Terry Elrod's beautiful blue drawing of Guanajuato Capital

Holiday greetings don't get any better than the one Terry created and sent as a seasonal greeting::

What Guanajuato children are doing through TAN473

Today I went to the TAN473 exhibit held in a gallery off the patio leading to UG's Cine Club.

Below a sampling of what I saw: busy children, names in bright colors [left], prints done by 8-12 year olds [below]. Katie Clancy started this project several years ago. It now reaches out to girls at Buen Pastor, boys in Irapuato and children who live in La Venada neighborhood.

TAN473's motto: Creativity+Education=Change,
The 473 in case you haven't guessed comes from the local telephone prefix. You can find out more by googling or going to Facebook. Donations and volunteers welcome.

What's more involving than a kid's own name?

Color, color, everywhere

                                                                  Prints that took patience

Individual art, group pride

Memorable Photo Exhibit of Mexican Japanese + Quotes

Held over through Sunday the 2nd...

Diego Rivera House-Museum
Positos No. 47, Guanajuato, Gto.
Tel. y Fax. 01 (473) 73 2 11 97
HORARIOS: Martes a Sábado: 10:00 a 19:00 hrs.
Domingos:10:00 a 15:00 hrs.
ENTRADA: $ 15.00 General, $ 5.00 Estudiantes

I happened to see this while I was reading Pico Iyer's book about his year in Japan. My take as the granddaughter of immigrants: A moving, thought-provoking exhibit enhanced by the excellent photo-portraits.

"We always had the liberty to do what we want but our parents told us,
"Do it well".

Watching over their museum?

Cervantino 2014: Exhibits Closing Sunday. Time Left for Rick Bartow

Seeing this, I experienced the fear
unleasshed anger arouses

If you only have time to see one exhibit, I recommend Rick Bartow's Dreams without Frontiers, curated by Oaxaca's Rene Bustamante and mounted along a patio wall beside UG's Cine Club. The artist was to have had a Cervantino exhibit several years ago but had to cancel. This year his work is part of the Cervantino but the exhibit is unlisted in the program book or agenda.I have admired Bartow's work since before I moved to Mexico, fortunately came upon it by chance today.

Rick Bartow identifies with his Yurok roots but I consider him  a "universal,": that is, world class artist. Among the painting titles in this small retrospective are For Fellini,The Dog that Attacks Me, Vietnam, Genet,and Shoki Dancing. 

Because the Guatemalan textile exhibit is outstanding, I'll mention it again. Viewers get a sense of how women and men from the indigenous language groups have woven their identity--you will see one photo that shows it isn't easy in a polarized society. Or if you prefer, just home in on the weaver-enbriuderers' mastery of design and color.

At the Alhondiga I spent most of my time looking at Rodrigo Moya's photos and reading what he said about his long career as a photographer.

While he was working as a videographer, a photographer acquaintance took him into his darkroom. "I was hooked," says Moya. "I was like an aborigine seeing his first machine."

You will see Moya's photos of celebrities outside the Alhondiga and inside his political photos shot in Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba. "From the beginning, I had two cameras," Moya states metaphorically, "one to shoot what I was told to shoot and the other for shooting what I wanted."

In the Alhondiga patio, you can walk among Capelo's Totems and Shamans and if you have time to lighten up, the illustrations upstairs at the Diego Rivera are delightful..I haven't seen the work of Guanajuato's printmakers yet at the Olga Costa.
                                                                                                                                                        








firs

Cervantino 2014: Photo Portraits of Women Writers at the Iconografico (MIQ)

In most of her photos, Nesher superimposes words on the body

Iris Nesher, an Italian-born photographer living in Israel, has photographed women writers, poets and playwrights, some Israeli, some from elsewhere. Besides her attention to light, composition and color, words chosen by the each woman make up an integral part of each photo..

Nesher takes a different tack here

.

 Although it doesn't show clearly,
there's a favorite Mexican image, Death, behind this writer.

