July

No. 4 July, 2017

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Eng

San Miguel M A G A Z I N E

Marita Furman

lish

edi

tio

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Con

tent

3 4 10

Editor´s page

Marita Furman

14 18 24 30

Dickinson ART school

Trivialidades del cine

Street

photography

34 40

Katrina Noel

Saturnino Herrán

Ethnic Art

Susan Fiori La Galería

The adventure of publishing a magazine is a challenge. It is

page

EDI

TOR

born like everything in art. With an idea brushed with colors, with a chisel that gives shape, with an illusion that materializes at some point in each month, and that sees the light through the cybernetic ways of social networks to reach phones, tablets, computers. We reach to many places of the world and we are pleased to see that our purpose of spreading the art of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is reflected in the hundreds of clicks and the multiple comments received. Wonderful! Our artists are seen in remote places that have been on paper publication, or with high costs we could never reached.

And after all that, the challenge persists. Because when the current issue is released, precisely in that moment, blank pages for the next edition are open. What means the growth of our mission.

J U L Y o 2017

In that growth, we welcome today Isis Bobadilla, a writer of perennial restlessness, cultural promoter, sui generis artist, who will bring us in her column historical art, ethnic art and other stories. It starts here, with one of Apaches.

We are also pleased to welcome in this production team, Richard Almada, a multifaceted and multicultural man who moves in the world of high art scenarios. Its bi-national status - that is, he lives traveling between California, USA and San Miguel, Mexico - will undoubtedly bring surprises to these pages. Its generalized mission is the Artistic Relations.

That is how important this publication is becoming.

Thank you for receiving us.

COLOR

d n a

Marita

Chorro 1

Furman

Chorro 2

Light in the City.

Marita

was born and raised in Germany and now lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

She began her career as a hairstylist and make-up artist, owning health spas in Laguna beach and Carmel, California, where she was able to create an environment of nurturing beauty and healing for herself and others. Marita is a self-taught artist with studies at the School of Arts at Santa Barbara, a place that inspired her greatly. Since then, she had exhibits in southern and northern California, Palm Desert and Lake Tahoe, as well as San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Private Collections of her work are located in Florida, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, San Francisco, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

The origin of Marita›s work came through her love of color, dimension, light and her own inner journey. Her observation of the inner movements led to an expression of her heart seeing the spiritual in abstract ways, being inspired by its versatility and freedom of expression.

Marita says, ÂŤFor me, creativity and art are about sharing ...both the viewer and the painter create together.

In Flight.

Violet moment.

her spaces are for meditation and Imagine its meaning

We undertake a journey of courage and surrender when we look at the canvas.»

“I am looking at the empty Canvas waiting to feel what color wants to appear staying in the quiet, out of thinking, and letting the painting evolve. Painting alone with no other stimulants around me keeps me exited and always surprised at what appears in front of me.”

One can let go inside the images of Marita, which take us to the spaces of spiritual calm or the burst of colors and lights. From softness to intensity. From doubt, jump to the certainty of an object or objective that breaks the space as in a cascade of colors and dream forms.

There is fire, there is music, there is a space to

object or objective?

Dancer.

meditate and imagine its meaning.

Marita Furman also travels herself during its creation. From the depths of his creative mind, there arise desires, storms, illusions, that grows her interior to reach her hands that feel impelled to leave on the canvas energetic strokes, that can disappear at the next moment to be modified by a different color or intensified in its form. As in his work «In Flight» in which she takes us attracted by its luminous space to tell you a story of fire, of the anguish for survival.

Mystic Gathering.

Escuela de arte

Stirling Dickinson Mathilde stands in front of the group looking at the

partically completely pictures by all eleven students at the school. They were doing observational drawing of objects in the class. It is Tuesday and the first day of a twelve week class on basic drawing skills. This very moment it is Mathilde’s turn to look at the eleven student generate art work and pick her favor one. She must give a reason for her choice. It is a hard experience for a young person to give a critique on another’s work but it hones a person’s critical eye for art and gives them the ability to explain why they like a piece of art.

