

As an art collector, I have traveled extensively in North America and Europe and attend art shows and exhibitions frequently. I love the unique visual and creative aspects demonstrated in Fattah’s work.

What’s new about his art is that he combines two artistic formats into one offering: his original poetry complements his sculpture. The theme of alchemy, as a process of individuation, is prevalent. It is about disassembling and reassembling the “raw materials” to discover gold—the spiritual gold of one’s true self. 

The 33 sculptures in this collection incorporate a balance of the four elements of alchemy —fire, earth, air and water—as well as a union of the masculine and feminine in a sensual and surreal way. The name of the offering, Dalia Conjunctio, evokes the surrealism of the form via “Dalia,” and the Latin word “Conjunctio” captures the union of the masculine and feminine. Each sculpture is unique and offers a whimsical perspective of nature, but nature as one’s subconscious might see it. Indeed, the artist takes his inspiration from nature and sees different realities. By extension, he leads us to wonder what other realities may exist for us. He encourages us to use all our senses to appreciate the sculpture as a metaphor for nature and life. 

I love the idea that a poem created for the sculpture accompanies it. The poem’s message jolts the subconscious side of our mind into a state of wonderment. So often we think that the subconscious is asleep, but it is more awake than the conscious mind. 

This combination artwork is fresh, innovative and contemporary, inspiring us to think about the role we each play in our self-discovery and daily existence. How many of us really live life to its fullest, exploring new possibilities daily, creating and expanding our collection of experiences, rather than suffering the same enjoyable and comfortable experiences day in and day out? 

Fattah’s slogan, Vivituri Te Salutant!, is a juxtaposition of the ancient gladiator cry to Caesar as the games began: “Those who are about to die salute you.” Instead, his sculptures and poems invite us to join him in living, rather than existing, with his exclamation: “Those who are about to live salute you!” The challenge offered by this new wave of self-expression is inspiring and invigorating.

Fattah’s sculpture and poetry exhibition will be featured at the Biblioteca Pública through March 10. Use the side entrance at 50A Reloj after 7pm. The artist will read his poetry and share his inspiration with his audience at 6:45 and 7:45pm. Expect other fun surprises at the inauguration.

Linda Vandiver’s garden of desire
By Edward Swift

Art Opening
Works by Linda Vandiver
Sat, Feb 3, 5–8pm
Vandiver Gallery
Fábrica la Aurora

Flowers of love, requited and unrequited, and flowers of unbridled passion and reckless desire are currently on display at the Vandiver Gallery in Fábrica la Aurora. The artist is Linda Vandiver herself, and her flower paintings and botanical prints, sprouting from every wall, have been given provocative titles to match their personalities: “Desire,” “Passion,” “Amor,” “The Crimson Palace,” “Obsession,” “Delight,” “Penetration of Light.” The paintings are oils and watercolor, and the botanical prints, also available at EVOS, are a bit more subtle in their ardor, and therefore are modestly priced. Interestingly enough, the artist once considered a career as a medical illustrator. Fortunately, she entered the realm of fine art instead, and she says it’s her love of beautiful objects and exotic plants that has influenced her subject matter as well as her realistic style. “Flowers,” she says, “are one of my greatest passions. I cannot receive too many.” In her large paintings, petals wrap around and embrace the e
dges of the canvases, and stamens reach out as if to kiss anyone who ventures too close. Stems are more than just stems, they are arms that support many flowering amantes, and pistils are poised and uplifted, ready to receive a pollen-covered bee, or a butterfly drunk on nectar. What must it be like to spend a day, a night, so little as an hour inside Linda Vandiver’s head? One has the feeling that one would come away intoxicated on perfume and color. 

It is unfair to say that flowers make up the entire exhibition. Also on display are assemblages of found objects, talismans and decorative boxes. The objects are displayed in close proximity to the flower paintings as if they’re in someone’s home rather than a gallery. 

