Hasta Luego

We wrapped up our class today with a final critique of the portfolio of drawings that Alli, Christina, Clay and Murphey (pictured above with Jesus, our favorite waiter) produced during the past three weeks. They are a terrific team of artists. In spite of the heat and unfamiliar surroundings, they worked hard and produced impressive bodies of work.

Mexico has changed dramatically since I was a student here 25 years ago. For starters, globalization has arrived in full force. Now, there is no escaping the presence of mega corporations such as McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Home Depot and even Starbucks. Prices are much higher than before. A cerveza that used to cost 35 cents in the 1980s now costs at least two dollars.

Fortunately, most of Merida has not lost its charm. The architecture is stunning, the colors vivid and the plant life magical. Doing simple things like walking to the market or taking a stroll around the main plaza is an adventure, because you are bound to see an impromptu concert or a vendor hawking hammocks or other Yucatecan crafts.

One Yucatecan product I've fallen in love with since I've been down here is the guayabera shirt. It's absolutely perfect: slightly dressy (it has a collar) and ornate (it has pleats and many, many buttons), and you can wear it without tucking it in providing excellent ventilation on hot days. I'm not sure why the guayabera hasn't caught on in Jackson, given the Mississippi heat. Perhaps I can start a trend when I return....

It's been a wonderful three weeks. I look forward to working with these young artists when we return to Millsaps in the fall.

-Brent Fogt

P.S. Below are a few more drawings from the past week (In the following order: Alli, Christina, Clay, and Murphey.

Everybody got a cinco?

It is so sad that this is the last post I get to write on our DrawMexico Blog. Today was a pretty low-key day. We first caught a bus out on Paseo Montejo and took it out to a a little more unfamiliar part of town that was pretty quiet. We stopped to ask a cotton candy seller where the Museum of Popular Art was and we ended up at the Museum of the Yucatecan Song. We stopped in to look at the exhibits on the various musicians of the Yucatan and drew some of the instruments on display. After a while we could all feel our blood-sugars drop and we decided to get some lunch at a pizza place close by. Then we made our way over to Museum of Popular Art, a little place off the square that was once a really pretty house...
Anyways we walked upstairs and the first room had traditional huipiles and other clothing that was hand-embroidered. It was really awesome to see such beautiful craftsmanship. Walking through to the third room, there was a little hallway that has bathroom off to the right that is original to the house and inside, they put these awesome jaguar sculptures in, but it looked like they were caught in the act of drinking out of the toilet and the bidet.

In the next couple of rooms were full of masks and these really crazy awesome papier-mache monster things...

Some of my favorite things in the museum were these sculptures full of these miniature sculptures with really fine details.

After we looked at everything at the museum, including a sword with the inscription "Me gusta la carne humana," we walked a few blocks over to the HC to do some drawing exercises with a CD we bought at the music museum. Then it was definitely siesta time so we caught a bus back to the house.
Well folks, it has been real...
-Alli B.

Haircuts and Aliens

Thank goodness today was a cooler day! We left the house around 10 and spent the first 30 minutes in the Market for our first drawing assignent. Out task was to find the most interesting fruit and or vegetables we could and use them for observation drawings which would take place in the ICC - Italian Coffee Co. Two teams embarked on the task at hand and we ended up with a stank fruit, a few mangos, a few coconuts and a pile of radishes. We took our booty to the AC'ed cafe and did a few 5-10 minute sketches of our findings. While we were busy preparing, we presented Jesus with the realistic drawing our group did of his novia. He was lost for words and helped us out with the bill and presented us a plate full of whipped cream topped oreos! It was a swell thing to do and we basked in the moment - a true testament to the meaning of giving back.

After our caffeine break, we headed to the Habana cafe for lunch. Clay got a boat of whipped guac and the girls had omelettes and I chowed on some guac-filled taquitos. Post lunch, we headed to the HC, Brents place of worship and creative inspiration for a 2 hour long session of intensive drawing. Our next big work was an abstract drawing that will be inspired by our found foods. We got a bit of rain which was a well needed refresher and left the rest of the day overcast.

After a few drinks and tired hands we asked where a good place to get our hair cut and our waiter recommneded the barber shop right across the calle. It turns out this shop was perhaps the best hair cuttery I have ever been a part of, and I came out a satisfied customer for a mere 6.50 USD per cut. Clay, Brent and I all got our ears lowered, while Alli recieved a pedicure to aid her tired feet, then ailing from Brent's relentless marching (j/k). After looking muy guapo and feeling sharp, we returned to the casa and headed on out to the Gran Plaza for a VIP Platium movie. With a waiter, leather reclining seats and cervezas AND half off wednesday prices (for the ticket - 4.50 USD!) we relaxed and ate some grub while watching the new Indiana Jones which did feature aliens - it was not the best of films but was entertaining and we were VIP for a night so it was fun to say the least. We ventured home in a super roomy cab and headed off to sleep for another big day the cozy city of Merida.

