Four women, four artists
By Juan Antonio Ruiz
January 30, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Art Exhibit
A Common Thread
Ongoing exhibit
Galería Atenea
Jesús 2

Shirley Binin has been been part of the New York City art scene since the age of 10 when she attended the Art Students League on Saturdays.

Today her work is shown yearly at the Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center as well as the Stamford Museum and the Loft Artists Gallery in Connecticut. Bellas Artes, Galería San Miguel and Atenea Gallery have shown her work here.

“It’s exciting to be a part of an art show by women artists focusing on the subject of women,” says Binin. “For too long females were not respected and consequently not rewarded as men were. For example, often brilliant, hard-working women lawyers were never made partners in law firms. The US, unlike many other countries, has never had a female president or vice president.

“My art depicts strong female personalities—my mother-and-child art is not sentimental—the women have dignity. Children respect strong, intelligent, thoughtful mothers.

“Only within the last half century have women been recognized as artists, writers, architects, psychologists and so forth. And, yes, they also can be beautiful, sexy, kind, considerate and dependable. And so, the subject of women depicted by women artists is a reasonably natural response by the four artists in this show,” Binin concludes.

Agnes Olive has worked for 30 years as a professional artist since graduating from Sheridan School of Design near Toronto. She has lived in Canada, Pakistan, Ghana and in San Miguel since 1996.

For this exhibition, Olive’s work entitled “Women: Together We Are More” (Juntos Somos Mas), is a theme familiar to all who reside in San Miguel.

“I grew up in Canada in a family of quilters and tea drinkers,” observes Olive. “The childhood memories I have of my grandmother, mother and aunts stitching, sipping tea and sharing stories have been resting patiently in my memory waiting to emerge. Tea bags that were saved for me by female friends triggered these memories and inspired my version of a quilt combining the tea bags, handmade paper and worry/dream dolls from Guatemala. The theme is women supporting women. I am blessed to be living in a town of strong, caring women ready with supporting hands and hearts whenever needed. These pieces are my tribute to such women all over the world.”

Ingalora Dwyer has been involved in art since childhood through photography and painting. She conducts workshops called “Freeing Your Creative Spirit” from her studio in San Miguel. Dwyer says, “I am a free spirit at heart but thought most of my life I needed to fit into certain situations I created for myself (family, work, marriage and society).

I am learning to live in the now and most of the time I am successful. The focus in my work is letting my creative spirit be free and spontaneous. The colors, textures and materials I am using and the music I am listening to are important factors in how I feel when I am creating. Right now I am working with encaustic and am experimenting with possibilities of combining the process with my photographic work.”

Kate Church creates sensitive paintings and drawings, and is well known for her sculptural puppets. She has created licensed pieces for Cirque du Soleil as a notable and exciting side project.

Her time is divided between San Miguel and Nova Scotia and she is part of an international art doll association called NIADA, www.niada.org. 
Church explains, “Twelve years ago I came to San Miguel to renew my study of art and to liberate my approach to my professional work, the creation of mixed-media dolls. Working in the beautiful studios of Bellas Artes I fell deeply in love with my forgotten student life and the study of art. I have successfully combined my two worlds ever since.”

Corners forgotten by time

Art Opening
Maria Ayala
Thu, Feb 5, 7pm
El Market Bistro
Hernández Macías 95

Originally from Monterrey, NL, Maria Ayala has 20 years of painting experience, mainly in oil on canvas, and also exploring the world of pastel and charcoal drawing—which she renders with an unconventional technique. Vivid colors and the absence of human figures characterize her work, scenes of empty spaces, of corners forgotten by time, with a sense of ruin, abandonment, dust and desolation placed within a dizzy perspective and from a challenging point of view.

Ayala’s works are portraits of ignored and distant objects, underestimated in their passage through life. Ayala's scenes are always found by her and not fabricated like the typical still life. She does not exhibit her work very often; this is a good opportunity to see her art in San Miguel.

Leonardo’s latest work showcased at Generator

Art Opening
David Leonardo
Sat, Feb 7, 6–9pm
Generator Gallery
Fábrica la Aurora
Calzada de la Aurora

David Leonardo, know for his murals that grace the Sala Quetzal at the Biblioteca Pública and Instituto Allende, presents his current work in an exhibit titled “Poems in Color” at Generator Gallery. His latest paintings showcase Leonardo’s versatility with both subject matter and technique, and his vibrant mastery of color resonates throughout the work.

Leonardo’s interest in pre-Hispanic cultures, Greek mythology and philosophy is reflected in this collection. For admirers of his impressive “Conquista” series, his recent additions are larger in scale, almost murals, with new, enchanting details.

