Creative Journey Series features Wey & Kerlegand,
Dec 15, 2006

Creative Journey Series Tuesday, December 19, 5pm Teatro Santa Ana, Insurgentes 25,  50 pesos

December marks the first anniversary of the Creative Journey series, and the focus of the presentation remains constant: What inspires us to create, where do ideas come from and how do we as artists incorporate them into our work?

Agnes Olive welcomes Michelle Wey and Edgardo Kerlegand, to present slide presentations of their work and talk about their personal creative journeys. A discussion between the artists and the audience follows.

Michelle Wey

Michelle Wey states that painting for her was always a rebellious act. It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher appears; when Wey was 12, her cousin appeared as her art teacher and mentor.

He taught her to draw and encouraged her to follow her desire to be an artist. Her parents, however, considered it both impractical and improper for a young lady to be an artist. But the seed had been planted. At college, she studied the art of painting and life drawing at the Art Students League in New York while also completing her degree in English literature and art at Rutgers University. During this time, she was awarded a six-week scholarship at Vermont Studio School. 

The year she graduated, she put on a backpack and started out on a solo three-year journey of self-discovery through Asia, the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. This experience has had a profound effect on her life and her art. She had the opportunity to view the United States from a distance and felt like an outsider when she returned to New York. She was hired as a news tracker and witnessed how the news manipulated the truth. Disillusioned, she quit her job and decided to follow her original desire to become a professional artist. She bought a ticket to San Miguel to pursue this dream, intending to stay for two months. Ten years later, she is still here.

Wey’s work has been exhibited internationally and nationally and may be seen at Mero Arte Contemporáneo, Zacateros 24.


Edgardo Kerlegand

It is Edgardo Kerlegand’s firm belief that everyone can learn to draw if they let go of their fear. This is the philosophy behind his workshops, “The Zen of Art,” which he led the past two years in Mexico City and now leads in San Miguel.

He is a traditionalist in that he believes that drawing is the basis of all fine art.

As a child, Kerlegand was surrounded by the arts. When his aunt taught him to draw at an early age, his family encouraged him to study and follow in the family tradition of fine arts.

He chose to study economics at UNAM in Mexico, but at the end of his second year fate stepped in when he accompanied a friend to see her artwork at the Academia de San Carlos, where she was a student. He walked in, looked around and felt immediately that he belonged there. He completed both his bachelor’s and master’s of fine arts degrees at ASC, teaching drawing and painting in his final years at schools in Argentina, Croatia and Italy in an exchange program. This interchange led him to spend time in monasteries in Greece, Serbia and Italy with an order of monks, learning about their philosophy and techniques of icon painting. 

His sometimes very stark portraits, the result of his time spent in Croatia and Serbia, are softened with gentle, joyous abstract backgrounds to balance both joy and suffering. To acquire this effect he combines acrylics with colored inks. His love is drawing and painting the faces of people, attempting to capture the soul that is seen through the eyes. Kerlegand’s current dream is to find a venue in San Miguel where he can work with teenagers who truly want to study drawing and painting but have limited means.

The proceeds go to Casa Hogar Don Bosco girls orphanage on calle Sollano. For further information, call Agnes Olive at 152-3059.