Dawit’s horses a tour de force
By Peter Leventhal, June 22, 2007

Art opening The paintings of Margarette Dawit Fri, June 29, 7–9pm Galería Le Noir Jesús 2A

Images of the horse multiply through the entire history of world art, back to the most ancient of times. 

During the Upper Palaeolithic, in the great Aurignacian culture of Europe, our ancient ancestors created compelling images of the horse (and other animals) in painting and sculpture of a very high artistic calibre.

These images, located at cave sites in France and Germany, Bohemia and Eastern Europe, testify to a continuous tradition of the horse in art of at least 32,000 years.

The provenance of the horse in world art is impeccable. Those who see the ceramic horses of China’s Tang Dynasty will never forget them.

From Pergamon and Athens, the majestic and divine marble equine heads still compel us to honour the gods who tamed and rode these magnificent creatures.

Leonardo da Vinci, commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, started on a full-scale clay statue in 1499 of a horse standing 25 feet high. His full-scale model, now legendary, destroyed by French soldiers warring on Milan and never cast, made Leonardo say, “In times like these, who could think it otherwise.” And yet his depression stayed with him to his death.

Quixote cannot be dreamed of except riding his nag, Rocinante, in battle against windmills, made indelible by the graphic art of Gustave Dore.

Two battle scenes, one in New York and one in Paris, and the equestrian portrait of Sir John Hawkwood in Florence, worked out meticulously in multi-point perspective, elevate Paulo Ucello to an iconographic position in our imagination.

Now Margarette Dawit comes to the subject; and in her paintings the horse is all energy, expressed with dynamic, provocative skill. The motions of the horse appear as traceries of movement, leaving us aware of where they have been to where they will next be. The paint rises around and through the forms as air and atmosphere around the animals. As you see horses moving fast together, you see the tumult of dust, you see colour of light fluttering in streaks and bursts.

Degas painted racehorses as bare geometry with a cycladic grace: highly strung horses, taut with anticipation of the startling acceleration about to happen.

Rosa Bonheur painted great powerful horses whose haunches rippled with massive audacity.

Marino Marini sculpted the horse as an archetypal presence, at once archaic and contemporary. 

Now we see a contemporary artist use the image as an expressive device with great poetic means. In the paintings and drawings of Margarette Dawit, on display at Galería Le Noir, the images of the horse, enveloped in the calligraphy of modernism—great splashes of colour, frothy with the flourish of terminating gesture—glide with exquisitely modulated drawing to produce works as much about painting the horse as about horses themselves. These tour-de-force pictures in the modernist manner remind us of the lineage, millennia old, to which they give an allegiance and to which they add another chapter.

Weaving beauty at Bellas Artes
By Elizabeth Starcevic

Art opening & exhibit Félix Pérez Juárez and Bellas Artes: Interwoven lives  Fri, June 22, 6pm Exhibit runs June 22-July 22 Bellas Artes Sala Principal

When the lights go on tonight in the Sala Principal at Bellas Artes, visitors will find themselves surrounded by the colors, textures and artistry of a variety of weavings with designs ranging from take-offs on the trendy quilt patterns from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, to the traditional and difficult San Miguel flower. What links these works by more than a dozen artists, is their connection to the master teacher, Félix Pérez Juárez, 

A desire to honor the role don Félix has played in so many lives inspired me to plan this show in celebration of his 45 years as a maestro at Bellas Artes. I’ve been coming to weave with him since 1992. It wasn’t an easy fit at first and I have to admit I endured months of frustration. There were no texts, no carefully constructed diagrams, just repeated demonstrations of totally foreign techniques by the teacher. Nevertheless, I was hooked, and over the last 15 years I’ve woven more than 40 rugs at Bellas Artes. Rugs which I have displayed and sold in New York, Seattle and here in San Miguel.

What kept me at the loom throughout the years? Simply joy. Joy in the work and in the beauty of Bellas Artes, but particularly joy in being led by a master teacher whose patience and enthusiasm eased my anxiety and allowed me to develop as a weaver with my own creative style.

Don Félix is a strong, compact man whose strikingly handsome face and twinkling eyes belie his unassuming manner. Quiet in manner and voice, he is anything but lax in his teaching. He insists on correct technique and diligence from his students, but always with a light touch and humor.

Over the years, he has taught hundreds of students from all parts of the world. Punctually, every day of the week, he patiently teaches all who come, not only the craft of weaving, but also a respect for what it means to be a beginner learning something new. Aside from the skills needed to warp a loom or achieve the many types of stitches, students learn to “listen” to the warp strings and to the wool.“ El hilo te lo pide “ (the strings will guide you) he says over and over. His students come to love weaving, and some even go on to make career of it. The creations of Nelly Lorenzo and Patricia Robles, former students, can be found in institutions and private collections throughout Mexico. But whether or not they make it a career, all his students say how wonderful it is to study with don Félix. During his many years as a teacher he has given classes and workshops in La Casa de la Cultura in Querétero and in Tepeyac, creating new generations of weavers as he shared his art. His work has been exhibited in the G
ranaditas museum in Guanajuato, in the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City and also in the United States.

