Introductions/Introducciones Alexcia DeVasquez
I introduce Alexcia DeVasquez
Alexcia’s website also Mexico, Spaces Between Places, Love Politics, Mexico 2008
Tell me about your photographic series Nursery Rhymes
I really heard my first nursery rhyme in first grade. My memory of it is that the teacher was teaching us all a new song, but I realized after a few verses, that everyone else knew “Three Blind Mice” but not me. While sorting out the words, I became very confused, did we know the farmer’s wife? Was a “carver’s knife” really sharp? And why does this class full of people I like, want to kill anything?
How has your photography developed since you left school?
Wow, I don’t know where to begin. In school, I didn’t know if I wanted to focus more on the image or the message that I wanted to send. I was lost between what the camera captured and what I could create with what it captured. Since I’ve left school, I defiantly want to show more of a straight image than an image between reality and memory or imagination.
How has your mind- set changed from finding your style to solidifying what you photograph today?
Photographing so many things so that I could compile them later wasn’t an option anymore. I didn’t have the dual monitors, the printers, the hard drive space or more importantly the cultural understanding of my subject for that to work. I realized the value of what will never happen again not only what I would like to create.
What are you working on now?
Workshop 2: Mt. Shasta
Workshop No. Two: Mt. Shasta
BBI & NRCPA | Workshop The Visual Narrative and Landscape as Portrait
Instructors: Emilio Bañuelos | Elena Carrasco | Tim Gonzalez-Mena | Kija Lucas | Rika Noda | John Rickard
April 18- 20, 2008
WORKSHOP NO. TWO: MT. SHASTA PARTICIPANTS:
Chi Kwong Chow, San Francisco | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Rami Hyun, San Francisco | Michele Kagele, Pleasanton | Meghan McKay, Saratoga | Afton Moman, Lafayette | Cristina Martinez-Canton, Davis | Craig Neilson, Mt. Shasta | Victor Prieto, San Francisco | Theo Slavin, San Francisco | Colleen Virgilio, Oak Run
In collaboration with the Noda Rickard Center for Photographic Arts and Earth Day as inspiration, Workshop No. Two is designed to help students maximize their understanding of the landscape as a portrait of the place. We will also discuss the visual narrative, editing and presenting your work to galleries.
The resulting images were published in Issue No. Four and exhibited at the Rostel Gallery, in Dunsmuir, CA.
more:
IAC 2008 | Landscape as Portrait: Mt. Shasta | Workshop Mexico 2007
Mexico
images by Workshop Mexico 2007 Participants :
Isrohan Alvarez, Zapopan | Emilio Bañuelos, San Francisco | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Ivan Cruz, Guadalajara | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Gustavo Espino, Zapopan | Eric Fullmer, San Francisco | Perla Gomez, Guadalajara | Lydia Gonzales, Bakersfield | Tim Gonzalez-Mena, Oakland | Kelly Koehler, San Francisco | Kija Lucas, San Francisco | Foppé Mallory, Pinole | Cristina Martinez-Canton, San Jose | Cecilia Monroy, Chiapas | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Genaro Ramírez, Zapopan | Jorge Roa, Zapopan | Jorge Romero, Guadalajara | Diana Sánchez, Oakland
The ‘REAL’ Mexico
by Lydia Gonzales
As a Mexican-American (very American), I was curious about what the real Mexico was like. Guadalajara was an introduction to a culture similar to my own upbringing and the experience of a traditional yet cutting-edge city vibe. Some residents say Guadalajara, in Jalisco, is like an adolescent that doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. With a history going back nearly 500 years, Guadalajara should have surpassed adolescence by now. Yet, as growth continues, the urban seams of the city are bursting open even farther.
Litter, traffic and American corporations such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Burger King, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven can be found in abundance throughout the city.Yet Guadalajara firmly preserves its historic city structures and traditions including churches, music, people and ways of life.
What many profess to love about their communities despite rampant urbanization are the generous, goodnatured and friendly attitudes of the people who reside there. From the youth of the city to the residents of the small towns that flank Guadalajara, many consider the good-will attitudes of the people to be the area’s greatest assets. People remain amigable or friendly, and the environment remains beautifully humble.
more:
Love Politics | Spaces Between Places | Public Places | Mexico | Issue No. One | Mexico 2008
Workshop Mexico 2007
Black Boots Ink | Workshop Mexico
June 17-23, 2007
Instructor/Photographer: Emilio Bañuelos
WORKSHOP MEXICO 2007 PARTICIPANTS
Isrohan Alvarez, Zapopan | Elena Carrasco, San Francisco | Ivan Cruz, Guadalajara | Alexcia DeVásquez, San Francisco | Gustavo Espino, Zapopan | Eric Fullmer, San Francisco | Perla Gomez, Guadalajara | Lydia Gonzales, Bakersfield | Tim Gonzalez-Mena, Oakland | Kelly Koehler, San Francisco | Kija Lucas, San Francisco | Foppé Mallory, Pinole | Cristina Martinez-Canton, San Jose | Cecilia Monroy, Chiapas | Colt Peterson, Alamo | Genaro Ramírez, Zapopan | Jorge Roa, Zapopan | Jorge Romero, Guadalajara | Diana Sánchez, Oakland
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Black Boots Ink is about the curiosity that makes you walk into a new situation. It is about wandering in the company of strangers, about stopping, walking, working, protesting, progressing–it is about all of us.
The first Black Boots Ink Workshop takes place in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, with photographer Emilio Bañuelos. The seven-day workshop culminates with a public exhibition of the final images and a selection of the images will be considered for publication in blackbootsink.com.
Workshop Mexico, participants will have the opportunity to make images that show relationships between people and their environment.You will learn to photograph people and landscapes while creating a visual narrative. Workshop sessions are designed for practical use with instruction for daily shooting, personalized working critiques and editing.
Morning workshops will be held at Instituto Cultural Cabañas a cultural center designed by Manuel Tolsá in 1810. The Instituto’s106 rooms and 23 flower-filled patios house art exhibitions and the main chapel displays 57 murals by José Clemente Orozco from1938-39, including The Man of Fire.
Afternoons will be set aside for daily trips to visit Guadalajara’s neighboring towns. We will travel by bus to visit the Basilica de Zapopan, which dates back to 1730, the Zona Rosa, and the village of Tapalpa, Jalisco, where you will have time to make photographs and learn about contemporary Mexico.
more:
IAC 2008 | Landscape as Portrait: Mt. Shasta | Workshop Mexico 2007
