Another Young Brownsville Artist on the Rise

Meet The Art of Brownsville's second Young Brownsville Artist on the Rise Estevan Medrano. Estevan is the illustrator of Volumes 1 and 2 of "The Ghosts of Fort Brown: Informal Studies of Brownsville Folklore and Parapsychology" by Javier Garcia and John Hawthorne. Estevan currently attends Lopez High School of Brownsville, Texas and is a student of the Fine Arts Academy Media Tech program. Estevan answered a few questions about art and his experience illustrating for "The Ghosts of Fort Brown" books. Here is what he had to say:

Who are some artists you look to for inspiration? I am really influenced by earlier works of art by artists such as Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Da Vinci. It seems to me that their work was desperate to release the ideas deep within their mind, avoiding the impacts of the world’s immediate limitations upon society.

What are your goals as an artist? I am actually very interested in proceeding in a career in film. Although this is my most aspired goal, pretty much anything that affects how I see things would be considered an inspiration as far as expanding my creativity.

What is your favorite drawing from “The Ghost of Fort Brown” illustrations? I can’t really say I have a drawing I like more than any of the rest. There are just different to me in their own way. Although I do like some more than others, comparing your work seems to only limit your interpretation over all.

What attracts you to make art with paranormal themes? There is something appealing about believing something that goes beyond understanding. Perhaps it’s the bitter sweetness of uncertainty or simply how it allows us to ponder upon earthly limitations. I myself enjoy showing my audience my version of what goes post reality.

What do you like about illustrating pictures for books? To me illustrating allows me to be creative and envision words in my own way. It’s very appealing to me and helps me release ideas I never knew I had.

How did the images for The Ghosts of Fort Brown come to you? It’s a little more interesting accepting ideas having to do with paranormal interpretation. Ideas usually come to me regularly after simply interpreting sightings and reports in my own way because in the end result you never really can be sure if you’re wrong.

Have you ever seen a ghost at the University of Texas at Brownsville? Unfortunately, I have not. However for all I know I may have seen one walking on campus and not realized it.

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To see more of Estevan Medrano's illustrations or for more information about "The Ghosts of Fort Brown" please visit The Ghosts of Fort Brown website. The Art of Brownsville wishes the best of luck to Estevan on his future endeavors in art and in film!

For a more personal encounter with "The Ghosts of Fort Brown" attend the special powerpoint presentation to be held the the University of Texas at Brownsville Library on October 31st, 2005 at 1:30pm. A survey will also be taken to share any ghostly experiences on campus!

Also, feel free to share any ghostly experiences of your own in the comments section or if you have a ghostly picture email it my way and I will post it on The Art of Brownsville Photo Gallery. To see the most recent ghostly additions CLICK HERE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Y FELIZ DIA DE LOS MUERTOS from The Art of Brownsville.

Recuerdos y Pasajes Entre el Presente y el Pasado

The Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center presents

"Recuerdos y Pasajes Entre el Presente y el Pasado"
The Chicho's 14th Birthday Party

Saturday October 29, 2005, 7:00 PM
225 E. Stenger Street, San Benito, Texas

art installation by
Ramon F. Barela
short film "Khalo Meets Khalovera"
by Omar Rodriguez
readings by members of
the Narciso Martinez Writer's Forum
dance and ceremonial blessing by members of
Calpulli Tlalpalcalli Indigenous Community Center
conjunto music
food & beverage

$25 birthday donation appreciated
for pre-sale ticket information call (956) 361-0110

Cande Aguilar Exhibition

Local artist cande Aguilar will have an art exhibition called "Mi Pueblo" at the Tre Fratelli Italian Restaurant. Go check it out!

What: "Mi Pueblo" art exhibition
Who: Artist Cande Aguilar
When: Oct. 23rd - Nov. 23rd
Where: Tre Fratelli Italian Restaurant
3001 Pablo Kisel, suite N,
Brownsville, Texas
956-574-9867, afreihofer@trefratelli.com

Artist Bio:

Cande Aguilar, Jr. was born on July 3, 1972 in Brownsville, TX. A self taught artist, he began his career as a musician at the age of 10 and recorded his first album by the age of 13. In 1991 he was awarded the best in show ribbon for an oil painting he submitted to a local competition amongst high schools. In 1992, Cande went on to pursue his musical career becoming a founding member of the Latin Tejano band, Elida y Avante. In a period of nine years the band toured the United States and received numerous awards, such as, The Tejano Music Award, The Billboard Magazine Award, and several gold and platinum records. The touring period allowed Cande to mature and gain inspiration from a diverse culture. In 1999 he painted his first oil painting, after an eight year recess. Cande has since accumulated an impressive young body of work. In this short period, he has shown his passion and dedication for the arts. Although young, his maturity as an artist has evolved and flourished, which can be seen in his work. Cande’s work is an example of the unique art form found in the Rio Grande Valley.