Cervantino 2014 Graffitti anyone? Guanajuato's Newest, Largest

You'll find the Plaza de Toros near the State Auditorium

Guanajuato's white elephant, the Plaza de Toros, now catches the eye with bursts of color. The project took two months of planning and six days more for Guanajuato artists to fill their 50x30 meter space with a new Quixote. Nuevo Leon artists created the two other panels portraying the spirit of migration..The Cervantino and the city ofo Guanajuato were among a half dozen organizations underwriting the giant graffitti expected to be on view for many years.

The two lead artists explain the project

At the bottom, the artists' names

Cervantino 2014: Guatemalan Textiles - Design at its Finest

The photos below only hint at the wonder of the textiles on display at the Museo del Pueblo and at least one photo of the women who wear them demonstrate that maintaining ethnic identity this way isn't easy. Sorry, folks, Blogger isn't letting me line up the photos the way I would like.

Reading one of Jose Emilio Pacheco's poems aloud at Guanajuato tribute

Jose Emilio Pacheco died this year shortly before his 75th birthday which would have occurred today. The University of Guanajuato, along with universities in Mexico City, prepared a special tribute to this marvelous poet and novelist. The local event started with a short documentary about his life, then Guanajuato people were invited to read a favorite poem.

The news of Pacheco's death came through instantly on my cell phone. 

Many of Pacheco's poems are about animals, concrete instances of their cruel fate in a world dominated by humans. I picked a short poem called "Inmortalidad del Cangrejo" - The Immortality of the Crab - describing the fragility of the individual crab but still the species continues. After I read, the man behind me borrowed my book, choosing to read about the fate of an octopus that meets its death on a beach littered with plastic.

I moved to Mexico for many reasons but one push came from hearing a Mexican farm worker recite a long poem he knew by heart in front of an attentive audience in the Oregon countryside one Cinco de Mayo.

 I found the poem I read in the Spanish quality paperback edition I bought in Mexico City of Album de Zoologia,, a book of Pacheco's animal poems illustrated by the distinguished Oaxaca artist Francisco Toledo. Earlier the University of Texas Press published a bilingual edition.

Guanajuato Music: Trejo and Barajas Go for Baroque at the Gene Byron

In front of an intent spectator, the duo gets ready for the encore

Early this week, I was sitting on the terrace of my first floor apartment on a quiet side street in Pastita when I heard beautiful flute and cello playing. Must be a CD, I thought, although I had often heard my neighbor Luis Barajas practicing his cello. Two days later, when I saw Luis in the street, I mentioned hearing the music. He laughed and told me he and Cuautemoc Trejo, the first flautist of the UG Symphony Orchestra (OSUG), had been preparing for their concert at the Gene Byron on Sunday.

The two played works by Telemann, Bach, Handel and the 18th Century French flautist and composer, Michel Blavet. Born 20 years later than Telemann, Blavet played in the quartet that premiered Telemann's Paris Quartets for flute, violin, viola de gamba and cello in the City of Light. He was the preeminent French flautist of his day but, most of the music he composed for the instrument has not survived as only the easiest pieces were published for his students to perform.

The small but appreciative audience kept clapping for an encore and were rewarded with one movement by Bach. Not for the first time, a Guanajuato audience had the chance to expand its listening repertoire with an old-but-new work.

Guanajuato Art: Bats & Other Strange Animals

Just one of the exhibit's fantastic animals

The artist Vanessa Salas and poet Lirio Garduno combined forces for this exhibit. I went to the little gallery under the Compania church two days before it was taken down.Because the gallery was dark, my photo doesn't do justice to the work.

'Alas de paraguas . . ."

I don't know which came first, the witty poems or the prints, but it doesn't matter.I hope to see a book of this high-quality scary combination of wordplay and the printmaker's craft.                                                                                                .