In many ways, the history of don Félix Pérez Juárez is the history of Bellas Artes and of textiles in San Miguel. He was introduced to weaving in the home of his maternal grandfather and went on to weave with many of the artisans whose craft flourished here in the first half of the 20th century. Wool was plentiful, natural dyes were used. Indeed there are a still a number of small weaving factories in San Miguel. His relationship with Bellas Artes dates back to his childhood when he played, studied and worked in the building filling a variety of roles. During the last 45 years, however, he has been the master teaching in weaving. 

Recently enrollment has decreased. When I walked into my first class, I was lucky to get in, there was always a waiting list. Now some of the looms sit idle. There are likely many reasons for this. But when school groups visit, they are fascinated by the looms and attracted to the colors and texture of the wool.One of my motives for organizing this show is to expose a wider audience to the beauty and creative possibilities inherent in this ancient art, a vision wholly supported by Bellas Artes director Ernesto de la Peña and his staff.

Don Félix smiles wistfully when asked what his dream is for the future of weaving at Bellas Artes, “I want once again to have people waiting for our looms rather than have the looms waiting for the people.”

All are invited to celebrate this marvelous part of San Miguel’s past and present and to enjoy the beauty of a craft that is, in the hands of Maestro Félix Pérez Juárez and many others, the finest of a fine art.

Classes at Bellas Artes begin every month. To take advantage of the many years of experience and genius of this master teacher, sign up in the main office from 10am-2pm and 4-6 pm. 

Art as a raft of salvation

In the words of the Italian art critic, Roberto Malfatti….

Art opening Works by Odette Farell Sun, July 1, 12–(N)3pm Galería Atenea Jesús 2

Odette Farrell paints faces and bodies that appear dipped in a kind of atmosphere removed from space and time. The dimension she moves in could be perceived as reminiscent of what came before the Big Bang when time and space already existed but were as yet unexpressed.

Her art does not attempt to make order out of chaos, but rather inquires into the very origin of existence, as the total absence of symbolism demonstrates.

Farrell’s renunciation of space-time connotations is not simply an aesthetic choice but is the consequence of her world vision; a vision she formed while drawn back from the comfortable relativism of our times. While pulling down barriers and abolishing some limits, the artist has raised others. She presents the precariousness of our place in the world, a world which tries to be optimistic but where in reality death, pain and loneliness are more prevalent than ever.

This artist pushes herself to the margin and grabs the only raft of salvation she believes is reliable: Art. She isn’t seeking an escape. On the contrary, she feels it as a total immersion in the magma boiling beneath the crust.

It is in eroticism where Farrell sees the force that is able to not only assure the continuity of life, but also its fullness. The faces she paints show pain and anguish, seem rarely at peace, and the bodies are often contracted. It is not enough to cut oneself off in this search for peace; our pain, fear and nightmares will follow. What is necessary is to go back to the primal dimension. 

The logical, rational and technological man of our time has understood the limits of his own logic, his own rationality and his ability to dominate the world. He must melt down before he can rebuild his own relationship with life. This is what Odette Farrell tries to say with her colors. 

A former student of architecture, Farrell was struck by the urge to take up painting in 2000. By 2003 she was invited to show her work in Rome and Berlin and since that time has committed herself entirely to painting. She has exhibited in solo and group shows around the world and has won national and international awards. Her last exhibition was at the Dolores Olmedo Museum in Mexico City.









Diverse design from prints to shoes as YAM
By Adolfo Caballero

Art opening “Prints & Monoprints” Works by Paul Rodriguez Fri, June 22, 7pm YAM Gallery Interior of Instituto Allende Ancha de San Antonio 20

YAM Gallery has the pleasure to present Prints & Monoprints, a solo show by Paul Rodriguez. For this show, the artist has prepared a series of monoprints as a starting point in the exploration of materials, formats and printing techniques. Rodriguez has a strong and well-defined line of drawing which creates a fresh approach and message based on his imagination and the cosmogonies and shamanic tradition of pre-Hispanic Mexico. This intellectual base plays a central role in the creation of other artistic endeavors, such as jewelry and fashion design.

Rodriguez has developed an interesting and unique line of jewelry by using etching plates in the designs which he works in both silver and cooper. The original plates are shaped into bracelets, earrings, rings, etc. The pieces include the monoprints and are exhibited together to demonstrate their potential as decorative art as well as jewelry.

Rodriguez has also created a line of T-shirts which he made in collaboration with a member of Colectivo 314 from Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

In this daring transit from the graphic arts to design and garment construction we found the icing on the cake a series of shoes produced especially for the venue by Bateau & Alexey from Mexico City. The design team uses the monoprints of the artist to create shoes and sandals in leather or fabric for the summer season.

YAM Gallery invites all of San Miguel to join Paul Rodriguez for cocktails and music by DJ Diegeton.