BUCOLICA - Exhibition and AIR at the Monterey Museum of Art

BUCOLICA
(bucolica californica)

Monterey Museum of Art
September 6 - December 11

Opening Reception and First Friday Art Walk
September 6, 5-8pm

Closing Reception and First Friday Art Walk
December 6, 5-8pm

Bucolica is a multidisciplinary art project that consists of a site - specific installation, a participatory Drawing-Performance and the creation of a tincture. This project revisits the concept of Alchemy as a tool for creation, healing and transformation, and invites the public to directly participate as co-creators. 

Inspired by the Renaissance Bucolic* genre, the hand cut astroturf pieces feature the Monterey Cypress, a traditional, romanticized and exaggerated example of the local landscape. The leaves and needles of this tree will be used to make a tincture. This  plant base extract is available for the public to taste, connecting them with wildcrafting, an ancient practice that acknowledges the necessity of respect and reciprocity between humans and the landscape.

Using mass-produced artificial grass recycled from a local park, Bucolica questions the uses of plastic synthetic grass as a substitute for real and sustainable local grasses, highlighting the powerful capacity of art making to transform discarded banal waste into a playful eco-friendly creation.  It aims to raise consciousness around pollution and what is called “waste” and encourage actions that will preserve limited landfill space and save precious natural resources.

• Bucolic: A pastoral lifestyle that lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music that depicts such life in an idealized and romantic manner, typically for urban audiences.

Bucolica Apothecary - Artist in Residence

 
Parallel to my exhibition at the Monterey Museum of Art, I'll be an Artist-In-Residence at the MMA La Mirada during the month of September.

Herbs have been used for thousands of years, both medicinally and ritually. In pagan and popular traditions around the world, the use of herbs is linked to ritual practice.  With the rise of new age spirituality in a skeptical world, we are overwhelmed by the revival of potions, remedies, amulets and spells with the desire of feeling more connected with the natural world.

I grew up in a part of Spain where popular culture associated certain plants with specific purposes, specially around pagan celebrations like Solstice or Samhain. This special interest in medicinal plants has taken me to participate a few times at the Northern California Herbal Symposium since I came to California in 2004. I am aware of the healing power of plants and also the role that traditionally they have played in ritual practice.

Through my residency at La Mirada, I’d like to explore the relationship between plants, ritual practices and this new global culture. I plan to do a research first about te healing properties of the plants that grow in the garden and other urban areas. Using the New Age metaphysical format I will use La Mirada as a platform where I will be able to research, experiment and create customize recipes, elixirs, and incorporate them into daily rituals.  This work will be site-specific, meaning that it will be inspired by the stories of Monterey Bay and it’s people.

The art residency will culminate with a ritual/celebration around the Fall Equinox on September 22 with the participation of the local community.