Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Galeria Los Angeles
Per Sally's suggestion and the need to practice or forget how to upload photos; these are a few pictures taken last year of Galeria Los Angeles. The
Galeria has been my principal Love for 8 years now. It is a place where I can share the art I create and also what art and artisania I have collected
over the years. Oh, and sometimes I even sell stuff there.
 Dona Katrina is the guardian of the gallery, she is always there to greet you, a friendly calavera who doesn't mind having her
photo taken with the tourist who come by.
The Mural at the entry was painted by Armando Ruiz and Xochitl Rivera, who I studied art with in Oaxaca for 5 years. Xochitl now lives in a little
apartment above the gallery and gives art classes there on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Mud dolls are created by two of my favorite artist/potters in Oaxaca. Maria & Gloria live a full life that Mother Earth gives them; they grow
corn, beans, squash and truck clay, sand and firewood from the arroyo near their home to create what they sell in the Tlacolua Market. I am amazed at
their connection with the Earth; it is a rare person who could stick their hand in dirt and provide for all their needs from that simple act.
These last two photos were taken on Dia de Guadalupe 2010.
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woody with a view
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Very nice. i really gotta get back there.
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bajajudy
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OH so nice
Hope to see you my next trip to barriles.
Suerte
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Eli
Super Nomad
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Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Judy, yes please stop by. This season, I am trying very hard to keep regular hours there. Tues, Wed., Friday & Saturday from 10 am until 2 pm.
Xochitl keeps it open on Thursdays while she gives classes.
Woody, You have been to the gallery? Or do you mean get back to Los Barriles. Anyway, glad you like the pictures.
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shari
Select Nomad
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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gracias hermana for the little gallery tour...it sure is a sweet, colourful world you live in...you are fortunate to do what you love and it
shows...viva arte!
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DianaT
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Beautiful, very beautiful. Maybe sometime we will head that far south again and if we do, Galeria Los Angeles will definitely be on our agenda.
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DENNIS
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This is not directed to your efforts Sara, but it seems dichotomous to a sinful degree how art in Mexico will glorify the remnants of the indigenous
culture while, at the same time, relegate their existance today to a life in the mud and treat them as poorly as their dogs......in some cases, worse.
I mean.....I don't get it. If the icons of native history are museum worthy, why would the living of the same culture be regarded as so much
sub-human trash?
To make matters worse, the class distinction seems to be socially acceptable.
Yeah...Yeah....I know. We do the same, but not down to the level that Mexico does. At least our Native Americans have casinos and cheap pickup
trucks.
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
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Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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Eli
i assumed it was your place in Oaxaca. now, it will be easier to get to LB!
[Edited on 11-13-2011 by woody with a view]
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Good job posting photos Sara!
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Eli
Super Nomad
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Yeah David K., I finally did it, I am starting to get comfortable with moving photos onto Bajanomad, this is something I have wanted to do for years.
I think my pictures give a true vision of my little world.
Yeah, Woody, it's that close, just come on down.
I would Love to meet you Diana, I hope when the days comes that you make you way South again, I will have the honor of meeting you.
Shari, ya sabes hermanita, alguin dia, we will cross paths again, meanwhile you keep posting your pictures and so will I, it is as good as close as we
can get for now.
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Eli
Super Nomad
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Dennis, I haven't heard from you in a coons age. Of course your most worthy comment justified a seperate reply.
If I were to name heroes who I respect more than anyone, who show me how to live, who give me a perfect example of joy of a simple life, I would have
to name Maria & Gloria as those people.
I assure you that they would be horrified at your perceptive of their life style. They don't see themselves as poor, anymore than I do. They ALWAYS
have a good nurturing meal on their table, (I have eaten with them many times, their home is my favorite place to get a good meal). They wear the most
beautiful clothes of anyone I have ever known, (except their little black plastic shoes are awful I must admit, they could buy Croc clogs for the
same amount, but it is not their habit yet to do so.) They have their own home, indoor plumbing with tp sitting next to the john. They sleep in a bed
with blankets. They have a burro to haul their clay. Their family and friends help with their harvest, which has been a good one the last two years.
