Ritmo de Fuego/ Rhythm of Fire
 The
Coppersmithing Art & Artisans of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán,
Mexico
A project of the heart, Ritmo de Fuego/
Rhythm of Fire is a book which documents and augments
a traveling exhibition of the same name. The book forms a historical
and human portrait of the unique coppersmithing community, el pueblo
of Santa Clara del Cobre. Addressing essential questions about the
transformation and endurance of culture this book is homage to the
Santa Clara community, the countless project contributors and collaborators,
and all Michoacános living in Mexico and in the USA.
597 pages, 500+ full-color photographs
hard cover book
ISBN: 0-9741171-0-2
Text is in Spanish and English
price: $80.00 |
|
Marion Oettinger, Director of the San Antonio Museum of Art writes
that Ritmo del Fuego "..is a true tour d'force and should become
the standard to which future research on Mexican craft must refer..."
BOOK SUMMARY:
This book has grown from seven years of collaborative work devoted
to the Ritmo
del Fuego project—essentially a project del corazón
(of the heart). An interdisciplinary team of artisans, community
members, and scholars has created an ongoing bi-national exchange
to explore and document Santa Clara today, the relationship of
its past to its present and to its future. In an effort to see
the whole picture, a necklace of distinct perspectives has been
strung together to examine its coppersmithing history, regional
connections, calendar of festivals, and the stories, aspirations,
and traditions of its artisans.
Santa Clara del Cobre, (also named Villa Escalante) is a mestizo,
Spanish-speaking community of artisans located in the western
central highlands of Michoacán, a region renowned for its
metal-smithing mastery originating with its indigenous peoples
as far back as 600 A.D. The material (copper) and process mark
and record the complicated navigation of this region’s culture
as it resiliently transforms through time.
Today the artisans
of Santa Clara del Cobre synthesize pre-Columbian, Colonial,
and modern-day methods to create hammered copper vessels whose physicality
is transformed into symmetrically balanced forms of expressive tension
and a poised sensuality. The community’s struggle, their history,
their challenges, and their accomplishments speak about a process
(of cultural transformation, migration, and exchange) taking place
all over the world.
FROM THE BOOK JACKET :
Ritmo del Fuego / Rhythm of Fire
is a unique achievement, telling the story of the deep-seated
copperworking tradition of Santa Clara del Cobre, an ancient
community in the forested mountains of Michoacán, Mexico.
What is often seen as “folk art” is shown to stem
from early workshops established in Michoacán during
the 8th-9th centuries AD, by coastal traders and artisans from
the Andean Region of South America. Since then, the manufactures
have included utilitarian and ornamental objects. Many have
been recovered at archaeological sites, most notably from the
15th century Tarascan Kingdom. Others embrace forms of Spanish
origin after the 16th century conquest. Today in the expanding
international market, Santa Clara copperwares include a wide
range of sophisticated decorative vases, pitchers, trays, dinner
wares and related forms. A vital community has evolved with
this ongoing tradition, portrayed with affection and care by
the project organizer Michele Feder-Nadoff, and the many other
authors in this remarkable, well written contribution to the
cultural history of the Americas.
Richard F. Townsend
Curator
Department of African and Amerindian Art
The Art Institute of Chicago
 Huele
de Noche is a poetic documentary directed by artist,
Michele Feder-Nadoff, that takes viewers on a journey to the copper
smithing community of Santa Clara del Cobre, nestled in the mountains
of Michoacán, one of Mexico's most beautiful states.
This beautiful documentary brings you into the family studios
of the artisans where one can sense the heat of the fire and marvel
at the musical power of the hammers.
Spanish: Huele de Noche
English: Night Blooming Jasmine
DVD FORMAT
Spanish and English (33 minutes)
Read
More [ To purchase using check or money order please
email a request: support@cuentosfoundation.org
] |
DVD is $20.00
+ $5 S&H |
|
Institutional Price:
$50.00 + $5 S&H |
|
tryphon: three sounds is a candid
portrait of the artist Thomas H. Kapsalis (b. 1925) that also
provides an intimate glimpse into the history of the Chicago
art scene. Drawing upon personal conversations with Kapsalis,
the documentary incorporates extensive images spanning his sixty
year career, including paintings, sculptures, ephemera, family
photos, and archival footage. Kapsalis contributed to the Chicago
artist milieu through over fifty years as a professor at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago and continues to contribute
through his abstract paintings of impeccable resolution and
presence.
These modernist-inspired works emanate a sensibility
that combines the Bauhaus aesthetic with a Dadaist irony and
humor, presented with the modesty and directness of the Midwest.
Kapsalis’s art and character exude a hard-won calm tempered
through his life experiences, such as his survival as a prisoner
of war during World War II.
tryphon was produced by the Cuentos
Foundation to accompany the retrospective exhibition “Thomas
H. Kapsalis: Artist’s House, Paintings and Sculpture,
1947-2008,” December 4, 2009 - March 21, 2010. This major
exhibition celebrating the life and art of this leading abstract
Chicago artist was curated by John Corbett & Jim Dempsey
and was organized by the Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University.
Cuentos Foundation presents tryphon:
three sounds the art of thomas h. kapsalis
Produced and Directed by Michele Feder-Nadoff
The video’s music includes unique recordings - a sound-work
by artist, Lou Mallozzi; traditional Greek and Turkish music
by Eric Ederer and Andrea Fishman; and flute improvisations
by Corkey Siegal and
tryphon’s video editor, Sharon Karp/
Media Monster.
English
DVD FORMAT, NTSC ALL, Dolby digital
Total running time: 17 minutes
ISBN: 978-0-9741171-1-9
[ To purchase using check or money order please
email a request: support@cuentosfoundation.org
] |
DVD is $20.00
+ $5 S&H |
|
Institutional Price:
$50.00 + $5 S&H |
|
CONTACT US TODAY!
info@cuentosfoundation.orgor
call us : 773.412.9838
|
