Letters from Oaxaca

Mexico is so alive - I am a bit overwhelmed. Every day I figure out some new thing (from mundane things like adjusting the gas pressure on my hot water tank to discovering new neighborhoods and places to walk). I feel like a baby I'm learning so much.

I just heard the terrible news an hour ago when I stopped to talk with Edith. I watched the bombings on T.V. at [the restaurant] Los Leones (while the family was closing the restaurant). They are all so nice to me. They kept saying how sorry they were and that there's nothing anyone can do.

I got a lot more painting done this afternoon and then took a lovely and vigorous walk on the hill. The hill is always patrolled with Police and, while that might seem a bit worrisome, I'm glad to have them around and they seem to be watching out for me. I've never seen anything that looks suspect there--it's mostly joggers, men and women (I even saw a little Zapotec woman jogging in a skirt), people walking their dogs, couples kissing or schoolchildren playing soccer. After I walk up and over the top of the hill and back down the other side, I return through a poor neighborhood that's between the top of the hill and my old middle class neighborhood below. It's interesting how all the poor people live near the top of the hill (the opposite of most places in the US).

I forgot to tell you we had an earthquake a few days ago at 3 in the morning. I was lying awake in my bed thinking how nice it was to live in such a tidy room and apartment and I watched the windows start to shake and then saw people go briefly into the street to check on things. A lot of people asked me if I'd felt the earthquake and they all assured me that earthquakes like are fairly common but that it's VERY rare to have a big one here.

My main news is that I have started a wood-cutting (printmaking) class with a local painter/printmaker who teaches at the University. My friends Rocio and Armando show his paintings in their gallery.

At any rate, I am taking a private class with him in his studio on the days he doesn't teach at the University, and maybe on some days we will have the class at the University, in the lithograph studio where he's currently teaching, so I can see the facilities and talk with other art students and see their work. I have just had one class so far, and will meet 3 times a week for 2 hours--though my first class lasted 4 hours since I just sat and worked on my first wood block in his studio while he painted and answered questions. The teacher is lending me his wood-cutting tools, which are apparently hard to come by here and must be purchased in the US, or possible in Mexico City. The tool I like best is, of course, his favorite too, and I can`t use it at home since it`s the only tool he uses.

I am walking into farther reaches of the towns, and am starting to become familiar to the residents of certain barrios who are getting less shy and more curious. They ask the usual questions--where are you from? Where do you live in Oaxaca? Are you married? Do you want to marry a Mexican man? And all the children talk to me in Spanish and after our conversations they yell after me in English--ONE PESO FOR ME! ONE PESO FOR ME! or WANT MONEY!

Back from the tangent...the teacher, Oswaldo Ramirez, specializes in woodcuts. He uses a kind of Japanese technique which doesn't require a press, so if I like wood-cutting, I would be able to continue on my own, without having to find a facility with a press. The teacher is very nice and down-to-earth. He paints animals in a stylized Oaxaca style. I prefer his wood cuts to his paintings. His studio is about a 20-minute walk from my apartment, in a neighborhood called 5 Señores.

I had my 2nd class today and made my first 2 prints. I am really enjoying myself and my teacher is friendly and speaks clearly and slowly so we can have conversations. I am learning about things in the town--such as where should I bring tin cans so I don't have to throw them away?--are there dangerous snakes in the hills? (they only come out at night) and generally what the political scene in town is like? (conservative).

The landlady's 8 year old's new favorite pastime is to sit with me at my table and paint. He is sweet and sits and paints quietly, but he mostly just paints characters from T.V., or he wants to copy other people's drawings. He asked me the other day if I had a picture he could copy, and I told him he should try to think up his own design because it would be more interesting, but he ended up copying one of my paintings on the wall. Then for the next painting, he made a bank robber exiting a bank surrounded by police with guns and bombs on all sides. Oy Vay-- I think he watches too much T.V.

Tonight or tomorrow I will construct a little altar of a traditional day of the dead style with candles and fuschia and yellow giant marigolds (floras del muerte) and pan del muerte and with candles and a picture of daddy and one of Oma and some of the foods they like--I have some little fruit and nut Cadbury bars and maybe I'll include a stick of butter for Oma. There are beautiful altars all around town and the sand murals in the zocalo (made of tinted molded wet sand) are also very nice. Children are parading all around town today in costume--mainly of witches, devils and skeletons. Tomorrow I will go to one or more of the cemeteries to view the decorated alters, and also to Rocio's art exhibit.

I had a nice time talking with Edith and Pedro (another artist). We will probably all take a litho class together at the University from Oswaldo, after I return from Colombia. He and his teacher, a Japanese man, have set up a litho studio at the University with their own money, and Oswaldo was excited that I wanted to take a class, because he said he wants to have artists in there of a higher level, as well as students.

