Community Corner
Frida Kahlo Celebration in Los Gatos Supports No-Kill Animal Shelter
Event Saturday also raises awareness about famous late Mexican painter.
The event, which was held for the first time last year, also included poetry, music, a Frida look-alike contest, and a silent auction featuring handmade filigree silver earrings.
Los Gatos Poet Laureate Emeritus Parthenia Hicks was the MC and Poet Laureate Erica Goss and poets Victoria Johnson and Renee Schell read their work and spoke of Frida’s influence on their art.
Galeria Arte owner Claudia Lopez sang La Llorona to guitarist James Robinson’s accompaniment.
Hicks described Kahlo, who originally planned to become a doctor, as a survivor and an icon to women all over the world.
Kahlo suffered a harsh street car accident at 18 that resulted in more than 30 operations and a lifetime of severe pain.
She painted mostly self-portraits and still life and “lived the hand she was dealt” with passion, turning her suffering into art. "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."
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Lopez was born in Guatemala and purchases work directly from artists and families who, she says, are “artists out of necessity” and often must borrow to purchase the materials needed for their work and are then in debt to the upscale shops that commission the work.
She sees her purchases as not just bringing beautiful work out of a village and into her shop, but as helping a family survive, according to Hicks.
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