Exhibitionist

Last night one of my friends commented that I was carrying a huge smile. I was. It was a night of realizing a goal I set for myself several years ago. OK, dear readers, if you think you are going to see pictures of me doing some kind of exotic dance, just click your clicker to the next blog.

Felix Berroa's "Manateal de Esperanza"

The event was the BarichArte 2012 Exposicion Nacional de Arts Plasticas running from December 27, 2012 to Enero 15, 2013 in the Aquileo Parra technical institute in Barichara, Santander, Colombia. And not only was I an 'invited artist' but my name was on the program as an exhibitor! To be sure I was not in the main salon with Felix Berroa from the Dominican Republic and Atlanta, USA or with Alfonso Andara from Ecuador, but I was in the same building.

Vincente's 'Angel'

There are 115 artists from all over Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Dominican Republic and the U.S. on display so it is clearly an international exhibition. Plus there are 14 young boys and girls who are art students of Luis Mejía Bohórquez, whom we fondly call "Lucho." There are statuary, paintings in watercolor, acrylic and oil, metal arts, ceramics and an incredible work in wood by Vincente Cadena of Barichara.

It's a statue about four feet in height, with what appears to be a unique utilisation of the wood's properties allowing for a kind of 'hair' emanating from it. And I know about this wood, that it is among the toughest in the world, making each bit of carving very intense.

Jose Ropero's mixed media

One of the artists, Jose Ropero, and I helped to mount the exhibition for a couple of hours, hanging paintings and sticking up the data sheets. I saw his work and here it is. It is a representation of the world being eroded by machines for gems and rocks and it seems like the hand below is the message that it is up to us.

One of the people who occasionally joins our Saturday art class is Alejandro Quintero, who makes his living as a stonemason, but who is also exploring oil painting. He entered both his stone sculpture and an oil he recently finished. I see a similarity in both types of work; what do you think?

Alejandro Quitero, Santandereano.

In case you are wondering, my two entries were "Ventana" and "Barichara from LaLoma" and sadly the data cards were missing at the time of the opening, so people looking for my name did not find it. I heard that has since been corrected, and there were more than a few of us who suffered the fate of ignomy at the opening... if you look at Sr. Quintero's painting, he is missing a label as well.

Quintero's stone art

Since I have only been back in art production/creation for a couple of years, I feel excited to be around others who are demonstrating a lot more experience. 

Martha Herrera Angel with her watercolor.

The event was well-attended, and my hat is off to Lucho for pulling together a huge collection of artists and sponsors for an event that now spans a couple of weeks instead of only one weekend. I take a tiny bit of credit for one aspect of this - the creation of a name which can be the beginning of an annual event. When the subject came up, we brainstormed in the art class, and it was my idea that everyone decided was most likely to achieve that objective. I am grateful I could bring my public relations/marketing experience into the creation of something that will most likely become more and more international with time. And the children... WOW... look at this (below)!

Edgar Alonso Bautista, 8, stands in front of several of his artistic works.
He is pointing to his favorite, and was terrifically excited to have me take
his picture. Look for his name in the art world in the years to come as he
already shows great skills for his age. He is native to Barichara.

And I learned a whole lot about the exhibition process so if I want to do it again I will have a better idea of what to expect. 

BY REQUEST: Here are my two paintings that are in this exhibition... "Barichara in the Clouds," and "Ventana" (Window).

Barichara in the Clouds

"Ventana"

Getting Away - Chiquinquirá - (Part 3)

Not to show me off, but to give some perspective of the scale of the church.

We had to get up early to go from Puente Nacional to Chiquinquirá. That meant no breakfast for me, which made me a little grumpy. Not even a cup of tea to start. Harumph!

Chiquinquirá is to Colombia what Rome is to Italy, but the Catholics will probably get upset with my comparison because Chiquinquirá is hardly akin to the Vatican. Still, it is where the faithful come from all over Colombia - and elsewhere - to seek an audience (and hopefully a miracle for them) with the artifact housed in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary de Chiquinquirá that represents the Virgin de Chiquinquirá, the title of the Virgin Mary, patron saint of Colombia. It has been stated that the first of the Virgin's miracles occurred in this city long ago.

Turning around from where I was standing, looking south.

At 8,435 feet above sea level Chiquinquirá is about two hours north of Bogotá, in the department (state) of Boyacá.As you can see from my ruaná, I am dressing for the chill. Although the sun was out for part of the day, that elevation really requires (at least as far as I'm concerned) several layers. Other hardy folks took the sun to mean warmth and were dressed in less, but I suspect they are more local than I am.