I am in Mexico City right now on an impulse trip to go see the museums and orient myself in the city before going there with Margo. I asked the restaurant family for hotel suggestions and they gave me some suggestions but 2 were closed (the taxi driver told us) and he didn't know where the 3rd was but recommended a clean cheap hotel that's centrally located. It's very clean and only 15 dollars night for a room with 2 beds. I was planning to go alone, but ran into a friend when I was walking yesterday, and he offered to come along since he had never seen Mexico City before, and had wanted to go sometime. It's cozy to have company and will be easier to have a native speaker with me.

We plan to go to the art museums and to an art supply store my teacher told me about and also to the ruins where Bernd and John and I went. Now we're going to go find a taquería for a cheap meal since I'm starving after the 6-hour bus ride. I'll write and tell all how we fared when I return to Oaxaca. I printed my tricolor print and it worked nicely. Much love from Jean

Mexico City was really interesting and MUCH cleaner than last time. I met up with Kathy and Alvaro—the friends J and I had visited in Guadalajara (they since moved to Mex. City). Alvaro is a violin maker and gave me the name of a man who sells used instruments and provides most of Mexico City's students with string instruments and is a friend of Alvaro. I really miss my viola and am thinking about buying a student violin to play here.

Having a nice time with Margo. We found a piece of a prehistoric carving while searching in the ruins (behind the ruins that charge admission). Small, but VERY exciting. We're in Mexico City right now. Found the museum of art I was so taken with the first time, and will spend one extra day here after M leaves tomorrow to pore over the incredible art collection (of Mexican modern artists like Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco, etc) at the national Museum of art and will bring a sketchpad. Tomorrow afternoon I will buy a violin, which I will bring to Colombia to play with Ana's family. I really hope to get to learn some traditional --like mariachi music to play in Oaxaca. Saw some WONDERFUL mariachi bands and fireworks two nights in a row here in Mexico City at a fiesta for Santa Cecelia with bands from all over playing and a wonderfully enthusiastic well-behaved crowd of mariachi lovers.

I started a large painting of the virgin of Guadalupe with a dog at her feet today. In Mexico City I bought a couple rollers (brayers?) and now all I need to do is buy a sheet of glass for inking and some thinner and I'll have everything I need to produce prints at home. The new carving tool is very thin and exciting, and I'm really looking forward to using it (I lent it to my teacher while I was in Mexico City since he's been so nice, and I'll pick it up tomorrow). The printmaking show in Mexico City that included a piece by my teacher was very nice and it was free.

Did I tell you I played my violin all afternoon on my roof the other day with a local who plays beautiful traditional songs and sings. Juan Antonio reminds me a bit of Rik. When I return from Colombia, we will play some more. We also plan to walk to the top of the hills (where I always walk but he's never been in his life despite growing up in Oaxaca) and we will bring a picnic and our instruments and play on top (the hills are alive...with the sounds of MU-SIC). Juan Antonio also seems to know a fair bit about the local prehistoric cultures -- the day I met him he was heading to a conference at a museum about some local sites.

I have to go home now and finish packing. Oh, another thing, I have been working on some little painted cut out dogs and cards for the children but still haven't finished them, since my giant virgin of Guadalupe is taking SO long. I'm very pleased with it except I can't get the face right and have been working on it for days!). At any rate, I'll send them, but they'll just be a bit late for Christmas. Also I got a nice book and sketchbook from Tante Niesje -- it was SO dear of her to SEND them to me. I'll make her a card too. Hope you all have a happy and PEACEFUL holiday.

I'm finally in Colombia, experiencing all kinds of new Christmas customs and delicacies traditional to Manizales, and to the family. Every evening, we congregate in a large old cozy house in the center of Manizales, where Ana was born and where she grew up with her ten siblings, 9 of whom are living, and in total there are 8 siblings in town. The house is in a row of connected houses and has a main room that is very long and has warm yellow and rust colored tiled floors and a covered glass roof with a perimeter of a foot or so below the roof, which is open to the air. When it rains hard, everyone moves the antique furniture closer to the center of the room away from the water. A lot of the furniture has carved hands and feet.

Along the length of the house are a series of bedrooms with darkly stained cedar floors. Behind the main room, at the back of the house is the kitchen, with a rectangle cut into it to pass things through to the dining room which is part of the back of the main room. The rectangle is referred to as the TV, as we see glimpses of what the people are doing in the kitchen.

Every night we congregate in the main room and a three-year old girl passes out jingly round metal things strung on a circle of wire, to shake and make noise while three guitars play traditional Columbian carols. In between, one of the sisters reads Christmas prayers. Last night, I played my violin with the guitars, and afterwards, the other musicians continued to play a slew of traditional songs while Mintcho, Ana's professional cello-player husband, accompanied them playing my violin which he held upside-down, like a cello, on his lap. It looked very silly and everyone was laughing at the spectacle of it, but he played amazingly beautiful improvised harmonies.

