July 04, 2008, Art Walk features photography and monotypes by the children of Pozos, By Geoff Winningham, Voice of Colors exhibit at the Instituto, By Jaime Fernández, Yam Gallery celebrates second anniversary, By Adolfo Caballero, El Milagro de la Divinidad Femenina, By Cristina Iberri, Collective opening at Galería Casa Diana, By Carmen Gutierrez

Art Walk features photography and monotypes by the children of Pozos
By Geoff Winningham July 4, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Art Walk
July 11–13
Collective opening
Mineral de Pozos
01 (442) 293-0091

For three days next weekend, the artists and art dealers of Mineral de Pozos will open their studios and galleries to welcome visitors for their annual summer Art Walk.

A special feature of this summer’s Pozos Art Walk will be the Mexican premier of Mi Pueblo: The Pozos Children’s Project, an exhibition of 92 large-scale black-and-white photographs and 20 color monotypes, all created by the children of Pozos. First shown this past March at FotoFest in Houston and accompanied by the publication of a striking 64-page catalog, the Mi Pueblo show is also scheduled to open at the Museo Regional de Querétaro in November for a three-month run. The exhibition and the catalog are the result of a six-month project in which the children, ages 7 to 16, worked with eight undergraduate students from Rice University, under the direction of photographer Geoff Winningham and painter Janice Freeman, both residents of Pozos. With instruction and guidance from the Rice University students, 39 Pozos children worked from October through December of last year making photographs and creating monotypes on an etching press.

The subject matter of their art emphasizes the landscape and flora of the region, street life of the town and portraits of the children’s families and their friends. The catalog of the show will be on sale for the Art Walk, along with original photographs and special-edition prints by the children. For the weekend of the Art Walk, the Mi Pueblo show will hang in several locations, including the Galería de Pozos at Casa Montana, Hotel Posada de las Minas and the Presidencia Municipal of Pozos.

Elsewhere in Pozos, Galería6 directors Nick Hamblen and Man Rey Silva will present a two-person show. Claire Cusack of Houston will show new sculptural pieces crafted from found objects and Montana Walsh of San Miguel will show her latest abstract expressionist paintings. Both artists will be present for a wine and tequila reception on Saturday evening from 6–9pm at the gallery.

Artists’ studios throughout Pozos will be open for visitors. Lena Bartula will show photo transfer monoprints from her exhibition Otros Sueños, which recently previewed at the Museo de la Ciudad in Querétaro. Dan Rueffert, along with photographer Geoff Winningham and painter Janice Freeman, will welcome visitors to their studios and show new work and work in progress.

Restaurants at Posada de las Minas and Casa Montana, as well as Los Famosos de Pozos, will be open for lunch. Transportation will be available to and from Pozos, with buses leaving from the Soriana parking lot at 10am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Buses will return to San Miguel from Pozos both afternoons at 5pm. The round-trip cost per person is 150 pesos. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 01 (442) 293-0091 in Pozos.

Voice of Colors exhibit at the Instituto
By Jaime Fernández

Art Opening
Edda Clasen
Wed, July 9, 6pm
James Pinto Gallery
Instituto Allende
Ancha de San Antonio 20

Painter Edda Clasen presents a vibrant summer opening at the James Pinto Gallery off the back patio at Instituto Allende. Inspired by mother Africa and nature, much of Clasen’s work consists of a colorful menagerie of big-eyed snakes, birds, crocodiles, elephants, dolphins, giraffes and monkeys.

Childlike, yet carefully thought out, her paintings are a harmonious mix of nature’s creatures not necessarily abiding by the rules of gravity. Marc Chagall and Joan Miró come to mind.

Not all of Clasen’s happy jungle is a spectrum of color. Her zebras are naturally black and white with just traces of color as to accent the atmosphere. Traces of cubism and other techniques employed by the masters of modern art during the early twentieth century are apparent.

Peering deeper into Clasen’s paintings, one may notice an additional artistic twist. It’s her own technique devised when she lived in Germany, described as how she combines technique with shamanistic elements.

Clasen creates three-dimensional spaces within two-dimensional paintings! She achieves the effect by stretching three layers of canvas atop one another, each two centimeters apart, a beginning process that has Clasen knifing through the canvases that permits the sun’s shadows to creep into her carved crevices over the course of the day.

