Arivaca Artists Again
November 1, 2009
There is no muse of art! Attributing the unceasing need to create to that inborn but still outside-of-oneself source is an often used excuse by those starving artists who sometimes feel that their talents aren’t appreciated by the rest of society. Dating to the Classical Greek era, Muses are “spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts.” Nine Muses (in female form) exist for the various manifestations of poetry, history, music, tragedy, comedy, dance, and astrology, but surprisingly, not visual or fine art. However, in Ancient Rome, this spirit did exist for any creative venture and was identified as a “genius.” Not that you were a genius, but that you had a helpful spirit called a “genius” who provided you with the creative mystery of your art. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, discusses this very subject online on her website, in a very worthwhile talk: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
Ben Salinas has been a Carivaca resident since about 2003, but his early years were formed by his artistic soul. He was born in Mexico City and attended art school there. He met John Dewar, who realized his artistic potential and sponsored him to come to the U.S. Ben attended Pasadena City College and learned English, working as a gardener to put himself through school, and eventually obtained a Masters in Fine Arts from U.C.L.A. A prolific artist, he had a gallery in Pasadena and produced abstract paintings in acrylics, as well as sculpture, works in multimedia, wood, papier mache and wood. He was fascinated by philosophy and art history and despite his current handicap, which was caused by a brain aneurism when he was in his 40s, still has the soul of an artist. Some years ago he moved to Patagonia with John, who had been a museum curator and artist. Ben had shows in Patagonia, and became well known there. Now he has retired, but on the wall of his room there are a number of pieces of his art that evidence the enormous talent he harbors. (Thanks to Laura Toby for Ben’s story.)
Rosemary Shillue is a relative newcomer to Arivaca, but on next year’s Home Tour you can see the art she is bringing to our valley. A born artist, she started doing art in grade school in her home in Boston. By the time she was in high school she was focusing on other things, like math. Her first job was at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory where she was one of the first to specialize in keeping track of the ever-growing number of earth satellites. When she and Bill’s family reached five, she quit that job but began the study of art with a well-known Massachusetts artist. She progressed through oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, charcoal and pen and ink. Art shows kept her busy, as she produced paintings of “Boston Swan Boats,” Plymouth Harbor, as well as calligraphy. Quick charcoal portraits made her customers happy and helped her paintings to sell. She did do one commercial sign commission: a picture of bacon and eggs, sunny side up, that was very successful for the breakfast bar—within five minutes of hanging the sign a customer came in and said” I couldn’t resist that sign–give me a plate of eggs and bacon, just like that!” So, variety is the spice of Rosemary’s life—from cartoons, calligraphy, still lifes, portraits, house portraits and landscapes, mostly done in watercolor. Supported by her husband Bill, whose talent seems to be in writing (thank you, Bill) and woodworking (on their retirement home) Rosemary is overcoming macular degeneration and planning to try something new.
Mark Stern, known to many as the painter of the gypsy mural in the patio of La Gitana, has an interesting and colorful history, which contributes greatly to his fascinating and absolutely unique western art. After a childhood spent roaming the West, he attended school in northern New Mexico, near the Cimarron River, followed by college at the University of New Mexico and Colorado Metropolitan State College, where he studied art. The cowboy life seemed attractive, so he spent summers working on local ranches and then learned to be a farrier. These skills served him well in later years working in the Big Bend of Texas and then in Mexico, where he spent years working with horses and ranching. It was there that he got a feel for the old ways of cowboy life. This is what he portrays in many of his paintings. He varies his styles. He has one series of surrealistic space cowboys. Elongated horses and people remind one of El Greco, but impressionism also appears, as well as basic realism. His themes are Western, but they may include cockfighting in Mexico, Tombstone gunfights and his view of the vanishing American wilderness. He may have been a cowboy, but his real life is that of artist. Using acrylics and oils, he paints how life used to be (way back) and what he himself remembers of how life used to be in the West. His “Old West” may date back only to the 1960s, when many people didn’t have electricity and you could still camp along side the road in safety. Mark Stern’s art has appeared in the Mountain Oyster Club in Tucson and in Tombstone galleries. He has been in Arivaca about seven years, where he enjoys the peace and quiet, and keeps painting.
Speaking of murals at the La Gitana, we are sad to report that Lucille Depper, the artist who, in 1950, painted the first gypsy on the south wall of the dance hall at La Gitana Bar, has passed away at the age of 92 in McGee Ranch. Lucille was another lifelong artist whose interest never waned. She drew and painted, mostly oils and acrylics, and also taught art. She felt that some people had a hidden talent, if she could just draw it out. In the 50s she painted western scenes on dresses and those wide squaw skirts that they sold at Porter’s and Cele Peterson’s in Tucson. Her daughter LaVerne said that she was always painting something for somebody. She painted a mural on the wall of the old Sahuarita store, of a cotton farm, and a mural on the baptistery at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Sahuarita. She was from a long line of painters, going back to an ancestor who was a portrait painter for the king of England, and she passed the talent on to her children and grandchildren.
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I would like to add my name to the Artists who have painted murals on the walls of the La Gitana. What a wonderful time in my life. Jan and Rudy owned the bar for a few years and it was called The Silver Bell Saloon where the cowboys were asked to leave their guns at the door. When I painted the Gypsy people came in for breakfast and lunch just to watch the Gypsy come to life as many of the local Hippy Women would sit for me to lend a kerchief or eyes, the smile and even the clevage. Buffalo wings were added to the menu at that time and the Gypsy omlet was invented on the spot.
I did a more recent painting of my memory of the view from my studio which can be seen on my website. I have also created my own Avatar, my cyberMuse, so please visit my domain and let me hear from you. simpliSue