Artist Statement:

As an artist its important for me to give the viewer the opportunity to become one with sensitivity. In time this art will reveal a truth that conveys to an existence that is unique to our world in the 21st century. In my art the mixed media technique opens the doors of dimension, allowing me to abstract from the primitive, classical, modern and contemporary state. I believe that music and art is an abstract through which we channel ourselves, consciously or subconsciously, to experience the universe of life.

Image, Statement and Bio came from Austin Galleries.com. To contact Cande Aguilar click here.

TCA Young Masters Program

Interested in attending a summer program at the Art Institute of Chicago, Juilliard or Tanglewood? Do you need help for additional arts training beyond school? Learn about the Young Master’s Program, a $2500 scholarship program for 8th to 12th grade students who are the future art stars of Texas in dance, literature, media arts, music, musical theatre, theatre and visual arts. Brenda Tharp and Cassandra Scholte from the Texas Commission on the Arts will be providing basic information and answering questions about the Young Masters application process.

Who Should Attend: Students, Parents, Art Teachers(performing, visual, literary, media)
Who: Texas Commission on the Arts
What: Young Masters Program
When: Tuesday, November 1, 2005 at 5:30pm
Cost: Free
Where: McAllen Chamber of Commerce
1200 Ash Avenue
McAllen, Texas 78501
For Map Click Here

Young Masters Application and Guidelines are available online at: www.arts.state.tx/ym.
To RSVP by Monday, October 31, 2005 at 5pm, call Mia M. Buentello-Andrade at 956-682-5336 or mia@arts.state.tx.us

"From the Grave" Exhibition by photographer Noe Truan at BHA

Brownsville- The Brownsville Heritage Museum, located in the Brownsville Heritage Complex in historic downtown Brownsville, invites the public to the opening of From the Grave: Images of Brownsville's Historic Cemetery, a photography exhibition by Brownsville photographer Noe Ricardo Truan. The exhibition opens on Thursday, October 27, 2005 with a reception scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. The reception is free and the public is invited to attend.

From the Grave: Images of Brownsville's Historic Cemetery
will be on view at the Brownsville Heritage Museum through November 20, 2005.

Noe Ricardo Truan, a Brownsville native, is son of Brownsville artist George Truan and Bitty Truan. He is currently a student at the University of Texas-Brownsville. His long-term goal is to pursue a career in photography, and he prefers the old fashioned methods of photography, specifically black and white photography. He also collects old cameras and develops his own negatives and prints.

"Since my birthday is on Day of the Dead and my personal experiences have included several visits to graveyards, I became fascinated with old cemeteries. It bothers me to see how beautiful marble tombstones have been defaced and I wanted to capture not only the beauty, but also the damage. I love the Historic Brownsville Cemetery and have taken photos there at every hour of the day. My favorite time is in the early evening," said Truan.

Select prints of the photographs will be for sale in the museum gift shop, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the mission of the Brownsville Historical Association.

The mission of the Brownsville Historical Association is to preserve and promote all things relating to the rich history of Brownsville, Texas, and its environs.

The Brownsville Heritage Complex, located at 1325 E. Washington St. in historic downtown Brownsville, includes the Stillman House Museum, the Brownsville Heritage Museum and the Heritage Resource Center. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. For more information on Brownsville Heritage Complex exhibitions and programs, please call 956-541-5560 or email info@brownsvillehistory.org.

Community Heritage Dia de los Muertos Altar

By way of the Brownsville Historical Association:

Brownsville- The Brownsville Historical Association invites individuals from the community to participate in creating the Brownsville Heritage Community Altar Installation for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The public is invited to bring an object, clothing, toys, mementos, or photographs of dearly departed loved ones to place on the altar to the Brownsville Heritage Museum from October 17-November 1.

The altar installation will stay on exhibit at the Brownsville Heritage Museum through November 5, 2005. Objects and photographs will be available for pick-up by owners after this date.

Dia de los Muertos traces its roots to Pre-Conquest Mexico. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World, they encountered the Aztecs and other indigenous people of Mexico practicing a seemingly incomprehensible ritual that honored the dearly departed. More than 500 years later, the ritual lives on and is now known as Dia de los Muertos.

Considered one of Mexico's most important festivals, the occasion is often celebrated with feasting, building elaborate home altars, cleaning and decorating graves, dancing and music. Recently, the practice of celebration Day of the Dead in the United States has grown tremendously since its introduction during the Chicano Movement of the early 1970s. Today, the tradition of Dia de los Muertos extends into parts of the Southwest.

For the Brownsville Heritage Museum, this occasion is an opportunity to honor individuals from our community that have passed on. The altar is a tribute to Brownsville's past and to those individuals who in their own way contributed to building this vibrant community.