 His reverence and concern for the pre-Hispanic cultures that survived the conquest are echoed in his new series “Poems to the Ancient Gods.” This collection of 15 luminous nonfigurative paintings pays homage to the ancient pre-Hispanic gods. His impressive series “Olympus” pays homage to the Greek gods in colorful figurative compositions accented with rich gold details. His latest additions to his “Latino Expressionist” series, which was recently well received in Puerto Vallarta, add yet another dimension to this exceptional and energetic exhibit, which runs through March 5.

Guanajuato’s Gene Byron Museum 
By Sharon Anton 

Concert Series
Gene Byron Museum
Marfíl, Guanajuato
Sundays, 1pm
110 pesos-adults, 75 pesos-students & adults with INSEN cards, 25 pesos-children

Art Museum
Mon–Sat, 10am–3pm
30 pesos

Do you love incredible music? Great art? Exquisite surroundings? Then you are invited to enjoy one of Guanajuato’s most unique and precious cultural resources, the Gene Byron Museum.

Among the museum’s many offerings is its celebrated concert series, presented each Sunday with live chamber music, followed by wine and appetizers and the opportunity to mix with artists, musicians and others within the magnificent stone walls of what was once part of the Hacienda de Santa Ana. 

For many years the museum was the home of Canadian artist Gene Byron and her husband Dr. Virgilio Fernandez de Real until the late nineties, when Dr. Virgilio turned the residence into a casa museo. The first floor has been kept much as it was when the couple lived there. You can stroll through the immense sala, still filled with its original furnishings and Byron’s singular artwork, and savor the sense of history and rich personal lives of those who resided there. Byron, a prolific artist, not only painted but created designs in a variety of media including wood, metal and ceramic. These works can be enjoyed throughout the house and in the peaceful and inviting gardens.

The second floor is a large, light, airy space that is both art gallery and concert hall. Here you will find the works of renowned artists, Mexican and foreign, tastefully displayed with new exhibits mounted every few months. (You can purchase fine art quite reasonably due to the museum’s policy of supporting artists by taking only a 15-percent commission).

Every Sunday you can relax here and lose yourself in the seductive sounds of members of the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Guanajuato, one of the country’s finest. These are not students, but professional musicians from all over the world. They come to the Gene Byron to take advantage of its excellent acoustics and to play music they would not ordinarily get a chance to play, including early, classical and modern chamber music; ethnic music; and jazz. The afternoon is graciously hosted by Dr. Virgilio and his present wife Estela Cordero de Fernandez, both of whom put an enormous amount of planning and preparation into each concert while insisting on keeping prices low so that all may attend.

Come early on Sundays, around 11am, and take a personally guided tour of the museum before the concert. Or make a weekend of it.

Come to Guanajuato on Friday to enjoy a performance by the entire Symphony Orchestra at 8pm at the Teatro Principal. Spend Saturday sightseeing and enjoying the city’s fine restaurants. Finish your trip off with a delightful yet soothing afternoon at the Gene Byron.

The museum is located in Marfil, just outside Guanajuato. The Gene Byron also offers classes and workshops. It houses a gift shop that helps local artisans market reasonably priced jewelry, clothing, tapestry, metal work and ceramics. For more information, call (473) 733-1029 or go to www.museogenebyron.org.  Check “Que Pasa” for weekly listings of the Gene Byron’s exhibits, concerts and events.

Art from the heart and soul
By Judith Anderson & Kate Sherman 

Art Opening
Judith Anderson, Colectivo TK and ZAPE
Mon, Feb 2 
Café Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Historically, the sharing of art has been a profound expression of goodwill and brotherhood between peoples and nations. Art is born from the heart and soul, which makes its exchange powerful.

In the upcoming show, this exchange happens when native Mexican artists and an artist from the US share their work and love of Mexico with one another and the community. Through different lenses we see that though we may live far apart, we are more the same than we are different, and that our daily realities are woven together.

Judith Anderson is a portrait photographer from southern California who has been visiting and shooting in San Miguel since early 2007. Joining her in the exhibit are Colectivo TK and ZAPE of Oaxaca. Both collectives were formed by young artists confronting the suffering of their communities as well as their own restlessness. Graffiti and stencil expressions led to murals, architecture, graphic design, tattoo and various other media these artists, now in their twenties, pursue.

In 2006, the members of TK, ZAPE and other collectives in Oaxaca answered the call when an act of brutal government repression exploded into insurrection. The mission of TK and ZAPE is to raise the consciousness about the reality of the modern forms of oppression that the indigenous Oaxacans face.

This reality has been transformed into emotive and technically skillful pieces designed to shout from the urban canvas of walls and public buildings within the city and state of Oaxaca. 

In early December, a collection of 33 stencils and graphic design prints compiled by a UCLA archeologist and a University of Pennsylvania professor of communication design ended its debut in the US at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. These pieces are currently being archived by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles.

By contrast, Anderson’s photographic canvases and paper prints evoke a romantic rendering of local citizens of San Miguel and neighboring areas within Guanajuato.