Clasen doesn’t spend all her colors on animal imagery. Other works contain planetary and geometric images.

No doubt those cosmic replicas stem from the universe and the artist’s perception, made from precise angles and circles, colored in and shaded, solely at the pace and cadence desired by their creator, Clasen.

Born in 1969, the German painter spent her early years in Ghana, Peru, Thailand, Argentina and Germany.

At age 20, Clasen pursued the academic portion of her education at Cambridge’s Trinity College in the UK, studying international relations and earning a master’s degree in philosophy. Afterwards she pursued painting, her life’s passion, in Germany and Baltimore, Maryland. She has evolved her art internationally through travel and education. Reflections of her past, mixed with an artistic nature, have parlayed Clasen into a proficient professional maestra.

Since making Mexico her home in 2005, her work has wowed onlookers from all around the country. Many recall her exhibits at Atrium Galería here in 2006 and 2007. Prior to Mexico, Clasen showed at prestigious galleries, institutions and private venues throughout Europe and the US.

Yam Gallery celebrates second anniversary
By Adolfo Caballero

Art Opening
Yam Gallery
Thu, July 10, 7pm
Ancha de San Antonio 20, Int 1

Yam Gallery celebrates the second anniversary of their location at the Instituto Allende with a special reception. For this special occasion the gallery is exhibiting four Arte Vivo artists working live:

David Kestembaun, modeling

Carlos Caban, sketching human figure

Joaquin Pineiro, painting

Joan Elena Goldberg, sculpting

Videos by:

Ana Thiel, working at her studio

Nicolas Chirokoff, visual poetry

A group show from the resident artists of Yam Gallery:

Jesse Bert, sculpture

Paul Rodriguez, etching

Aurora Franklin, sculpture

Diego Laurenzi, photography

Adolfo Caballero, garments

El Milagro de la Divinidad Femenina
By Cristina Iberri

Art Opening
Adriana Balvanera
Sat, July 5, 7pm
Galería Atenea
Jesús 2

Adriana Balvanera’s work rises from the imminent need to express and to be in contact with her emotions. For the artist, this universe has taken her on an unending search linked to the origin of the human being, the concept of Spiritual Creator and the origin of the world. Her work is a reflection of symbolic expressionism, inspired by enigmatic concepts and reflexive ideas. Intensity, fierceness, strength and intuition are her pictorial language.

Since 1986, Balvanera has extended her education with postgraduate studies at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, the Glasell School of Art in Houston, the Institute of Art and Restoration in Florence, Italy, and at the workshop Los Tres Patios with the guidance of Juan José Beltran in Mexico.

Her work has been exhibited at the Andrea Schwartz Art Gallery in San Francisco, Churubusco Studios, Asociación de Amigos del Museo de Antropología in Mexico City and The Red Thought Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. At the Leon Trotsky Museum in Mexico City, she painted copies of original works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for the movie Frida.

Collective opening at Galería Casa Diana
By Carmen Gutierrez

Art Opening
Sat, July 12, 6–9pm
Galería Casa Diana
Recreo 40

Galería Casa Diana inaugurates a group exhibition with works by Pedro Friedeberg, Artemio Sepulveda and Miguel Angel Castellanos, with a cocktail reception Saturday, July 12.

Pedro Friedeberg, internationally renowned artist, presents a series of small format original paintings from the series “Sonambulopolis,” along with the gallery’s permanent exhibition of sculptures and silk screens. Friedeberg captures a moment that appears static but where spaces are more related to stage sets. The human figure, a nearly absolute absence in his paintings and printmaking, becomes the lead motive of his sculptures and art objects.

Artemio Sepulveda, a nueva presencia artist, presents a large collection of pastel and charcoal works on paper. A true expressionist, his images portray his own life experiences which have prepared him to identify with workers—their exploitation, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, worn faces and hands and humanity.

Miguel Angel Castellanos is a young artist who has been very popular in Galería Casa Diana. He presents several large format oils on canvas, with a touch of gold and silver leaf. There is a great tenderness in his portrayal of Mexican women and children in their folkloric costumes. His paintings have a crystalline vision with a liquid transparency, which evoke both an intense yet dreamlike quality.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10am–2 pm and 4pm–7pm, Sundays 11–2pm or by appointment at 152-0885.