New project to showcase contemporary art
By Adolfo Caballero March 14, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Art Opening
Mariana Peraza, Juan Ordoñez & Michael Wiebach
Fri, Mar 14, 7pm
James Pinto Gallery
Instituto Allende
Ancha de San Antonio 20

Join us for an independent project organized by the Instituto Allende and Adolfo Caballero (Yam Gallery) that creates a platform to exhibit and promote visual arts. Every three months, there will be a series of exhibits which best represents the contemporary art scene. The first of the exhibits is titled #1 Painting/Installation.

Mariana Peraza


The artist generates three-dimensional bodies manifesting the relationships and oppositions between elements that form us, at the same time creating organic moods, where forms with a natural eroticism are perceived. 

The hollow, empty interiors work as material, delicately drawing each volume and converting themselves into an essential part of the piece.

In each piece, a direct language exists that creates an immediate and physical communication of tactile sensations provoked by a reduction in the mediums of expression, the simplicity of the shapes, the smooth surfaces and the whiteness that radiates austerity and integrity.

Juan Ordoñez

Three series of large format paintings are executed in oil and encaustic mediums on wood.

In one of the series, the artist explores cave painting and its similarities to the 21st century. He questions the way today’s symbols share the same origin as art produced 40,000 years ago. Finally, Juan completes the series with a group of six minimalist marine landscapes which function as mechanical artifacts.

Michael Wiebach

The artist’s video-installation entitled “The Eye” is an inquiry into the proliferation of video cameras and surveillance systems in public spaces and the implied interference in our private lives. 

The artist, using a video projection and an old surgeon’s lamp, an artifact once used to analyze and operate on the insides of man, is used to represent this omnipresent eye which spies on public and private spaces.

Five artists demonstrate clay techniques

Art Workshop
Escultura en Barro 5
Sat, Mar 15, 10am–2pm
Bellas Artes
Free

As a complement to the exhibition currently showing in the Bellas Artes sculptural space under the arches, the five participating artists will hold a public demonstration of their processes and techniques.

Ellen Johnson will demonstrate her process of working on a ceramic surface with mixed media using paint, collage, pencil and pastel markings. Edna Dickinson will demonstrate how she builds large, double-walled sculptures by combining forms made from slabs, pinched clay and coils. Sharon Milligan will use clay to create rhythm and form in a spontaneous sculpture. 

Lizzie Castillon will show her method of using clay pinches to build complex shapes. Angelina Perez Ibarguen will demonstrate her multiple-resource approach to making her work. The artists will use photographic images to help the understanding of their processes.

The artists will share the joy of working with clay and show various avenues of expression possible with this medium. The public is welcome to view the demonstration, watch the artists at work and ask questions.

Last chance to view father-and-son exhibit

Art Exhibition 
Steven & Noah Mendelson
Thu, Mar 20, 6–8pm
The Bordello Galería
Casa de la Turca
Órganos 19

Even if you attended Steven and Noah Mendelson’s art opening in February, you will find new paintings in this event. Steven Mendelson’s oil and acrylic paintings bear great energetic qualities, stressing line, undulating form and rich surface quality.

He often pushes into realms of abstract expressionism, yet within his many planes of color are references to reality or, perhaps, landscape. We may surely find some animal form, as if gazing at clouds with open imagination. Steven applies a comprehensive understanding of design and composition to his work. He is a self-taught artist with an eclectic range of accomplishments from architecture to coin dealing.

His son Noah is a unique “whirl in the wind” as well. He uses a palette knife for his oil paintings, embracing intuition as his guide. He says, “Paint broadly, delve in specifics as they present themselves...freedom is excellence.” In his paintings you can see depth of character that expresses a vast spontaneity and fascinating detail.

Steven’s art can be seen on the web at www.smendelsongallery.com or he can be reached at sm22903@yahoo.com. Noah’s art can be viewed at www.leafgallery.com  and he can be reached at art@leafgallery.com. 

“San kyu” to San Miguel
By Akiko Yasuda

This past weekend, we gathered to create one collage that embodied the feeling of “Muchas gracias de mucha gente” from more than 500 participants.

People of all ages worked together over a five-hour period to create a one meter by one meter collage. I enjoyed seeing the adults becoming more like children as they started to create their forms.

In the Jardín from 1 to 3pm and in Plaza Cívica from 3:30 to 6pm, our group of volunteers helped residents and visitors to create the collage. Using small squares of colored tissue paper, each “artist” created a shape that was then glued on to the plexiglass board. The layers built up and we have created a beautiful collage with a stained glass look when held up to the light.

We will hold an exposition in late April in the Biblioteca Pública. We will show the collage and the photos taken by professional photographer Russell Monk. Please come to find your piece and to see how the color, form, and relationship changed as all of the pieces became layered.

Explosions of color
By Nancy Bresolin

Art Show
Jacques Desgagnés
Through Mar 31
Café Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Leading up to the worldwide Festival de la Francophonie, Jacques Desgagnés, a Canadian painter from Quebec, is showing 18 large, vibrant works at the Biblioteca Pública’s Café Santa Ana. Desgagnés invites you to meet the marriage of form and color—a union that gives birth to an explosion of energy. Each of his paintings lets you seize the emotion of the moment without the need for words.

Desgagnés has been painting for more than 30 years and currently teaches painting and creativity courses. After earning a master’s degree in philosophy, Desgagnés chose to study design and fine arts. Eventually settling on oil painting as the medium for his creativity, he began to experiment and explore, evolving from a figurative to an abstract style.

Today his work expresses, above all, energy, emotion and intangible feelings. It reflects the artist’s state of mind and his evolution.

Jacques Desgagnés’ paintings are sold in galleries across North America. View his work online at www.ajdesgagnes.com.