The Carlos Cortes Grotto on the San Antonio Riverwalk
San Antonio has a deep tradition of public art in the Trabajo Rustico style. This style of cement sculpture made to look like petrified trees is often referred to as Faux Bois (perhaps someone should think up an English name for the linguistic trifecta). Projects like the old trolley stop near Central Market in Alamo Heights; the covered bridge in Brackenridge Park; and the entrance to the Japanese Tea Garden have fascinated San Antonians for years and the Southwest School of Art and Craft is hosting a lecture and exhibit focusing on this work.
The symposium Fantasies in Cement | The Tradition of Trabajo Rustico runs Saturday, May 15th from 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM in the Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall on the Navarro Campus of the Southwest School. The morning session is free and open to the public, and speakers include Patsy Pittman Light (author of Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez), Dr. Suzanne Seriff, Kimberly Wolf with moderator Kent Rush. The afternoon session is $25 per person and includes a box lunch, bus tour of Trabajo Rustico Works and demonstration by artist Carlos Cortes. For more information, call the San Antonio Conservation Society at (210) 224-6163. Cortez, the son of famed Trabajo Rustico artisan Maximo Cortes, has created numerous work in this style including Treehouse for the Witte Museum; a trellis on the River Walk and the massive Grotto (here and here) for the river’s Museum Reach
There will also be a reception for the exhibit Trabajo Rustico: Fantasies in Cement on Thursday, May 20th from 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM. This too will be in the Russell Hill Rogers Lecture Hall. It is free and open to the public. The exhibit runs through May 30, 2010.
