Love Bucerías Style
winter-spring/2001

 

Sure, giving chocolates is great. But sharing oysters on a five-mile beach the color of honey is better. Along with its refreshingly kickback style, this pretty pueblo’s sublime seafood and shallow waters have long enticed. And now, the fertile imaginations of resident potters, painters and others of their ilk intrigue.
Just a few steps from the colorful open-air market, a light hearted loverslane typifies what’s happening.

Two neighbors, Mexican and Canadian, share the belief that through love and collaborative creativity the world can become a better place. So the carpenter and the painter, both sculptors as well, begin beautifying their neighborhood with unpretentious images from the heart. Life-sized sculptures – every female ripe with child – personify love’s transformative quality; sweet paintings attest to its many faces.
Soon their synergistic spark ignites: Every year since Arturo Ramirez and Marcel Gagnon began their ongoing work-in-progress four years ago, ten or more Quebec artists paint side by side with them for two weeks. This winter, the group will give new life to the town footbridge and more sculptures will materialize. And if enough artists contribute, the local primary school will be empowered.Meanwhile, around town, others are doing their thing.
Sometimes it’s a family affair. Dresden Blair is working on a screen play, Jeff Blair reincarnating driftwood as whimsical creatures, and daughter Karen running one of the most happening places in town: a restaurant right on the beach at the Hotel Costa Dorada. Sunday brunch is exceptional. And the live music Tuesday nights is a fine thing, too. Check out her poolside boutique, showcasing women’s clothing designed by fashion astrologer Kimberley Wilson.

After 41 years in northern Canada guiding budding artists towards their paths, Calum is loving his: painting, teaching and playing golf every day. As a high school teacher, the master of light and shadow organized and led student groups to Mexico. Now he’s receiving them, as well as anyone inclined to paint with him in his airy studio and receive one on one attention three hours daily.
Presenting a distinctly different persona, Plurimas is the town’s newest gallery. Evoking the Parthenon, its Doric architecture seems strangely out of context until owner Domenico Sparta shares the joke: It’s a playful metaphor for his name, that of an ancient Greek City!
It’s also a stunning backdrop for the hyper-realist paintings of Octavio Palos, the fluid cantera (limestone) sculptures of César González, and a sophisticated forum for functional items of beauty, like the picture frames Sparta designs to counter the “one size fits all” mentality he abhors. “Each piece of art is deserving of the perfectly appropriate frame.”
When it’s time to consider dinner, the ideal venue is Mark’s Restaurant and Bar. Owned by Mark and Jan, an Epicurean husband and wife team, the subtle complexities of outstanding food and ambiance are attended to.
Back at Lovers Lane, Arturo is asked how much he charges for a sculpture like the one he’s working on. Registering surprise at the question, he stands tall: “They’re not for sale. They’re for the sculpture garden. And when it’s full, I’ll make another.”