san miguel de allende > 6 agosto

Monday. Ryan and Therese were still in town, so we met up quickly before catching a taxi over to Richard Trumbull's house near the botanical garden. He is a friend of Candice's who became a painter after retiring to San Miguel. It is a difficult house to find, but we made it up there right on time. Once inside, we were treated to one of the most lovely designed homes i have had the honor to see. It was designed by a famous architect (whose name escapes me at the moment); a prodigy of Barragan. It's a little quirky, but quiet, monastic, and airy. I loved how the floors were the same on inside and outside. More impressive than the home, though, were Richard and his partner, Sylvia, themselves. A quiet, thoughtful artist who came to painting late in his life, Richard was unpretentious and profound...somebody asked him how he was able to push himself to be more abstract, and he responded that you have to take risks and not be afraid to make a fool of yourself. It really struck a chord with me considering what i've been working on this quarter at school. They then spoke about their trips in Spain and France following pilgrim trails. it was very moving to hear about how they had this mind-clearing experience. After that we stopped at a customized jewelry shop, which was pretty spendy, so we took off for chilo's, the glass factory, and el pato, the art store. we also had a great lunch on the zocolo. that night, ryan and therese and i went to the lopez's house for dinner. what a great night! we chatted, drank a little, had a fantastic dinner with lots of tortillas and soup, and just enjoyed each other's company. we saw an enormous spider, too. rafael drove us back and i spent the evening feeling inspired.

san miguel de allende > 5 agosto

well, it's already tuesday, and i'm trying to think back to adventures from sunday. it seems like a week has passed! candice certainly has packed our schedules, and we are making the most of every minute we spend here.

on sunday, i was feeling a little better, but still not so great. actually, the morning was a little rough, but i toughed it out and made it down to chocolate y churros for breakfast with ryan and therese. we had a lovely time, though i wish i could have had more coffee. we then made it back up the hill and caught our tour bus to guanjuato for a day trip. i was on a mission to see the mummies...and to enjoy the sunday despite the stresses of school and life in general.

the trip was an hour and a half, and we arrived in guanajuato at 2:30 or so. we walked as a group down the the mummy museum, and the line seemed long. most people in the trip didn't want to go, but i had my heart set on seeing the mummies. what can i say? especially after seeing that bodies exhibit, i was curious to see how they were preserved, why they had been created, and to view the awesomeness of the natural phenomenon. admittedly, i am drawn to the unusual and macabre as well, so there was that factor too. the line was long, the tour guide said over two hours, and most of the group didn't want to go. i wasn't going to give up, though. luckily, ryan, therese and enrique all agreed to go, so we got in line. it only took 30 minutes to get through the line. the mummies were not well kept, and it was extremely hot inside. despite that, there was something very moving to me about the. i guess when the skin and tendons dry, the mouths of the mummies are drawn open. so they look like they are moaning or screaming or crying...a few laughing, but mostly in faces of anguish. it is an amazing reminder of our own mortality, and that ultimately, we are composed of the same substance as these mummies. what is interesting, too, is that these mummies aren't very old...only from 150 years ago. they were bodies that weren't claimed by families or who couldn't afford to keep the bodies interred. the most famous of the mummies are the doctor and the fetus. the doctor has full clothing and big white mutton chops, still perfectly in shape. he was french, and his body was never claimed, but he was very prominent and well known in town. and yet, here he was in the same room in the same state as the poorest indigenous person, preserved together by the silts and muds and minerals of the land they both knew. the fetus was pretty self explanatory, and yet also moving in its positioning. it made me think about birth and death and the commonality of both for all people, all cultures.

anyway, after the mummies, we went to another small museum about death and occult. it was so cheesy...it was like a cheap disneyland exhibit but with real mummies. i wasn't sure if i should laugh at the irony or be outraged by the lack of respect shown these human bodies. either way they had holograms....can you say museum 1984? lame. but sort of funny, too.

after that, we taxied to the market, where we found a great place to have lunch. empanadas, soup, mineral water, guacamole...i was starting to feel a little less sick. it was a lovely day outside, and we were in a quiet square listening to a terrible mariachi band and just enjoying a leisurely day. doesn't sound exciting, but it was fantastic.

from there to the mercado, which is pictured above. it was large with many indoor stalls...everything from chicarrones to plastic bags to lucha banks to traditional embroidered dresses. and of course, illustrated adult comics. i had seen these before and they are somewhat legendary in mexico. so i got one...wow, i don't think i was man enough for that comic, but if i ever wondered about sexuality in mexico, it was a fantastic crash course.

we ran out of time then, and caught a cab back to the bus, and then a nap on the ride home. i kept dreaming about being in san diego. it was funny. it rained a bit on the trip back, and we saw a rainbow. upon arriving home, we parted ways. i ended up walking down to town with this cool girl erika on my trip, getting some tortilla soup and then coming back to go to bed early. i think i ended up feeling really homesick after all that dreaming so i made a quick but expensive phone call, and then crawled in bed. i hoped to dream more, but ended up not dreaming at all. i think i was too tired.

