December 05, 2008, Their theory: whimsical colorful chaos!, By Lulu Tobert, A small town in Germany, Wild emanations of passion, By Lance Madrid, Calendar girls 2009, Art Opening, Virgenes y Madonas, Phoenix rises, By Margaret Failoni

Their theory: whimsical colorful chaos!
By Lulu Tobert December 5, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Art & Whimsy Holiday Sale
Anado McLauchlin & Patrice Wynne
Sat–Sun, Dec 13–14, 11am–5pm
Casa de las Ranas
La Cieneguita

Attention: girls and boys who just want to have fun, and get their holiday shopping done! Get on over to Patrice Wynne and Anado McLauchlin’s fifth annual Art & Whimsy Holiday Sale. Choose from an array of original, artist-made gifts in a dazzling setting: high-fashion aprons and kimonos, one-of-a-kind beaded necklaces and bracelets, shirts and ties, over-the-top decorated mirrors and furniture, crocheted jewelry and fabric-covered buttons. Unspeakable treasures!

It’s happening at Casa de las Ranas, the home of Anado and his partner, art historian Richard Schultz. This house o’ wonders, known for miles around as a pretty far-out place, recently made the big-time in an article in the Style Section of The New York Times, titled “His Theory? Color Chaos” ( www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/
garden/23mexico.html ).

It’s worth the trip just to see the blindingly bright mosaic-covered walls, the bottle-glass fences, Gaudi-inspired towers, bas-reliefs of Guadalupe and various saints and sinners, the inlaid stone patios and bent-twig arches dotted around the grounds, the winding paths leading down to the jewel-like studio with its domed tile roof and glass-bottle snakes, its interior walls paved with mirrors and shells.

The Chapel of Jimmy Ray, a mini-museum under construction nearby, will soon house some of Anado’s major works, including “The Stations of the Groove.” All this may sound chaotic to the uninitiated, or to those with Bauhaus leanings, but there’s definitely a higher order operating at Casa de las Ranas that makes it all seem just right.

Oklahoma-born and raised, Anado looks back at the age of 61 on a “glorious and laborious, irreverent, spirited, delicious, ordinary and eventful life.” The guy’s been around. He went to New York to study and check out the art scene, got involved in poetry and performance art

(CBGBs and frontier SoHo venues), and ended up with a degree in Street Smarts. Next came 11 years in a community with a spiritual guru, followed by life as a landscape gardener in Marin County, California. Then came the unexpected, but commonly reported, detour to San Miguel in 2001 with Richard, impulsively buying an old wreck of a house in La Cieneguita, and lovingly and laboriously restoring it to its present glory.

In between leading you on a lively and entertaining tour of their home and studio, Anado will be selling his one-of-a-kind necklaces (familiar, like Patrice’s shirts and aprons, all over town), and his new collection of bead-and-trinket-laden bracelets. Many one-of-a-kind decorated mirrors, paintings, assemblages and furniture pieces are for sale, and the home’s elaborate inlaid fireplaces and mosaic mirror borders may inspire you to commission an Anado original for your own home.

Patrice Wynne started San Miguel Designs when she came here after she was forced to close her famed (and beloved) Gaia bookstore in Berkeley.

An entrepreneur to the core, and wanting to help her housekeeper and other native San Miguel women she met, it wasn’t long before she’d found a way to involve her new community in the launch of San Miguel Designs, which has become a great success for all concerned.

Patrice will be showing her ever-expanding line of San Miguel Design products: colorful aprons, available in 50 patterns, such as Frida Kahlo, Day of the Dead, Guadalupe, Serape and Chiles—now sold all over San Miguel and Mexico, and in museum and gift stores in the US and Europe. Try on her flouncy new fashionista apron style or her Frida kimono. These patterns, featuring Mexican iconography and traditional motifs, are all designed by Patrice in collaboration with her seamstresses.

