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).

Los Sueños

This is a narrative video experiment that we shot a few nights ago and put together real quick. You'll notice Alli as the leading star, Murphey as gaffer and special effects, Christina as makeup, and Brent & Clay doing the animation and 'originally scored' music.

A Student's Perspective of the Biocultural Reserve at Kaxil Kiuic

Our journey began with a 2.5 hour drive from our home base in Merida to the ancient Mayan ruins of Kaxil Kiuic. On the way to the Reserve, we stopped in Oxkutzcab to check out the open air market which specializes in local fruit, primarily citrus fruits. I must say I had the BEST mango ever, and the lady was even kind enough to slice it for us before we purchased a few bushels, just to prove that we were at the best vendor on the square. Also purchased were melons, great big melons, oranges, limas and a few other local fruits that were quite interesting (one was close to lemonade right out of the skin). Brent's hardworking, intelligent and good looking students ventured to the cool, breezy local church and worked on some scale and perspective drawings inside by focusing on pillars, archways and statues. After about an hour in Oxkutzcab, we grabbed some ice and extra food and took the smooth as silk roads to the reserve. The roads are not smooth, nor straight: they actualy break down into one lane as you get out of town and farther into the country. This made hills and curves quite fun, and if it was not for the fearless and safe driving of Senior Harvey behind the wheel and Brent as DJ and copiloto, our group might not have had made it. Trucks and buses take blind curves pretty hastily, and it was certainly a bumpy and eye opening automobile experience. Once at the reserve, we unpacked and bunked up: by bunked up I mean unpacked on the floor and chose a hammock. The housing is quite primitive but is screened in and has running water and electricity. The philosophy of the reserve is "low impact," conservation-based human habitation. The reserve, which uses solar power and a plant-based water treatment system, focuses on preservation of natural resources and ecology of the region and also aims to build a personal tolerance and recognition of how much energy and natural resources one can use on a daily basis. This ranges from food to fuel to water. Eco tourism and toursim in general are Mexico-s money makers, but with a plot of 5,000 acres and about 30 or so known Mayan structures, the caretakers of the reserve are trying to preserve the land for generations to come. As James, our manager and tour guide, says: think globally, act locally. Before dinner we took a trip up the big tower on one of the the hills near the main camp via a small trail. The tower is about 65 feet tall and looks over the entire reserve. It was a little cloudy, so we did not have a super sunset but it was pretty and breezy. Vale la pena. After the tower we headed back down to home and ate some grub. After dinner, which was homecooked by local women, James gave us an overview of the reserve with a powerpoint presentaion that documents the philosophies, strategies, and plan for the futre of the reserve. After our 45-minute briefing, we headed to the dorms to cut some logs. Dinner, I need to add, was a chili kickin' meal of tomales and hibiscus tea. i ate 10 tomales and Tim ate 9: we were satisfied. I think this is in part why I`slept so well in the hammocks, which are not easy to get comfortable in if it is your first time sleeping in this web of woven splendor. We saved the juice all day so we could run the fans at night to keep us cool. It was pretty hot at the reserve and easily could have been 95 while we were there. The next morning - manana as my friend says - was an early 7am desayuno, and James led a field trip to the excavation sites. It was amazing how much he knew and could reinterate in such a short amount of time. The pictures really say it all. After our morning excursion, we ate a homemade meal of pollo, rice and a chili verde sauce and headed back to Merida. It was a great trip, and the reserve will be in the news soon with the work and research that has been going on. We did get to see some very cool artifacts and a cave that contained some heiroglyphics. The reserve is a special place, and Millsaps has done an excelent job in getting the place off the ground. I can not wait to come back and see the progress on the sites.

Till next time,

Murphey

Super-Drawing-Wednesday

Today was Super Drawing Wednesday. The class of us four plus Brent, made our way to Hotel/Gallery Trinidad this morning. This has been our second visit here (remember... the Spanish students stayed here for a few nights not long ago). We focused on plant life today, finding various scenes to draw inside of this infested building of greenery.



For about an hour or two we focused on each of our own representations of the various plant life around the building that we felt attracted to or that would simply make an interesting drawing.



Before we knew it, it was lunchtime and we headed back to the Hipster Cafe (aka Cafe La Hoya) to have lunch. Their menu was rather Italian and we each consumed some form of salad or panini. Unlike The Itallian Coffeehouse, their prices were relatively cheap. Mix that with their suave ambiance, downtempo tunes, and attractive waitress (in my opinion) and you end up with a name that sticks, "Hipster Cafe." Here we were so lounge-enduced that we spent another hour or so working on individual drawings from the Mayan symbology theme from yesterday.

Afterwards we bussed home to reengerize for the day and went separate ways. Tonight, the music was composed from a video that we shot night-before-last. The video was another installation-based experiment but actually had a slight narrative to it. The video should be posted within a day or so.