The Brownsville Heritage Museum is also offering a free Dia de los Muertos activity packet for teachers and community members that are interested in sharing information about the holiday. The activity packet is available at the Brownsville Heritage Museum by request and includes a word search game, mix and match puzzle, 4 coloring pages, and a papel picado lesson plan, and more.

The mission of the Brownsville Historical Association is to preserve and promote all things relating to the rich history of Brownsville, Texas, and its environs.

The Brownsville Heritage Complex, located at 1325 E. Washington St. in downtown Brownsville, includes the Stillman House Museum, the Brownsville Heritage Museum and the Heritage Resource Center. Museum hours are Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm.

For more information on Brownsville Heritage Complex exhibitions and programs, please call 956-541-5560 or email info@brownsvillehistory.org.

Teaching Artist Positions Available

Received via Texas Commission on the Arts:

REGION ONE ARTS ALIVE
TEACHING ARTIST POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Region One Arts Alive, an arts-in-learning program of Region One Education Service Center and VSA arts of Texas is currently looking for adult Teaching Artists in all mediums, including visual art, dance, drama, music, media arts, and literary arts. At the core of the program is a 500+ page resource, START WITH THE ARTS/EMPIECE CON LAS ARTES, comprised of arts-based lessons, tips, and helpful resources to bring arts and reading to all Texas children, every day. We are particularly in need of those who are bi-lingual (Spanish and English speaking) and who are interested in teaching early childhood (grades pre K- 3). Applicants must have daytime availability. Artists with disability are strongly encouraged, but all Artists in the ESC One area in all disciplines and styles, including, folk, classical, and contemporary, are welcome to apply.

Ideal candidates for the Region One Arts Alive program should have:
· Prior experience providing hands-on arts instruction to children
· Experience working with children with disabilities a plus, but not required
· Proven artistic ability
· Excellent communication skills
· Ability to work in a supportive role with classroom educator

To be eligible to teach in this program, you MUST attend a free two-day training November 30 and December 1, 2005, at Region One Education Service Center in Edinburg, Texas, and be available for a short interview on Dec 2, 2005.

If selected for the program, Teaching Artists will be compensated on a contract basis commensurate with experience. Placements may range from 10-50 hours total per artist between January and May 2006.

Those interested MUST complete a background check before applying. For more information or to obtain an application packet, please contact:

Larissa Quon
Community Development Coordinator
VSA arts of Texas
3710 Cedar Street, Box 7
Austin, Texas 78705
(512) 454-9912 voice
(512) 454-1944 fax
larissa@vsatx.org

Closing date for position inquiries is November 15, 2005.

Dichos #1

"Hechando a perder se aprende."

figurative English translation:
"By making mistakes we learn."

A dicho is a spanish saying or proverb.

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My story behind this dicho:

My mom and mom's best friend are making little canvas bible bags for their church's 96th anniversary. They are improvising the pattern and by Sunday there will be over 100 bags with little painted pictures I helped design that say "Mi Biblia". I admire the tenacity of the women in church and I like to hear the conversations and observe the social interactions between them. It reminds me so much of the social interactions between the characters in the Jane Austen novels, which probably explains why enjoy reading Jane Austen.

Today, my mom's best friend said the dicho above to my mom in concern to the patterns for the bag and I couldn't help but to take it as advice for life as well. It's okay to make mistakes. I have to remind myself of that all the time. So hearing this dicho hit the spot today and I wanted to share it with you all.

I have learned so much wisdom from the women at church. What frustrates me is that women's church groups are made fun as "la chismenil"...a pun on the spanish term "la feminil" to mean "gossipers". From my observations, women often are the most active members and contributors of the church. In most evangelist churchs, women are not even considered for deacon positions much less as pastors. I think this is terribly unjust...but when I bring this up with my mom it really isn't an issue. For her, the work has always been more for God than the politics of the church...For the greater good...it truly is an unselfish act. Now if we could only have more people like that in power.

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If you would like to share a dicho please fell free to use the comments option below. Any insight on it would be great as well. Dichos are such a staple cultural element in Valley culture. In the future I will also want to cover Harlingen artist Jennifer Rodriguez's interpretive paintings of Mexican American dichos. I wish I had a picture I could show you all (they are wonderful paintings) but hopefully by next Dicho post, I will have some more info to share on her work.

Latin Festival Call for Artists

ARTISTS!
You are welcomed to display your art FREE at the 9th annual Brownsville Latin Jazz Festival.
October 13-16, 2005

Art to be displayed at all festival locations.
Produced by local artists and friends of Imagenes Art Studio!

Space is limited! Get in contact with Imagenes Studio now!

For more info on the Jazz Festival click here.

Tears, Passion and Rage

Catch another opportunity to attend Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr.'s presentation

TEARS, PASSION AND RAGE
The heyday of Mexican movies in the United States

Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Arunlfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library
Benito Longoria Room
(956) 882-7410

For more info on the event click here.