All are made from high-thread-count fabric, printed in Japan and sewn by San Miguel women and their daughters. Her ever-expanding line has grown to include kimonos, men’s shirts and ties, shower curtains, fabric-covered buttons, crocheted jewelry and handbags.

Patrice recently started an Art & Culture tour business, taking San Miguel residents and tourists on action- and event-packed overnight bus tours to Mexico City that consistently draw rave reviews. These insider’s journeys take in museums, the opera, the flea markets, the home of Frida Kahlo, the haunts of Diego Rivera, up-to the-minute restaurant finds and little-known hotels and nightspots.

So come wile away a weekend afternoon in the campo, in the spirit of community and high spirits. In addition to the eye-popping artistry of Patrice and Anado, you can blow a kiss to the burro girls (Dilly Jo, Barbarella, Cleopatra and Lolita), the sundry cats and dogs, the birds and flowers, while eating holiday cookies and sipping Richard’s famous, yet somehow mysterious, chai tea.

Directions

La Cieneguita is 10 minutes from Centro. Take Canal all the way down to the stoplight at the Libramiento (Pemex station on left). Continue straight, past the Immigration office to the end, into the dirt parking lot at the railroad station.

Bear left, then right across the railroad tracks, then immediately right again onto the asphalt road. Follow the road past three curves, and then a straightaway into La Cieneguita. At the five-kilometer sign (which is also the end of the paved road), turn right. The Church will be straight ahead. Make a dogleg right at the Church, and then an immediate left (the Church will now be on your left). Casa de las Ranas is the vividly colorful, tile-festooned house on your left. Please park on the road, not in the Balneario parking lot.

Private appointments

You can visit the house and studio by appointment to see their latest collections or to arrange a commission. Call Patrice (150-0058) or Anado (155-8044).

Recycled bottles

Anyone who would like to recycle their wine bottles for use in the construction of the gallery-studio complex can bring them along to the Bazaar or contact Anado to make arrangements for drop-off (155-8044 or anado@madebyanado.com ).

Photographer and painter Lulu Torbet has authored, edited, or ghostwritten 30 books, two of which made The New York Times bestseller list. In Manhattan, where she lived for 20 years, she owned a graphic design studio, and at various times made an animation film, had a solo printmaking show, designed and sold jewelry through major department stores and did painted floors and furniture. Her work is in numerous private and corporate collections (photography website: www.lulutorbet.com ; book website: www.lauratorbet.com ).

A small town in Germany

Art Opening
Glass art
David Sommers
Fri, Dec 5, 5–7pm
Galería/Atelier
Fábrica La Aurora

Canadian-born glass artist David Sommers has won awards for his handcrafted blown-glass art pieces and is excited to share his new, award-winning creations with the San Miguel art community.

The San Jose, California, resident is one of the few glass artists in the US using the torch for hollow-blown vessels, an art form that can be traced back to a small mountain town in Germany named Lauscha.R.W. Douglass’ History of Glassmaking provides a brief history of glass. Glass can originally be traced back to Syria some 6,000 years ago. Rudimentary glass was made from silica sand, plant ash and lime. Over time it was discovered that heating glass until it became semi-liquid allowed it to be molded or shaped and left to cool into a solid new piece or vessel. In ancient times, glass pieces were valued as a substitute for precious stones, gems and gifts. The craft of melting and blowing glass into usable objects was developed during the first century BC. Glass pieces and items gradually became more common after the discovery of glassblowing. Objects such as vases, bottles and cruets were mouth blown and mold blown during the Roman Empire, usually for ordinary purposes and daily use.

Common glass normally has a greenish hue caused by miniscule amounts of iron impurities in the sand used to make glass. Glass producers learned to make decorative and colored glass by adding metallic compounds and mineral oxides such as cobalt which allowed for glass of reds, blues and greens to become prevalent. Around 1000 AD, a new development was made in glassmaking when soda-lime was replaced by potash from wood ashes. From this time on, glass from northern Europe differed greatly from that made in the Mediterranean area, where soda-lime remained in common use. Centuries later in Bohemia, ashes from beech trees were used. The production of Bohemian “forest glass” was progressively refined over the years.

