My husband, Fred and I have been asked to travel to San Luis Potosi Mexico to document their Semana Santa Festival through our photographs, paintings and writing for the Frank Bette Center of the Arts and the Davis Family foundation. There will be an exhibit in November at the Frank Bette Center of our best images. My hope is that I will be able to explore the artistic expressions of the local culture as shown during the festival. San Luis Potosi is the site of one of the largest Semana Santa Festivals in Mexico. The biggest event during the week is the Procession of Silence.
I hope to be able to update this blog with interesting tidbits about my thoughts on the trip and information that we learn before we go and what we see and learn after we arrive. My postings will most likely be intermittent.
Mr. Davis has given us a couple of local contacts who have been providing us information to look up and think about. I must admit that I had not heard about San Luis Potosi, a city of over 6 million people, in the North Central Highlands of Mexico before accepting this quest. One of the first silver mining cities from the early days of Spanish colonial times, it was established in 1592 near the silver deposits in Cerro de San Pedro. San Luis is called Potosi`after the immensely rich Bolivian silver town of that name which the Spanish hoped it would rival. It was established with Siete (seven) Barrios each with it's own church and distinctive Indian group. The Barrios(districts) and their churches are still an important aspect of the city.
We have been looking at surrounding towns to explore while we are in Mexico. On a previous trip we visited San Miguel de Allende with it's large American ex-pat population and nearby Guanajuato another of the old silver mining towns, now a university town with homes and businesses painted in the most gorgeous range of colors. This trip we will spend our time exploring some new places like Zacatecas and Real de Catorce.
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