La gran poesia debe de comunicar y trasmitir emociones, señala premiado poeta español

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EL PASO — El pelicano atisbando su pez desde las alturas se desploma como una flecha cayendo al agua y se transforma al mismo momento en la imagen de la madre del poeta cuando estaba ella en coma. Los intensos momentos de la vida de Fernando Valverde emocionan e impactan sus versos. Al escribir poemas, Valverde, 35, dijo que trata de expresar los mismos momentos como el que describe en su poema “La Caída” en donde la imagen del pelicano es se convierte en la de su madre. “La poesía tiene que comunicar”, dijo el poeta catedrático. “Hay que estar pendientes de la realidad, del mundo y tratar de contarlo lo mejor que uno sepa sin perderle el respeto a la poesía en favor de un falso prestigio académico que no conduce a ninguna parte.”

Creative writing department brings Cuban poet to UTEP

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EL PASO — With the current expansion of its nationally recognized program, the Bilingual Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas, El Paso has created new opportunities for the students and the local community including an online MFA in bilingual creative writing that transcends typical collegiate writing programs elsewhere in the nation. Recently, the department has brought in two prominent international poets, one from Cuba and the other from Spain, for poetry readings that drew several hundred students and local residents to the UTEP campus. Cuban poet Luis Lorente in September gave a well-attended poetry reading, followed by Spanish poet Francisco Valverde in October, and this week UTEP’s Andrea Cote-Botero, associate professor of the Creative Writing Department, will launch her newest book of poetry La Ruina Que Nombro. “The department of creative writing is making a great effort to bring important poets to our area especially those poets who are of special interest to our community,” said Cote-Botero. Lorente is an award-winning poet and is widely known for Esta Tarde Llegando La Noche (Night Coming this Afternoon) which won the Casa de las Americas prize for poetry in 2004, and Mas Horribles que Yo, ( More Horrible Than I) which won the Critics Award in 2006.

Punk Rock night market creates fun showcase for alternative arts and crafts

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Twice a month on the far east side of El Paso, an empty lot comes to life with Indie rock music wafting in the air as food trucks gather, and sales stands display glistening Day of the Dead skulls made from putty in white and black, with paintings of monsters lurking behind them. The Punk Rock Flea Market’s creator and organizer, Mia Valdez, said she got the idea of bringing to El Paso something of this sort after learning of a New Jersey horror market that sells horror and unique art. Valdez, a sculptor from El Paso, always thought there weren’t enough outlets for her to sell and promote her handmade putty skeletons. After researching the Web she found out there are punk rock markets all over the United States except in El Paso. “This is ridiculous,” said Valdez who was born in El Paso.

Chicano Heritage Month exhibit: Visual Stills Along La Frontera

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EL PASO — In one photograph an old baby doll lays crippled on the harsh gray street, one eye-socket empty, one leg missing. In another photo a shoeshine man works fevershly on a cowboy’s boots. The reality of border life seen through the lenses of 12 El Paso area photographers is on exhibit at Fotos Septiembre: Through the Eyes of Borderland Photographers (originally titled Foto Septiembre – Visual Stills Along La Frontera) through October 23 at the La Fe Culture and Technology Center’s Galería Aztlan. All the works show and represent Chicano heritage. This is the exhibition’s second year showcasing professional and amateur photographers.

Sabina Loghin: From Romanian immigrant to hybrid artist in Juarez, Mexico

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JUAREZ — The photograph is a self-portrait. But it shows two women — two manifestations of the same woman, a woman who calls herself a hybrid, a dislocated immigrant who still feels at home in a strange new land as she attempts to uncover her own special identity. “I experience a kind of dislocated identity, which I think it’s very common in migrants; feeling like outsiders,” said photographer Sabina Loghin who emigrated from Romania to Mexico when she was four years old. Far from resenting the lack of a visible community from her home country in Cd. Juarez, Loghin embraces her unique hybridization, and acknowledges it as the main inspiration for her art.