After Mathilde everyone else has a turn – some speaking with

hesitation while others have some feeling of confidence.

The Stirling Dickinson Escuela De Arte is the brain child of Rick Brunson M.A. who taught university and high school art classes in the US for 34 years. When Rick retired from teaching he traveled to Mexico and discovered the rich artistic history of San Miguel De Allende. His personal inspiration was reading about Stirling Dickinson and the art movement Stirling started in SMA. Rick found a need here in SMA for quality art instruction for 14 to 17 year old students.

His vision is to train those students who are interested in preparation for University. His school has been open for almost two years now and there are at present four students moving on into the University with excellent artist skills.

Ricardo Jimenez, a former student, won top honors as a student of the University

of Guanajuato’s art department.

The school has designed its curriculum and class offerings based on American art & design college guidelines and follows its foundational art protocol. Watching the students in class you see they are having a lot of fun drawing or creating something special. Rick moves around the room giving comments and feedback to help them improve their skills. You can see in their eyes and their smiles they appreciate Ricks comments.

Many of their finished works can be found in the class room or in the Public Library (Biblioteca).

From November to December the students create a mural. The last Mural completed can be seen in the Biblioteca next to the cafeteria.

Mithilde is the youngest in the class and hopes to stay with the class for a few years to improve her skill level. Admission to the class took hard work on her part. Each semester is 12 weeks long and consists of 24 classes. The three disciplines offered are 3D Design (spring, Drawing (summer), Color Theory (fall). She is happy she made it into the class.

If

you wish to know more about the program and find out the plans for expansion please contact Rick Brunson or Jim Reeves (rick@ rickbrunson.net - 1173-149 415 or jamesreevesart@aol.com ) or stop by and see the students as they work on

The students work 3D Design, Drawing and Color Theory.

A new call from

Al Tirado, now to tell me that the deadline for my second monthly collaboration, is right in fron of my nose.

Two questions invaded my mind, starting with now what topic would I write? And later and the most critical, ahhh, Do I have to do it again? which was resolved by understanding that Al did not chastise the first time.

Theme ... Theme ... Theme ... As the keyboard and screen seemed to fall into a lethargy of unusually hot Sanmiguelian afternoon, inspiration came.

Bingo! Something very easy and not at all controversial! Surrealistic cinema. What could go wrong? After all, part of my experience has been in publishing several articles, directing a couple of publications and giving several courses, always with topics related to technology, business, etc. So I´ll jump over the reality.

Topics in which are treated tangibles, like numbers,

means what is beyond realism, that is, what we think or believe is reality (another hot topic).

binary objectives, etc., that is, always ponderable based on parameters established in one way or another.

So to begin with I could put on the table an excellent example of surreal cinema, like 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963). And, as Surrealism is always subject to the interpretation of the spectator, I could say that El

Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970), for me, is about global warming and polar bears.

But no. It is not the case. For me, of scientific and technical mind, the biggest fascination I have for cinema is that I consider it surrealistic in its totality. Everything from The Party (Blake Edwards, 1968), to Apollo 13 (Ron Howard, 1995) Beyond the movements of art known as surrealists, which hence comes the term as such, it

Let›s start with the basics.

Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne), in front of three eminences from Cambridge, listening the comments on his thesis, in The Thing of Everything (James Marsh, 2014) in a scene that lasts 2 minutes 16 seconds.

We know that this is a biographical film, even qualified by the same professor Hawking as «quite true».

Let›s use the reality filter:

- The film only tells us what we need to know to be able to continue, so a reality that could last even many hours, is summed up in that couple of minutes.

- During the scene we have the opportunity to see the teachers face to face, to look at Hawking›s (original) thesis, to see, in close up, the expressions of the same as they give the comments, besides seeing the room in a plane opened from the Ceiling and other planes, something impossible in reality.

- The light of the scene is perfectly planned to transmit us sensations of a cozy, intimate place, most probably during a fresh British morning.

