Art Exhibit Opening: La Fuerza del Corazon/The Force of the Heart [] Bellas Artes / El Nigromante Cultural Center

The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), through the Ignacio Ramírez El Nigromante Cultural Center of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, will present two visual arts exhibitions that recall the nature of the Mexican landscape and a family of outstanding foreign artists who have left their mark on the daily life of the same region.

These are the samples

Artistic looks at Mexican nature, formed by a folder of 10 serigraphs by renowned authors, and The strength of the heart, which brings together painting and sculpture of the Onno – Kestenbaum family, foreign artists who made San Miguel de Allende their home and workplace. Both exhibitions will open next Wednesday, February 22 at 18:00 p.m. at the El Nigromante Cultural Center, of the General Subdirectorate of Artistic Education and Research (Sgeia).

Miradas artísticas a la naturaleza mexicana is formed by 10 silkscreen works belonging to the Ethnobiological Garden of Guanajuato El Charco del Ingenio, elaborated by outstanding artists of the Mexican scene: Boris Viskin, Carla Rippey, Homero Aridjis, Jan Hendrix, Joy Laville, Martha Hellion, Mario Palacios Klaim, Miguel Castro Leñero, Pedro Friedeberg, Roberto Turnbull and Sergio Hernández.

This exhibition is an example of how the arts contribute to the valuation and care of natural resources. When this ecological conservation area – located in San Miguel de Allende – turned six years old – it was created in 1991 – 10 artists took the initiative to contribute financially to their objectives with the elaboration of a folder with an equal number of serigraphs, which were printed in the workshop of Jan Hendrix, one of the participating artists.

The works are dedicated specifically to the nature of the semi-desert, the habitat where cacti, agaves and other succulent species flourish that make up the landscape of much of the country and that have played an important role in the natural history of Mexico today.

On the 25th anniversary of that group artistic offering, the Botanical Garden began a series of exhibitions to share with the public this set of graphic works, whose original artistic value increases with the passage of time.

In this eagerness, with the support of INBAL, the exhibition will now be presented, from February 22, at the El Nigromante Cultural Center with the purpose of offering a combination of art and nature.

For its part, The Force of the Heart is an exhibition-tribute that brings together works of painting and sculpture by a family of artists and teachers residing in this town, who contributed time and talent in favor of artistic education in the region.

They are the painter Mai Onno (Estonia, 1934), the German sculptor Lothar Kestenbaum (1926-1995) and the American sculptor David Kestenbaum (1965 – 2013), mother, father and son, who chose San Miguel de Allende to live and share their concerns.

Mai Onno at age 14 emigrated to Canada and a decade later to San Miguel de Allende, where she settled and developed her career, teaching and exhibiting her work both in Mexico and in the United States and Europe. Here she met the German sculptor Lothar Kestenbaum, whom she married.

In 1967, Lothar Kestenbaum came from Berlin to stay and live in Mexico. He held the Chair of Sculpture at the Institute of Fine Arts of San Miguel de Allende for many years and was possibly the best sculptor to have worked in the region. His pieces in bronze and marble are exhibited in Europe and America and are part of collections in Germany, England, Canada, the United States and Mexico.

David Kestenbaum, son of Lothar and Mai, was also talented. From the age of two he lived in Mexico and studied art in the United States and Europe. In 1991 he returned to Mexico and studied at the El Nigromante Cultural Center of INBAL. He was a great sculptor and worked especially with wood. His works are also recognized and appreciated in Mexico, the United States and Europe.

The exhibitions

Artistic looks at Mexican nature and The strength of the heart will be presented at the Ignacio Ramírez Cultural Center “El Nigromante” (Dr. Hernández Macías no. 75, Colonia Centro, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato), starting on Wednesday, February 22 at 18:00 p.m. Free admission.

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This beautiful former monastery of La Concepción church was converted into a fine-arts school in 1938. Don’t miss the murals of Pedro Martínez, plus the Siqueiros Room, which features the extraordinary unfinished mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros (it plays with your mind – we won’t spoil the surprise). The rest of the gallery holds temporary exhibitions.   It is located less than 5 minutes from the main square in Street Hernandez Macias that parallels Hidalgo street which leads right in the Main Garden. It is walking through this beautiful area worth, visit its art galleries and get you some photos on your patio or in one of the arches of the first floor, but if you are thinking that the arts are your thing you can consider it as a study center for you because it is a nationally recognized school.