Mas que artesanías, piezas de historia

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Barro negro, textiles, árboles de la vida, cuchillería, cestería, platería, orfebrería, barro bruñido, comida típica y antojitos mexicanos forman parte del extensor surtido de historia y cultura Mexicana aparente en sus artes plásticas. “Un viaje por nuestra republica, una travesía por la cultura mexicana” dijo Araceli Gómez. 35, quien es la organizadora de la exposición Arte Mexicana actualmente en recorrido por todo México. Las tradiciones y la cultura Mexicana tienen una larga historia, orgullosa de sus orígenes y lazos ancestrales la exhibición recorre el país cada año exhibiendo su fascinante arte. La exposición de artesanía, tiene como objetivo promover y comercializar productos fabricados por artesanos de toda la republica.

Ancient inspiration reshaped destiny for tiny town of Mexico artisans

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EL PASO — Searching all over the northern parts of Mexico in 1976 for the origin of some pottery he found at a second hand store in Deming, NM, Spencer MacCallum came to a town just about three blocks long, on the verge of extinction. The anthropologist found Juan Quezada, the artisan who made the pots, there in Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, and together they would help not only revive the town, but the art form as well. El Paso got a taste of what has been called the miracle of Mata Ortiz when the Consulate General of Mexico here honored MacCallum with the Ohtli Award on May 5 in recognition of his role in helping gain international recognition for the Mata Ortiz artisans and their work. The reception marked the opening of an exhibit of Mata Ortiz pottery at the consulate at 910 E. San Antonio Ave. “The Miracle of Mata Ortiz has been something special, enormous, grand.

Mexican photographer works to expose the injustice of poverty

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While Karla Hernandez Mares studied the art of photography as a teenager, she later found the camera could be a powerful tool for raising awareness and international support in the fight against human suffering.As a documentary photographer based in Mexico City, Hernandez Mares has used her lens to investigate human rights violations and reflect the reality of conditions face d by people living in devastating poverty. She has worked with Amnesty International, the Equipo Argentino de Antropologia Forense, Fundacion para la Justicia y el Estado Democratico de Derecho, and the Community Police Monitoring Project (MOCIPOL) based at the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center in Tlapa, Guerrero. She also coordinated outreach, training and documentation for the migrant rights component of the Mexican chapter of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, an international organization that uses International human rights law and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United Nations to investigate crimes against humanity around the world. Hernandez Mares began working with Amnesty International in 2009. She said the organization – with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries – has been an important partner in helping to protect the rights of indigenous peoples in Mexico.

Border tattoo artists pleased to see their work gaining ‘fine art’ recognition

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In recent years, tattoos have transitioned from taboo to mainstream and are now being embraced by the art world, much like graffiti. “Tattoos are a part of pop culture now,” said Chris “Drts” Aragon of Sun City Tattoos. “They are so common nowadays that they actually make people more approachable.”

The growing popularity of tattoos is evident in reality television shows such as “Miami Ink,” “Ink Master,” and “Tattoo Nightmares.” Some advertisers are now also legitimizing tattoos by using tattooed models to sell products like perfume and clothing. “I think tattoos are seen in society with a more open mind nowadays,” said Myker Yrrobali, another artist at Sun City Tattoos.

Detrás de la máscara: Mi vida como travesti

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Empieza los viernes en la mañana. Esmalte de uñas verde, blanco y rojo para representar a la bandera mexicana, alternando esos colores en cada dedo del pie. El esmalte debe secar y endurecerse para la función de la noche. En la oficina, nadie nota que la transformación ya ha empezado. Los calcetines y zapatos lo ocultan, pero en mi mente los colores y las imágenes de contoneos me invaden paulatinamente.

Con pasión y talento pintan las calles de Ciudad Juárez

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CD.JUAREZ — En las calles abandonadas como cadáveres olvidados en una ciudad víctima de la violencia, jovenes artistas generan una visión diferente como una nueva alba cultural que refleja cambios en Ciudad Juárez. Se llama Color Walk. Con un gran talento y sobre todo mucha pasión, estos jóvenes muestran artísticamente la indignidad de la violencia que se ha vivido aquí en la última decada. Del 2008 a la fecha, la ciudad se ha mantenido en una lucha de recuperaracion, buscando una identidad perdida debido a la violencia que cambio marcadamente la vida de miles de juarenses. “Color Walk es una idea que viene de imitar modelos muralistas que ya existen de otras partes del mundo, los mas famosos que han tenido mucho peso, como los de Polonia, Miami, Bogota, Puerto Rico en San Juan”, dijo Rene Nava.