Linda Vandiver has lived in San Miguel de Allende for 13 years. Originally, she came from Tulsa, Oklahoma where she was runner-up to Miss Tulsa of 1958, losing the title to Anita Bryant, who went on to become Miss Oklahoma, a runner-up to Miss America and, finally, Miss Orange Juice of Florida who fought a losing battle against gay rights. One cannot help wondering what would have been the course of history had the liberal artist won the crown, thereby relegating the conservative Miss Bryant into a life of obscurity, where many of us believed she belonged in the first place. 

Linda Vandiver’s talent in the Miss Tulsa competition was her art portfolio and Native American dancing. She learned ceremonial dances from WolfRobe Hunt, a Native American from Acoma pueblo, who served as ambassador to Europe in the 1950s and invited Vandiver to become a blood sister. Her Indian name is Tsamytay, which means “Blue Sky.” 

The first night of the Miss Tulsa competition she danced the war dance, the eagle dance and the hoop dance. She wore a buckskin, beaded costume with long, swinging fringe and a headdress of eagle feathers to match her wings, which she removed for the hoop dance. The hoop was only two inches wider than her shoulders, and she twisted her body in and out of it as if she were made of rubber. The second night of the pageant she showed her portfolio composed of a series of realistic drawings and paintings. 

Like many realists, from childhood she was able to draw whatever was put before her. The visual connection between head and pen was never blocked except briefly in art school when a professor tried to steer her toward the abstract. “I was and still am a realist,” she says to this day. “I was not made to create abstract paintings.” 

Art runs in the family. Vandiver’s grandmother, also a painter, founded the Tulsa Artists Guild. Her mother was skilled at finger weaving, needlepoint and lace making, but her greatest talent was pushing her children and grandchildren headlong into the arts. Fortunately, they were a talented bunch. Vandiver’s brother is a sculptor, one daughter is a psychic who has visions in glowing color, and her son, Kelley Vandiver, who also lives in San Miguel, is a successful painter. By the time she finished high school, Vandiver was well on her way with an art scholarship to Stetson University and several national arts awards under her belt. At that time she was also a fashion model, a successful sideline which earned her the titles Miss Stretch-shirt, Miss Chantilly and Miss Haynes Hosiery. For the Miss Haynes Hosiery assignments only her beautiful, Haynes-clad legs could be seen sticking out of a giant hosiery box. In this unforgettable get-up, she was hired to stroll through a Tulsa shopping center to the delight o
f the crowds. Cashing in on a great pair of gams, her earnings afforded her a wide array of art supplies and more lessons. 

Always interested in medicine and medicinal plants, Vandiver’s more practical studies prepared her for a career as a supervisor of histology at a Tulsa hospital. For years she pursued her medical career while rearing her children and exhibiting her paintings in local galleries. During her last year at the hospital she had a life-changing dream that led her to Mexico. In the dream she was walking down a Tulsa street with her best friend. The friend asked her what she would have to do to leave her job and live a life devoted to art in San Miguel, a city Vandiver had already grown to love. She told her friend that she would have to sell her house and everything she owned, including her car. At that moment an orthodox Jew, possibly a rabbi, entered the dream and said: “Is your name Linda Vandiver?” The artist answered, “Yes, it is.” At which point the man in black delivered his message. “You only have seven months to live.” 

Upon waking, she thought: If I only have seven months to live, I’d better move to San Miguel as soon as possible. 

One month before she quit her job she decided to have a physical examination and discovered that she had a tumor. After surgery the doctor told her that the tumor would have been malignant in seven months. This was the final push to Mexico. She said goodbye to everything she owned, including her car and her Tulsa house, which, as fate would have it, sold to a couple from San Luis Potosí. And here she is, many years later. Her paintings and prints continue to sell through EVOS and her own gallery. They are hanging in homes all over the world, and it’s safe to say that she no longer needs to augment her income by walking around with a giant Haynes Hosiery box covering her upper body. Occasionally, however, she has been known to take out her ceremonial hoop and dance a few steps in celebration of a long day in her studio and a life fully lived. 