After the nightly music, we all eat arepas, a kind of thick tortilla shaped corn cake with cheese, and drink a cup of hot chocolate. On the 24th, which is the celebrated day here, we will sing the songs, open presents, and have a midnight dinner. On the 27th, we will go to ''la Finka'', which is a traditional vacation house in the country, with a porch all the way around it, where at least 31 of us will be staying until the 3rd of January.

Manizales is tropical, and loaded with exotic fruits and dishes made from them, that I've never seen or heard of. Some of the desserts here are incredible and seem like something from another planet. Everyone in the family is friendly and fun loving and I feel very welcome here. I should go now, since some more family activities are being organized in the next room. I am thinking of all of you and hope you have a peaceful and enjoyable holiday. Much love to all, Jean

Just wanted to let you know that I arrived safely in Mexico City this afternoon, and am cozily installed for the night at the sweet old cheap Cuban hotel that I've been staying in, only 5 or so blocks from my favorite (FREE!) art museum which I'll visit again tomorrow.

I had a really cozy last 2 days in Bogota with Ana and Mintcho, walking around the town and visiting some museums, including the National Museum, which had some Botero's in it that I like very much. I plan to take a bus back to Oaxaca tomorrow night. M and A brought me to the airport at 6 this morning. They were so nice to bring me and then wait in all the lines before I entered the international terminal, which was restricted to them. Ana and I cried when we parted. On the other hand, I am SO happy and at HOME to be back in Mexico. Colombia was interesting and I had a very good time with the family, but it lacks the warm, loud, musical, colorful culture of Mexico.

Malena, the friend of Ana's sister who had lived in Mexico City for 6 years, met me and was EXTREMELY hospitable. She treated me to dinner at a beautiful old restaurant where there was a hole in the ceiling that Pancho Villa had shot. The next day, Malena dropped me off at a contemporary art museum that had been on my list but I hadn't seen yet. One floor was filled with beautiful prints of Siqueiros whom I like a lot, and other famous contemporary Mexican artists, mostly on political themes. From there, I walked to a theater that had a huge sculptural mural by Siqueiros inside (“the march of the humans”, I think it was called). It was very impressive and I had the place to myself and stayed for an hour and a half, which included a short catnap. Afterwards, Malena picked me up and we went to the grocery store and bought apples, mandarins, grapes, gruyere, blue cheese, Leiden, provolone, romaine lettuce, French bread and a bottle of wine and had my favorite kind of supper.

Tomorrow, I will play violin on my roof again with Juan Antonio, and afterwards, I will meet with Oswaldo at the art school and meet with the director about taking a litho class at the school studio with Oswaldo. My friend Edith might take it with me--I think it will be private lessons at an arranged time but that I can work at the studio when I want, for something like 150 US$ for a year's time.

I forgot to mention the other day that I found another small face walking in the countryside near the ruins of Dainzu the other day. Margo gave me a book that explains a little about most of the archeological sites around here, and this piece is at least 1600 years old (as are the others). The thrill of finding these things and holding them in my hand and thinking about the mysteriously interesting past of the Zapotecs is enormously satisfying to me.

I met with Oswaldo at the school yesterday (it is in an ex-convent, a 10 or 15 minute walk from my house). The director wasn't there, but I got a tour of the little studio and sat and talked with Oswaldo and 4 or 5 other students who were working in there. I really look forward to being in contact with other students again. The school is also a music school and there are always people around playing their instruments in the side rooms and the balcony yesterday was filled with little groups of students playing guitars and singing, so I think it will be a good place to find other people to play with. I will begin class next week (3 days a week). Oswaldo thought there shouldn't be any problem with the director concerning me joining the class. Oswaldo also asked if he could buy the piece I had in the day of the dead show, or if I wanted to do a trade--which I will do.

Yesterday, I walked with my friend Juan Carlos--who walks with me fairly often, to some ruins that a collectivo [large, shared taxi] chauffeur had told me about. They are little known and still have a lot of artifacts nearby. Juan found THREE intact faces and a broken dog bust (or the front part of a dog). He gave them all to me since he said it seemed like I was much more excited about them he was and that he is more interested in walking in the countryside than in the idols.

Another nice thing-- I have been playing my violin a lot-- along with traditional songs on CDS like Oscar Chavez. On Monday morning I will play some more traditional songs on my roof with Juan Antonio.

Yesterday class was canceled because of an employee protest (for more money). My teacher and his best friend (they went to art school together) and I took a bus to a little pueblo where Isaak, the friend, has a piece of land. This pueblo was in strikingly beautiful, peaceful, sloping farmland with tree-covered hills and mountains behind it. We sat under a pine tree and had a picnic and talked all afternoon. It was just such a lovely sunny breezy day and it was really a treat to be among friends since I spend a lot of time by myself.

