BluSeed Studio artists and artists from Mazatlan, Mexico to hold “Paper Migration” show at BluSeed on Aug. 2.
An artistic journey, crossing over the Mexican-American border and nestling into the Adirondack Mountains, will arrive as a new exhibit at BluSeed Studios. The show “Paper Migration” bring the viewer from the petrified cliff off the shores of Mazatlan, Mexico to the High Peaks.
The show will hold it’s opening reception on Friday Aug. 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the studio at 24 Cedar Road.
The exhibit is a Cross-Border Exploration of art, culture and community has been an international collaborative exchange between 14 artists from BluSeed Studios and a cooperative of artists in Mazatlan.
Artists from Mazatlan, who will be staying in the community for the show as well as conducting classes at BluSeed, will bring their craft the studio. BluSeed artists will display individual works both inspired by their trip and work that shows their individual styles.
In May, artists from BluSeed traveled to Mexico and in exchange several artists have come to Saranac Lake.
Seven North Country artists participated in the international exchange, including Jen Kretser, John LaFalce, Katherine Levin-Lau, Larry Poole, Peter Seward, Carol Vossler, and Karen Davidson. Mazatlan, Mexico Artists include: Elina Chauvet, Dory Perdomo Median, David Robb, Nan Robb, Glen Rogers, Lucila Santiago, Rafael Avila Tirado, and José Carlos Flores Zazueta.
During their trips, BluSeed Artistic Director, Carol Vossler said the artists learned about the different cultures through art exhibitions, workshops, public lectures and street performance. The artists from both sides of the border lived amongst the local residents working with community organizations and sharing an aesthetic that diverges from the typical “North Country” or “Mexican Style” art.
“One night we took our pulp to the main market place and people there made a community art piece by throwing the different colored pulp at a canvas,” said Vossler. “We also made our paper on the beaches putting pulp onto our screens. It was really beautiful and felt like a different world surrounded by these magnificent petrified cliffs making paper in the ocean.”
The exhibit will be an exchange of the professional print making created by the Mazatlan visiting artists hanging alongside the art of the North Country artists with works inspired by their trip.
During the May visit to Mexico, the artists participated in paper making and printmaking workshops with Mexican artists, gallery talks, group exhibition, demonstrations and plein-air painting.
“On our last trip three years ago we focused our attention on print-making, these artists are very mature in their talents with printmaking and people will see that at the show,” said Davidson. “We focused primarily on paper making this time as it is a craft that is not being exercised there or in any studio around there.”
The artists immersed themselves in the culture of the area, living side-by-side with the artists.
“We didn’t experience Mazatlan as a tourist might, we were living as our hosts did,” said Poole. “We were in a different culture and different setting, it was so enriching.”
Of the artists who traveled to Mexico, several veteran adventurers took the trip as well as new travelers, Poole, Davidson, and Kretzer.
Vossler, said the experience will come out through the various art work.
“When we were down there we didn’t have to be stuck in the norm of printmaking, we expanded to teach the art form to another culture,” said Vossler. “Paper making is such a basic process for all artists, we’ve really been trying to promote our paper making so we brought something different from us to them.”
For more information about the show or to participate in a class at BluSeed call the studio at 891-3799 or go to Bluseedstudio.org.