Near here we had a nice breakfast with hot chocolate.

The plaza surrounding the church is enormous. I didn't actually walk all around it, but it is larger than anything I have seen to date in Colombia.

The featured artifact is a canvas painted with natural colors from the soil and vegetable juices showing the Virgin between St. Anthony of Padua and St. Andrew the apostle. This was created by Alonso de Narvaez, a Spanish artist in Tunja at the request of Don Antonio de Santana back in 1586. The present Basilica was started in 1801 and took 120 years to complete, modeled after the great churches Europe with 15 internal chapels representing the 15 houses of the Rosary.

The painting, hard to see in the interior shot (below) of the Basilica, is surrounded by bright yellow satin curtains as part of the huge altar. It is about 30 feet above the altar, making it easy to recognize, if not clearly discern, as one approaches from the back of the church.

Interior shot of the altar in Basilica de Chiquinquirá.

As we arrived, the church was filling up with the Sunday faithful and hopeful. I was a bit awestruck by the numbers of people who were literally on their knees making their way from the back of the church up to the altar, probably about 350 feet on a marble floor. Although it was not a festival day or the memorial day of the Virgin, the church filled up quickly. I wish I could have spoken to someone about the organ. It was magnificent to hear it; it sounded as if it probably had as many pipes as St. Bart's in New York.

The distance from the painting made it hard to get a very clear shot without a tripod.

The reliquary of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Basilica de Chiquinquirá.

We stayed long enough to see the beginning of the mass, but the schedule for getting to the oldest church was tight, and we had to leave before it was over. I really wanted to hear some more of that wonderful music from the organ, so I was dragged from the church being advised the bus was waiting, only to find out we had to wait for the driver, who (it seemed) was appreciating the church, if not the music, as well.

Chiquinquirá is a wonderful place to buy guitars, really good ones for Tiple or other kinds of music, and if I'd had more time I would have enjoyed shopping at more of the tiendas around the plaza. The city is named after the tribe of indigenous peoples who lived here first long ago. They fought with other tribes and were successful - history is, after all, written by the winners.

Getting help to get the van rolling.....

As a side note, it turned out that the bus that was hired was not exactly the best. The only way it could be started was if it was on a downhill slope so it could be jump-started. The first discovery of this essential fact was when the driver was unable to park it on a slope in Puente Nacional and the men of our group, plus a few from the street, were encouraged to give it a push... I tried to tell the women sitting inside they should get out to make it easier for the men, but they simply shrugged their shoulders. In Chiquinquirá we utilized some of the Army youth to push it uphill so it could roll downhill and .... start.

Our next stop would be Ubate and Sutatausa, but because that is a very special place with lots of history and information, I am going to save that for the final part of this journey "Getting Away - Ubate/Sutatausa (Part Four)" and I hope you will come back to read that portion.

A very nice specimen of Equus near Chiquinquirá.

 We returned to  Puente Nacional from Chiquinquirá and Sutatausa, just in time to see over 600 horsemen and women (collectively called ‘cabilleros’) ride around the central park as a culmination to all the feria activities.

With each lap around the park, the group in the lead increased the speed.

At first I was excited to see so many lovely horses in one place - this is the area where the Paso Fino breed is featured, I am told - but then I found myself having a real sense of anxiety with that much horseflesh, knowing the mind of the horse, being triggered by some random event causing chaos of huge proportions.

Young horse and young rider - no judge on style & form.

But it wasn’t the horses that caused a problem. It was a man, either leaning on or being pushed up against a metal railing about 10 feet above the street, who fell to the ground almost at my feet when the railing gave way. 

My immediate reaction was to give aid, but not speaking enough Spanish, I was afraid I would only add to the crisis. Instead I became a human barrier, keeping others not directly related to the man or to the emergency personnel away from him. He was unconscious for at least three minutes and his wife had her hands full trying to keep some drunk from attempting to pull off his shoes – WTF? – and keeping other well-meaning, but obviously inexperienced people from trying to move him in other ways. As he came to, he was able to get up on his own and refused medical aid. But I could see the huge lump developing on his right temple and I sincerely hoped – and intended – that he did go to the hospital because that was a serious fall and he did have a head injury. Unlikely we will know the outcome.

After a long day of many sights and sounds, I was ready to go to bed, but we still had a long drive back to Barichara. And my intentions to have the rain stay away long enough to enjoy certain events was delivered, so I was grateful on many counts for this "Getting Away" weekend.