I bought a set of rotring rapidograghs that I found at the student supply store here for a really good price. The ones I brought from home were not functioning well. I also found through my class where I can buy my favorite type of Fabriano paper, in sheets. I have been doing a lot of detailed ink drawings again. In my class, I continue to enjoy the company of the students and the teacher. Last class I completed a new plate which I was pleased with but haven't yet printed. It is a picture of 3 musicians -- a guitarist in front and a violinist and a player of a kind of a wooden horn I've seen played in street bands around here. The musicians have the heads of typical designs of zapotec idols like the ones I found.

I had a nice valentines day in my class--we had a little celebration to which some of the students brought candy and I brought some apples and some diced Gouda with toothpicks and everyone was thrilled with the cheese and wanted to know the name of it.

The teacher was happy with the painting, though he added that a watercolor wash, rather than a diluted acrylic wash would cover the ink lines a little less. We had a cozy fiesta and he related interesting stories from his trip to Miami, from which he had just returned following an exhibit of his there. After the class, I met with the guitarist at a bohemian style wine bar where there was a poetry reading forum going on. Juan Antonio (the guitarist), introduced me to his friend, who was one of the people reading poetry. As far as I understood (I'm pretty sure I got it right), Ramon, the friend, works for the city and is in charge of finding art work and also musical groups to display art and play music regularly in various public spaces.

My class is planning a joint project where all participants will make two woodcuts with the theme of Oaxaca customs and these will all be woven into a palm fabric tapestry to frame them. This is called a Tapete and is a traditional way to display a group of works. We will now try to solicit a good place to exhibit it in July for the Guelaguetza--the holiday that brings the most visitors to Oaxaca.

Well, I have to get back to painting--which is going well but I need a lot more work before April.

Yesterday I went on a walk in Macuilxochitl with 3 classmates. At the bottom of the hill, Oswaldo immediately found an animal bust that he thought was a dog, a sheep or a frog, but the rest of us were convinced it was an alien (it had those stereotypical big oval eyes slanted at an angle! I found a chunk of a finely rendered clay cob of corn and 2 more faces! All passed the water test, which showed they were original prehistoric pieces. One is fairly small and very worn and the other is about the size of my palm, in decent shape-- with a very pointy nose and a very elaborate headdress. Cris found some shards with elaborate designs and poor Alejandra didn't find a thing, but was thrilled with the beauty of the place and took a lot of photos.

I had made Mother's famous spinach pie (without the crust) in my toaster oven the night before, and it was a big hit. We also had apples, habas, squash seeds, a chocolate cake and peanut M'n'Ms, all of which we ate in the shade of the chapel above. After we descended the hill, we stopped at a little store/one table cafe and had a beer on the steps, after which one of the locals who had been chatting with us insisted on buying us a round of caribe coolers (a very sweet fruity wine cooler type drink). He told us where to find some little known prehispanic paintings on the side of the cliff on the other side of the hill we'd just descended. I'm planning to return to Macuilxochitl for a weekend walk and with luck will find the paintings. We walked down the lovely bouganvillia-filled dirt road, (which was lined with adobe and brick casitas and filled with dozens of dogs and puppies playing together) to the carratera where we took the bus the 20 minutes back to Oaxaca (the bus costs about 50 cents).

Speaking of friendly talkative tiendita owners, I stopped into a little store in Santa Elena the other day, below where I walk. While I gulped down water in the near 90 degree heat, he filled me in on a number of tidbits of local history, including a legend of a nearby pueblito which allegedly had a tiny Christ statue which grew and grew until it was more than lifesize. Afterwards, he led me through the store to the courtyard of the family's house and showed me a horse sculpture which some relatives of his, more than a hundred years ago had cut from a tree. He said the dead branch of the tree was exactly in the form of a horse and the people only had to saw it out of the tree. Although I thought it really looked more like a dog than a horse, it was very beautiful and had the elegance of a delicate graceful animal. It was about three and a half feet long and the head was about two and a half or three feet high. Its back (where the saddle would be) served as a child-size seat and the statue was very sturdy and stable and made a beautiful chair. The wood was a light yellowish color, but the seat had been blackened from years of sitting on it.

Last night I had fun playing violin and even played one song in public in a bar where the guitarist and I went for him to play with a group after our practice. I played without a mike and at a time when people were leaving because the band was disassembling so I think only the people very near could hear. Afterwards, when the people were gone, I went into the next room, which was empty and had MARVELOUS acoustics and played Telemann and the Ashokan farewell.

I bought a sheet of thin plywood the other day and had it cut into 6 rectangles. I prepared two of them with sanding and colored gesso. I also was given some wood scraps from a carpenter friend of Mari, the landlady, which I'm working on right now. Mari has been bringing me lots of samples of her cooking lately and has been very chatty and explained to me one night that she'd really like for the tenants to be like family to her since it's hard to have people always moving in and out and not interacting much with her. This is all right with me since she is just very friendly, as is her son Erick. Tomorrow, I go for a Saturday picnic with my friend Calinche to Macuilxochitl again. This time, I will bring a little trowel I bought and let's see what I excavate! I miss you all but continue to be VERY at home here and feeling very peaceful.