The images depict a varied palette of street portraits, from a young Querétero university hipster on Calle Chiquitos, a dignified viejito with cane and sombrero gazing squarely in the viewer’s eye, or an elegant gentleman’s profile in thinking pose on a bench in the Jardín. Anonymous figures, faces hidden from view, create an allegory of existence. The daily lives of these people we squeeze past on the narrow, cobbled walkways of town are alluded to by the photographer’s take on the touchingly human elements of each. The loitering, strolling and primping of the subjects, combined with their apparel, colors and mood, illustrate universality. Anderson’s work reminds us of what we love and cherish: culture, family, community, our land. That is what we would stand and fight for if necessary.

The unlikely juxtaposition in this exhibit bridges state borders, the separation between north and south, romance and reality, singular and community, or pleasing portrait with political statement.

This exhibit will be Anderson’s second in Mexico; the first was 27 works of her San Miguel portrait collection shown last May. 

She is currently displaying and selling a decorative series in Los Angeles and Orange County, California, and continuing work as a portrait and wedding photographer. TK and ZAPE are exhibiting at Café Santa Ana for the first time. Their work has been displayed around Mexico and the western US.

The Red Head and the Kunsthaus 

Art Opening
Deviant Detours
Sat, Feb 7, 7–9pm
Kunsthaus Santa Fe
Santa Fe 22A
Colonia Allende
152-5608

Linda Duvall. Just a Trim, 2003–ongoing. Digital prints. Each panel 8 x 16 inches. Currently a set of 15.

Kunsthaus Santa Fe presents “Deviant Detours” with 15 artists from Ontario, Canada. The Red Head Gallery initiated this collaboration to create an exchange between the two venues. Kunsthaus was invited to exhibit a selection of its artists in “Neurotic Playground,” which showed in Canada July 2–August 9. In turn, artists from the Redhead Gallery now travel here to exhibit their work.

In this exhibition, Red Head Gallery artists reflect upon the fragility of our natural landscape, social environment and methods of communication as key terms reflecting our immediate space. Today more than ever, codes and virtual messages dictate our daily interactions. In this mobile world, we are able to cross more borders and increase our navigational skills. While communication systems may bridge gaps in distance, they also allow for hiding places, new possibilities for belonging and routes for living in an unnatural world. These contemporary systems of communication also lead to misinterpretation and even fear. In relation to this invisible space, the vastness of the “great outdoors” has become two-fold or mirrored: both physical and virtual. As we continually search outward for what is foreign, nature changes and adapts.

Deviant Detours embraces the expedition to Mexico and the maps that will unfold as ways of physical interaction and translations of narrative journeys. It attempts to bridge the gap between artistic communities in different countries.

As artists, we tend to reflect on issues that surround our immediate environment and question or bring to light ideas that affect us. However, it is inevitable that we soon reach a wall and then begin to search for a new route for inspiration, creation and ultimately the dissemination of our ideas. In one way, Deviant Detours allows artists a path to present ideas, and in another provides a throughway for encountering a new audience to engage in discussion, share our thoughts and also experiment, all with the intention of learning.

Deviant Detours exhibits work by Janet Bellotto, Paula Braswell, Linda Duvall, Laura Hair, Lynne Heller, Joan Kaufman, Nina Leo, Jane Martin, Margaret Rodgers, Elaine Whittaker, Dianne Pearce, Mark Prier, Ram Samocha, Sally Thurlow and Wendy Wallace. Their new work represents individual perspectives of the border or borderline, and includes work that reflects on our environment, language and social relationships, as well as work that focuses on mergers between art and science. The work spans the genres of painting, photography, sculpture and video. Borders of language tie in strongly in Deviant Detours in the works of Duvall and Pearce. Duvall explores the gaps in communication in spoken language as Pearce questions the authority of language within social circles and cultural divides.

The combination of works is intended to create an evocative display conveying social, political and ecological issues whose implications we can either relate to or question.

Lights, camera, music, action
By Regina Adams

Art Opening and Dance
“Conceive Peace”
Marcela Andre
Tue, Feb 3, 6:30pm
Tenorio Café
San Francisco 14

Music, lights, art and dancing all come together at Tenorio Café during the opening of Marcela Andre’s multimedia show “Conceive Peace.”

In addition to her paintings and mixed-media pieces, thousands of the artist’s photos will flash across video screens set up on the café’s three levels. 

DJ and professional sound engineer Alejandro Lara and KRATOZ provide the music, a selection of international dance tunes. Beverages and snacks will be provided, and the cash bar offers two-for-one drinks.

In honor of a strange event that befell Andre in San Miguel at age four, the artist suggests that attendees wear red shoes or some other red item of clothing.

For more information, see http://artconceptshow.googlepages.com  or write yogaplanetjewels@gmail.com.