Afternoon concert and art demonstrations 
By Edward Swift October 3, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Concert & Art Walk 
La Banda de los Hermanos de Aguascalientes 
Fri, Oct 3, 3:30pm
Art Walk
Fri, Oct 3, 5-7pm
Fábrica La Aurora
Calzada de la Aurora

La Banda de los Hermanos de Aguascalientes plays an afternoon concert in the Fábrica La Aurora main entrance October 3. This will be the first of several concerts leading to the annual 4am fireworks display, La Alborada, in the Jardín in celebration of San Miguel Arcángel. (Note: For more on La Alborada, see Swift’s article in the Community section.)

I urge you to attend today’s concert because it will be a happy occasion for dancing, drinking tequila and visiting with friends. La Banda is one of the best around and the concert is not to be missed.

Immediately following this concert, many of the Fábrica La Aurora artists open their studios and galleries for the Art Walk. Some of us give ongoing demonstrations.

Berlin-born Edina Sagert, for example, will teach a watercolor class and the public is invited to enter her gallery/studio to observe and to ask questions. She teaches several watercolor classes a year throughout Mexico and Europe.

She is a demanding teacher with a generous spirit, but if you abuse her expensive watercolor brushes, you will be in deep trouble and the entire Fábrica will know about it!

William Martin, born in Mexico City, will also take part in an ongoing demonstration. He plans to move his easel into his gallery where he will work on a portrait. When he first started painting, he was drawn to different styles and techniques, particularly those of the medieval and renaissance painters.

“The old masters,” he explains, “would paint an underpainting of black and white and over it they would paint many layers of pigment mixed with a glazing medium that made the color transparent.” Today, Martin uses the same technique with one major difference. He uses color on his underpaintings in order to obtain an intensity of hue and luminosity. “All the wood tables in my paintings start out cadmium orange. A dark background may start out yellow and then I’ll paint layers of glazing over it to get green.” Ask him questions. He’s an experienced teacher and his answers are never dull.

Kelley Vandiver, Dee Ropers and James Harvey also will be hard at work but have generously agreed to open their doors to friends as well as strangers. Vandiver is painting a new series of birds costumed as saints, sibyls and sinners. Ropers will create a new exhibit for the Day of the Dead celebration on November 1.

The new work focuses on her loved ones who are making the transition from this world into the next. Harvey, famous for his nude soccer players, will put the finishing touches on an October exhibition in Pozos. His thrilling new subject matter is motorcycles.

I cannot allow all these people to carry on without me so I’ve decided to give a demonstration/talk on how to prepare papier-mâché, my way.

Many people have asked me how I obtain the rock-like texture and color for my figures with holes in the stomachs. The secret: I only use the Atención newspaper. Because of the many pages of color print, I am able to arrive at the desired color. I will demonstrate how to shred Atención on a washboard and how to mix the glue to the correct consistency. So many of my visitors say to me: “Oh, you’re just having fun, aren’t you?” The response to this comment is never kind. First of all, I don’t consider art fun. Rewarding, sometimes. Aggravating, most times. But fun? Shredding Atención on a merciless washboard is not fun, but maybe you think it is—so come on in and lend a hand.

As usual, I have saved the best for last. The most thrilling demonstration of all will be in Buenas Noches, the bed/fine linen shop located in Section C. Donna Mattson will demonstrate how to sleep on a beautiful bed and after she awakens she will show you exactly how to stuff your duvet. Surely you agree this is not to be missed! 

Edward Swift has been more or less employed since the eighth grade. His first job was selling popcorn in the Fain Theater in Woodville, Texas. 

Marco Arce presents paintings and sculpture 

Art Opening
Marco Arce
El conejo y la cara enojada (The rabbit and the angry face)
Part of Festival Internacional Cervantino
Sat, Oct 11, 7pm 
Kunsthaus Santa Fe
Santa Fe 22A
Colonia Allende

Marco Arce was born in Mexico City in 1968. He studied with Gilberto Aceves Navarro from 1988 to 1989, and since 1987 he has participated in more than 60 collective exhibitions and 15 individual ones. Arce was granted a scholarship by the program “Jóvenes creadores” from FONCA (National Fund for Arts and Culture) in 1990–91.

