If you want your mind blown by one woman's output in the art world, look up Niki de St Phalle. She had a crew to help her with construction and mosaicking, and did many outsized sculptures, even made a major arcana tarot deck and lived inside the Empress! (It's on the border betw France and Italy.) She also did the Grotto and Queen Califia's Magic Circle Gardens in California (Kit Carson Park in Escondido). I got into her through my love of mosaics and mosaicists. Don't stop at the Nanas! She died too soon, of silicosis - from working with the resins and mortars; silica dust wrecks the lungs. I believe she was only 61. As a young woman, she did a lot of feminist stuff, including shooting things, paintings, etc to make statements. She was fearless and boundlessly creative.
Unfortunately I am poor so am only an armchair traveler but I have long fantasized about buying a roadworthy live in van or something I can sleep in, and touring the country to find these places. But to answer your question about geniuses, they are all over the world. I love learning more about the geniuses in Mexico and other countries. Imagining myself visiting all these art installations is my greatest fantasy.
I am missing being here reading your substack. all my energy is going into the overgrown garden I'm trying to battle back from under seasons of weeds. Never been so exhausted. So glad to come here and I look forward to getting back to your memoir, where I only read up to #4 in the series. I'm so behind!
Coronel's paintings or prints remind me a lot of Joan Miro's work - I wonder if they knew each other or if Coronel had ever been to Spain to see them. Such a wide world, full of wonders from some of the best of humanity - art, architecture, music... that buoys me up when I get weary of bad news and endless wars that destroy these priceless treasures of imagination and spirit.
BB ... once again, we're in sync. Niki is one of my favorites and i've been to Queen Calafia's Magic Circle Gardens twice and tried to go several other times but ... Covid ... or hours ... or something. She is truly amazing and I've read about her life ... always unique. Makes me think I should do an inspiration calendar about her. Thanks for telling me about your garden ... I've missed you! hugs.
I really hope our physical paths can cross someday! We have so much in common. Hugs and love your way. I just stumbled upon this old article about her and did not know she suffered terrible child sexual abuse and how that colored her life and her battle with mental illness due to trauma. She made the most of her gifts.
What a great post, Joyce. I really enjoyed all the info and images of really astounding, not well known places. The Zacatecas gallery-museum with Colonel's paintings, amazing. I'd think this type of other creativity exists world-wide. An example that I liked was in Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Hotel Laguna Bacalar, (for years $12USD/nightly-now $32) had a vast stretch of land right on the Lagoon of 7 Colors. The older man who owned it made it a work of art, first for his wife, then for her memory. He made her a chapel so she could pray daily without going too far. He embedded small seashells into all the stucco throughout the many rooms and dining room, lobby, and on the 3-tiered walls going down to lagoon, he embedded pebbles and stones. It was simply incredible, the amount of hand-work that went into it. Love this kind of stuff. Thanks for your post!
Thanks, Jeanine … I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see that in Bacalar (one of my favorite places). My assumption is that this extreme creativity thing is world wide. Now I want to go back to Bacalar … however, I talked to someone there recently and they said it has really changed. ;-(
Oh Joyce, it’s one of the new stops on Tren Maya. It will never be the same. But a friend just left there and stayed at Laguna!! Took photos of the lagoons (can’t ruin that). Another Mexico marvel is the under water statues -about 14- of people sunk off the Great MesoAmerican reef right off Puerto Morelos shores.
If you want your mind blown by one woman's output in the art world, look up Niki de St Phalle. She had a crew to help her with construction and mosaicking, and did many outsized sculptures, even made a major arcana tarot deck and lived inside the Empress! (It's on the border betw France and Italy.) She also did the Grotto and Queen Califia's Magic Circle Gardens in California (Kit Carson Park in Escondido). I got into her through my love of mosaics and mosaicists. Don't stop at the Nanas! She died too soon, of silicosis - from working with the resins and mortars; silica dust wrecks the lungs. I believe she was only 61. As a young woman, she did a lot of feminist stuff, including shooting things, paintings, etc to make statements. She was fearless and boundlessly creative.
Unfortunately I am poor so am only an armchair traveler but I have long fantasized about buying a roadworthy live in van or something I can sleep in, and touring the country to find these places. But to answer your question about geniuses, they are all over the world. I love learning more about the geniuses in Mexico and other countries. Imagining myself visiting all these art installations is my greatest fantasy.
I am missing being here reading your substack. all my energy is going into the overgrown garden I'm trying to battle back from under seasons of weeds. Never been so exhausted. So glad to come here and I look forward to getting back to your memoir, where I only read up to #4 in the series. I'm so behind!
Coronel's paintings or prints remind me a lot of Joan Miro's work - I wonder if they knew each other or if Coronel had ever been to Spain to see them. Such a wide world, full of wonders from some of the best of humanity - art, architecture, music... that buoys me up when I get weary of bad news and endless wars that destroy these priceless treasures of imagination and spirit.
BB ... once again, we're in sync. Niki is one of my favorites and i've been to Queen Calafia's Magic Circle Gardens twice and tried to go several other times but ... Covid ... or hours ... or something. She is truly amazing and I've read about her life ... always unique. Makes me think I should do an inspiration calendar about her. Thanks for telling me about your garden ... I've missed you! hugs.
I really hope our physical paths can cross someday! We have so much in common. Hugs and love your way. I just stumbled upon this old article about her and did not know she suffered terrible child sexual abuse and how that colored her life and her battle with mental illness due to trauma. She made the most of her gifts.
https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/niki-de-saint-phalle-tarot-garden/
What a great post, Joyce. I really enjoyed all the info and images of really astounding, not well known places. The Zacatecas gallery-museum with Colonel's paintings, amazing. I'd think this type of other creativity exists world-wide. An example that I liked was in Bacalar, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Hotel Laguna Bacalar, (for years $12USD/nightly-now $32) had a vast stretch of land right on the Lagoon of 7 Colors. The older man who owned it made it a work of art, first for his wife, then for her memory. He made her a chapel so she could pray daily without going too far. He embedded small seashells into all the stucco throughout the many rooms and dining room, lobby, and on the 3-tiered walls going down to lagoon, he embedded pebbles and stones. It was simply incredible, the amount of hand-work that went into it. Love this kind of stuff. Thanks for your post!
Thanks, Jeanine … I’m so sorry I didn’t get to see that in Bacalar (one of my favorite places). My assumption is that this extreme creativity thing is world wide. Now I want to go back to Bacalar … however, I talked to someone there recently and they said it has really changed. ;-(
Oh Joyce, it’s one of the new stops on Tren Maya. It will never be the same. But a friend just left there and stayed at Laguna!! Took photos of the lagoons (can’t ruin that). Another Mexico marvel is the under water statues -about 14- of people sunk off the Great MesoAmerican reef right off Puerto Morelos shores.