Artist-author sees Mexico through kaleidoscope of color

By Diana Nollen

For nearly 30 years, Charles Barth has heeded the siren song of Mexico's vibrant culture and color to feed his art and soul.

His new book, “Kaleidoscope of Culture,” captures his vision of the history and mystery of the land, through 50 intaglio prints that leap off the page in a kaleidoscope of color. Based on 25 years of traveling through Mexico with his wife and students, the prints incorporate images of ancestors, goddesses, cultural icons, famous artists, including Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and lots of skeletons, influenced by the Day of the Dead festival.

“When I travel I start collecting ideas and link things together,” he says by phone from his home in Oaxaca, Mexico. “I try to bring in culture from the past and reflect that in contemporary culture.”

Barth, 67, taught art at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids for 30 years, retiring in 2003. His wife, Ellen, also taught art at St. Pius X Elementary School in Cedar Rapids and art education for elementary school teachers at Mount Mercy.

Printmaking was Barth's academic focus, but he also enjoyed teaching art appreciation, art history and design. He now works in his home studio in Oaxaca, equipped with a printing press. The prints in his 9-inch-by-12-inch book are actually about 18 inches wide by 24 inches long, printed on a museum-quality paper that he says is heavy, but very soft, so it will take the ink and pressure when he runs the plates through the press.

In layman's terms, he says the intaglio process begins with an initial drawing then transferred onto metal plates.

“The image is etched onto the plate,” he says. “Intaglio means that the ink is pulled from below the surface of the plate.”

He uses three zinc plates - one for each of the primary colors of red, blue and yellow.

“The way I do it is complicated,” he says. Each print would take two weeks “if I worked at it five days a week, eight hours a day.”

Some of his work is part of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's permanent collection and other prints are available at the Campbell Steele Gallery in downtown Marion. His book is available in the Mount Mercy College bookstore and at Antique Avenue, 888 Eighth Ave., Marion, run by his daughter, Courtney, and her husband, Steve Takes.

Barth and his wife still spend springs and autumns in Cedar Rapids, but in 1997, they bought a house in Oaxaca, where they live the rest of the year.

Oaxaca - pronounced “wa-hock-a” - is in the southern part of Mexico and has more than 250,000 inhabitants.

“It's in the second most southern state before Guatemala,” Barth says. “The city is in the valley, so the temperatures are mild all year-round. There's no humidity - that's why we like to be here winters and summers.”

Other factors drew the couple to Oaxaca, including the artistic climate.

“There's a large Mexican art community here, with about a dozen museums that are mainly art and many galleries. Besides the fine arts, there's an abundance of artisans and crafts made in nearby villages,” he says. “There's a wealth of artistic talent in this area.”

The city also has a small American community, although the Barths are the only Americans in their area. Communication isn't a problem, however.

“I speak enough Spanish to get by,” he says, “and some of my closest Mexican friends speak English.”

They all speak the universal language of art.

 “Another reason that drew us to Mexico in general is that the color here relates well to my artwork,” he says.

Especially in the colonial cities, bright colors adorn the architecture and textiles, as well as the trappings of the many festivals and feast days.

The Day of the Dead festival is a major influence in his prints. He was initially intrigued by the unique feeling of the Nov. 1 festival.

“It's one of the most different kinds of holidays of feast days, compared to how we celebrate in the United States,” he says. “I didn't know much about it when I first came here in 1980. On the Day of the Dead, the people make altars in their homes to honors deceased relatives and friends, then go to the cemetery to decorate the graves. Some even hire sand artists. It gets to be very fantastic, very decorative. They use images around the time that have very jovial types of skeletons.”

He says most believers visit the graves at night, when their ancestors' souls are said to come back to be with them.

“They think of death as an extension of life rather than the end. They have this kind of spirit that life's going to go on.”

He strives to capture the country's spirit and color in his work.

“When people look at my book, I want them to become aware of the beauty and creativity of the Mexican people,” he says. “I try to bring that out in the images I create, alluding to the wealth and abundance of their culture, in the past and present.”

ARTS EXTRAInformation: www.jamessnidlefinearts.com

What: “Kaleidoscope of Culture” by Charles Barth

Publisher: James Snidle Fine Art Publishing, San Francisco, 2009

Details: 9 inches by 12 inches, 116 pages with 50 color plates

Cost: $18.95 softcover; $26.95 hardcover from jimsnidle@gmail.com

Available locally: Mount Mercy College bookstore, Cedar Rapids; Antique Avenue, 888 Eighth Ave., Marion