Category: Art of San Antonio

Don’t Procrastinate in Viewing Pair of Art Exhibits

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It’s a long drive from downtown out to David Shelton Gallery, so, despite being interested in several shows, I procrastinated visiting for a long time. 

A group show, “Good and Well,” featuring works by Aaron Hans Forland spurred me to action.  Some of Forland’s relatively anonymous unofficial public art installations might have brought a smile to your face as you stopped at traffic lights downtown along Durango; you encounter them unexpectedly on the trap doors at the base of traffic light poles.  It was great to see his talents corralled inside and uptown, and I fell in love with Mimi Kato’s works.  Procrastination in blogging about the Shelton show paid off; Ben Judson wrote an extensive review for San Antonio Current.

Schroeder’s innovative use of agave bloom
Donna Simon and Mike Schroeder in front of Schroeder’s “centerpiece” at Say Si
“The Estero” by Jeannette MacDougall
Group Show at David Shelton Gallery

Found it a lot easier and a whole lot less time-consuming to walk over to the opening of Say Si‘s Biennial Exhibition that includes new works by Jeannette MacDougall.  Think there are still openings for her painterly retreat in France offered through the Southwest School of Art and Craft.

Update on August 14:  Aaron Hans Forland has a new website showcasing his work.

‘Faux Bois’ Roots Run Deep in San Antonio

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Like remnants of an ancient petrified forest blending in with the urban landscape, San Antonio’s cement artworks, faux bois or trabajo rustico, are cherished landmarks.  The rough “bark” of the old trolley stop near Central Market in Alamo Heights; the covered bridge in Brackenridge Park; and the entrance to the Japanese Tea Garden has been rubbed to a sheen by the exploring hands of generations of San Antonio’s children.

The craft of creating trabajo rustico sculptures could have been lost for San Antonio following the deaths of Dionicio Rodriguez and Maximo Cortes, but fortunately Maximo’s son, Carlos Cortes, inherited both the secret formulas and the talent to continue to add prominent public artwork throughout the city.  Carlos installed a graceful “cypress” bursting through the ceiling in the middle of the San Antonio Children’s Museum; built the Treehouse for the Witte Museum; added a trellis to the River Walk; recently completed the massive Grotto for the river’s Museum Reach; and installed benches in a pocket park.

Carlos Cortes’ cypress tree seems to grow through the ceiling of the San Antonio Children’s Museum.
Private donations garnered by the San Antonio River Foundation funded Carlos Cortes’ fanciful grotto along the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River Walk.
Carlos Cortes

San Antonio’s connections to the art form of trabajo rustico are explored during an exhibit and related symposium, both part of the celebration of Historic Preservation Month.  The Tradition of Trabajo Rustico:  Fantasies in Cement can be viewed in the Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall in the Navarro Campus of the Southwest School of Art and Craft through May 30.

Speakers at the symposium on the morning of Saturday, May 15, include Patsy Pittman Light, author of Capturing Nature:  The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez.  Following a box lunch, there will be a bus tour of some of San Antonio’s faux bois landmarks and a demonstration by Cortes at his studio.

The morning session is admission-free.  The fee for lunch and the afternoon bus tour is $25.  For more information, telephone the San Antonio Conservation Society, 210-224-6163.

January 16, 2013, Update: San Antonio’s faux bois art and artists are featured on KLRN ARTS.

Preserving the Art of ‘Papel Picado’

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The American translation I grew up with is hardly picturesque – brightly colored plastic triangles strung along roadways, noisily flapping in the breeze in vain attempts to motivate you to “stop here for gas” or “trade in your car today.”  But, as with many humble or utilitarian objects in Mexico, banners were elevated to a form of art and signified celebrations important to the community.  Papel picado, or punched paper, artists use hammer and chisel to punch designs out of stacks of up to 40 layers of tissue at a time.

As part of the San Antonio Conservation Society’s celebration of Historic Preservation Month, a display of papel picado, or punched paper, by artist Kathleen Trenchard is on exhibit in the Visitors Center of The Steves Homestead.  While her work includes traditional papel picado banners, Kathleen’s contemporary interpretation of the art form includes portraits, buildings and major public art installations – at the AT&T Center, the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center and the Grand Hyatt Hotel.  Kathleen also designed the official Fiesta pin for the Conservation Society’s major fundraiser, A Night in Old San Antonio, or NIOSA.

The legendary printmaker and satirical cartoonist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) created his oft-reproduced “La Calavera Catrina” to satirize the lifestyle of the upper class in Mexico in the late 1800s.  In one of the works on exhibit at the Steves’ Visitors Center, Kathleen crafts a skeletal “self-portrait” as a dancing partner of La Catrina.  

“Portraits” of architectural landmarks featured in the exhibit include the Bexar County Courthouse, the Japanese Tea Garden, the silos at Blue Star and the Pig Stand.  The one must suitable for the cause of preservation follows the satirical style of Posada:  “Demolition:  1123 Brooklyn.”

This 1895 etching shows Jose Guadalupe Posada’s original vision for “La Calavera Catrina.”
Kathleen Trenchard pairs her “papel picado” self-portrait in a dance with “La Catrina.”
“Demolition” mourns the passing of one of San Antonio’s historical assets, this one at 1123 Brooklyn.
“The Landmark Pig Stand”
“Silos at Blue Star on the River”
Kathleen Trenchard’s contribution to ArtPace’s Chalk-It-Up.

In recognition of her artistic perpetuation of this form of Mexican folk art, the Conservation Society will bestow its Lynn Ford Craftsman Award upon Kathleen at its Historic Preservation Awards Dinner on Friday, May 14.  The Conservation Society established the award in 1978 in honor of Lynn Ford, a craftsman, cabinetmaker, builder and teacher.

Preserving the Art of Papel Picado will be on display at the Visitors Center located behind The Edward Steves Homestead and House Museum, 509 King William Street, through June.  The Visitors Center and Museum are open daily, but hours vary depending on scheduled tours.  For more information, telephone 210.225.5924.

Tickets for the Conservation Society’s Awards Dinner are $75 for individuals or $600 for a table of eight.  For reservations, telephone 210.224.6163.  To find out information about other Preservation Month activities, visit www.saconservation.org.

So what could the “prodigious poster” learn from a form of art where what is eliminated paints the picture?  Cut.

Added on May 3:  Great article on the area of Puebla known for papel amate