By Carolyn Studer “Trial by fire.” That’s how violinist Alexa Torres, the first woman and first violinist to graduate from the University of North Texas’s Jazz Strings Program, describes the bebop class where she first met guitarist Mario Wellmann. “You had to play specific musical devices in all 12 keys,” she said. “Random keys would flash up on a screen and you had to improvise in them. The fact that the keys weren’t tonally related made it harder.” After the exam, they wen

By Adam Katz When I moved to San Miguel de Allende a little less than a year ago, the murals stood out as one of the defining features of the town. I wanted to learn more and to see more of them, so I asked someone whether a list of the murals existed anywhere. They told me, "It's impossible. There are way too many." Because no such list existed, and because I rarely shy away from a challenge, I started taking pictures. And today’s AI tools make it pretty easy to build a web

By Ferdinand Rosa What happens when three artists—each with decades of experience and a distinctly different visual language—bring their work together in one space? This fall, San Miguel de Allende will find out. On October 28th, artists Alberto Lenz, Ferdinand Rosa, and Gene Johnson will open Three Journeys in Non-Objective Art at Estudio Rosa. Bringing together three independent artistic paths, the exhibition also marks the launch of The Abstract Collective, a new initiativ

By Staff Writer Galeria Blue Moon welcomes Mexican animator, writer, producer, director, and painter Jorge R. Gutiérrez to San Miguel de Allende for the first time. His solo show will feature more than 30 new paintings created specifically for the occasion. Gutiérrez's visual style was forged on the border. Born in México City and raised in Tijuana, he grew up immersed in the vivid, mixed-up world of border pop culture: hand-painted vendor stalls, bootleg toys, and the mash u

By Judith Jenya For Joseph McClain and David Manning, San Miguel de Allende was supposed to be a retirement place. Instead, it became the place where decades of experience in opera, education and leadership converged. Joseph’s life in opera began far from San Miguel. Born in Oklahoma City to a Baptist preacher, he grew up moving from coast to coast with his father’s ministry. Music was a constant. He began with piano lessons as a child and eventually discovered his voice. By

By Meryl Truett Years ago, when I was living and working in Savannah, Georgia, I was fortunate to be included in an article about artists to watch and collect. I remember what it meant to have an arts writer look at my work at that particular moment in my career and say, essentially, pay attention to this artist. Now I find myself on the other side of that equation. Recently, I have had the opportunity to watch the development of the artist Romería Louise Mancera. I have watc

By Staff Writer Since 1990, Carlos Araya Vargas has lived and worked between Chile and France. This dual belonging is central to his painting, built from memory, territory and displacement — physical and emotional — linking urban experience to social transformation. Artist, professor and art therapist in psychiatry, Araya has worked from Santiago and Paris to remote territories, where painting meets lived experience.For eight years he has developed a series on Aleppo: over th

By Colleen Sorenson Rufino Balderas Rojas, Taz, is a local San Miguel artist who is deeply committed to his community. At age 38, he lives in Santa Cecilia with his daughter but he grew up in Colonia San Rafael where he has at least 50 family members. Rufino is at the head of the community nonprofit organization Yo Amo Mi Barrio, started 14 years ago by his friend Yahmi. When Yahmi later died, Rufino and his friend Queso carried the organization forward. "We are a community o

By Lola Picó Here we are again, you and I, in this corner, alongside an artist. Let’s discover him together. This time, the door opens into Filippo Giusti’s studio. As I step inside, I find myself surrounded by faces and bodies emerging between the figurative and the abstract, layered with shapes and color. There is serenity, mystery, and strength. Moving among his paintings, I sense that Filippo is not simply portraying a face, but reaching for something more intimate. Paint

By Scott Simmons Scott Simmons recently interviewed Frank Gaydos to find out how a former organization development consultant retired to San Miguel and reinvented himself as a screen/TV writer. SS: How did your journey as a writer begin? FG: It started when I got a B.S. Degree in Language Arts (English, Literature and journalism) from California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly-Kellogg Campus). I was working at the Kaiser Steel Plant in Fontana California nights and goi

