Gloria Calderón-Sáenz Blog

In the sumer 2011, I spent a month traveling around the San Blas archipelago along the Atlantic coast of Panama. This group of Islands, about 365, are inhabited by Kuna people, an independent community of about 40.000 souls, settled in about 50 of the islands. All the other Islands are home to coconut palms, sand and birds. Kuna people arrived in the islands about 200 years ago. They came from the rain forest of Chocó, in Colombia, where they suffered from Spanish invasion and  violence from other indigenous groups, malaria, floods etc.

Life in the islands revolves around fishing, navigating to main land to grow crops as plaintain and yuca, taking care of the many children, and making molas (fabric apliqué art).There is some tourism in the islands but facilities are extremely basic.

I went there because I love the ocean,  and I have always been fascinated by molas, the art of Kuna women, this exquisite expression of form and color, that reflects their observation of the world , and is elaborated through layers of skillfully cut and sewn fabric.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Kuna Yala community for sharing their life with me during the 25 five days spent together. I am especially thankful to Griselda for feeding me with delicious fish and ‘Tule massi”(coconut soup). To Argelia for being my friend and for sharing her art with me, to 10 year old Karen, who helped me see her community through her eyes, to Teodoro, the visionary artist of Nalunega, for his knowledge of Kuna mythology, and his beautiful wood carvings, to Elias, the teacher, to Edi in Isla yerba, Demetrio in Isla Tigre, Arquimedes, Alex, Ana Lida, Aura, Argelinda, Ildia, Isabel, and many more.

Here are some photos of the trip:

Women in Nalunega

woman displaying her molas in Nalunega island

Sobi making a mola in Corbiski Island

canoe sailing

Teodoro, the visionary artist of Nalunega

Wood carving by Teodoro

Wood carving by Teodoro

wood carving by Teodoro

Mola making

Molas in Nalunega

In Isla yerba with Matilde and child

houses on the water

After the rain

And some Sketches and watercolors:

Vue from Isla Yerba

Houses in Corbiski Island

Vue in Nalunega

Coconut grove in Isla Yerba

Edi's family in Isla Yerba

When the weather gets warm one of my favorite things is to go camping by a lake in Vermont , Maine or Western Mass.

These are some collection of watercolors that I’ve done over the years. These are very dear memories, some in good company, other times just by myself

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Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Maine

Kettle Pond, Vermont

Benedict Pond

I traveled to France in February. I discover places in the south that were new for me. I was fascinated by the colors, even though it was the winter. Sage and Rosemary green, ocher clay, dark cypress green in tall pointy shapes, blue shutters, vineyards with no leaves, yellow mimosas blooming, old houses and castles and narrow streets, people smoking everywhere, people who can communicate without being sorry all the time. I felt that this places are my other home.

Marion's street

Falaises au dessus de Cassis

Le port de Sanary

"Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...."

A La Cadiere

La Cadiere d' Azur

Issa's kitchen

Marion et moi a Sanary sur mer

I spent 3 weeks in Colombia this summer. Here are some watercolors from my sketchbook.

During the very rainy weekend of June 20-21, I participated in the New England Printing Arts fair.

We had a Steamroller that helped us printing big format prints.

Mine was an image carved on plywood, 2 x 4 feet, representing a person riding a bike, having so much fun that he looked like flying…..

The inking, printing and even the drying process was complicated under the rain. I chose to print on fabric. When the roller passed over the print, some mud added color to the fabric.

here are some photos

Entre los años 1982 y 19998, vivi en Turgua, Venezuela. El lugar queda en las montañas, a una hora de Caracas, esta cubierto de un bosque magnifico lleno de aves, perezas, puercoespines, culebras, insectos. Allí vivían,  algunos viven todavía muy queridos amigos que se dedican a la cerámica y carpintería. Han pasado 10 años desde que dejamos Turgua con nuestra pequeña familia para instalarnos en Boston. Recientemente recibí una foto por email que me tomo por sorpresa: El hijo de uno de nuestros amigos de Turgua, Carlos Travis, decidió hacerse un tatuaje con uno de mis grabados hechos en Turgua. Representa una pereza (o perezoso según el país)colgado de un yarumo. Pensé que debía sobreponerme a la nostalgia y escribir unas lineas sobre “los tiempos fuertes” de Turgua. Tiempos de amistad, intemperie, creatividad en el medio del bosque. Ahí va la foto del grabado que hice en ese entonces y la foto de CarlosTravis con su tatuaje, el grabado al  igual que muchos otros que publicaré pronto, fue hecho con el fin de imprimir sobre franelas  y lo vendía durante los eventos bi-anuales de cerámica del “Grupo Turgua” .

I painted this mural as a gift to the children of the International School of Boston, where I serve as Extracurricular Activities Manager.

The idea came from the book: ” Life Story” from Virginia Lee Burton. It is a time line of animals starting with simple bacteria all the way to humans.

The mural is made of acrylic paint on plywood, it is made of three panels, and it measures in total: 21 feet long bt 4 feet tall.

It took me a year to complete and by the time I finished, the destination wall in the cafeteria of the school was removed for enlarging the space. Now the mural is in the school, but waiting to have a new assigned destination.  It was a great experience to work in that format over a long period of time. I had fun doing it, I challenged myself, and these things were worth my effort.

Mural painting for International School of Boston 2008

Here is a photo

This is my new web site. Thanks to Philip, my husband, I have the opportunity to share my art with you,  through the  ”window” of technology, at any time, from anywhere. I will also write regulary about what I am thinking, doing or wanting to do.  I will write in English, Spanish or French, depending on which language express better the particular ideas of the day. Making a website is also an emotional challenge because I had to dig old photos from pieces that I made longtime ago, and I still consider them important even if I feel far away from them. Seing art on a computer screen is a sort of “objective” experience, I can critizice my own pieces better than when I see them in my studio, full size. It’s like they get concentrated in some sort of “pure extract”. Some are too sweet, some are bitter or acidic or have little taste. I want to delete some of them and a minute later I want to embrace them all and learn from observing what worked better.