2023 07 Vida y Sueños (Life and Dreams): A Mixed Media Art Experience with Michael deMeng and Andrea Matus During Oaxaca’s Famous Guelaguetza Festival Dia Seite y Ocho

Dia Seite, July 18th (Tuesday)

Everyday starts with the great hotel breakfast with our friends out on the patio of the hotel and this was true today. Then Denice and I took a walk towards the Guerreros De Oaxaca baseball stadium.

Today is the second day of Michael’s portion of the class.

For lunch we walked across the park in front of our hotel to the torta truck. I had the best ham and egg sandwich you could want. 

We did not get out of the workshop until 7:00 p.m. tonight for a variety of reasons. Denice and I got all dressed up and went out to Casa de Oaxaca Restaurant for a delicious meal. 

We then walked down the alcala and saw the festivities.  

We met an artist named Carlos Garuz who told us he was Zapotec, born in the mountains above Oaxaca, spoke Zapotec, Spanish and English and was studying environmental engineering in school. But, because “the art was in his heart” he had to make his art. He starts with a stain (using materials from his family's coffee farm), finds the image in the stain and then accomplishes the work. We bought these two original works and plan to hang them in our house.

La Calenda print from Subterraneos flanked by Carlos's work

Dia Ocho, July 19th (Wednesday)

Today, after a hotel breakfast with our early rising buds, Denice and I went separate ways. She went to the workshop to her project while I headed to the neighborhood above our hotel and the path to the Guelaguetza Auditorium. 

I found a rooftop doggy day care. This guy was actually friendlier than I made him look.

The staircase leading to the Guelaguetza Auditorium is getting more intimidating each year I climb it. 

Looking up the staircase from the street where it starts

Looking back down after a hot and sweaty climb in which I said, "¡Ay! Mi Corazón!" a few times.

I am going with the date on the artwork pictured below to gage the age of the paintings on the walkway under the Pan-American Highway that leads to the Guelaguetza Auditorium. Like all wall art, it is beginning to show its age and that is a little sad. 

The view from the Guelaguetza Auditorium makes the climb well worth it

I got back barely by 10:00 am when class. Today was day two of Michael’s instruction and everyone is working hard to complete their projects by today as we have two upcoming days of tourist stuff to do. It is a day of separation for Denice and I as I went to the torta wagon in the park for lunch again while she stayed behind to work. I love sitting in the warm weather in the park for lunch.

Here is my project as complete as it will get in Oaxaca (none of the hanger is attached to the art yet)

In the afternoon I finished my project and Denice got to a satisfying stopping point so we were done by 4:00 p.m. This worked out great because our evening was free and we decided to visit the galleries and stores we had not yet seen.

Instituto Oaxaqueno de las Artesanias

Templo y Convento del Carmen Alto

The Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca had a display of artist's work from Toledo's personal collection including an Odilon Redon.

The doors were open so we went into the Santo Domingo.

We visited the Gallery of Jacobo and Maria Angeles for their alebrijes and then stopped in the La Mano Magica for some shopping.

Table With a View

Dinner was at Los Andantes which has a great (did I say great) view of Santo Domingo. 

After dinner we walked the alcala down to the zocalo where there is dancing on Wednesday evenings. It was all over by the time we got there but we did take in the fire dancer.