Alicia Morales

Happy Birthday Alicia Morales!

Alicia Morales was born on March 18, 1950. At age thirteen she was taken to the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana by an uncle. At that moment she vowed to be included in this artistic group. Her family and her husband were quite traditional and did not believe women should have careers, but nonetheless, Morales did study theology and painting. She was tutored in watercolor at a professional level with Gustavo Alanis and was able to support her family when her husband fell ill.

She has worked in various media including painting, watercolor, and handmade artistic dresses. She also created artistic altars of sand, stone, vegetable and plant material. Her work has been exhibited in many venues. She is a member of the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana.

Following her divorce after 28 years, Morales worked with therapist Patricia Crast on graduate study of "healing art". She created a collection of 8 dresses representing the difficulties she has faced in her life. This collection has been displayed in several places across the world. The picture below is of Alicia Morales in one of her hand embroidered dresses.

By AlejandroLinaresGarcia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22234355

Tosia Malamud

Happy Birthday Tosia Malamud!

Born in Ukraine, today, in 1923, Tosia Malamud was a sculptor. She and her family fled to Mexico when she was only 4 years old to escape the Soviet Union. She enrolled in the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas against her parents' wishes and studied art history, becoming one of the first women to graduate form the institution. She became known as the best "bust maker" of the time in Mexico. Malamud also created sculptures dealing with relationships, maternity, and family. She sculpted large and small works for private as well as public spaces. In her lifetime she created 38 monumental sculptures of stone and bronze in Mexico alone, with many others in various other countries. In addition she created many busts of figures of note.

Malamud felt love was the basis of life and her work was focused on this concept. She was not particularly interested in the Mexican muralist movement, preferring instead a more international view.

Heriberto Juarez

Happy Birthday Heriberto Juarez!

This self-taught Mexican sculptor was born March 16, 1932, in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Originally Juarez wanted to be a bull fighter and even did some bull fighting as a young man, but after being gored a couple of times realized he would be safer and make more money sculpting bulls instead. He is known for his sculptures of women and animals, specifically bulls and horses. He began sculpting clay as a child, imitating the artifacts he found in the countryside near his home. The modern city Teotihuacan is named for the ancient city ruin of the same name just north of Mexico City.


Juarez never had formal training, but learned instead from traveling the world and studying the works of greats like Rodin, Henry Moore, and Picasso. He was particularly enamored with curvaceous shapes and lines found in the female figure as well as animals.  He believed Mexican art should mirror Mexican life and ideals and strived to do so in his work.

Ignacio Asunsolo

Happy Birthday Ignacio Asunsolo!

Born on March 15, 1890 on the Hacienda de San Juan Bautista, in Durango, Mexico, Ignacio Asunsolo was interested in clay at an early age, since his mother was a ceramicist. He attended the Scientific and Literary Institute in Chihuahua, later becoming a professor at the National Institute of Fine Arts.

He studied in Europe on scholarship where he began creating monumental works in stone and bronze. He has sculpted many busts as well as full sized works.  Today I am including a photo of the artist at work...

Jacobo Angeles

Happy Birthday Jacobo Angeles!

Jacobo Angeles was born in today, March 14, 1973, in rural San Martin Tilcajete. He is wood carver in the alebrije tradition. These figures are carved from the local wood (the curvaceous copla tree) and painted with bold, brilliant colors. He learned to carve from his father when he was a young boy.

He works in partnership with his wife and their work is distinguished from other alebrije artisans by not only the carving style, but also the fine intricate designs painted over the base coat paint. They work in a studio in their home and several family members also participate in the production of their highly sought after figures. Each one takes about a month to complete.

His work has been displayed all over the world and has been featured in a couple of books as well. He and fellow artisans from Oaxaca Were even invited by the pope in 2014 to place some 1200 nativity figures and Christmas tree ornaments at the Vatican.

alebrije-folk art sculptures of fantasy creatures first created in the 1930's by Pedro Linares from delusional creatures he "saw" while ill and unconscious. The figures are carved from wood or constructed from papier mache. Originating in Mexico City, San Martin Tilcajete is the most well known source for alebrijes today.

Mario Reyes Castillo

Happy Birthday Mario Reyes Castillo!

Mario Reyes was born in 1926, in Mexico City. Even though his parents told him if he went into art he would "die of hunger", he studied at Escuela Nacional de Pintura and La Esmerelda. Eventually he became a printmaker, concentrating on copper plates, mezzotints, and dry point.

He founded Taller Libre de Grabado Mario Reyes in 1965, producing thousands of works. He has won numerous awards, exhibited all over the world and has taught graphic arts at various institutions.

The theme of Reyes work primarily revolves around the female figure and he says "he sees the female form in many places and things, even trees". His major influences have been Modigliani, Renoir, Matisse and Gauguin. He also works with extremely detailed landscapes.

Miguel Hernandez Urban

Happy Birthday Miguel Hernandez Urban!

Born in Tultepec, Mexico in 1936, Miguel Hernandez Urban is a painter and a sculptor. When a child, he was interested in the arts, particularly classical music. He trained at Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas and initially went into painting, influenced, as so many others, by the Mexican muralist movement.

But in the 80's Urban focused on stainless steel sculpture. He founded the Symposium on Stainless Steel Sculpture in Tultepec, which has since gained worldwide recognition and interest. Participants are provided sheets of stainless steel and the equipment necessary to create sculptural works. The resultant pieces are displayed in various venues and some are even sold to interested parties.

Urban has had many solo as well as collective exhibits and has created monumental sculpture for entities all over the world. It has been said that he considers stainless steel as a medium to represent modern, urban culture as well as presents a lightweight, weather resistant sculptural material that refracts the sunlight in interesting and desirable ways.

Today I chose to post a picture of his monumental La Tehuana, a sculpture of the iconic Tehuana bride, who has been adopted as the iconic symbol representing the important dominance of "woman" in the social aspects of the area. She is located on the main highway at the entrance of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.