When I think of artwalks or festivals or outdoor markets, my mind is swept away into exotic bazaars marked by their hazy incense smoke. Or dirt alleys in the jungle, where monkeys get at your wallets just as easily as do the local artisans hawking their crafts. Yet the art from some 300 regional and international artists, set to be shown at San Diego’s Mission Federal ArtWalk on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26, may provide some reasons for a travel snob like me to stick around. One of the exhibitors supplying those reasons is Mario Cespedes, who was born in La Paz, Bolivia, a city shaped by its 12,000-foot elevation and its production line of colorful Alpaca textiles. At 14, Cespedes immigrated to Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he met and learned from other artisans in the city’s public markets. “When I was a kid, I took art classes in school in Brazil, and I saw how artists displayed their work in public places. I started showing my own work in a public park in downtown Sao Paolo. On Sundays, there was a fair for art and small crafts,” Cespedes said. Cespedes is aware of the distance between his style of art and that of the Bolivian and Amer-Indian artists, whose works are heavily influenced by earthen motifs and textiles. “I don’t have the same feelings as the people back in Bolivia. I no longer see the images from that place in my mind, and I have changed,” Cespedes said. “I went to explore the rainforest [in Brazil] because that’s simply where I was living. I left my Indian heritage in Bolivia and began working with the rainforest and other South American themes.” One prominent theme in his art is pollution and the toll it takes on the planet. In one series titled “Sick Water,” Cespedes immersed canvases in Brazil’s River Tiete at the river’s pristine source, at a point outside Sao Paolo and within the city itself, where the water was dark with pollution. “The canvases were turned different colors based on where I put them in the river, and it made a very strong statement. The river was my partner,” Cespedes said. Cespedes began painting with oils and acrylics but has seen his medium change to involve more mixed materials. “Now, I work with wood, metal and any materials I can get. When I use other materials, it gives me more ideas,” said Cespedes. The artist lives in San Diego and will be here until October, when he returns to Sao Paolo. Two-hundred ninety-nine other visual artists and 30 bands or solo performers are coming to the 25th Mission Federal ArtWalk. The music will feature an impressive palette of international color, ranging from Novamenkos’ New Age flamenco to Fiffin Markets’ modern spin on Irish folk music. Go back those 25 years and you will find yourself in a time when ArtWalk managing director Sandi Cottrell was growing up in San Diego. “In its early days, the art was shown more from building to building, gallery to gallery. Art was even shown in empty warehouses and bank offices. Then in the ’90s, when real estate was booming and inside display space became tight, organizers moved the art outside,” Cottrell said. “2002 was the first year [art] was completely on the street. All of a sudden, your favorite restaurants along India Street became a great backdrop to artisans and their creations,” Cottrell explained. “The Mission Federal ArtWalk has grown over the years to become Downtown San Diego’s biggest event,” Cottrell added. The event normally attracts more than 100,000 patrons. This year is also ArtWalk’s first year of title sponsorship. In the past, a number of small sponsors teamed up to fund the event. The organizers are now enormously grateful to have found the nonprofit Mission Federal Credit Union, a group that places the same value on art education in schools and other ideals the event is built upon. Practice pronouncing the mouthful that is Mission Federal ArtWalk as it comes to India Street in the heart of Little Italy on April 25 and 26 from noon to 6 p.m. For more information, visit missionfederal artwalk.org.