- And when the protagonist gets the news that his Big Bang Theory is brilliant, the background music starts. What? Did someone turn on the radio?

So, in a strict sense, the vision we have of this moment, however real it may have been, is not realistic. It is an interpretation of written reality, set, illuminated, photographed, dramatized, musicalized and directed to play with our emotions.

And that is the wonderful miracle of cinema, through its gadgets, its smoke and mirrors and its ability to travel through time and space like the very TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, for those who do not follow the Doctor), make us live their realities through the

surrealism of their art to make us escape, for a couple of hours, our realities without writers, photographers, air fresheners and directors who, at the slightest error, shout

CuTTT! And we can do it all over again.

Cinema makes a historical event surreal, just as it can make a terrifying and utopian future real, as in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) or 1984 (Michael Radford, 1984).

And with this I give way so that, if our editor asks me for a new column, let›s talk about another interesting topic: when science fiction cinema has overcome by reality.

(The phrases in this article have been modified for dramatic purposes. No keyboard was damaged during his writing. Any resemblance with the reality is mere coincidence).

by al

lTirado

“For me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the importance of an event.�

Henri Cartier-Bresson

And Cartier-Bresson called that moment, the decisive Moment.

And now, at that time achieved we call it

Street photography.

Interest in street photography has

been around for some time. In fact, with the birth of photography and its popularity since the beginning of the 20th century, many fledgling photographers took to the streets with the idea of «documenting history».

However, there is a difference between street photography and documentary photography. The first creates a document of the moment of independent living; And the documentary has the purpose of collecting an idea or an event, to tell a story.

When it comes to street photography, many photographers traditionally choose to work in black and white, focusing the attention of the viewer on the subject, eliminating the distraction of color.

In its most basic form, street photography is sincere photography done in public situations. In photographic terms «street»

is not limited to streets, as the word might suggest. The important thing is the «moment» that appears in any condition or environment.

In our days, the social networks collect a continuous shower of street photography, that is to say instantaneous, anecdotal, circumstantial, humoristic and so many other subjects, besides the millions of images that for their lightness and the costless which they are given, they have no value, not even for the one who shoots them.

The sense of community engendered by the Internet generation has sent street photography flying to new heights of popularity, just as happened with the novelty of photography in its initial times.

The techniques vary, but fundamentally, street photography iis a representation of real life infused with an awareness of visual aesthetics or visual aberration.

Many street photographers look for scenes that trigger an immediate emotional or visual response, especially through humor or a fascination with ambiguous, strange or surreal events. A series of photographs of the street can show a crazy world. Maybe it›s a dreamy world, or nervous, or dark, or elegant, or mysterious. The paradox that these features could be applied to scenes that are in the most every day and real location - the «street» - is infinitely fascinating.

Street photography is not a documentary. For the street photographer, there is no obligation to document a specific topic. The main concern is life in general, and its particular framing that is alone and for visual functions.

Street photography is returning to its roots and everything we shoot, everything we see now is more possibly a creation of man or has been affected / influenced by man.

People pull the street now more than any other time in history, everyone who owns a smartphone or a digital camera with pocket can be a street photographer.

So... is there really room for more definition?

Katrina Noel

At every step, in art, I am less realistic and more adventurous.

Durante la sesiรณn para fotografiar la obra de Katrina, le hicimos unas preguntas: SMA: Can you tell me why you decided to come to San Miguel and when?

KN: I had been working in London for TV for 16 years, latterly as a Production Manager, when I decided to move on, and San Miguel was an obvious choice as I had visited several times, loved it, and knew I could find a string quartet in which to play my viola.

SMA: Had you been involved in making art before you came here?

KN: No. I had been very interested as I was married to a painter/ sculptor whose mother was also an artist, and his father Josh Kligerman opened one of the first and most prominent art galleries in San Miguel.

I decided to take classes and started with watercolor. My teacher was Edina Sagert, who was an excellent introduction to the theory of art and organized my first exhibition in San Miguel in 2009, and in whose gallery at the Fabrica Aurora I have been showing since August 2016.

