San Augustin Etla Gallery

But first, a few photos of the graffiti from a walk-about yesterday...  I took these photos in the area around the mercado Paschal Sanchez.   

These artists are not as experienced as the groups who paint in the train station area or on the stadium walls, but still quite good.  I'll be looking for more from these artists.






 











































 The church at the top of San Augustin Etla.  The whiteness of the paint against the always blueblueblue sky startles me every time I see it.  The sun is shining today, for the first time in a few days; a strange and wonderful coincidence because I've never been to San Augustin Etla when the sun wasn't shining.






The old spinning and weaving factory at San Augustin Etla is a beautiful restoration project.  Beginning in 2001, Francisco Toleda funded 40% of the project, the state and the Fed contributed. The result is a beautiful, enormous gallery space, with lots of class and study areas, all surrounded with imaginative and peaceful ponds and water features.  Water is precious in Oaxaca, but in San Augustin Etla, it is plentiful. Toledo's vision for CaSa was as a meeting place for artists to learn from each other, and as a community project that emphasized conservation of precious resources, such as water.









Alejandro Malgallones  is the featured artist, born in Mexico City in 1971.  His drawings were full of humor and satire.  The baseball dude was an animation, but that made us laugh.




















There are four boards this size, with masks of animals and comments.  His work reminds me of Carla Sondheim, who's "sidewalk crack" animals are equally entertaining.










              

















 Upstairs, I saw an exhibit of small teams of artists from all over the world. This dress is made of pumpkin seeds, strung in long rows and connected.  The sleeves feature an "increase", making a bell-shape at the wrists. 






















Detail of the Seed dress....





















This wire, bead and thread sculpture enchanted me.  She was built with suggestion and intricate bead decorations.  I would have gone without food to buy this one!





















Detail of bead/wire/thread woman...


















I saw lots of examples of Zentangle! This, on the bottom of a pair of shoes...


















and this, on a typical Oaxacan wood carving.

There are more photos, for another post.