By Felecia Ford From singing the blues alongside legends like Buddy Guy to singing on the Count Basie Orchestra’s Grammy-winning album, “Basie Swings The Blues,” Ohio native Lauren Mitchell has built a career that’s taken her to places most musicians only dream of. FF: When you were asked to record with the Count Basie Orchestra, did you realize the magnitude of what that invitation would bring? LM: I immediately understood the gravity of what I had been asked to do. It was t

By Catherine Marenghi Of all the rich literary traditions of San Miguel, the San Miguel Poetry and Prose Cafés (P&PC) is among the most popular and enduring. Often playing to capacity crowds, this rich tradition continues with the announcement of the 2026-2027 season. Rosaleen Bertolino, a San Miguel writer and author of The Paper Demon and Other Stories, chairs the board of directors for the P&PC. She and her team recently completed their lineup for September 2026 through Ma

By Colleen Sorenson The first day of August began as another perfect day in San Miguel de Allende, later transforming into a sudden monsoon-like storm of hail, wind and flooding rain. Those of us with the La Vida de Las Cachinches mural project had spent the day preparing for an outdoor celebration honoring the artists and sponsors of the 12 new murals along the mural walkway. The event setup was lovely and included delectable finger foods provided by Chef Donnie Masterton of

By Natalie Taylor Francois Yohalem has been living in San Miguel de Allende for twelve years and certainly has not been idle. She was born in a little town in the Dordogne Valley in France, but soon embarked on a life that took her far from her birth town. She went to London, then to Washington, D.C., where she found a position with the French Embassy, married and settled down. She then returned to university to study art, and earned a Master’s degree in studio painting. Work

By Meryl Truett San Miguel de Allende has long had a gift for influencing and shaping artists. The Instituto Allende drew spirits from across México and the world, becoming a crucible for serious artistic formation. It was here, in 1972, that a young painter from Guadalajara arrived on scholarship — and the city left its mark on her permanently. That year, Lucía Maya received a scholarship to study sculpture, painting, and lithography at the Instituto Allende. Born in 1953 on

By Don Krim "I was back home in Zacatecas, teaching in a tiny voice academy, trying to make ends meet. One of my students brought me a mug from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She said “you HAVE to go there!” and I thought “No way!” I had no money, no visa; I had never been on an airplane. Did I ever imagine I would sing on the MetOpera stage, in a solo role in 2022? “No way!” Thank you, San Miguel MetOpera Trust, for my Metropolitan Opera audition in 2018 and for open

By Staff Writer Why does a hammer have that proportion and not another? Why does the curve of a French curve feel so natural? Why have certain tools remained virtually unchanged for centuries? The answer lies not only in function but in the memory they embody. Each one is the result of generations of observation, testing, refinement, and accumulated experience until reaching a form that now appears inevitable. Memory of Forms, the new solo exhibition by architect and visual a

By Judith Jenya Rick Brunson’s life has been anything but ordinary. Raised on military bases across the United States and Europe, he seemed destined to follow a long family tradition of military service. Instead, his early inspiration came from an unlikely source: Mad Magazine. As a teenager stationed in Germany, Brunson began copying the work of cartoonist Paul Coker Jr., teaching himself to draw line by line. That simple act of imitation sparked a lifelong relationship with

By Colleen Sorenson I believe good things are worth waiting for and sometimes that wait can take 14 years. In 2012, I took a walk along the banks of Arroyo Las Cachinches, when there was no walkway and no murals. To address the unsightly tagging found on the back sides of many houses along the arroyo, I presented to the city an idea for an outdoor gallery of street art, along with an outdoor classroom for urban nature. It was then that I learned street art was not permitted i

By Natalie Taylor There are those who settle into a community, carry out the duties of their profession, and spend their lives fulfilling the responsibilities entrusted to them. Others, however, are not content to remain within the boundaries of their calling. A passion drives them beyond those limits. Father Fernando Manríquez is a priest, charged with leading a congregation, but he stepped outside his vocation, tapping into other interests present since childhood. I asked h