By: Sergio Brito
What used to be a textile factory, today houses canvases, sculptures and handicrafts from great artists who live in San Miguel. The Cultural Center of Art and Design, La Aurora, which has been revealed as one of the main attractions of the city of San Miguel de Allende, has a great reason to celebrate: its first twelve years of history.
After having been an important engine for the labor sector in the textile industry for nine decades, the walls of La Fábrica Aurora mutated to house canvases and handicraft products in exchange for the looms that in themselves already They had brought fame and recognition.
In this way, in 2004, under the auspices of Don Francisco Garay and with the initiative and creative value of Christopher Fallon, Mary Rapp, Merry Calderoni and DeWayne Youts, North American artists who came to the city to reflect their experiences. Thanks to the mastery of the brush, sculpture and design, the first workshops of what would eventually become a cultural center for the arts were opened. Since then, the factory corridors have been joined by contemporary art galleries, design and decoration furniture stores, as well as antiques, jewelry stores, table linens and linens, restaurants and what may be the most attractive The main feature of the place: the studios-gallery, which today provide the magnificent color that attracts countless people from San Miguel, tourists and any person who shows affection for the artistic.
“The character of the factory today is created by the artists that have been gathering here, from the initial ones that came in like Christopher Fallon, who was very involved in the beginnings of the factory, in the concepts and in the remodeling of its spaces. For this reason, I believe that the factory has been adopting the personalities and creativity of the people who have been meeting here”, mentions Mr. Francisco Garay, son of Don Francisco who was the owner and promoter of the Factory. A walk through La Aurora leads to multiple scenarios. From the simple delight of spending an afternoon touring its open walkways and studios, among paintings, antiques, books and sculptures, to the possibility of meeting face to face with an artist in full exchange of ideas and opinions at the moment in which a dish is tasted in the cafeterias of the place, or while they throw themselves at the stroke of strokes to conquer their canvases.
Mary Rapp, a sculptor established in La Aurora since its inauguration as an arts center, refers, “the walls of my studio still keep the marks of the machines from when it was the factory, those marks that I consider art in itself. Some of the artists that are here carry out the open studio, each one with their schedules that can be reviewed on the website, where people who wish can see us in our creation process”. Here, renowned national and foreign artists connect with more than a decade of history of the place, where they have known how to find a space to develop their creativity and exhibit their work.
The atmosphere conferred by La Aurora has invited new creators to join the passages on this stage, where distinctive art talents such as Peter Leventhal, Juan Ezcurdia, Ricardo García and Santiago Corral now spend part of their journey here capturing their dedications. Also the vision and interpretation of writers like Edward Swift, who took the liberty of elucidating the walls of the factory as pages, and in this way making it their own to inspire the creation of their memories.
Finally, with the affinity and warmth of hundreds of families who visit the various spaces that make up the cultural center every week. It’s been twelve years since La Aurora reopened its doors, now converted into an art and design center. From the effort of the Garay Family added to the initial vision of authors to explore the arteries of the factory closely linked to the artist, this project arises that now sees the fruits of his dedication. Years of scenes whose protagonists, painters, sculptors, gallery owners and guests, project on each other’s faces the appropriate inspiration to take away the memory of their works from this place.
That essence that combines the artistic identity of a city and the immediate reference for its tourists.