SMA: So how did you manage to achieve such an abstract artistic expression? And by whom has been influenced?

KN: With every step I take in art, I am less realistic and more adventurous. I found acrylics a much easier way of expressing my art in a more compelling fashion. Maestro Ernesto de la Pena Folch has been my guiding light for the last 4 years. His studio is full of interesting artists and this environment along with his incredible knowledge and encouragement has greatly influenced my development and creativity.

SMA:

I understand you have travelled extensively. In what capacity?

KN: Yes. Prior to working in TV I was with the British Foreign Office for 25 years and lived in 12 different countries starting with Bonn and Madrid, and ending with Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Washington DC where I worked as Personal Assistant to various Ambassadors.

SMA: Do you think your travels have influenced your art in any way?

KN: Maestro de la PeĂąa has commented that “even though my introduction to painting is recent, my artistic development is clearly there, reflecting my past and present rich and cosmopolitan lifeâ€?

SMA: Have you had any financial success with your art?

KN: I think I have been very lucky, considering I live in a city which is full of excellent and professional artists and many art galleries. I continue to sell on a regular basis.

Saturnino Herrán

(9 de julio, 1887 - 8 de octubre 1918)

W e render this month a humble tribute to the painter Saturnino Herrán, on the 130th anniversary of his Selfportrait with skull

birth.

Saturnino Herrán was born in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. From an early age showed interest in painting and at age 10 his parents put him to take drawing classes with the teacher Jose Inés Tovilla. Two years after the death of his father, the mother took him to Mexico City and immediately entered the school of arts, where Diego Rivera was his classmate, who later became the famous muralist. He continued studying at the National School of Fine Arts until his graduation to find a path that unfortunately would be very brief.

Tehuantepec woman

H is work has been somewhat ignored or unknown - perhaps because of its small

production. But its style shone from the beginning when it was dedicated to shaping scenes that were placed within indigenismo.

His characters are dignified, pure, without losing their origin. His works were recognized within the universal art, to have the quality and the content that the works of Velรกzquez and Jose de Rivera presented at that time within the traditional art of the Spanish school.

The creole of the shawl

The harvest

The offering

C lean atmospheres, faintly colored and vital scenes, the harvest ... day of the dead. Works that won the admiration in the showrooms of the Centennial As a colorist and designer, he worked on stained glass and illustrated

Memorial of Independence.

books. In the last years of his life he became interested in mural painting, when Diego Rivera was painting murals everywhere.

S aturnino Herrรกn died at the early age of 31, when the revival of Mexican aesthetic art was booming. It was Woman with pumpkin

not fair that a talent so great and so young ended his career in the beginning. Even so, we present here, his work remains to enrich the universal painting.

E

by Isis Bobadilla

Apache warriors.

The art of warrior lands

Mata Ortiz

is a wonderful town in the far corner of Mexico in the state of Chihuahua, highlighted in a valley at the foot of the hill «El Indio». This enigmatic place is named after Major Juan Mata Ortiz, a Chihuahua soldier who, during the 19th century, fought against the native tribes.

The most threatening warriors originally inhabited these lands, were the Apaches, Toboso, Comanches and Tarahumaras, who opposed the occupation of their territory.

Opposite page: La Olla cave, in Paquimé, Chihuahua.

Ceramic art by Juan Quezada

In spite of this, the invaders were rapidly colonizing, founding villages and cities, and carrying out agricultural and mineral labor.

Making this land a commercial area despite the desert and wilderness.

The Apaches began to steal cattle on haciendas and ranches as a form of retaliation, having been taken from their lands.

It was the Apache War.

In this wild and warlike land, a long time later, Juan Quezada, a prodigious artist in the creation of ceramics inspired by the pre Hispanic culture of PaquimĂŠ, was born in 1940; Cultural area of pre-Columbian North America.