Other than a summary of the day, I'd like to comment in general on the trip thus far. It seems, other than the heat and humidity, that this school away from school has been nearly perfect (at least for me). We mark halfway with the whole thing. (For me personally, I will be here until July 1st, so I - in a way - am just beginning.) However, I feel as if we have reached that hump where we know we are "here." We have established ourselves in this city and treat it with respect and some form of understanding. I'd like to say that we all appreciate the culture and lifestyles that inhabit this region. I can only image what it would truely be like to live here though. But on a whole, the city of Merida has treated us pleasingly. The people are relatively nice and understanding (which I find a little surprising since there are quite a few Gringos here) and our ability to experience the city and nearby places has been extremely accessable and enjoyable.




On another note, tomorrow we head into the jungle with the business students tomorrow where we will meet up with other Millsaps students. There we will sleep in hammocks in huts and get close and personal with Yucatecan nature. Therefore, look for the next blog posting Friday night. Hasta luego.

-clay.

"This is the hipster cafe!" -Brent

It seems like the rainy season decided to come a little earlier just for us. Today it was pretty humid after some rain yesterday afternoon. Right on schedule, the rain came again this afternoon. It cooled everything down considerably. Unlike Alli, I seem to get assigned blog duty on the most low key days. We did our daily writing exercise over breakfast and discussed what we would be doing for the day and later in the week.
We caught a bus to downtown once again and ended up at a (kind of sketchy)artisan store. This store had pretty much the norm of crafts we've been seeing such as hats, pottery and hammocks. When we came in a couple obviously from out of town was being forced into a hammock testing. The people selling the stuff in there followed us around really closely and it was a little awkward. We browsed their wares all of ten minutes and left with no purchases.
After the artisan store we made our way to a really cool bead store! They had tons and tons of beads (imagine that..) in all kinds of colors and shapes. We stayed in there for a while examining textures and styles of beads (and for the air conditioning).

Next, our group headed to our hangout, the Italian Coffee Co. Brent left for a minute to go to a bookstore and returned with a little book for each of us on the history of the Mayans. Murphey especially liked them because they were in cartoons. The sketches we did in the coffee shop were from pictures of the Mayan gods and other images out of our new books.
We got nice and caffeinated and stopped in a chocolate store on our way to lunch. The samples the woman working there gave us were so tasty! Brent and Murphey bought some delicious chocolate milk type drinks. Lunch was at this small Lebanese restaurant with awesome hummus. I got a steak and onion dish with hidden peppers. My whole face felt like it was on fire. Brent got a great looking chicken dish and Clay stuck to tacos. Murphey and Alli had some more of the hummus. The whole meal came out to be a very reasonable 250 pesos. This is what it cost ONE of us to eat at Chili's the previous night.

In one of Brent's guide books on Merida it mentions a swanky little coffee shop somewhere in it that we had to check out, of course. The book says that it's a "hipster cafe" and apparently that term stuck with Brent because that's all he could call it. He also said his "hipster points increased" after going there. Little does he know they actually decreased quite a bit after saying that. The cafe turned out to be a hit. It had a great laid back atmosphere with calming music playing. We got some great sketches done there. It started to rain again while we were there but that really added to the calming atmosphere.
We left the cafe after about an hour and a half and returned to our casse through the light rain. Although our day wasn't as eventful as some it was still great to further explore the city and we got some awesome sketches down. Still more to come...

-Christina

Now for some drawings

Since arriving in Merida over a week ago, Alli, Christina, Clay, Murphey and I have been maintaining a daily practice of writing, drawing and walking. During the past week, we've posted some of the students' written insights into the new culture they are exploring. Today, we present a sample of their drawings (in alphabetical order by first name):

Cenotes of Cuzama

Somehow I end up with the posts for the most awesome days... Lucky me.
We went to three more cenotes today and they have turned out to be one of my most favorite things in the world. I've been in a couple of other caves in the US, but there is nothing like swimming in the crystal clear blue water of a cenote. The ones we visited today were in Cuzuma which is about an hour and a half out of Merida. It's a really rural town that seemed no different than any other. When we got there, we ate lunch (sandwiches we got from Wal-Mart that morning, and Christina and I shared ours with some local stray dogs and one cat and a few roosters. The dogs were incredibly sweet. In fact, the stray dogs we have seen everywhere we have gone have made a huge impact on me. It is incredible how many there are; especially in the towns we went through today.

Anyways back to the story...
So we ate lunch and then we got on what can only be described as the most rickety mode of transportation on which I have ever ridden. (If anyone reading this blog ever played Donkey Kong, its similar to the level called Mine Cart Carnage.) The old tracks that were once used to transport henequen* from the fields to the factories have been transformed into a mini train system that is made up of several individual carts pulled by horses. Our horse was named Catalina. The other group had Diego who had some sort of neurological disorder (in my opinion) and kept doing this weird thing with his lips...