Guanajuato-born Artist Feted for her First Book

The Museo Dieguino proved to be a perfect place to honor Isaura Izquierdo's first illustrated book, Manisa y las alas magicas / Manisa and the Magic Wings. 

Among my favorites

Isaura's collage illustrations were on view in the galleries at each end of the museum, with many Guanajuatenses joining Isaura and Martha Romero, the author, in the  large interior space, including her proud artist mother Loreta. Her equally proud father, the artist Raul Izquierdo, besides being up-to-date by congratulating  her on Facebook, was on hand for the presentation of the book a few days later   

Serious business for the illustrator, a pleasure for her audience

"A good beginning"

The book illustrations showed Isaura's imaginative perspectives as well as her patient dexterity in shaping the wings from doilies. After finishing at the University of Guanajuato, Isaura studied illustration at the San Carlos Museum in Mexico City.

Guanajuato Viejo in its Final Days at the Alhondiga

Anyone who has lived in Guanajuato a while, knows how disruptive street repairs can be, but did you ever stop to think of the Teatro Juarez as a construction site? Or that before the days of buses, Guanajuato had a horse-drawn trolley up Pastita and another to Cata?

Note that the benches in the Jardin have hardly changed 

The exhibit, Guanajuato Viejo, with Alejandro, a specialist who knows his Guanajuato history, on hand to answer questions, will be at the Alhondiga the rest of this week and possibly through April 5. The final segment will be up later this spring.

Mexican museography is impressive!

Maybe getting home from the train station then was easier than getting in from the camionera today

                   

Guanajuato Byways: Equinox Celebration at Orduna, Comonfort Pyramid Site

Twenty eight Amigos de la Alhondiga Museum left our city before sunrise so we would be in time for the Spring Equinox ceremony on March 21. What a day! Those who were awake saw the sun come up. By the time we reached the Casa de Cultura in Comonfort, we were in full sunlight.

Ceremony of an Otomi community that mainly speaks Spanish

In the patio, we could see the traditional stone metates and other utensils for which the region is famous. Then by bus to the bottom of the hill once topped by a pyramid.

On the long, steep climb, we were accompanied by staff members from the Casa de Cultura and three city policemen.

A time to rest and wait for the formal greeting

                                                 Nearly to the top, we listened to the formal greeting. For me this was the first summit of the day because in the way he spoke to us, he could have been from an Oregon tribe. You could say it was a confirmation of what I had shown in my dissertation -- even when the original language is not used, the structure and themes can and do remain constant. Besides that, the way this man spoke to us was a powerful demonstration of the culture shared by descendants of the first people in North and Mesoamerica.

Any remains of the pyramid are protected by concrete but it is still a popular destination throughout the year. There, the shaman, in modern clothing, spoke to us of being the original people, then explained that with Spanish blood too, his people had blood from the Romans, Visigoths and more running through them too.

Shaman with his staff  and the effigy attached to the cross

Afterward, we took in (literally) a long Mexican comida at a restaurant in what used to be an elegant marketplace in the center of Comonfort and then did some quick crafts shopping on our way out of the city..

Healthy appetites afterward. oiled by tequila 

I plan to return, spending more time in its plazas, going into the city museum, learning more about the region's agricultural history. Maybe I'll eat pizza prepared in a wood-fired oven in the cafe part of the restaurant, buy more pottery and go to one of the city's two active markets. Our state is definitely more than our capital city suggests . . .

Two Stars of Expressive Dance Shine at the Cervantes

Susanne Linke was born in Berlin, Lola Lince in Guadalajara. Where their paths first crossed I don't know but last night Lince performed The Human Animal, a dance the two choreographers created jointly.A rapt, predominantly young, audience turned out for the premiere event at the Cervantes Theater.

The photos above come from the internet. The one of Lola, a FONCA beneficiary whose house-studio overlooks Guanajuato, is fairly recent; the one of Susanne was taken some years ago.

