Roca Azul: 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

Augustine, Vive Mexico, San Juan Cosala

-->

A Full Day, hand printing and supper at Vive Mexico

Every year I haul my dyes and fiber art equipment to Mexico but often never accomplish all my creative ideas inspired by colourful Mexico.

Today Lynda and I went to task. We had been challenged by the absence of ferns and suitable leaves to hand print. The desert does not offer the ferns and foliage of our amazing rain forest back home, but it does wake us up to a warming sun, and melodic bird song.

Over the last 3 weeks I have curiously been collecting and pressing every leaf, ground cover, tropical flower and any thing that looked interesting to imprint.

We made “make shift” templates with cardboard, and Ivan set up an improv area to place our hand painted shirts in the sun. It was a perfect day, not too hot, but lots of UV to kick the colours in. We managed to get great colours with a fairly diluted mix of the photosensitive dyes. We were pleased with our rehearsal and hope to explore Bette’s old garden for treasures tomorrow. We found some yarrow in the trailer park that makes an exquisite print. We promised to show the process to a few people here.

Our reward was supper out at our favourite art gallery and restaurant, “Vive Mexico” in San Juan Cosala (the poorest town in Chapala). This town has heart and soul, and Augustine, the manager of Vive Mexico is a person with charisma who has always thought of community first. Aside from running this lovely restaurant that show cases local artists, Augustine provides opportunities for folks in this small town. He has helped the town when flooding occurred years ago by providing everyone with food. He has a warm smile, a big heart and is one of the fixtures in Chapala that reminds us of the great “corazon” of the Mexican people.

The food at “Vive Mexico” is fantastic and the art work which I photographed reflects the imagination and local culture. (see photos)

As we left to return to the car, we saw a group of children dancing to the beat of a drum. They were rehearsing in a courtyard, their teacher was walking them through a series of possibly Aztec dance moves. It was wonderful to see kids moving gleefully in the evening light instead of being glued to a computer screen. They twirled and leapt forward, black hair swaying wildly as the beat sped up.

San Juan Cosala is one of those places where there are a so many scenarios on each street corner. I don’t pretend to understand the many layers of this area, but each time we visit I am aware that despite the many problems, this little town has people who care deeply for the children and offer of themselves generously.

We drove home down the old country road to be greeted by a full moon with a golden halo, in a navy sky full of twinkly stars. Crickets sing in the night, in the morning we wake to the roosters or the mooing of our the resident cows. The pictures below show the events of one day in our life at Roca Azul.