ANYWAYS..
After riding the cart for a few minutes, we got to the first cenote. There were lots of birds, and it was probably the largest of the three we visited. It had beautiful rock formations. The water was so nice, but as usual, Murphy spent the whole time jumping and attempting to mimic an atomic bomb.
Another few minutes on the Catalina Express and we came to my favorite cenote of the day. Although there was a lot of graffiti on the walls and some mysterious baggies tucked into some nooks, the water was so clear and beautiful, you could all the way to the bottom, about 20 to 25 feet down. There were beautiful roots hanging through the "ceiling" and we noticed a couple fish. No one can seem to figure out how the fish get in there, so they much be magical or something.



The third cenote was quite intimidating upon arrival. The entrance was merely a ladder that had been built into a hole that that led down into the darkness of the cenote below. It makes me think of how it was discovered and how amazing it must have been to stumble upon this marvel of an underground waterhole. Once our eyes adjusted to the light, we swam for a good bit, and there was even a spot in the middle of the water where the rock from the roof had made a place to stand. Then Clay turned into a crazy cenote monster/Gollum and started climbing the walls and jumping off. Murphy and Tim attempted it...



The ride back on the rail was not so unpleasant. Although we were worn out and hungry from all the swimming, the splendid afternoon left us more than satisfied. The day was not over however. When we got back to the main road where the van was parked, we stopped to get our stuff from the van and I said hello to my new stray puppy friends. (I know I am a loser.) Christina bought a pretty embroidered handkerchief thing from the woman who lived nearby and who I suppose owned the chickens. Then she started talking to us in Spanish and because the rest of the group had walked off to get snacks or something, we were stranded in a rather awkward situation (once again).

We finally got back onto the bus and rode on to some ruins of old henequen-processing factories. It's really incredible what you can discover if you just take the time to stop and look a little closer. We walked through one of the buildings to find beautiful roots climbing the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Even the old machinery had a certain charm to it. That may just be the new "artist's eye" I am developing. When we walked through one of the other buildings, I came out onto a porch and noticed a huge, beautiful bull standing under a tree, so of course I stopped to say hello. He seemed friendly and I did touch his head, but I didn't want to disturb him too much so I went back to the van; plus it was time to go anyways.

We got on our way again (sort of) and turned around a couple of times... Then it started to rain, which was really cool. I know it's only been a week, but after this heat, the rain made a world of difference.

We got back and showered and made ourselves presentable and went to dinner and the Art Clan went to dinner at Smoking Club No. 1. There was no smoking and I'm pretty sure there is not Smoking Club No. 2, but for about five American dollars, I got pancakes, a fruit plate, and a bottle of water.

Then we braved the walk back in the rain and flooded streets.
Merida is so awesome.

Hasta la Vista, Guays.
-Al.B.
*henequen:: a strong yellowish or reddish hard fiber obtained from the leaves of a tropical American agave (Agave fourcroydes) found chiefly in Yucatán and used especially in making twine and rope; also : a plant that yields henequen

Beach Video Experiment

Today is a "free day," so the group is resting up for what promises to be an exciting week, with trips to the cenotes of Cuzuma and the Millsaps biocultural reserve.

Below is the video experiment the art class conducted at the Progreso beach yesterday.
-Brent

May 17, 2008: Food for the Soul

Today was a cool(er) and breezy day in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Our group, led by our fearless leader Senior Fogt, ventured over to the independent, local handmade paper company of Huun. Huun owner Mark Callaghan gave us the 411 behind the small company by showing us into his home, where he operates and produces his handmade paper products. From his business card: “Huun is the Maya word that means handmade paper. We use regional renewable resources of select plants like sanseviera and typhus latifolia. Our paper combines the oriental and the ancient Maya techniques.” Mark, an artist himself, began the paper company in the early 80s. He has been in Mexico for almost 30 years working as an artist and helping with local art institutes and students from all over the world. He uses a lot of local plants in his paper and in turn uses dyes and other produce to create textures for many of the products he sells, which includes paper (duh), notebooks and sketchbooks, wedding invitations, transparent light sheets for lamps, and dividers which contain hand drawn water stains. He is an expert on his corner of the art world and even showed us some ancient pounding stones recovered from the ruins of the Mayan civilization. These stones, which are carved by hand, contain a series of lines that run at shallow depths to give the paper certain texture by using line. All of his products follow the same philosophy of zero waste and are very labor intensive. Mark uses the sun for drying, and even old pulp is blended and reused for new paper batches. Mark proceeded to show us his studio and afterwards kindly escorted us home, an easy 15 minute ride in a VW bus older than all of us combined.

After our morning visit, we ate lunch and headed to the shelly sands of Progreso where we relaxed and soaked in some rays (and some cold beverages). Before relaxing, Brent rounded us up and we created a video in which we interrupted the normal walking paths on the beach near the surf by changing the line of debris washed up on shore from the tides. The video aimed at the reactions and interferences of certain pathways we all take for granted. A heavily crowded beach with a lot of walkers was the perfect spot to experiment and construct our ideas. Clay shot the footage and with a few gracious volunteers from the other class we created some human roadblocks in an attempt to deter foot traffic. After our video, we were set free and ended up staying close till sunset and the headed home, grabbed some pizza and ventured off to enjoy a pleasant Saturday night in Merida, Yucatan Mexico.







-Murphey