During the eleventh century, new ways of making sheet glass came about in Germany. Glass blowers would blow spheres and then form them into cylinders. They would cut the glass while still hot and then flatten the glass into sheets. Glass makers in Venice improved this method in the thirteenth century. By the late fourteenth century, Bohemia and Moravia had as many as 20 glassworks.

This German technique is the art form Sommers continues today. His art differs from the utilitarian glassblowing techniques used in our local glass factory, Guajuye, primarily due to the type of glass that is used which allows for the crystalline, thin walls of his ornamental, non-utilitarian vessels. He studied with classic German glass blowers and uses German soft and borosilicate glasses and is also well versed in the use of special reflective and refractive glass as well as glasses that react to hot-air conditions often used with ceramic Raku. His use of these classic techniques and his experimental use of color and textures produce some of the most unique glass ornaments in the US and his one-of-a-kind, museum quality, glass ornaments have been on display in many galleries across California.

Galería/Atelier is happy to host David Sommers glass artwork and to welcome him to San Miguel with a cocktail reception to coincide with Fábrica La Aurora’s Art Walk. Contact the gallery at info@galeriaatelier.com for more information.

Wild emanations of passion
By Lance Madrid

Art Opening
Majestic Mystery Horses
Dede Schuhmacher
Sun, Dec 14, noon–3pm
Atenea Gallery
Jesús 2, 152-0785

The paintings of horses at Atenea Gallery by artist Dede Schuhmacher represent one of the most spectacular and moving shows I’ve seen this year. Her work is what I call both abstract and honest: honest enough to clearly show the tender love between a mother and colt along with the abstract use of both color and brush work that evokes the majesty and mystery of these beautiful creatures. Her palette consists of bold, raw color contrasting against stark light to convey a sense of energy and power. The result is a sublime mixture; the reality of the image surrounded by aesthetically colorful and often wild emanations of passion.

Schuhmacher said, “The intemperate mind, the wild and loving eyes, the warm heart and the tenderness of horses is what I try to capture in my work. I am trying to capture the essence and soul of every horse that I paint. In art school, I was taught to paint what you love. I paint horses.”

After graduating from the University of Texas, she attended the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Art Institute of Houston. Her work has been shown in museums and galleries in the US, Spain and Mexico and are in numerous private and public collections.

Schuhmacher now resides in San Miguel, where she owns and rides horses. She says she spends much of her time just “hanging out” with her horses, observing and learning from them. She recently updated a new web page at dedeschuhmacher.com.

Calendar girls 2009

Las Duenas photo exposition
Sat, Dec 13, 7pm
Market Bistro
Hernández Macías 95

A Sight for Sore Eyes Productions with Skip Williams presents the grand inauguration of Las Duenas photo exposition and 2009 calendar presentation.

Arrive at 2010 in style this year with Las Dueñas. We are a group of San Miguel businesswomen, one blind photogapher “Skip Williams,” and we’re going to take it all off for you, San Miguel! Why? Because we’re women and proud of it.

We’re not Sports Illustrated, body by Dupont, 18-year-olds. Nope! We’re your friends, your moms, your wives, your sisters, your daughters and your lovers. We’re your bosses, co-workers, your neighbors and your fellow sanmiguelenses.

Most of us weren’t born here, but we have all made San Miguel our homes. We have all worked hard to establish ourselves in this community and we’re proud of who we are and what we have achieved here. Now we want to give something back to the community, and we’re having really great time doing it.

We are store owners, realtors, teachers, singers and dancers, writers and doctors. Most of us have reared our children here and some of us are working on grandchildren.

We all run our own business or have some other high-profile job. We come in different sizes, shapes and colors. We come from places far and near, but we have all settled here.

Join us at Market Bistro and bring your checkbook, because you’ll want to buy them by the dozen. Proceeds will be donated to help sanmiguelenses with macular degeneration and other eye diseases.

