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Returning to Mexico

Neal Smith-Willow

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February 28th, 2015 - 05:10 PM

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Returning to Mexico

I have returned to Mexico. I did my graduate work here forty plus years ago. I am in San Miguel de Allende about in the middle of the country, six thousand feet up in the mountains. The town has been here since the middle of the fifteenth century with a landmark cathedral called La Parroquia built in the sixteenth century. San Miguel is a heritage site in Mexico and so nothing is changed except for the cast of characters who live here and those who travel through.
First however, I will to begin by telling a few stories from my first impressions of San Miguel in 1969. Here is how it went...

I had an Instructor when I was doing my undergraduate work at Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. He was Bob Mc Farland, an abstract painter with a penchant for travel. After WW2 Bob went everywhere. He could show you photos of himself from Timbuctu to Madgascar. At the time I met him he spent his summers in San Miguel.
Some years after I finished my time at the Ringling School I began searching for someplace to do my Graduate work. I wanted to pursue an MFA in painting at a University where traditional painting had not been given a back seat to Pop art and Abstract art. About that time I ran into in Bob Mc Farland and he suggested the Instituto Allende in San Miguel as a place where the art atmosphere might be exactly what I was looking for. It was accredited by the University of Guanajuato and it wasn't expensive. By that time I had a wife and a two year old son and so the whole family had to go and we didn't have much money. I sent some 35 mm slides of my work to the Instituto Allende and applied for a scholarship and I'll be damned if I didn't get it. So we packed up our old blue Pontiac 4 door cruiser and set off in August of 1969 to meet Bob in San Miguel and take over the apartment he had rented for the summer.
NEXT...The Cucaracha Cantina

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Debra Crary

9 Years Ago

Merida, Yucatan

Like your blog. I look forward to hearing about your new experiences in San Miguel de Allende. I also lived in Mexico for more than 30 years and am planning on retiring any day now in San Miguel de Allende. Mucho gusto y te voy a estar seguiendo. Saludos desde Dubai :)