When I first heard a college professor mention Western Art, I thought he was referring to the art of the Western United States. I grew up in California, home of the cowboy Westerns and the ultimate westward bound destination. I knew no other Western. It was later in a café that another student discretely clued me in to the fact that Western Art refers to art that is of Western European derivation, excuse me, after she finished deriding me for embarrassing her by adding hot water to the first demitasse cup of espresso I had ever drunk.

One day in a design class, I shared my excitement about some Mexican art I had seen in a Los Angeles gallery, and that art professor reprimanded and reminded me that Mexican art was “folk art,” not serious, Western, art.

I was forced to think that the Mexican art was beautiful and inspiring art in silence.


continues on page 11, Working Powerfully

13) Cover: Mexican Folk Art Coloring Book. Marty Noble, 2003