Art Opening
Virgenes y Madonas
Fri, Dec 5, 5–8pm
Generator Gallery
During Fábrica La Aurora Art Walk

In celebration of the Vírgen de Guadalupe and Madona Madre María, the Generator Gallery presents an exhibit, through January 15, of 12 local and national artists. This is a particularly interesting exhibit for San Miguel, as many believe the Virgin actually appeared in Mexiquito, at the site of Santuario Guadalupana, not in Tepeyac, but that the location was changed to be closer to Mexico City, the religious center for New Spain.

Hundreds of Mexicans from all over the country make the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary on December 12, Día de la Virgen, to celebrate her appearance to San Juan Diego in 1531. In addition, the famous Virgen de Guadalupe standard used by Hidalgo during his uprising was taken from the Atotonilco Church and went on to become the symbol of Mexican solidarity.

In this exhibit each artist presents their unique point of view, some more reverent than others. Mick Loroussos, a blossoming young artist, presents an esoteric and interpretive approach in his paintings and sculptures.

Photographers Judith Roberts, Shirli Marcantel, Lulu Torbet and Patrice Wynne prove to us that “she” truly is everywhere. (A comforting thought in these chaotic times.) Anado McLauchlin, in his own inimitable style, has created some breathtaking “embellished objects” of all sizes especially for this exhibit. David Leonardo shows us yet another side of his amazing virtuosity. Other exhibiting artists include Angélica Castañeda, Humberto Chávez, (of Mexico City), Cati Demme, Mary Jane Miller and Susan Plum.

Patrice Wynne’s famous Guadalupe products also will be on exhibit and available for sale. A beautiful image of the Vírgen Morena (the Dark Virgin) by local artist Inti Guzmán will be available in poster form. Fifty percent of all sales of this poster will go to benefit the Casa Hogar Don Bosco (Home for Boys) located next to the Santuario Guadalupana.

Phoenix rises
By Margaret Failoni

Art Opening
Jayden Romay
Fri, Dec 5, 5–8pm
Galería Atelier
Fábrica La Aurora

Like the phoenix rising from the flames, beautiful works of art are created from fire, ashes and dust. A young boy’s fascination with fire develops into extraordinary works of art after he extinguishes the flames according to his will and design. That oft-used word—prodigy—truly applies this time.

Jayden Romay is the son of Lavinia, an accomplished artist in her own right and one of this city’s foremost framers. Art has always been a part of his young life. He played with scraps of mat board and paper from his mother’s frame shop. He cut them into shapes of imaginary animals; the usual childhood crayons and colored pencils interested him less. Instead, smudges from ashes and burnt match heads fascinated him. The designs formed on the edges of burnt paper seemed to create landscapes in his mind. He very cautiously started experimenting with inflammable materials—mastering, taming and perfecting his own techniques to achieve the desired imagery.

Oceans away, an acclaimed Chinese artist has come into prominence with large-scale installations and flat picture planes using burnt paper from gunpowder techniques, but a few years prior to the success of this superstar on the international art scene, a young boy in a small town located in the Mexican heartland was arriving at the same artistic conclusions—exquisite art can be achieved by destroying with fire to create.

Jayden’s work has developed into a wider range of materials prevalent in this country, experimenting with varnish, wax, alcohol, wood burners and especially gunpowder applied to amate paper, mat boards and/or papyrus. Occasionally, pure gold leaf is applied to a burnt-out surface with the effect of a glowing sunset over a desert. Some images are very spiritual, some almost religious; others resemble long-forgotten maps to hidden treasures.

Born in Querétaro in 1992 (yes, he’s just 16), Romay is not just a promise, but at this young age can be considered a true artist in his own right well worth collecting. Given his seriousness and closely watching his ever-growing creativity, I can safely assume we will be dealing with an ever more accomplished artist in the years to come.

Galería Atelier hosts his “coming out party” during the Fábrica La Aurora Art Walk.

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