Ellen Ziegler | Vignettes

EXPORTED: Ellen Ziegler | Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende | Entry #3

Artist Ellen Ziegler shares her last entry with us from her self-imposed residency in Mexico. Enjoy these imaginative moments captured in the light of Mexico. Thanks for letting us get a peek into your trip, Ellen. And welcome back home!

Cotidianidad | Quotidianity
Entry #3, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende – April 2015

My friend Ivan Puig calls these instances “cotidianidad”, and although the word “quotidianity” is only maybe a real word in English, it sums up those daily, ordinary, commonplace moments that illuminate us from inside.

Here are a few of mine from my time in Mexico. Thank you for joining me in my journey.

Shadow of a statue of priest Miguel Hidalgo, the father of Mexico’s revolution against Spanish rule, Dolores Hidalgo.

Dry fountain, San Miguel de Allende.

All electrical meters are covered by grates to prevent theft. No two alike, all hand-made. Here’s one…

A welcome in a small hotel.

Abandoned church, San Miguel de Allende.

Subway, Mexico City.

Sign, San Miguel.

Jell-O to go, Embajadores Market, Guanajuato.

Brass section, Sunday concert, Guanajuato.

Child’s dress worthy of a designer lamp shade.
San Juan de Dios Market, San Miguel de Allende.

EXPORTED: Ellen Ziegler | Museum of Antique Toys | Entry #2

Today Ellen Ziegler continues her EXPORTED series on Vignettes and is taking us along on a field trip to the completely unique, utterly fascinating Museum of Antique Toys. Here’s Ellen:

Museum of Antique Toys | Museo del Juguete Antiguo México

Entry #2, Mexico City, Mexico – April 2015

The Museum of Antique Toys (MUJAM) in Mexico City is a wildly independent, DIY, earthshakingly original place, run by a radical father-and-son, Japanese-Mexican team, both of whom trained as architects in both Japan and Mexico.

The elder Roberto (Beto) Shimizu has collected over a million toys in his lifetime; the younger Roberto is creative director of the Museum and a founder of the street art movement in Mexico. He commissions street artists worldwide to make work at the Museum and to participate in public art murals throughout Mexico City.

My graphic designer daughter Susie Briggs and I (a mother-daughter team!) will be making an artist’s book about this fabulous – in the true sense of the word – place.

We shot a couple of hours of video for our three-minute Kickstarter campaign, interviewing both Robertos. They are fiercely committed to the neighborhood – poor and working-class – and to making the place a “cultural embassy” that artists from all over the world can visit and make work.

Don’t miss MUJAM if you go anywhere near Mexico.