-Murfi (starbucks can not spell my name - this was their best effort)

1 Km

For this Wednesday, we journeyed to Celestun, a small coastal city that is home to the unique pink Flamingos.

After a long two hour bus ride from Merida, we were let out just before the beach to a small place where we met some boatmen. The boatment took us five plus another couple out into the waters for an hour or more tour of the native pink flamingos that inhabit the area. In December there are over 10,000 flamingos! For us - in May - there were about 2,000. The flamingos were native to the area and come to feed and nest throughout the Yucatan.






Near the end of the tour, our boatment took an extremely sharp turn into the woods that neighbored the water which eventually led into a small spring. Here we had about twenty minutes to catch a swim with some friendly fish and spring water. We fed the fish some bread and then took off back to the city.






Once out of the boat, we walked over a kilometer to the coastal city. Along this famous 'kilometer' walk, we endured much garbage, dead animals, stank smells, and class-skipping school girls. It was an experience to contrast with the richness of the windy ocean that met us in the heart of Celestun.

There we ate a late lunch and bummed around for an hour or so before heading back to Merida on the two hour bus ride.





Tonight we went separate ways. Alli, Christina, and Brent went out to eat with some English students that were in the city. Murphey and I closed the night with some late night chalk drawings in the dark streets of Merida.




Buenas noches.

- clay

giving back.

Since we arrived in Merida we have encountered many new and wonderful things this city has offered us. The people are always friendly, the food couldn't be better, and our surroundings are just gorgeous. Last week we were presented with a small oppurtunity to give back. During one of our many visits to the Italian Coffee Company, we were asked by a young man, Jesus, who is a waiter at the ITC, to draw a portrait of his girlfriend. He handed us a photo of a lovely young girl and we gladly accepted.

Today was one of our cafe days. We started off the day by searching the main square for interesting textures and making a rubbing of them for later inspiration. Murphy and Alli found some very interesting and beautiful ones on trash cans surprisingly. Needless to say we got a few strange looks from passerbys. Later on we shopped around in a few stores for guyaberas (traditional yucatanean men's shirts) and headed on to none other than the Hipster Cafe. We had lunch and sketched there for a while.

After a siesta back at the casa we decided to find a good place to eat dinner and draw. Dinner was at a well known Mexican chain restaurant (I'm blanking on the name..) and drawing afterwards was at McDonalds. Clay and I worked on Jesus' portrait while Alli and Murphy did some individual stuff.

A slow day but a good day.
Christina

Alternative Drawing in Merida

If citizenship were attainable through actions such as we have done today, then, my friends, consider us cuidadanos de Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. We began the day by contributing to the city's art and beauty with a sidewalk installation for about an hour. It turned out quite well, and when I signed the pavement, one our fans actually called me by name and asked what we were creating. Unfortunately I did not know exactly what to tell him, but our work was beautiful nonetheless.







Once we finished and took several pictures of our work, we decided to catch a bus and move downtown to get some lunch. Once again, Brent's espresso addiction took us to the Italian Coffee Company, where we had a very confusing lunch and convalesced on the wonderful air conditioning. After lunch, we headed to the end of the block where we tried to get into the Olimpo, Merida's municipal cultural center, but it didn't open until 3:00, so we ventured out to the tatoo parlor around the corner for the next part of the student-planned adventure. We bought some henna (on Millsaps' tab) for a mere thirty US dollars, and went to this mall-type food court near the Centro to paint ourselves temporary tatoos of sorts for the next couple of hours.







When we finally decided we were done with our body art, we went on to the Olimpo to view the galleries that were showing lithographs of Salvador Baeza and paintings of Adela Isaac.

By siesta time we were quite worn out; in fact, Murphey, Beth, Clay, and I took a cab back to the house instead of a bus. Tim and Christina were off somewhere buying soccer jerseys.

Then tonight we went to Pancho's again in honor of the Business-kids' last night in Merida. It was really awesome.

Pictures will come tomorrow, as I am very tired.

Te amo,
Alli B.

Mayan-Inspired Drawings

We've spent a good portion of our trip exploring and thinking about the Mayan civilization that was based in the Yucatan over 1000 years ago. Alli, Christina, Clay and Murphey created a series of drawings that incorporate some of the Mayan iconography they have encountered during the last two weeks. Below is a sample of these drawings (in alphabetical order by first name).