I ended up not using my trowel, and found a beautiful part of an elaborate headdress. Calinche found 2 more idol heads, which he insisted on giving to me. One is quite deteriorated and has the form of George Washington's head (with wig). The other is a very interesting shape, which, upon closer examination, looks like a cross between a human and an animal face. At any rate, my four most recent heads are characters in the painting I'm currently working on.

I have been discussing my work with Oswaldo, who has been helpful in his suggestions of how to “fight with my work” to continually improve it.

I am now working on a big piece in primitive style (influenced by the posters I have of murals done by indigenous children) of a man playing guitar and 2 children in school uniforms singing and a baby playing with a dog, in a simple country setting with hills and a lamina house in the background. I am counting down the days till you visit.

I redid my woodcut and the “mother plaque” is finally finished and now I'm working on a second color plaque. The painting of people waiting for the bus is also progressing well, and the background is now reminiscent of the area around Macuilxochitl, Dainzu an Yagul. I am craving to work more on my painting and less on the wood cut. The wood we use is very brittle and not very fine-grained and very frustrating to work with (which is why I had to redo the first one). Takeda explained to us that we are pioneers in this field of wood-cutting as there is no tradition in the world which uses this coarse crude tri-ply --I think--Mahogany. But since it's the only available affordable wood to use, it is a new tradition of cheap wood and printing, Japanese style with a burin instead of a press. For the tapestry, the class will go to a printmaking studio and we, on two weekend days (around the 18th of May) will print 14 copies, of each work, all of which are at least two colors, and some three, working in an assembly line manner with the help of Takeda, Oswaldo, a couple of higher level students and a painting teacher. It should be a good experience.

In October my friend Calinche borrowed $15 from me and hadn't paid me back or mentioned it, so I reminded him last week. I told him I'd call it even if he cleaned my floor and my water tank. All day Sunday we cleaned together--I tidied and moved stuff off the floor and he did an excellent job double mopping (with soap water and then with clean water). He had never mopped before, but had seen his mother mop everyday. Now my house feels a lot fresher and afterwards I went to the nearby market and bought fresh flowers which are scattered in cut-off plastic water bottle vases through out the front room where I paint, making a nice cheery work atmosphere.

My class finally ended last week. I thought I would cut it short so I could work more on my painting, but I wasn't happy with my woodcut for the class project and ended up redoing it, which was very time consuming. Two weekends ago, my class spent 3 ten-hour days cranking out 22 prints of each person's work, and STILL didn't finish, so I have to return to the professional studio someone lent us for two more days of helping out. At any rate, though the days were long and there was a fair amount of repetitive uninteresting busywork, the process on the whole was interesting to participate in, and there was a nice sense of camaraderie among the group.

This last week of class, I brought my paintings to school to get some input from Takeda. He basically didn't have much advice beyond saying that if I were one of his painting students, he wouldn't let me get away with using such a loud arrangement of colors, but he said he thought I knew how to use the colors to work to my advantage and that the only thing he could advise was just to keep painting. Oswaldo's concrete advice I found very helpful. He said I should try to mix more of my own colors and not use them right out of the tube. Thus, my latest painting, which is almost complete uses only black straight out of the tube. I mixed a lot of the colors with small amounts of earth tones. The resulting effect was that my colors are still very bright and cheerful but a bit more subtle, and I think they look good. Since you left, I finished the bus stop painting ("Waiting for the bus in Tlacolula").

My current painting, which I will probably have completed by tomorrow, is a street scene, with a big indigenous woman selling mangos and flowers, another by a vendor's cart with a small child on a chair, and 3 passersby and an old man sitting on the ground hitting a small drum with a lone stick. This scene (“The One-Stick Drummer”--as I think of him) I frequently witness on the street Armenta y Lopez.

Did I tell you I bought a big easel? I brought in an internet picture from Daniel Smith's website of an easel, to the carpenteria where Calinche works and for $500 pesos (about $US 50) I got a big sturdy easel which Calinche himself ended up making. It's much easier on my back to use an easel. I also bought a good movable hinged desk lamp in which I use a blue light meant for artists, which is easier on the eyes. I also bought a little three shelved rectangular table at the giant market (el Central de Abastos) and painted it orange. It sits by my easel with all my paints nicely organized on it, and my paint water and lamp on top. All and all, this new system works really well. I moved my table against the wall and paint in front of my window. This gives good natural light for much of the day and a nice animated view of my gabbing neighbors, and the mechanics fixing cars below my window on days where they have lots of business and the whole street is lined with cars being fixed. Well, I'm off to the vegetable market a block way. Look forward to seeing you soon. Much love, Jean

This painting is quite a challenge (of 3 drunks drinking mescal around a table--two camposinos and a business man). The other day I looked at some books of Mexican painters at the library at the school and found it helpful to see how they formed bodies. I am using more shadows. A painted Mexican saucer on the table of the drunks with lime wedges looks very realistic.

