Artist finds inspiration on the griddle

Gloria Hidrogo is world renowned for her original “tortilla art” in which she paints on “expired” tortilla pieces to create portrait images in oil of cultural icons, such as John Lennon, Steve Jobs, Charles Chaplin, the Dalai Lama and Marilyn Monroe.

Hidrogo’s art will be exhibited in a show slated to open Friday (Feb. 24), 5-8 p.m., at the Farmhouse Café in the Overland Compound, 1405 Paseo del Pueblo Norte in El Prado. A press release states that the “Mexican Consulate will also be in attendance.” Admission is free and the public is invited. There will be music and food at the reception.

Born in Mexico and raised in California, Hidrogo was honored last year in Mexico as a national artist, a press release from Farmhouse Café owner Micah Roseberry states. She has since been touring countries around the world to represent Mexico with her art.

Of her South American show, titled “My Culture, My Mexico, and Me,” Hidrogo said she hoped to “promote art and motivate young people to express themselves in a different way.” She said she finds that one aspect she likes about her art is that it gives her the “opportunity to express my culture in a positive manner.”

As a graduate of Bellas Artes in Mexico, Hidrogo has taught art in schools in California and Mexico, helping students to create their own tortilla art. “I find the children are eager to learn as they paint historic images on the tortillas while also developing their art skills.” Her show in Taos is a presentation of Farmhouse Café and the school lunch program.

“I am very excited that she is working with children and I feel it can have a very positive and creative influence during this time of immigration politics and fear,” Roseberry said in an email. “It is the beginning of a series of collaborations with Mexico with both art and agriculture.”

The art show and collaborative school art projects will have a common theme of cultures working together and joining in a positive, strengthening relationship for the future.

Roseberry and Hidrogo have chosen the theme of the monarch butterfly to exemplify the cross-cultural efforts required to work together to save the pollinators and to celebrate their transformative quality. “After all, butterflies are bilingual and fly freely across borders,” Roseberry said in the announcement. “Gloria will be working with students at two of Taos’ schools, Taos International Charter School and the Enos Garcia after-school program to create art pieces that will give the children the opportunity to participate in community building through art, further develop their art skills, and give them an opportunity learn about the commonalities between Mexican and New Mexican cultures. … We eagerly look forward to sharing this incredible artist with the community of Taos.”

For more information, call the Farmhouse Café at (575) 758-5683 or visit farmhousetaos.com.