For more info on Mexican Cinema click here.

Healing Colors of the World Reminder

Greetings!

Just wanted to remind you all of the

Healing Colors of the World" Art Exhibit
October 7th - 9th
Presented by
Imagenes Art Studio & Paseo Plaza

Come and enjoy new art by new artists from around the Valley
Reception Friday, October 7th, 7-9 p.m.
Exhibit dates October 7 to October 9th (All Day)

Paseo Plaza Shopping Center
1805 E. Ruben Torres Blvd
Brownsville, TX 78526
956-574-0088

FOR ALL EXHIBIT INFORMATION AND TO SIGN UP ONLINE PLEASE VISIT: www.representonline.com and click on Imagenes Art Studio.

Something to think about

Received this artcile via the Texas Commission on the Arts:

NEA and CPB Funding UPDATE
Republicans Eye Killing NEA, CPB

By Roger Armbrust

An advisory panel composed of over 100 Republican members of the House of Representatives has recommended ending all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The NEA is the federal government's chief source of funding for nonprofit theatre groups, dance companies, and arts presenters. The CPB is a major funder of noncommercial broadcast programming of the performing arts.

The Republican Study Committee recommended that the two agencies be eliminated as part of its "RSC Budget Options 2005" report. The 23-page analysis offers cuts in nearly every area of the federal budget, leading to savings of $102.1 billion in fiscal year 2006, five-year savings of $369.9 billion, and a decade's savings of $949.7 billion.

Presented by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the RSC's chairman, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the committee's budget and spending task force chairman, the study indicates that the lost federal funds could be made up through private sources.

"In 2001, America spent $27 billion on nonprofit arts funding: $11.5 billion from the private sector; $14 billion in earned income (tickets sales, etc.); and $1.3 billion in combined federal, state, and local public support (of which $105 million was from the NEA -- 0.39% of total nonprofit arts funding)," the report states. "The funding could easily be funded by private donations. Savings: $1.8 billion over ten years ($678 million over five years)."

As for public television, the report notes, "CPB, which receives $400 million annually from Congress, funds the Public Broadcasting Service at 15% of its annual budget. The other 85% of PBS's budget comes from viewer donations, local government, and universities. CPB and PBS continue to use federal funding to pay for questionable programming, such as a documentary on sex education funded by the Playboy Foundation. Additionally, much of the programming on PBS, such as 'Sesame Street,' could bring in enough annual revenues to cover the loss of federal funding. Savings: $5.6 billion over ten years ($2.2 billion over five years)."

The report does not indicate specifically how programs such as "Sesame Street" could raise that revenue.

The RSC has also recommended eliminating the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. "As with the NEA, the general public benefits very little" from the NEH, the report declares, "and it could easily be funded by private donations. Savings: $2 billion over ten years ($769 million over five years)."

A revised version of the report is dated Sept. 22. On Wed., Sept. 28, Americans for the Arts, a national arts advocacy group, alerted its membership to the threatened funding cuts. The organization said in an emailed "arts action alert" that the RSC was using the devastation of Hurricane Katrina as a rationale for the recommended cuts: "Needless to say, cutting this funding would not even make a dent in the need for hurricane relief, and at the same time it would deprive the affected areas of much-needed help in rebuilding their vital cultural sectors."

Although the RSC makes no mention of Hurricane Katrina in its report, the document is headlined "Operation Offset," a reference to the group's "effort to find savings in the federal budget to pay for hurricane relief," according to its website.

Americans for the Arts did not respond to questions about whether a House bill that would end funding for the NEA and the CPB was actually in the works. A call to Rep. Pence's office in Washington was not returned by press time Tuesday.
Backstage 10/5/05
www.backstage.com

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Yes, as always when budgets need to get cut, it's usually the arts that get the ax. While I do think that arts entities need to continue to search for more private-sector sponsors, I also believe that support from the public sector needs to remain as a vital option to protect the arts from too much commercial infiltration. Will Elmo have to exclusively wear Nike shoes on TV so that PBS can keep operating? Will our children have to start learning about Jazz through interrupting commercials for MP3 players? Yes, just like our government protects our constitution and our national security, I also believe that our government should protect, preserve and promote the cultural arts of our nation. And while the arts can be a controversial field, there is much integrity in it to defend! The arts have power to inspire passion and action in individuals and communities alike! The arts will also become a key economic force in the revitalization of communities affected by Hurricane Katrina, especially in concern to New Orleans. The arts will continue to tell our story for times beyond our own. Public funding for the arts must remain so that when these stories get passed on, it's not with a corporate logo branded on. Don't get me woring, I think private-sector funding is great, but I strongly believe that public funding needs to remain in the picture to act as a balance, because once commercialism becomes the only option things can get out of hand! Don't believe me? Click here for an example of commercialism going to far.