Museo de Arte Popular

Last Friday evening we went to the Museum de Arte Popular for a magazine launch. It was an art magazine called AlterMundi and while some of the pages are very intense (the theme of this issue is "Death" - what else?) there are some really beautiful artworks and Spanish poems included within the magazine which has a strong Latin American influence.

They also made the piece above on the floor of the museum out of sand, which was really vibrant and rather impressive me thinks. However most importantly the evening meant free wine and a good chance to practice my Castellano after a "fun" afternoon teaching relative clauses in English (WHICH are in fact as much fun as GCSE Physics).

I managed to go with my two friends from the school who both have a degree/diploma in art, and so I had not one, but two "must have" accessories for one's friday night gallery visits!

The museum itself is very interesting as it has a lot of indigenous folk art. The photo above to the left shows the word "Welcome" in all the different indigenous languages of Mexico, including one, called Hñahñu which to the untrained ear sounds like a series of different breaths.

The two pieces above are both made by paper mâché and the thing I have plonked myself infront of in the photo below is called an "Artesan Tree" which has pretty little symbols and objects worked into it's "branches".

One of the most beautiful pieces was a silk tapestry which is based on symbols representing souls (the tube like shapes), the mind (the crosses) and spirit.

Unfortunately after all this we ended our rather sophisticated venture in a Taco cafe up the road, stuffing our faces.

But all in all it was a great evening and an excellent start to the weekend.