CaSa

photo of Jan Hendrix sculpture via www.casanagustin.org.mx


Last summer, The Husband and I made our way up to the Centro des los Artes de San Agustin in San Agustin Etla to see the textile and ceramic exhibits. I was very struck by the retrospective of Mexico City artist Gustavo Perez and was delighted to see that he'll be working on a project with potters from San Bartolo Coyotepec, a village famous for its black pottery, and presenting the work at CaSa in early June.

Sadly I won't be there early enough to see it -- or two other shows, one of textiles and one of the installation artist, Jan Hendrix. I was happy to see on the NEH syllabus that we'll be visiting CaSa as part of our studies, and equally sorry to see that we would not be going to San Bartolo as a group. I hope this doesn't sound too whiny. I'm pretty good about other travel annoyances, and you'll rarely hear me complain about heat, bugs, bad food, peeing in a hole in the ground, or companions who are un poco desagradable . But I will bitch and moan about all the things I don't have time to see even as I deeply appreciate all the wonderful opportunities that travel brings. So I must learn to accept that there are inevitable trade-offs to make when you have a limited amount of time in a place with so many things to absorb.

In the meantime, I'll add San Bartolo to my ever-growing list of places to go in my free time!

Gustavo Perez

One of the exhibits that drew me to the Centro de las Artes de San Agustin last summer was of ceramist Gustavo Perez. His pieces are both traditional and experimental, utilitarian -- but not. He is represented in the United States by the Frank Lloyd Gallery in Santa Monica. My particular favorite is the wall hanging sculpture, but I loved the smushed pieces as well.

Alebrijes

Two of the crafts we were keen to buy in Oaxaca were rugs and the carved wooden animals called alebrijes. One of the villages that is known for woodcarving is San Martin Tilcajete. I had seen work by Jacobo and Maria Angeles at La Sirena in the East Village, so when our guide suggested we visit their studio, we readily agreed.

Jacobo met us at the gate and showed us around the family compound where the men worked with machetes and smaller knives carving the wood blocks into animal shapes, and the women and young men worked on painting the intricate designs. Then he showed us how he mixed the natural colors from bugs and vegetable matter -- much the same way we saw the weavers mix them in Teotitlan del Valle. We were so delighted we ordered a cat in honor of Schmucky, chose the colors we wanted and then waited. He suggested it would take a couple of months to carve, paint and dry our alebrije, so we expected it just after Labor Day.





It arrived around Thanksgiving. You can judge for yourself if it was worth the wait. We love it and placed it on the mantel next to some other pieces of Mexican folk art I've acquired over the years.

Recuerdos

One of the highlights of our visit to Ocotlan last summer was seeing the munecas made by the Aguilar family in the Rodolfo Morales museum. I think I should get The Husband the big red one!

I got the NEH app off in the mail today and am happy to have it off my desk so that I can really concentrate on my upcoming trip to Rome. So there'll be no more thoughts of Mexico and espanol until after I get back on March 10. Ciao, ciao!

Rodolfo Morales

image of Tres Mujeres con Perro via www.artnet.com

Morales is the second member of the Holy Trinity. He's officially considered a Mexican surrealist, but he worked in various media, mostly oils, but also photography, ceramics, collage, and weaving, among others. He single-handedly revived the village of Ocotlan after becoming well-known as an artist, establishing the Rodolfo Morales Cultural Foundation to restore local churches and set up classes for students in literacy and computers. His house, a five minute walk from the marketplace and the cathedral, is now the center of the foundation's activities while the convent next to the cathedral has been restored as a museum.

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The holy trinity of Oaxaca

image of watercolor by Francisco Toledo via www.artealdia.com

No, I'm not talking about The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, although Catholicism is a very important part of Oaxacan spiritual life. It's the first Catholic place I've been where the churches are actually full all the time, for early morning mass, afternoon mass, even Saturday evening mass. It's an interesting brand of Catholicism mixed with the many and varied indigenous traditions of that part of Mexico.

The holy trinity I'm referring to are Rufino Tamayo, Francisco Toledo and Rodolfo Morales, three 20th Century Mexican artists who have worked tirelessly to revive Oaxaca's colonial towns, their markets, churches and craft spaces. Of the three, Toledo has had the most noticeable affect in Oaxaca City itself. This is not to downplay the effect that Tamayo and Morales have had on Oaxacan life. One need only visit Ocotlan to see what a huge impact one man can have, and I'll write about Morales's work there later. But Toledo is still alive and heavily involved in projects that bring attention to Oaxaca both at home in Mexico and abroad.

In Ciudad Oaxaca, Toledo started a foundation that renovated the Casa de Cortes, a beautiful colonial building that legend says Cortes lived in. (It's been determined that the house was built too late for this to be true, but legends are nice, aren't they? Perhaps he lived in a previous structure on this spot.) The renovation resulted in the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca on the pedestrian Calle Alcala smack in the middle of town. Unfortunately, it was closed for restorations during our time there, but there were huge screens set up outside so that passers-by could wish Sr. Toledo a happy birthday.

Another even more impressive project has been the restoration of an old factory that is near a water source and formerly generated electricity for the area around San Agustin Etla. The space is now a beautiful museum with a papermaking workshop close by and a store that sells the paper products, all stunningly set in the hills a taxi ride from Ciudad Oaxaca. We spent a wonderful afternoon there:

The front of the former hydroelectric plant with water elements incorporated on the sides of the steps


A textile on display (embiggen to see how magnificent the embroidery is)


Up on the 2nd floor terrace -- pottery and remnants of the former plant


A fantastic sculpture show by Gustavo Perez (again, embiggen for details)


The tienda where you can buy kites and other paper products from the workshop


These are just a few of the many projects Sr. Toledo has overseen or funded. But you don't have to travel to Oaxaca to see this wonderful artist. If you are in New York this summer, you can see an exhibit at the Cervantes Institute called The Fantastic Zoology of Francisco Toledo which is based on the book by Juan Luis Borges. I plan to visit next week when I will be in town running errands and will let you know what you can see if you visit yourself!