san miguel de allende > 4 agosto

well, it finally hit me. the bad stomach. a small bottle of pepto and a lot of water seems to be helping, but i haven't been at my best. i started the day out okay with some amazing chilaquiles verdes and real coffee...it was pretty fantastic. today the group went on a trip to another colonial city, queretaro, but i decided to stay home...not because of the stomach thing (that didn't rear its head until the afternoon), but becaues i had so much homework to do for school. it was intentse, too. a total redesign of a concept, and then a total reworking of the original idea. i'm telling you that grad school for design is so much more than just refining skills...it is really analyzing every aspect of what you do and who you are and what you believe. powerful stuff. and hard to do in the middle of a trip in mexico where you have no supplies or privacy and where the internet works about half of the time. but you learn to improvise. something that designers and mexicans (and i'd guess mexican designers) do very well. i do admit to enjoying having some private alone time. there hasn't been much of that on the trip.

anyway, besides that, i went to dinner with ryan, therese, a mother of a friend of their's and her friend. i felt a little ill, so it wasn't as great as it could have been, but we did have a good time, and i found out that kenneth anger was at the film festival, and camilla (the mother's friend), got to meet him. pretty rad! it was a lovely dinner, and i got the chance to walk around a lot that evening, exploring the square. all of the younger folks went out dancing and drinking until 5am...i can't hang with that, especially when i'm not feeling super great. so i stayed in and got some much-needed sleep. not a particularly exciting day, but a productive one.

san miguel de allende > 3 agosto

oh, i'm getting so behind on this blog. okay, i'm going to try to recap as best as i can. the morning started with a workshop with rafael. it was the same one he did for link, with the crayons, tempera, and gouache, except this time, i got to try it myself! yeah! so in the spirit of san miguel, i did a piece about chilo. it actually kind of looks like him, so it's funny. i cracked myself up, anyway. and that's what matters.

after our class, we went up to casa lopez and enjoyed a lovely lunch and a healthy portion of killer tomatillo salsa. the above picture is rafael's mother, pillo, who gave us a salsa demo and made our great meal. what a joy! i got it all on video, too, so i can remember how to make it when i get home. you know how trying to write out recipes goes. it was a fun afternoon, a great view, and enjoyable company. one of my favorite parts was seeing rafael's studio in the basement. there is something i can totally identify with down there...the cave. sometimes we need to have sensory deprivation when we are trying to be creative.

which is exactly what i don't have right now, and probably why i've been struggling with school so much. without getting into too much detail, school has been a constant source of frustration for me since i've been here. technical issues, lack of time and privacy, and just being out of my space...all have made it hard to create in the way i need to create for these courses. a journal would be one thing. a deeply conceptual piece based on an ed fella quote is another. i don't even have a desk. ack.

anyway, we did manage to make it out to office depot, gigante (the grocery store), and mega (like wal-mart, sort of), which was interesting in its way. an unexpected adventure to remind us that life does exist in the area outside of the center of the town. and for a lot of people, that's real life. hey, it is still mexico. you can buy volkswagen badges in the grocery store.

instead of beating my head against the wall for school last night, i ended it with a long walk, a negro modelo and some journal creating. sometimes getting away is the best thing you can do.

san miguel de allende > 2 agosto

the day began with a presentation and discussion on frida. though candice describes her as a surrealist, i see her more as a proto-postmodernist. her feminist, deeply personal narratives infused with cultural and personal symbolism all fall into the realm of post-modernist painting...perhaps that is why contemporary pop culture is so in love with her. we get it.

anyway, from there we traveled to the rural surrounding area of san miguel to the ranchito of maestro esteban valdez. a smithsonian-recognized potter, maestro valdez shared with us his studio, technique, and lovely work. it is truly an amazing experience to be in the presence of a man like this...he is someone who has led a simple family life, and yet created some of the most charming, lively, authentic work i have ever seen. even at 90 and half blind, his steady hand captures the spirit of someone who has spent life working, crafting, and creating with his hands. it is easy to over-romanticize the difficulties of living the rural life he leads...yet, there is clearly a joy that comes from his work and his relationship with the land and his culture. i have rarely felt the admiration and awe i felt in his presence. it was a truly beautiful experience.

from there, we ventured back to the hotel, then to the art store and mercado. as we were waiting for a cab, who pulls up but....chilo!!! and he offers to give us a ride to the art store, since it's near his shop. rockeritas! what a great guy and a fun story to tell. the art store, el pato, was great. i bought a ton of paints and rubdown letters. getting in the mood for art.

then to the market, which is always fun. looking for weird stuff for our journals...and finding it. everything from sequinced fridas to loteria cards showing parts of the body. oh, and blue corn tortillas.

lunch at el tomato, and then back to the room to work on my homework. kind of a drag. but then ryan and therese called, and we went for dinner at ole ole. it was great to see them, and the restaurant was wonderful. garlic mushrooms and dos xx. sweet. i made my first phone call after dinner, and was glad ryan was there to help me figure out the phone card system.