Juan was a country boy who used to gather wood and agave honey together with his inseparable donkey. Little Juan was interested in collecting fragments of pre hispanic vessels that he found stored in a cave, coming from the culture of the Place of Great Houses, (PaquimĂŠ, in Tarahumara or RarĂĄmuri language). Juan was impressed by these aridAmerican ceramic utensils, full of colors and geometric lines, which he was collecting. The young man, barely 14 years old, analyzed and observed in detail the pieces he had collected, and gave himself the task of reproducing them without knowledge of painting or pottery.

Juan Quezada

Paquimé was a port of foreign trade dedicated to the production of macaw feathers, shells, ceramics and copper.

The objects that most distinguish Paquimé, are just their clay vessels; Which are recognized as Ceremonial Pots.

The inhabitants of Paquimé left as legacy thousands of decorated vessels in which they formed their own faces, the forms of their bodies, fauna and flora of their environment and important events, and reached its maximum development between 1060 and 1340, during this time Time, special places were built to worship their gods and aqueducts to supply water. After 1340, the city began a weakening stage and was abandoned by its inhabitants, ignoring the reason why the population migrated to other places.

In the year 700 d. C., began the Paquimé culture with the practice of agriculture and construction of small semi-subterranean and circular adobe houses, built on the banks of the rivers.

Ceremonial vessel

Beautiful ceramic design.

The PaquimĂŠ culture took place 2,000 years after the separation of the Mesoamerican and Arid-American cultures (period that coincides with the Teotihuacan sunset period). It was a settlement that influenced the northwest of the Sierra Madre Occidental; Most of western Chihuahua and some areas of the states of Sonora, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. It is estimated that the population probably had about 3500 inhabitants, but their linguistic and ethnic affiliation is unknown. Some scholars argue that PaquimĂŠ had an autochthonous cultural development of the Dulce culture, others claim that it was the result of the invasion of an elite of the Mexican plateau.

After PaquimĂŠ was abandoned, nomadic peoples occupied the city. A resplendent desert culture had died, until Juan Quezada revived it with his hands and his brush of human hair.

After trying for a long time to recreate these original vessels, Juan Quezada would do it using and testing fine sand. Thus, experimenting, it gave away its first vessels and, in that way, they came to the hands of merchants who would sell them in the United States. Finally, his vessels passed through the eyes of the anthropologist Spencer MacCallum. Upon meeting Quezada, the anthropologist offered him financial support so that the young man could concentrate on producing his art, and would advise him not to fake them like old pots - what Quezada did with the object of selling them as if they were findings.

He was adviced to sign his works as Author. The signed individual art form allowed him to increase the value of the pieces to

as Juan Quezada, the artist

Artistic relations Hello Readers, I first discovered San Miguel Art Magazine online and was immediately drawn to the wonderful imagery, so I wrote in to subscribe and then corresponded and met with Al Tirado, the editor and driving force behind this new publication. We had a creative meeting and here I am contributing a few words to the magazine.

I am here to celebrate and focus on the artistry and craftsmanship which Mexico has been known for. Through my agency Artistic Relations I am looking for projects to develop creative ventures with. I›ve lived in California most of my life and have been involved in the arts and culture industry for many years.

Through my vast connections I am working to propel Mexican talent forward. These projects are what I feel most passionate about. San Miguel de Allende has been a mecca for artists from around the world since the 1930›s and was founded in the 16th Century. It›s long history has earned the reference of « The Heart Of Mexico».

I hope to bring to light the cultural Renaissance happening in Mexico stemming from traditional heritage originated many centuries ago.

Cultural Program Development ArtisticRelations@gmail.com www.Desert-ArtTours.com

Susan Fiori

A

s a young person I rejected the idea of becoming an artist. Both my mother and older sister were artists and I wanted to be different. I studied English in college, married, had two children and then divorced before I realized my destiny as an artist.

I was 26 years old when I took a job as a portrait model at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I remember the smell of the oil paint, so sensuous, and the focus of the students as they worked. There was something rising in me that I had never felt before. Sitting in the stillness as the model I felt an excitement that almost made my heart burst. That very day I borrowed some art supplies from my mother and intuitively began to paint. I then knew my life’s trajectory was to work to be a real artist.

