Gayle Brennan Spencer – sending random thoughts to and from South Austin
Approximately three dozen exuberant artists and possibly fewer accidental spectators helped kick off Contemporary Art Month this afternoon. In this case, photographs speak louder than words:
As the tuba player’s t-shirt says, let’s “Keep San Antonio Lame.”
Not returning from a quick trip to Merida until March 13, the day of San Antonio’s much heralded event – Luminaria Arts Night in San Antonio – I have been checking the website continually to find out whether to invite out-of-town friends in to revel in the artistic fervor and see San Antonio shimmer.
Alas, 13 days out, and still no exciting news from event organizers, other than dry words seemingly designed for corporate sponsors:
A manifestation of the city’s cultural riches, Luminaria boosts tourism by drawing visitors to the city and through increased media attention…. The economic value of Luminaria is significant because of its affect on downtown restaurants, hotels, and other businesses, as well as cultural organizations and individual artists.
Dan Goddard rides to the rescue, though, with an extremely informative article about the Contemporary Art Month portion of Luminaria, “Alamo City,” posted on Glasstire:
Despite much discussion about moving CAM to a cooler month, not much happened until newcomers Jason Jay Stevens and Leslie Raymond, who teaches New Media at UTSA, joined the CAM board. They were able to convince the art community to move CAM to March to coincide with Luminaria, a one-night, citywide arts festival that is the brainchild of former Mayor Phil Hardberger. And working with designer Chuck Ramirez and computer guru Ben Judson, they have come up with a new, much improved online CAM Calendar ….
Goddard reports Contemporary Art Month gets underway this very afternoon with a riverside sidewalk parade of artists:
A Rebirth of CAM parade is set for 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, beginning at Roosevelt Park on the city’s South Side and meandering along the new Mission Reach of the San Antonio River to the Blue Star. All artists who wish to participate are invited to come clad in “your craziest costumes and whatever you can find to play and bang on.” The parade will end at the La Tuna bar for libations.
While the pot-banging artistic component seems to have its calendar lined up online, Luminaria organizers are keeping us in the dark. Hopefully, Luminaria will shed light on what is going to be happening soon. How else will all those Dallasites and Houstonians know whether to book hotel rooms and hop aboard a Southwest flight at the last minute? Keep checking the calendar.
For me, whatever happens on the 13th will just be a wonderful surprise on my return from Mexico.
Shell out your $10 quickly. Unless NIOSA ordered thousands more pins than normal, the medal Kathleen Trenchard designed for the 2010 Fiesta event should sell out quickly. Delicately crafted in metal instead of paper, the papel picado NIOSA pin is turquoise, pink-ribboned and festooned with dangling charms.
Traditional papel picado, or punched paper, is created with hammer and chisel, and Kathleen works magic. While she produces traditional banners, her portraits are amazing, sometimes unexpected (two women eating dim sum) and always immediately recognizable (a skeletal version of Mike Casey riding his bike in the King William Fair). Picking up my husband’s shoes from being resoled deep on the south side, I immediately recognized the man waiting on me – Kathleen’s bootmaker.
Order one before they become rare collectibles fetching high prices on eBay.
April 6 Note: If you missed seeing it during Luminaria San Antonio, visit Kathleen’s March 16 blog to see her wonderful papel picado portrait of El Curro and Teresa Champion.
Postcards from Barton Springs 