They use a great and cheap public transportation. They have clean water from a village well pumped to their house. Their daughter/niece is in one of
the best high school's in their area and has a 9.6 grade average, (yes, she has a scolorship and support that found it's way to her via Maria &
Gloria's art). All of their needs are provided by their own hands. I challenge any of us to show their strenght, ingenuity and faith. What don't they
have, well they don't have a lot of stuff and I guess they are proof positive that one can have a good and fullfilling life without STUFF.
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Sallysouth
Super Nomad
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Mood: missing Baja...
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Sara, You have added quite a lot to your gallery since I saw it!I love the angel alter!!Thanks for posting these pics!! Also love the clay dolls, so
original, never two of a kind.As far as your friends, Maria and Gloria, seems to me as tho they are happy, healthy and comfortable.I remember those
days, some forty years ago, when "stuff" was not an issue, but enjoying life as simply as possible was the rule of the day.Gotta love it, "stick their
hand in the dirt and provide for all their needs"... hugs, Sally
Happiness is just a Baja memory away...
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
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Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Eli
Dennis, I haven't heard from you in a coons age. Of course your most worthy comment justified a seperate reply.
If I were to name heroes who I respect more than anyone, who show me how to live, who give me a perfect example of joy of a simple life, I would have
to name Maria & Gloria as those people.
I assure you that they would be horrified at your perceptive of their life style. They don't see themselves as poor, anymore than I do. They ALWAYS
have a good nurturing meal on their table, (I have eaten with them many times, their home is my favorite place to get a good meal). They wear the most
beautiful clothes of anyone I have ever known, (except their little black plastic shoes are awful I must admit, they could buy Croc clogs for the
same amount, but it is not their habit yet to do so.) They have their own home, indoor plumbing with tp sitting next to the john. They sleep in a bed
with blankets. They have a burro to haul their clay. Their family and friends help with their harvest, which has been a good one the last two years.
They use a great and cheap public transportation. They have clean water from a village well pumped to their house. Their daughter/niece is in one of
the best high school's in their area and has a 9.6 grade average, (yes, she has a scolorship and support that found it's way to her via Maria &
Gloria's art). All of their needs are provided by their own hands. I challenge any of us to show their strenght, ingenuity and faith. What don't they
have, well they don't have a lot of stuff and I guess they are proof positive that one can have a good and fullfilling life without STUFF.
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Thanks, Sara. I appreciate your choice of friends. They seem to be living a blessed life....so unlike the pathetic field hands living in squalor here
in Maneadero. I have to believe that what I see is closer to the norm in Mexico than your story-book amigas. They seem to live a charmed, but unusual
life for the status they are afforded here by birth, but that's Oaxaca....an ancestral womb.
Generally speaking, Mexico, in my opinion, is just not accepting of their indigenous population and they have to be very careful when they cross a
street.
In many ways, they live in a different world.
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Paula
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Sara, you always get it right as rain. I'm always hoping to get back down to los barriles, just to see your beautiful gallery. Maybe this will be
the year...
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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Paula, I hope, hope, hope someday to see you in the gallery again.
Dennis, actually, in some ways, I agree, I would love to see better treatment of the Indigious of Mexico and everywhere. Really, I would just plain
like to see better treatment of humans by their fellow beings in general. Alas, what is, just is. So, what do you think of the Art?
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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This picture was taken of the kid's class held twice a week at the gallery. They painted Calavera heads as self portraits, ate tangerines and peanuts
off of Don Jimmy's alter, I am sure he would have loved this one.
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Eli
Super Nomad
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Location: L.B. Baja Sur
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Don Jorge, thanks for the thought, it is a good one. I am have been struggling with the right word to describe these women's relationship with the
Earth for some time now. I feel the word earth is kind of cliche, soil is something I imagine planting in, (which is part of their experience), but
not something one pulls art out or, same with mud, although mud dolls work for me. What if one was dirt rich instead of dirt poor, jeje. I know that
doesn't work either.
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