by Mildred Boyd
Renowned
art centers like the Parisian Left Bank or Carmel by the Sea or Santa
Fe may just possibly have more artists per square meter than Ajijic, but
our tiny Mexican village on the shores of Lake Chapala is unique in that
most of the artists were actually born here. Furthermore, many of them
owe their early inspiration and training to the Children’s Art Program
established by a visionary American woman in the 1950s and still flourishing.
Recent interviews with a number of
those long-ago students, now making art their careers, elicited touching
tributes to both founder and patroness, Neill James, and long time teacher,
Angelita Aldana. The program they so lovingly administered is credited
with encouraging budding talent and awakening awareness to the possibilities
of earning their livelihoods doing what they most loved.
Many of those early students were
sponsored by Neill to study art at San Miguel de Allende’s prestigious
Institute or the University of Guadalajara’s art school. Such familiar
names as Juan Navarro and Daniel Palma are among them. Others, like Victor
Romero, Dionicio Morales and Javier Ramos have parlayed their early training
into successful careers and now own the galleries which display their
current work here in Lakeside and are often represented in galleries in
other cities. Others, like Ramon Navarro, Florentino Padilla, Antonio
Lopez Vega and Jose Manuel Castañeda went on to teach art at universities
here or in the United States.
A recent retrospective exhibit of
the works, past and present, of these artists and of the talented youngsters
now following in their footsteps was such a success that a similar show
is planned for the Lake Chapala Society’s Fiftieth Anniversary celebration
on January 15th, 2005, and requests to show the collection in museums
and galleries around Mexico are currently being considered.
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