It is really interesting to push myself in trying to make things appear less flat, and also now I am mixing all of my own colors. It's hard and I am very slow but I'm very excited how my work is continuing to progress. Oswaldo told me that Maestro Takeda (our Japanese teacher) has been urging Oswaldo to leave the country for at LEAST a year, since in Takeda's mind, it is essential to one's work to go to and paint in a new setting that is very different from the one you've known all your life. I can certainly see how it is making a world of difference in my case.

Another thing I've been meaning to ask is did you hear about the 27 indigenous men/boys who were murdered around the last day of May or the first day of June in another part of Oaxaca. I'm not sure how much that got into the news in the States. The government accused a group of people from a nearby pueblo that is always bickering with the pueblo where the workers were shot (they were walking across the countryside in a group to collect their monthly paychecks, when they were shot down from all sides of the valley ridges by laughing gunmen, according to three surviving teens). The accused, which were brought here to the city, had many people protesting for them who could prove they had alibis and were in school or work when this happens. The evidence is starting to point to the military police of the government, which has done the same thing in Guerrero and Chiapas in the past. I haven't been able to find much explaining what's going on in English and have been mostly kept up to date by Oswaldo.

My painting is in a bit of a slump, since I can't seem to complete my three Mescal Drinkers to my satisfaction. I am very pleased with the people in the painting, but can't get the background to my satisfaction, which seems crucial to make the whole thing work, and I have been changing the background drastically day after day. I think tomorrow I will go spend time in the library again, and then just tear into the next one, while continuing to look for a solution with this present piece. I have had to go back to school three more times to continue working on our project, but I THINK we will have completed it tomorrow night.

I had a really nice birthday yesterday. In the afternoon, Calinche and I hiked up my new favorite mountain/foothill. It's about an hour's walk to the summit. We had a picnic in a pine grove with views of the city on two sides, and of the forest and the opposite mountainsides on the other. The day before yesterday, I found a little store with imported cheese, which is one of the few things I miss here. I also found a jar of pickles--the first I've had since leaving the US.

It was the first day in a more than a week that we had no rain. We had a picnic of hard-boiled eggs, roasted pumpkin seeds, French bread, blue cheese, Swiss cheese, Parmesan, Manchego (a jack-like cheese from here), pickles (which Cali tried for the first time ever), olives, capers, jalepeños,apples, green pepper, tomatoes, fresh basil, cucumbers, strawberry-vanilla sandwich cookies--which tasted like strawberry icecream, chocolate chip cookies and a bottle of Chilean red wine.

It was very hot when we ascended the hill, but had cooled off pleasantly for the picnic, and we built a big bonfire in a stone circle fire pit someone had constructed in the grove. I built the foundation of the fire as I'd learned in Campfire girls when I was 7.

Oswaldo came by to see my Mescal drinking painting and the start of my new one. My new painting is of a march of protesters protesting the recent 27 deaths in Sola de vega. Oswaldo was impressed with it and gave me very good advice on how to proceed. He was reminded of Orozco's work (which of course, is an overly kind comment, but still encouraging). I saw the water deliveryman notice it today, while I was digging out my money to pay. His face abruptly changed and he continued to stare at it with a look of extreme emotion, which pleased me it got such a reaction. I am very shaken up about this event, and I think it shows in this commemorative piece.

I am rushing around buying presents for everyone and trying to get my house in order. Tonight, Calinche is going to help me put concrete nails in the wall to make a makeshift curtain for the bedroom and rearrange things. I bought some really nice, cheap comfortable handmade chairs, so my guests would have a somewhere to sit besides the hard chairs. The chairs were only $17 and $20 each, and are of a type I've been looking for for quite a while--I had previously only seen street vendors with them. They are called conches, since they are in the shape of a shell. I took a bus on Sunday to look for them in a nearby pueblo. I didn't find them, and walked back to Oaxaca-an hour and a half away, and on my way, found a man selling them in front of a market. I carried the chair home on my head -- walking with it for an hour, and was quite proud of myself, and my posture was very straight the next day, as if I'd done a lot of the standard posture exercise of walking around with books on my head.

I arrived safely in Mexico City last night. The trip for the most part went very smoothly. My hotel is so cozy and the employees were happy to see me and asked about my trip and gave me such a friendly welcome. Well, I'm off to find a pan dulce for a late breakfast and then off to the Museum of Modern Art.

Don't have time to write much. Just wanted to let you know I arrived safely back in Oaxaca and everything is going very well. Thank you again for the wonderful visit. It made me feel very happy to be with you all. Love, Jean

Tomorrow I begin a woodcut project as a war protest to be displayed in the street on September 11th. My teacher and a few local artists are organizing the project and they and a few students will be participating. Everyone will have 20 meters of a plasticky cloth (like what I wrap my computer in when it travels) to print a graphic design on and the cloth (which is about a meter and a half wide) will be displayed in the street between Santo Domingo and the Art school.