What a pleasure to see Linke's easy grace as she came up to the stage to share in the applause and receive a bouquet. Lince's part of the evening was the strenuous one -- for over an hour she danced the animal part of humankind.

With both sound and light playing important roles in the evening, kudos also go to bouquet-less Cesar "Chacho" Guerra, the lighting designer and Marcos Garcia, the music designer

Bottom line: Contemporary dance lovers, keep your eye out for the next Lola Lince evening. She is our living cultural treasure. We are fortunate she chose Guanajuato.

Guanajuato Arts: Last Days for Japanese Prints Exhibit at the Diego Rivera

Hurry on over to the Diego Rivera house if you have time for this marvelous, varied exhibit of contemporary Japanese printmaking. Ends Sunday the 9th. Below are several examples to but I imagine you'll find your own favorites.

                                         The first print, a favorite of mine, is entitled "Musician's Son".:

"Musician's Son," a favorite of mine

I hope you can see past the reflections to "Transformation".

A whimsical new take on Master of Masters Hokosai

A Cozy, Colorful Room for Children in the Diego Rivera House

     Thanks to Mexico's Federal Government and the Guanajuato State Institute of Culture plus the work of several dedicated young local artists and their teacher, children now visit this breathtaking reading room where colorful wall designs surround the books. The books themselves, many of them from other countries by way of translations done in Spain, are breathtaking too.         The Sala de Lectura is mainly visited by school groups and children coming with parents (although the hours don't make the second option easy). You don't need to be with a child or a neighbor's child to take a peek here, Monday-Thursday, 9-2. More about this innovative project will be posted at.MEXIGUANA..

Poetry and music mark the passing of two revered Mexican poets

Jose Emilio Pacheco and Juan Gelman both died this winter. Pacheco's last day made front page news in Mexican papers; the news of his death came through immediately on my cell phone.

Both Gelman and Pacheco wrote in many genres but because  poetry is the queen of the literary arts in Mexico, the commemoration consisted of poems read by local readers and the extra fillip of Ana Cervantes playing music by Bach and several Romantic composers.

Carlos Ulises Mata and Dra. Asuncion Rangel of the University of Guanajuato organized the well-attended event. At an earlier tribute, a lecture and the showing of two films based on Pacheco's novels
honored another side of his work.

Gelman, although an Argentine through and through,
left his country for political reasons, living in Europe and eventually Mexico City.

Both he and Pacheco were honored with the Cervantes Prize.
As well as the legacy of their literary work, both left a legacy of activism.

For more information on both men, go to Wikipedia (in Spanish). Their poetry is available on several internet sites.

US Weaver's Show in San Miguel de Allende Pays Tribute to her Mexican Teacher

This show of Elizabeth Starcevic's weavings, which opened in early February, will be up until the end of the month (only a few days more!), well-displayed in two adjoining rooms at the Bellas Artes. As well as being a tribute to Starcevic's maestro Felix Perez Juarez who died a year ago, the exhibit is a fascinating passage through this weaver's twenty five years at the loom.

The large hanging in black and white with the red accent is Starcevic's take on a Moroccan design  The image below it is a detail from a hanging for which Starcevic used African strip techniques. The prompt for the third weaving, one of nearly two dozen in the show, demonstrates the weaver's knack for making a contemporary visual statement based on a historical reality, in this case Charles Darwin's garden. Two of the three pieces shown are among my personal favorites, but visitors to the exhibit, will see many more motifs and techniques as well, including hangings with objects (think cigarette packs) attached.

As a friend said, turning from the black and white weaving to Starcevic, "I don't know why I like it but I do." He was grinning from ear to ear.

Elizabeth lives half the year in San Miguel and the other half in New York City. There the cultural powers-that-be recently chose one of her weavings for display in a NYC subway system passenger elevator.  In addition to Starcevic' daily weaving stint, she serves as President of the San Miguel chapter of PEN International, the worldwide organization promoting the literary arts and human rights.