Qvetzal’s Solo Exhibition at Galeria Zenit
One of my favorite days every month is the First Saturday Fiesta at Arte Vallarta Museo. The enormous courtyard was full of people eating, drinking wine, listening to the live jazz trio, and catching up with like-minded people they hadn’t seen anywhere else for a month. The fantastic David Jones exhibition, Line and Color, continues in the upstairs gallery until early summer.
Last Saturday was particularly special as Museum Director – and Chef – Nathalie Herling cooked gumbo, one with shrimp and one vegetarian with okra. Served piping hot with rice and beans – wonderful!
Outstanding Vallarta Mirror columnist Sandra Bradley and I chatted with Colette Zarry, owner of Langostinos Restaurant on Los Muertos beach and co-creator of the free Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic, whose house in Gringo Gulch is always full of rescue dogs in various stages of rehab. They bring her such joy. Remember that 10% of all sales at her beachside restaurant are donated to Colina, as if the food and view were not enough incentives!
Sandra and I slowly walked toward home, digesting the generous serving of gumbo; I left her at the bridge separating Coloso from Emiliano Zapata colonias and made my way through the crowds of people wandering the streets, stopping for churros near the ‘other’ Catholic Church and hitting the bars with passion. I stopped briefly at Reinas to hug Gabe Arciniega and plunged onto Insurgentes and more foot traffic on my way to Galeria Zenit for Qvetzal’s solo exhibition.
I have known Qvetzal for five years and have watched his style and subject matter grow and change, and I was so happy to see his beautiful portraits of sensuous men and women engulfed in fanciful flowers and wildlife return.
The tiny gallery on Calle Libertad was packed with art lovers drinking wine, sampling splendid bruschetta, and enjoying Q’s paintings and the artworks in the other half of the well-curated gallery.
A couple of our best Scrabble players, Randy Thomas (our Club founder!) and Jonathan Lander, were introducing their friends to other aficionados. I also had the pleasure of meeting Paige Newman, who wrote about Qvetzal and this exhibition on February 26 in Vallarta Mirror.
Qvetzal plans to be painting at Zenit daily. This is a golden opportunity if you have never seen a maestro at work. I will have times you can stop by and watch a miracle of expression unfolding on canvas in a couple of days.
Meeting Zenit owner and stained glass artist Miguel Orozco was a pleasure. You can see his work almost next door to Zenit at El 7 de Cristal, Glass Gallery and studio. New, remarkable glass mosaic works by uber-versatile artist Vicky Thorne-Ohly can be viewed at Zenit; she does commissioned pieces as well.
It is March, and the frantic month of February is behind us, and Easter blooms a mere 40 or so days from this week’s kick-off on Ash Wednesday. I can feel myself relaxing as we move gently into Spring, new growth, warmer weather, and to the host of new people moving into our midst.