Edward Swift is a novelist and a visual artist. He lives in San Miguel. 





Marin’s enchanted forest
By Margaret Failoni

Art Opening Works by Mari José Marin Sat, Feb 10, 5–8pm Generator Gallery Fábrica La Aurora

Last year, I had the privilege of writing about Mari José Marin’s new work, which was exhibited at Mexico City’s prestigious Galería de Arte Mexicana. The show, which included paintings and small sculptures, nearly sold out. 

At the time, I wrote: “Mari José’s work has undergone some major changes over these recent years, and most definitely for the best. She continues to paint trees, using color in a masterly manner, but the imagery has become starker and ever more minimal. She has pushed the button so far that the work has taken on a Zenlike quality, leading to a very personalized and poetic, almost ethereal, image of woods. Spare and minimal trees are grown from a dense ground, rich in color and matter. Backgrounds sometimes take on a misty quality as if the trees are floating. Some trees are glazed in silver and gold, and then a thin mist washes over them, making them appear even more ethereal. The trees become more sculptural, stripped as they are of the leaves and branches, to become smooth, ghostly, phallic images.”

This exhibition, especially created for San Miguel’s Generator Gallery show, includes new paintings and an absolutely impressive, monumental six-panel screen that once again draws the viewer into an enchanted forest. Whereas the Mexico City exhibition paintings were starker, this new painterly output, while maintaining a minimalist approach to form, gives us trees that seem to envelop the viewer, especially in the screen’s painting, which enhance the enchantment by being, somehow, baroque. The midnight blue mixed with royal blue hues are highlighted with silver, giving us moonlight at its most dramatic. Beautifully rendered color strokes over the surfaces are now leaping forth from the picture plane and become dimensional, not only from the light and darkness of the images, but also from the actual layering of the material. The monumentality of the screen wed to the magnificent rendering of the images spread across its six leaves combine to make this creation a major work of art.

Along with the individual paintings and the screen are a group of “tree sculptures,” works that seem to have slid off the canvas to metamorphose into three-dimensional trees, taking on a life of their own. From a floating world of mist, they have assumed a bolder demeanor. Executed in gold leaf on smooth, tropical wood, the artist has created tree groupings of various dimensions. One small group appears to have two or three trees off-center, cleverly executed to give the appearance of gentle swaying, and almost whisper “touch me.” Another large, more commanding group arrests the viewer’s gaze and is beautifully imposing in its quiet yet strong elegance.

With this exhibition, Mari José Marin has succeeded in marrying the discipline in minimalist form and image with rich visual elegance. She lives and works in San Miguel, and her work has been exhibited in itinerant museum shows in Mexico and the United States as well as galleries throughout Mexico.

Keith Miller’s magical world
By Margaret Failoni

Art Opening Paintings by Keith Miller Sat, Feb 10, 5–8pm Generator Gallery Fábrica La Aurora

On the occasion of a newly published monograph compiling over 20 years of his work, Keith Miller, a master of realist painting, has put together an exhibition featuring work created in recent years as well as some paintings specifically created for this exhibition. The paintings run the gamut from his luscious orchids to seascapes, landscapes and still lifes. 

The orchids are amazing. Beautifully painted, they are lush, sensuous, gorgeous. The seascapes, on the other hand, literally take one’s breath away. They are so vivid you can almost smell the sea mist.

Over the years, Miller has traveled to southeast Asia, bringing back wonderful books filled with his exquisite watercolor studies from which the artist has created landscapes depicting waterways, jungles and fishing villages along the tropical delta. Magnificent oils are born from these studies as well as a series of completed watercolors.

