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There is nothing much that I
can say about enameling that has not already been said. It becomes a
passion. There is something magical about the way the glass fuses and the
colors melt in layers of transparencies, with always an aleatoric element
that never ceases to bring about surprises.
I started enameling back in
1991, more than 10 years ago, almost as an afterthought. I was doing silver
jewelry, and I knew that it could be combined with enameling, so I decided
to give it a try. It soon became my thing, leaving jewelry behind. I had
already been through most of the workshops at the National Arts and Crafts
school in Mexico City, at least 10 of them, and enameling was one of the few
I was missing. I was famous, or infamous, at that school, because I had been
through most of the workshops and practically lived at the school for about
three years, but the people and the teachers liked my work, and they kind of
tolerated me. So Graciela, the enameling teacher, had already been telling
me for awhile that I should try enameling, she was sure I would like it, and
she was perfectly right. I fell in love with it. |
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Flight
enameled piece is 13 cms. diameter
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Deep sea
whole piece about 17 x 26 cms. |
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These
are two of my favorite pieces. I made them in Hiroshima, Japan, during
the year that I spent at the atelier of Mr. Shojiro Awane. Awane San is
truly a great artist, and he is considered as such by the medium in
Japan. He has constant exhibitions and his pieces are very much sought
after. But it is at his atelier that you are really touched by the magic
of his art. I am very grateful to him for the opportunity he gave me to
attend his atelier for one full year. |
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Origin
enameled
piece 20 x 26 cms. aprox.
with
frame 45 x 60 cms. |
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Cosmic lizard
enameled
piece 20x 28 cms.
with
frame 50 x 65 cms. |
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Sundials
I calculated
this sundials for the latitude of Hiroshima, Japan (34 ° N) and gave them
both to Mr. Shojiro Awane, my enameling sensei, as a souvenir of my stay in
Japan.
Both of this
sundials work, and are accurate to 2-3 minutes, though of course they are
mainly art pieces. I don't think Awane San has put them out permanently in
the exterior, though he may do so from time to time. But they did look good
at the exhibition hall of Tenmaya, one of the biggest department stores of
Hiroshima. |
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This is a
nice, simple, horizontal sundial. The letters, numbers and symbols are engraved on the copper
plate; only the central part is enameled.
The inscription on the top right
says
Watakuchi no jinsei wa kechiki
no ichibu de aru
"My life is a detail in the
landscape".
On the top
left there is the latitude (34° N 20') and the longitude (132° E 30')
of Awane San's house in Hiroshima. |
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I like circular shapes.
I have been doing quite a few of this plates. They start as exercises, or
experiments, just to see what happens. It's fun. Some of them are quite
accomplished. Some day I will make a mural full of circular, oval and
freeform shapes with not one square among them. |
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This article appeared in
the Chugoku Shimbun, the most important daily newspaper in the south of
Japan, in march 1997. It talks about my travels in Japan, my stay at the
atelier of Mr. Shojiro Awane in Hiroshima, and my coming exhibition in
Tenmaya.
In the picture I am working
on the enameled sundial. |
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