NEXT: The final installment with the portion of the trip to Ubate/Sutatausa - Please come back!

Getting Away - Vélez (Part 2)

Built in 1929, this church is embedded into
the Andes mountainside in Vélez.

Tucked up in the middle portion of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, Vélez sits at approximately 6725 feet. It was the second city in the "kingdom of Granada" and was discovered and founded by Captain Martin Galeano on September 14, 1539.  (As an aside, I wonder how accurate these dates are because back then the Captain did not have an iPod or other technical device to record things, and fighting off the indigenous tribes as well as the locals had to make getting pen to paper a little bit tough.)

The places we did not see in this charming city were: 1) the caves where the aboriginal folks hid out from the Spanish, reputed to have underground waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites as well as fossilized remains of a chief; and 2) the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Snow, unique because it has an entrance on the side and it was the first church built here in 1560. Obviously this means another trip to try and see these antiquities.

Interior view of the church in Vélez.

Outside entrance view of College - photo by Isabel

But we did get a rather extensive tour of the National University College which was originally a Franciscan convent, established in 1549 and quite obviously of Spanish architecture. It was the idea and inspiration of General Francisco dePaula Santander to turn it into an educationally purposed place in 1824 and was fully approved as such by the Ministry of National Education in 1937. It was declared a national monument in 1973 under the government of Misael Pastrana Borrero. Although a huge building, covering more than two city blocks in both directions, the upkeep is lacking and I advised our guide that in one classroom the ceiling was showing evidence of black mold, "Muy peligroso!" I said. Not exactly helpful in a learning place.

My shot of interior courtyard of National College - immense!

I found some historical information about Vélez that indicated there was a road from here to the Rio Magdalena which served as a way to transfer goods between the city and onto ships headed downriver and off to Spain. According to this report, Vélez was suffering during the first 30 years from attrition as neither troops nor commoners were particularly delighted with the surroundings. But the discovery of gold in Pamplona circa 1560 created a new interest in living near a city and also closer to the river.

The statue of a huge guitar arm representing the influence of Tiple here and the guabina music have led to festivals that offer more of the same throughout the year. Since the 16th Century, Veleñas goods have been finding favor in and out of the city... here you can find both agricultural and crafts products in abundance. The fine art of turning sugar cane into sugar was mastered here enough so that Velenas preserves were, and still are, among some of the best. Baked goods, candy,  cheese, hams, canvas and sandals, along with leather goods including saddles are still sold extensively. Horse and mule breeding are among the top economic agricultural products.But the pressure for agricultural lands grew through the 17th century and so, like much of Colombia, it was learned too late that old growth trees are a greater function than just wood to burn or build with - the relatively new awareness of trees serving to anchor the steep hillsides is coming to Vélez as well.

Privately owned former home of First Colombian Pres. Parra

We visited the house of the First President of Colombia, Aquileo Parra, now owned by someone else. There is a house here in Barichara where it is claimed he was born but the provenance of that tale is uncertain; although he was born here, it's just not certain it was that particular house. At any rate, he was only President for two years (1876-78), but he was the first - Colombia's George Washington - and the first and only one from Santander. I could not say that the Vélez homestead reminded me of Mount Vernon, except that it has a magnificent view of much of the state of Santander.

The view from Parra's house today may be similar to 1876.

Our group in front of Parra's casa- Photo by Ana Elisa G.

We also visited the building that was once the business operations for the bocadillo and hat sales that Don Parra was famous for manufacturing. It was only five or six city blocks from his home on the hill, but what a climb after work!

Another short stop was to see an orchid farm. It is right across the street from the National University College tucked inside an old house, not dissimilar from Parra's workplace above. Everywhere you looked there were orchids of all shapes, sizes and colors. Many of which will only survive in the Vélez climate.

I really wanted this one but it is a local one.

Perhaps a familiar orchid to many... the one I chose.

Isabel's photo of this one was better than mine.

The fellow who was growing them said, "They need love and water, treat it like one of your children". Some of the group said they were a lot of work, but I was willing to try and gave myself a gift of one. As I am writing this, I can see it blooming with four (!!!) new flowers, so at the moment I am being a good Orchid mom.

COMING UP NEXT: Getting Away to Chiquinquirá - Please come back and enjoy more travels through Colombia!

Dia de Campesino and the Feast of Corpus Christi

In the U.S. there is Father's Day on the first Sunday in June to celebrate the importance of Papa, but in Colombia it is the Dia de Camposino. This Day of the Peasant/Farmer is a day to celebrate the earth, the harvest and to thank God for all the blessings of being able to till the soil and provide a living for one's family.