Too often in the past two decades correct painting techniques have given way to Conceptual and Installation Art, in which many young artists do not feel the necessity to learn drawing or painting technique. As one critic wrote of Miller’s work: “The technical ability of this artist can be clearly distinguished from most contemporary painting. Here we see not only Miller’s personal magic applied, but also fruitful years of correct training: never a vulgar color tone, never a careless brush stroke. The very refined variations in the application of the matter are what make such a distinctive difference.”

Keith Miller’s full-color monograph is printed by Tecolote Press, operated by Chuck Jones. The company was created for artists and uses the latest technology for color imagery. The artist will sign books on opening night, the first of which will include a watercolor or a drawing.

Art Salon Opening and Benefit

The San Miguel Art Salon is an international artist’s organization, incorporating both Mexican and American artists in their exhibitions makes its inaugural appearance February 2–4 at the Posada de San Francisco Ballroom, Plaza Principal 2, with an opening reception on Friday, February 2, from 6–9pm. The reception, “An Evening of Art and a Little Bit More,” is planned as a benefit for Mujeres en Cambio scholarship for girls. The exhibit includes paintings in mixed media, watercolor and batik; etchings; sculpture made of found objects; fine jewelry; custom-designed furniture; and art photography. This new annual event created and sponsored by artists seeks to promote high quality fine art. 

The festivities include a pair of lively mojigangas dancing outside the entrance, hors d’oeuvres, wine, margaritas and entertainment by guitar and violin duo Hopalong and Mariana. 

Tickets for the opening reception are $150 pesos, or US$15. The Art Salon opens to the general public on Saturday, February 3, 11am–7pm and Sunday, February 4, 11am–5pm. 

At the close of the weekend show select pieces from each artist will be on exhibit at Ra Luz Gallery in Posada de San Francisco from February 5–14, 2007. 

Mujeres en Cambio, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1995 by six local women to support talented young women from rural communities in pursuing further education—and their dreams. 

House & Garden Tour highlights local hacienda
By Jennifer Hamilton

House & Garden Tour Sun, Feb 4 11am, entertainment with Estudiantina (tour departs at noon) Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25 150 pesos/US$15 Info: 152-4987

On February 4, the Biblioteca Pública’s House & Garden Tour visits an exceptional hacienda that will take visitors on a remarkable journey into Mexico’s colonial past. The stately residence, just outside San Miguel, is more than 330 years old and originally boasted a property of 45,000 acres. Over the years the estate was considerably reduced to the its current size of 17½ acres. Yet the grandeur of its past has not been lost; the residence was lovingly restored by its owners, a designer and restorer/builder who had previously restored a centrally located historic property. 

The hacienda has its original thick walls and lots of locally quarried stone, most of it cantera.

When the owners decided to change the floors in much of the estate to reflect the original look of a hacienda, they discovered that previous owners had thought likewise, and they found three layers of flooring under the excavated layers. Rock was quarried out of the property for additions over 300 years ago. 

The outstanding tiles in the kitchen, over 100 years old, bear testimony to the quality of Mexican artisans’ work. To retain the look of authenticity, beams were recreated in the living room as they would have appeared in the colonial period. Period furniture and exceptional religious art can be found throughout the property.

Leading from the master bedroom is a curved stairway that winds to the rooftop with its glorious view over the hillside. Elegant bathrooms, all with deep bathtubs with ancient tilework, adjoin all bedrooms. 

The pool in the large, grassy garden was an addition from the 1960s. The smaller garden on the east side of the property is the play area for the children of families who live on the grounds.

There are flower- and plant-filled outside areas throughout, including stables. Many outbuildings dot the property, where the owners have workshops for carpentry and interior design pieces and jewelry. The only new construction on the property is a self-contained home with a charming bedroom and living room filled with possessions collected over many years. Four generations of the family live here. The bucolic views of the surrounding countryside are unsurpassed.

For information about this tour or to join the House & arden Tour volunteers,call Jennifer Hamilton at 152-4987. And don’t forget Sunday breakfast at the Cafe Santa Ana, open from 9am.