A small rock in the Atlantic

An Art Exhibition in Sant aCruz de la Palma

Garafian peasant, oil on canvas, by Manuel González Méndez, exhibited in Santa Cruz de la Palma

Garafian peasant, oil on canvas, by Manuel González Méndez

Santa Cruz de la Palma isn't exactly the centre of the art world, but we do pretty well for such a small town. The Island Museum currently holding an exhibition to celebrate the centenary of a local artist. Manuel González Méndez was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma in 1843, in Calle Virgen la Luz. By the time he died in Barcelona in 1909, he was perhaps the most important Canarian artist of all. I'm no art expert, but I thought the portraits were great.

The museum is on the old convent building beside San Francisco church, which is a lovely 16th century building, and worth a visit in itself, but that's a topic for another post.

The museum and exhibition are open from 10 am to 8 pm Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday mornings from 10 am to 2 pm. The exhibition will be up until January 10th, 2010. And you can't beat the price - it's free.

The Weaver, oil on canvas, by Manuel González Méndez

Labels: art, museum, Santa Cruz de la Palma

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The Island Council's Exhibition Room

Of course there's more than one exhibition space in La Palma - there are at least four in Santa Cruz alone. But the Island Council runs a very nice one on the main street, just south of the Plaza España. The exhibitions there usually run for two weeks each. At the moment, it's an artist from Puntallana called Rosa Vidal, who makes her own paper.

Rosa's exhibition is open from 10:30 - 1:30 and 5 pm- 8 pm.

Labels: art, Santa Cruz de la Palma

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Rosa Vidal

Rosa Vidal is an artist from Puntallana, in the north of La Palma. She makes her own paper from leaves, roots, flowers and fibres which she collects herself from the surrounding countryside. Most of the paper is made into notebooks, diaries and photograph albums, with hand-sewn bindings.

She also paints pictures on her own paper, and make lamp-shades (shown above) and mobiles (shown below).

Rosa will have an exhibition in the Santa Cruz for the first half of November, in the exhibition room on the Calle Real.

Her website is http://www.rosavidal.com/.

Labels: art, crafts

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Lujan Crafts Shop

Traditional embroidery, Casa Lujan, Puntallana, La Palma

There's a shop of crafts from La Palma beside the museum at Casa Lujan in Puntallana. It sells things like traditional embroidery and ceramics. In the centre of the room, there's a traditional loom, although they didn't have any rugs for sale when I was there.

(Palmeran rugs are made with a linen warp, and rag weft. If you order one, you generally have to prepare the weft yourself. That means cutting the old clothes into strips 1 cm wide and sewing the ends together, and winding it into balls. You need patience.)

Traditional rug weaving, La Palma island

Traditional rug weaving, Casa Lujan, Puntallana, La Palma

They also have more modern arts and crafts, like this mobile by Rosa Vidal.

Open Monday-Saturday 10 am- 1 pm and 4 pm - 7 pm
Google map here.

Mobile, by Rosa Vidal, Puntallana, island of La Palma

Modern mobile, Casa Lujan, Puntallana, La Palma

Labels: art, crafts, puntallana, Shopping

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Peter Hermans

Abstract garden sculpture, by Peter Hermans

Peter Hermans is a Dutch artist and sculptor currently living in Puntagorda. After studying at the Stads Academie Maastricht, in the Netherlands, and then at the Toronto College of Art, in Canada, he sold several of his sculptures to the governments of Holland, Canada, and the USA.

Art by Peter

Wall plaque, by Peter Hermans

Then in 2006, while he was in Italy, disaster struck. Peter had a stroke which left him completely paralysed. The doctors fully expected it to be permanent.

But Peter had a lot of support from his wife and friends, and above all, enormous determination. Amazingly, just two years later, he's working again. Only in short sessions, but working.

Peter and his wife Ita in the studio

His house is full of art: sculptures in bronze, wax, plaster and clay, and brightly-coloured paintings in oils and watercolour. Some of his work is abstract, but most of it celebrates physical love between a man and woman. I love it, but I want you to be able to show this blog to your granny.

You can contact Peter by phone at:  922-493131

Bronze sculpture, by Peter Hermans

Labels: art, Peter Hermans, Puntagorda, sculpture

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Helen Bennett

Sunrise over La Palma by Helen Bennett

La Palma has a talented new digital artist called Helen Bennett. She left her high-stress job in London and moved to Franceses, in Garafía, with her partner. They bought a fixer-upper and set about fixing it up. Of course this wasn't always smooth going - you can read their adventures at http://casa-estrellas.blogspot.com

Helen also did the layout for several issues of Ruido.

For these two pictures, she used a digital model of the island, and added the lighting.

You can see more of Helen's work at http://helen.helresa.com/

Sunset behind La Palma by Helen Bennett

Labels: art, Canaries, Canary islands, culture, digital art, La Palma

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The Art of Fire

Artefuego glassblowing studio is at the back of Plaza Sotomayor, where they hold the Argual flea market every Sunday. It's a good idea to combine the two, because they hold public demonstrations on Sundays between 10 am and 2 pm. They combine fragments of lava into their creations, and to the best of their knowledge, they're the only people in the world to do so. This makes every piece unique.

The workshop is open every day except Thursdays, from 10 am to 2 pm.

They do ask you please not to bring rucksacks, pushchairs or dogs into the shop. Just think of a Great Dane puppy having fun with all those shelves crammed with fragile ornaments!