I have started a painting of card players on a roof (based on a photo I took at the house of Calinche's friends in Mexico City). I am in the drawing (with watercrayons) phase and haven't yet begun the painting. I am pleasantly surprised with my drawing ability, which seems to have improved since I last tried to draw anything representative. I plan to finish the drawing more or less in the realistic style I'm working in and then when I begin painting it, I will stylize it more.

The art project (woodcuts and some silk screens) will be PRINTED on the plasticky cloth-- since it's durable and will hold up to being in the street. Every participant will use 20 meters of the cloth. My project will be something like this: I will make 3 simple models of cars with American flags on them. They will be printed in a pattern of traffic driving in one direction all along the length of the cloth. Near the end will be a simple woodcut of a gas station surrounded by “Bin Laden” and “Saddam” heads, multiply printed, guarding the station. Behind the station, at the end of the cloth will be starving and dying Afghanis (printed multiply) with graphics of bombs being dropped on them, some with food and some with explosives. I'm trying to spell out the connection of our blind patriotism connected with our cars-- and their need for oil, as the underlying force behind the war, in a simple and direct manner. If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to hear them.

My painting is going slowly but well (I think). Although the woodcut will be a fair amount of work and maybe not anything that could be worked into a sellable piece (or maybe it could), working on the woodcuts in between paintings helps me understand how to work in contrasting values in my paintings.

This morning I was suddenly awash in very vivid memories of Oma. I was remembering her telling her story of first arriving in SLC and her friends, when complimenting her on her food, asked her if she made everything from scratch. As I'm sure you remember, she said she got indignant and told them that NO, she'd NEVER make anything from scratch (thinking they meant scraps--of old leftovers) for company! I had such a vivid memory of her laughing at herself delightedly and how her teeth looked when she had a big smile on her face while she was telling a story. Other memories of her at happy moments flooded over me and again I was amazed how real and close she felt, and of course, I had to miss her, too. Then I reveled, once more, at how well and how long she had lived her life and how beautifully she had orchestrated her last days.

I'm working on the Osama Bin Laden part of my woodcut and it is, so far, looking REALLY GOOD, if I may say so myself. I'm also pleased with my new (non-Japanese) 2 " tool that you'd ordered last time in case the teacher wanted the cheaper version.

Last night, I had a nice evening with Oswaldo and another friend of his who I didn't know but recognized from the art school. They came over and I gave Oswaldo the Seattle Tee-shirt I'd brought him. He loves Seattle; it's the only place he's been to in the US, and he was VERY happy with the shirt. I showed them some old etchings and beast art I'd brought back with me, as well as the photos of John's work. We hung out at my beautifully clean and better-organized apartment for a while and then went over to the house of Pedro, another artist friend I may have mentioned before. Pedro is a really sweet man who has a wife and two children. He had been asking about me (to Oswaldo) and had kept asking to get together. Pedro is so dear--as is all his family--especially his mother, and we had a nice visit.

Well, I've got to get back to my woodcut, which is a tremendous amount of work and there isn't much time. Hope you're well. Love to all, Jean

I continue to work daily on my woodcuts, and last night returned to fight some more with my new painting. It is in a more realistic style than the previous ones, and, as with the protest painting, I would like to retain the drawing lines. I have been trying to use a much more subtle color palette for this piece, but don't have the instinct to combine bland colors the way I have the instinct to compose with brilliant colors so I am having quite a time of it.

I've hardly gotten any walking in lately with this slow-going woodcut project. One nice thing is that the work is portable and on a few days I've been working in the plaza of Santo Domingo or on the steps by the art school. The weather's been really pleasant and it's been nice to work outside with Mexican traditions surrounding me. Sometimes, if I spent too much time in my apartment, I think I need to go outside into the town to assure myself I reallly am in Mexico!

Calinche is learning woodcutting too, after helping me a couple of days cutting out backgrounds. He just finished his own first woodcut, which is of the Virgin de Guadalupe and the little angel below her. It looks really nice and interesting, and when I finish with my 4 plates, I will buy a tray to roll the ink out on and we will make some proofs on my roof where there is good ventilation.

Just a short note to let you know that I printed a proof of Osama's head last night, at the school, and it looks great. I feel that I'm starting to understand better what “works” in wood cutting techniques. I have been using fewer “busy lines” and using more large blocks of black and white. Okay, I'm going to go work on my starving- Afghan-lady-with-skeleton-baby print on my roof right now. It's a lovely fresh partly overcast day, with more afternoon rain in the forecast, which has been greatly freshening up the air. Love, Jean

The print project now has enough people that everyone will fill 10 meters, not the original 20. It will take up 3 blocks--below Santo Domingo to S. Dom.