more homework. then sleep. long day.

but a good one.

san miguel de allende > 1 agosto

trying to keep up with this blog is difficult, especially when i'm also supposed to be completing work for two grad classes and a journal for this class. so i'm a bit behind, and struggling to remember what happened yesterday. let's see...guanajuato. i love it. i wish i could spend more days there, but, luckily we do get to go back on sunday. there is something so lovely about the way it sits in the valley, the bright houses terraced up the hillsides. it is a college town, and does have that feel...much more urban than san miguel, and many more young people. we began our time there by looking out over the city, and then we descended a winding, narrow passage to the bottom where the teatro juarez and the diego rivera birthplace museum were. on the way, we saw some beautiful graffiti and many tunnels. there are many of these stone tunnels throughout the city...i guess the city has been rebuilt three times because of flooding in the days before the dam, and the tunnels traverse the land between worlds, so to speak. our visit to the teatro juarez was a quick one, but we learned a good bit about the french and moorish influences on the theatre, which was once a favorite of vicente fox when he was governor of guanajuato. my favorite part was the glass floor on the second story...you can see the footsteps above you somewhat as you stand below it. we then went to diego's birthplace. it had a lot of his early student work, and it was fun to realize that he was a student like anyone else...copying styles, learning to paint, finding his own voice. being in school myself, i can relate. besides his work, there were some great japanese pieces in the adjacent gallery...contemporary work heavily influenced by design. i need to learn more about that. anyway, we had a great lunch, then trekked back up the large hill to the bus for our return trip. when we got back, we made a trip to the papeleria, which is loosely translated as paper store...or school supply store. but it is so much more. we got so much good stuff, i can't even remember it all. but just remember i'm a designer and i love weird printed things, and i spent 7 dollars for a giant envelope. it was just amazing. i have a poster of mexican presidents, luchadores, and a series of paper dolls in traditional mexican outfits. what more could i want? well, after that, all of the students in the class who wanted to work on their journals got together in one of the rooms and worked on our journals. it was fun to get started and work on ideas. i want to explore a lot of ideas that have been rolling in my head about folk art, politics, design, art, and more. it should be a good experience if i can just carve out the time to do it. that seems to be the biggest challenge. anyway, the pic is of the group overlooking guanajuato. more tomorrow...esteban valdez. unbelievable.

san miguel de allende > 31 julio

didn't sleep so well the night before...sometimes i just get that way. especially if i'm feeling stressed a bit, which i was b/c of the internet situation. luckily, there is wireless up at our classroom. of course, this is an almost completely vertical hike up these trecherous stone steps...but it is good exercise first thing in the morning. it might prove for some good weight loss.

class was very interesting today. we learned about diego rivera, orozco, and siqueros. i already knew a good bit about diego and frida...okay, so i first learned a lot of it from the frida movie, but i did read more later. i knew little of siqueros, though, so that was exciting. candice told us about how pillo, her mother in law, knew all of them as she studied architecture at unam under clar percet (sp?). she met che, fidel, the muralists...basically, she was part of the communist intellectual group that emerged after the mexican revolution. candice was discussing why communism was so appealing in mexico at that time...widespread poverty, inequality, and a belief that communism would bring prosperity to all. it made me think about how during this time period, this idea was prevelant throughout the world, particularly intellectuals. even in the united states we had everything from the progressive party, to eugene debs (and the period of largest participation in the communist party in united states history), to the wpa. the new deal wasn't communism (and though some would argue it was socialism, it was still not quite to the level of many other countries), but it certainly was a measure enacted to help the common person. it was also a time of increased international travel and emigration, and ideas were being spread around the world. the intellectual exodus from germany and eastern europe during the second world war not only brought the us the greatest scientific minds in the world, but also brilliant artists and musicians. basically, what i'm trying to say, is that this exchange of ideas and idealism was an international phenomenon, and what is interesting is that mexico was involved in it in a very meaningful way...not only copying or imitating masters from other countries, but taking the philosophy and melding it with their own cultural and historical heritage into something uniquely mexican.

well, as you can see, this was an exciting day for me. we got to see a siqueros mural in town. and in the spirit of celebrating the worker, we went to a glass factory where they hand-make glasses, vases, and most anything you can imagine, for places like crate and barrel and williams sonoma. as fortune would have it, they have a big sale this time of year, and i took advantage of some of the savings.

leah and i ended up having lunch with candice, and i tried huitochole (sp?), which is a corn crepe with black sauce. it was delicious...lemony and a little like tomatillo sauce. of course, the black stuff is a corn fungus. sounds gross, but you know, a mushroom is a fungus and people eat moldy cheese, so i guess it's not too gross.

we saw a great chamber music group in the evening. during an intense thunder storm. it has stormed every day i've been here. sometimes twice. i guess it is the rainy season.

anyway, guanajuato on wednesday.