300 horses and riders, of all ages, were on a four-day trip,
an annual event it seems, through four villages in Santander.

Recently, with all the flooding and loss of thousands of hectares of agricultural land, not to mention the livestock that perished in the rising waters, the peasant/farmer has had a very rough go of it. And the rainy season which is supposed to essentially quit at the end of May has continued on into much of June.

For some it's a family affair...

So it seemed that with a change in the weather, and the Catholic Church's celebration of The Feast of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) was a good time to really let loose. (The link has a wealth of information about this holiday.) Monday is a no-work day and many people have used this excuse to leave the cities and head into the country.

Today Barichara was filled up with people from all over Santander (and some from as far away as Bogota), in part to participate in a four-day horseback ride through four villages around the state. The ride started in Socorro on Saturday morning, I heard, and today people arrived on their horses from San Gil, (about 23 kilometers away) and took a break for a couple of hours. Then about 3 p.m. today 300 (!!) horses and riders headed off for Villaneuva where they will spend the night. Early on Monday morning, I've been told, they complete the circuit by arriving in Curiti, a small village closer to the city of San Gil.

Horses and riders are accompanied by armed military on
motos as well as some of the national calvary to ensure a
safe, secure journey across mountains and through villages.

Some of the hombres stopped at a 'tienda' (shop) to get
some supplies and to use their cell phones, it seems.

Men, women and children were on horseback and it was a thrilling sight to see them all parading down the stone streets of Barichara.  Some of the riders were carrying portable radios so the sounds of hoofs on the road were also accompanied by various local musical choices.

Those not on the ride were standing on the sidewalks watching, laughing, and enjoying the spectacle. I think I would like to find a way to do this ride next year!

I found this sweet poem about the campesinos which I wanted to share, and interspersed with the text are loads of pictures of horses, people, dogs, children and the sights of Barichara today. Hope you enjoy it all!

THE SON OF AGRO
We are children of farming and the setting sun, 
Cultivate the earth with faith and submission, 
Sowing the grooves with enthusiasm and hope 
Found in his soul, messages of peace.

Riders leave Santa Barbara church and
head for Villaneuva, a village to the east.

We were born in the thickets of the gay mountain 
Among blossoms and fruit aromas blossom, 
The rivers that cross through the room; 
Dreams in their causes, they germinate well.

Birds throw us their songs in the wind 
And with his singing tone, love sonnets, 
Crossing valleys, cliffs conquer 
And in their nests built shrines of Eden.

Thus passed the days of yore, 
In agro fruitful peace and love 
The human beast never stained, 
Because it was God's temple and pantry.

Our old grandmother, died dreaming 
With its agro see again in green, 
In songbirds, flying through the sky 
And blossoms and fruits with blossom aromas.

Aranzazu - Caldas

And also in Spanish, how it was originally written:

EL HIJO DEL AGRO

Somos hijos del agro y del sol del poniente,
Cultivamos, la tierra con fe y sumisión,
Sembrando los surcos con ilusión y esperanza
Descubrimos, en su alma, mensajes de paz.

This is the road that also leads to La Loma
where I am living.

Nacimos, en las breñas de la alegre montaña,
Entre azahares y frutos con aromas en flor,
Los ríos que cruzan por toda la estancia;
En sus causes los sueños, germinan también.

Las aves nos lanzan sus trinos al viento, 
Y con su canto entonan, sonetos de amor,
Cruzando los valles, conquistan los riscos
Y en sus nidos construyen santuarios de edén.

Así transcurrieron los tiempos de antaño,
Con el agro fecundo de paz y de amor,
Las bestias humanas jamás lo mancharon,
Porque, era alacena y templo de Dios.

Nuestros viejos abuelos, murieron soñando 
Con ver nuevamente su agro en verdor, 
Con las aves canoras, surcando su cielo 
Y de azahares y frutos con aromas en flor.
Aranzazu - Caldas

That's me, standing on the corner on the right, wishing
I was on horseback, too - maybe next year?

On a Clear Day...

In the 'county' of Santa Barbara, in the Department (state) of Santander,
about 8 kilometers from Barichara, you will find this old farm.

You can see forever... is how the song goes... and after the clouds lift here, it really applies. I'm keeping this short tonight as I want to focus (pardon the pun, BK) on the picture.These mountains are easily at least 50 to 80 miles away, looking just across at them.