The teacher thought it would be a good idea if I printed my design 3 times on 3 three meter pieces. She thought the idea could be read better if it was closer together. We printed the first today, and I'm very pleased with how it looks. The piece has four soldiers marching (with cars for heads) and in the middle is a head of Osama Bin Laden and then a gas pump. Behind the pump, in an X formation, I arranged 5 prints of my starving woman with skeleton baby. The woman is wearing a scarf around her head and a long robe-like garment and is holding her baby, which is wrapped in a blanket and has a skeleton head. I more or less patterned her face after the first famous picture of a starving Afghani (from the 90's?) that was on the cover of the Nat'l Geographic photo magazine you sent me. She looks very dignified.

Later in the week, I'll return to the studio and print the other two pieces. I've met a nice woman named Ana through this project. She is also an artist, but is in school for communication (radio, film, documentary). She lives very near me and has informed me of various meetings and lectures for local woman artists. She is currently working on a documentary about Mexicana and Chicana artists, trying to expose more women's works in a male dominated society. In Oaxaca, there are very few known woman painters, for instance, whereas there are many known men artists.

I now know what the plant Mala Mujer looks like and feels like (it was discussed in Oliver Sacks's book). It feels and lasts, in part, like the fiercer English form of nettles, but one gets raised bumps. They look like clusters of mosquito bites but with a red dot in the center of each, that last the duration of the discomfort (about half an hour). They both itched EXTREMELY, and hurt exactly like nettles hurt. I had always taken care to avoid Mala Mujer, even before I knew what it was, because it's covered with what appears to be cactus spines. It grows like a small tree and has big leaves that resemble fatsia (spelling?).

I finally finished my project. I ended up doing the last 6 meters as one piece, since there was a lot of pressure on the time, and this made it a little quicker. I like the smaller length better, but the larger one seems all right too.

I forgot to reply to your question about Francisco Toledo in your other letter. I have not met him personally, but am familiar with his work--which is exhibited in MACO (Museo de Arte Contemporario de Oaxaca) and also in his family's Institute of Art and Design (IAGO)--more or less across the street from Santo Domingo, where art lectures are held regularly and where they have a big art book library. I buy hand made paper there, like the blue paper that Henry's dogs are on.

I learned today that, on the 10th--Tuesday, our antiwar prints will be hung in IAGO, which is nice, because then Francisco Toledo will see my work. I like some of his work very much. Other pieces seem more like he's “playing”, which I think is good, to improve one's work, but isn't necessarily something one might want to exhibit.

I appreciate his campaign to keep McDonald's out of the historic center, but so far, have not heard that his protests are being heeded. The papers are sort of vague about what's happening, and I recently read that McDonald's plan is to respect the old colonial style of the Zocalo.

I worked all day in the print studio, helping the last of the group print their work. (The teacher had asked for volunteers). Tomorrow afternoon we'll get together to put up the project in IAGO --Instituto de Artes Graficos, and view it together and celebrate it's completion. For the most part, it is a very nice group of people, and all around has been a good experience, though I'm glad to be able to get back to my own work.

The card players is very slow going but exciting. The colors are very strange, but it's turning out to be quite a fascinating piece as it evolves.

It's been raining every afternoon, for quite some time, and I've hardly been walking--also because I've spent several full days in the studio this week. It's nice and fresh and everything is looking greener, and the tomato seeds on the roof have sprouted, which I'm very excited about. I think I now have too many geraniums (5) in my living room for the amount of light I have, and think I'll put some on the roof and buy a shade-loving plant to take their place.

The anti-war "tapestry" of woodcuts and silkscreen that we displayed for three blocks in the street yesterday was a success. Many people stopped by to pore over the designs and chat about them. Maybe I'll be able to scan and email some photos, if I can find an internet cafe employee who can show me how.

After we took down the exposition, we all went to a restaurant for some botanas (snacks), and discussed the project. Everyone had really enjoyed it and getting to know the other collaborators. Cynthia, an art teacher who was one of the organizers, expressed interest in doing more collaborations addressing other themes such as the indigenous struggles in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico, women's rights and overcoming the problems of domestic abuse, homosexuals' rights (or lack of them) and the prevention of gay harassment, particular where the University is concerned. I am happy to be connected to an active and friendly art community. Cynthia also said that a Museum in Mexico City (el Museo del Ciudad de Mexico), which is an old established museum, has expressed interest in exhibiting our antiwar prints. Also, a hotel in Mexico City has asked if they can display the work in their lobby.

Last night, when I stopped by the school to pick up a CD of mine that had accidentally ended up in Cristofer's pile, I sat and chatted with Oswaldo, Cris, Alejandro, and a couple of other students, and started a new little woodcut because I felt like working along with the others. Now I'm in the mood to continue with more, and am about to start a larger piece at home.

My friend Isaak, whom I know through Oswaldo, went to Europe in December last year, and recently just returned. He's having a party to celebrate his return, which I'll go to with Oswaldo and Alejandro.