From 1995 to 2001 he lived in New York City, then he returned to Mexico and received another scholarship from FONCA for 2002–03. He was part of the National System of Creators for the period 2004–06. He has received six acknowledgments and two awards in national biennales. Arce’s work is in the collections of the Carrillo Gil Museum, MARCO Monterrey Museum, Natasha Gelman Collection, Jumex Collection, Deutsch Bank Collection and Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, among others. 

Inspired by his personal story, the exhibition includes paintings and sculptures. The pieces are constructed as a chain of complex unions and disunions, coming from all type of realities, especially of virtual and dreamlike realities in which symbols are mixed with life experiences, feelings and emotions. 

The show remains open until November 30.

Paradise lost in Mexico 
By Sheri Brautigam

Art Opening 
Tropical Flair
Grace Relfe
Fri, Oct 3, 5–7pm
St Paul’s Church
Cardo 6

Grace Relfe was born in San Francisco and graduated in design from San José State University. Not long after, she moved to Zihuatenejo, Mexico, in 1972, where she raised two sons. She began developing open-air casitas built of natural materials that she turned into vacation rentals.

Her idyllic location, with a view of La Ropa beach, can be seen in many of her paintings. 

As development has moved into Zihuatenejo, Relfe has turned to painting with acrylics and oils, developing her own free-stroke impressionistic style. Her goal has been to try and express an earlier, more naive and peaceful time on the Pacific coast of Mexico.

She also can be called a colorist, trying to catch the light and nature around her before it turns into concrete condo-landia. She paints scenes that she sees daily and ones that are part of the romantic beach life that she has experienced personally through the years in this tropical paradise. Earth elements, wind, fire and water are also incorporated into her paintings along with her joy in the painting process.

Grace is also a traveler to Asia and South America and a folk art collector and dealer.

For most of the year she lives with nature in her treehouse without walls among the tropical forest trees, birds and animals. This year she has been inspired by the art world of San Miguel and has been painting here for several months in order to present her show.

Please attend, have some wine and cake and experience the joy of a Mexican paradise that once was. To see La Ropa, go to www.casadelaspiedras.com. 

Generator celebrates Dolores Jiménez y Muro

Art Opening Toast to Dolores Brindando Dolores  Fri, Oct 3, 5–8pm Generator Gallery Fábrica La Aurora

This month the Generator Gallery presents a tribute to Dolores Jiménez y Muro, a poet, intellectual, political activist and teacher who died in anonymity on October 15, 1925, at the age of 75. She is not found in the pages of history books, yet she had a tremendous influence on her political and intellectual peers. An annual award in her memory is given to Mexican journalists. 

In celebration of her life, seven women artists present their personal expressions of creativity in a variety of media: Laura Begoña uses found materials in elegant minimal sculpture, Angélica Castañeda uses vivid color in oils on canvas, Margarette Dawit uses mixed media on large surfaces, Cati Demme incorporates pedestrian materials into assemblages, Gerry Gil incorporates stitching with painting and handmade papers, Sioban O’Donoghue creates intimate environments with her assemblages and Susan Plum explores the mysteries of nature in her large-format pieces.

Contemplative photography workshop at LifePath

The term “contemplative photography” is used to describe a type of art that evokes or invites the viewer to experience a contemplative moment documented by a photographer.

We can also use the term as an invitation to use one’s camera as a loyal companion in an intimate exercise in mindfulness. Contemplative photography combines the practice of meditation with the art of photography.

Fernando Senior offers an introductory workshop in contemplative photography starting October 13 at the Lifepath Center for Personal Growth. To register, call 154-8465 or 154-4542. Visit www.themindfuleye.com for additional information.

Images of the Chapala region 

Art Exhibit
“Cuatro caliente”
Sat, Oct 4
Market Bistro
Hernández Macias 95

“Cuatro caliente” highlights the work of four painters from the Lake Chapala region: López Vega, Alfredo Langarica, Isidro Xilonxochitl and Miguel Noyola. Their landscapes of aquatic and other natural imagery reflect this region of Jalisco renowned for its beauty. In addition to the exhibit, the cultural magazine Meretrices will be presented in the auditorium at Market Bistro.