Patio

The entrance patio (click to enlarge)

Here’s a view of the patio I took yesterday from just inside the entrance. Just out of site below the frame is the fountain/sculpture that Federico is working on. It connects to the low wall that curves off to the left. The building in the back has Gallery #1, and as you can see it still needs quite a bit of work, although, most of the front wall had been repaired by the end of today. The building on the right has Gallery #2 and Gallery #3. This is the building we are concentrating on getting ready for the October opening, along with the patio itself, a small cafe in the back patio and the portales of Gallery 1.

The garden of the patio has changed a lot; just a couple of weeks ago it looked like a jungle. The area in the foreground will be a tea garden, with fresh teas grown there for the small café that will be in the back patio. The roses are almost done blooming, and when they are we will trim them back; something that hasn’t been done in a long time. The poso at the far right will be redesigned to be more elegant (couldn’t really be made to look less elegant). Federico is working on a design for that now. The three columns on the building to the right (Galleries #2 &#3) were finished today and I started working on the three square columns on the building on the left (Gallery #1).

I’ll try to post a picture of the patio each week until it is finished so that you can see the progress.

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Ubicación / Location

Location of the gallery/Ubicación de la galeria.

Here’s a screen shot from Google Earth showing the location of the gallery. As you can see the gallery is 4 blocks north of the zócalo and almost three blocks east of the zócalo.

Aqui esta un foto de Google Earth con la ubicación de la galeria. La galeria esta 4 manzanas norte del zócalo y casi 3 manzanas este del zócalo.

Photomontages de la progression

Columnas de Jack

entrée du musée

Columns

Close-up of one of the columns

I’ve been scrapping the paint off of the three turned columns in front of gallery #1 for a couple of hours a day for over a week now. There were at least five layers of paint: brown on top, then blue, green, brown and red (and maybe a white layer under that). I used a paint scraper, steel brush, belt sander and paint remover. It was a real pain in the neck, but I think the results are worth it. Today I put the linseed oil finish on the first column that I finished. You can see above that I was unable to remove all of the paint, especially the bright green layer, which got into every nook and cranny. The photo above is a particularly bad section with lots of green; overall it looks good. From across the patio the green is hardly noticeable and it will gradually flake off and let the wood show through. The columns are pine, probably what’s called locally ocote (a kind of pitch pine).

Here’s a shot of the top of the column, which looks much better:

Top of the first Column

Departamento de los cuidadores

El sabado terminamos el departamento junto al museo donde van a vivir, desde octubre, las personas que cuidaran el Museo; Desde lunes los albaniles solo se dedican a la restauración de los espacios de galerias y jardines.

departamento del museo

Exterior de la Galería

Arriba en el “header” puedes ver el exterior de la galería como esta hoy, incluyendo el grafitti. Vamos a cambiar esta foto cuando el exterior este restaurado.

Above in the header you can see the exterior of the museum as it looks today, complete with graffiti. We’ll be updating the image as the restoration continues.

Restaurando

Theo Pintando

La restauración del museo/galeria continua. Hoy Theo estaba pintando el exterior y interior de la sala de exposición #1. Jack continua quitando 150 años de pintura de las columnas del mismo cuarto. Fedrico esta trabajando en la escultura/fuente de la entrada.

The restauration continues. Today Theo was painting the inside and outside of the gallery room #1 while Jack continued removing 150 years worth of paint from the columns. Federico is working on the fountain/sculpture just inside the entrance.

Plan du musée

Ces jour nous travaillons à la restoration du patio-jardin

Museo Galeria Elisa Burkhard coming soon!

Everyone living or visiting San Cristobal de Las Casas is invited to stop by and see the new art gallery and museum of contempory art that will be opening in late October in San Cristobal. The address is Yajalon #2 (on what is known as the Cola de Diablo, where Dr. Navarro turns the corner and changes into Yajalon).

We (that’s Federico Burkhard who came up with the idea, Theo Toy, and I) are in the process of renovating this beautiful 100+ year old house and turning it into a museum of contemporary art, gallery, café and workshop.

We will be posting pictures as the restoration progresses and will also be announcing what we hope to include in the gallery and museum. Posts will be in multiple languages as Federico speaks French, Theo speaks Italian, I speak English, and we all speak Spanish. If anyone has any questions or suggestions please leave them in whatever language and we’ll do our best to follow up on them.

That’s all for now,

Jack Nelson