E ventually I took art classes, learned quite a few skills and before long started making and selling serigraph prints. A year or so later I opened a studio

gallery in the Little Italy area of Cleveland and for a dozen or more years was part of a growing and successful art community.

At 42 I remarried and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. I decided to complete my art degree and it was at San Francisco State University that I discovered metal. I signed up for a jewelry class and once again I found myself completely seduced by the materials.

I loved the metal, the look and feel of it but mostly I loved cutting it. I used a jewelry saw and quickly became adept at cutting very intricate designs.

Path to Stillness

Dead of Night Follies

Forest Guardians

D uring this time I realized there was a thread that I could trace back to my childhood and youth. I adored cutting out paper dolls but never played with them. As a teen I loved cutting out sewing patterns but I was seldom interested in sewing them together. Then as a silkscreen printmaker I was in heaven as I cut many and complicated stencils, sometimes as many as 50 in one print. I relished this part of the process and in subsequent years any process that had a component of cutting was attractive to me.

S o it was no surprise that the cutting of metal began

to thrill me. However I didn’t want to make jewelry. My designs were very pictorial and too large to be realized as broaches or pins. Almost immediately I began to make small sculptural enclosures but I continued using metalsmithing techniques. By the time I graduated I was madly in love with metalwork and to this day have never tired of this rich medium.

Many things - eastern spirituality, psychology, folklore, primitive cultures, dreams and musings, have influenced my iconography. My history as an artist, which includes stencil cutting, painting, drawing, and designing all bear on my current work and allow the freedom of diversity.

Journey of the Mind

Vajra Song

Winters Bird

M y enclosures are primarily made with nickel, brass and copper and built within and around an open wooden box that I also make. I still use jewelry saws to hand cut the metal into complex shapes and designs that create a narrative story.

I make dado cuts into a wooden base, which allow both near and deep space when looking at and into the world I am creating. My exteriors are painted wood often with additional metal that I emboss by hand. I allow my work to inform me as I go. It is in my manner to remain flexible and take chances. This keeps the work exciting.

I have been curious at times about my decision to embrace such

a time-consuming and laborious process.

Why not just paint the imagery that inspires me?

Year of the Gentle Monkey

B ut there is something so mysterious and challenging about

the metal. I am drawn by the alchemy of it - the way it softens if torched, hardens if pounded, changes color or patina when heated and is disguised if painted. It can be sturdy or delicate, opaque or transparent, inexplicable or obvious. Metal has a multifaceted personality and my relationship with it is much more privilege than labor.

Rise

Red Hair, Green Hat, Gold Crown

4th. Art Festival

Madonnari July 22nd. y 23rd.

San Luis de la Paz GTO. Mexico

Katrina Noel noelkatrina3@gmail.com Marita Furman http://www.expressionsinajourney.com/ Escuela de Arte rick@rickbrunson.net jamesreevesart@aol.com Isis Bobadilla https://www.facebook.com/isisbobadilla http://isisbobadilla.es.tl/ Susan Fiori

susanfioriart.com

fiori.susan@gmail.com

Richard Aldama artisticrelations@gmail.com Al Tirado

altiradoart@gmail.com

www.altiradoart.wixsite.com/altirado Yair Franco terrescali.cultural@gmail.com

For more information about the artists, please contact them directly.

No. 4 July, 2017 Editor al Tirado Administrative advisor Daniel Tirado Navalón Social networks Yair Franco Artistic Relations Richard Aldama Graphic design Yanina Hernández D. Romero Ethnic art Isis Bobadilla Published by FreeLancelot SMA San Miguel de Allende. México Contac with editors: editor@sanmiguelartmagazine.com San Miguel Art magazine an e-zine monthly publication. Running first week o every month in San MIguel de Allende, GTO. México.

All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2017

Contact us:

editor@sanmiguelartmagazine.com https://www.facebook.com/SanMiguelArtmagazine http://www.sanmiguelartmagazine.com/