As the town of flowers, she’s from, Silvia Uzcanga adds beauty and delight to all she touches. Growing up in Xochimilco, an area of Mexico City, Silvia remembers fondly the scents emanating from the canals as boats adorned with glorious woven flowers paraded for others to enjoy. Creating art is her passion.
Silvia is the sole local painter creating murals in La Cruz in association with Colectivo Tomate. It’s an exciting project, bringing youth and art together in beautifying the walls of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. Each mural is based on a story about the house owner. Silvia’s project is a story about a father raising four children on his own. Her vision is to honor the memory of this man who so loved his son and daughters. His oldest daughter wanted a piece created so that others can remember her Papà as dearly as she does.
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle is located between Punta de Mita and Puerto Vallarta, on the spectacular Bay of Banderas. Over the past few weeks we’ve watched as talent emerged and thirty-six +/- walls around town became canvases; documenting stories of the good people of La Cruz while creating stunning works of art by artists from around the world.
Having first visited La Cruz eleven years ago, Silvia “stayed because it felt right at the time and I built up a family of friends here. I never felt like I belonged before until I met so many amazing people; I had my gang that I considered more like family than my real family”. The community here is special indeed and now includes her own family; with the addition of her two beautiful daughters.
Silvia’s life is her kids and her art. When I asked how she does it all “I guess that if you really want and like something, you always have time for it, in my case, it’s something I need. It’s an urge to create something new, to learn every time I hold a brush or create a sculpture. More than anything I´m glad we never get to know it all. I have the support of my friends when it’s time to hold one of my babies while I create. I believe that in order to give a legacy to your children you must keep feeding yourself; nourishing your soul so you can raise free spirits”.
Silvia said “With my art, I don´t think I have a specialty – I guess that I like challenges. Sometimes in the middle of a project, I find myself overwhelmed by it; involved in a love-hate relationship until I finally accomplish what I’m wanting. I have an urge to experiment with every wall technique there is. I enjoy the process and I feel good when someone really loves what I’ve created or is impressed by my creation; not that I feel superior or that it inflates my ego… sometimes I don´t even like to sign some of my murals. To create something and have an impact on people’s lives, inspiring others in any dream they might want to achieve, that’s rewarding.”
“Art is always challenging as mostly I create pieces for other people within a specific theme. I’m working with the expectations of my clients… of course, I break and put myself back together many times until they tell me they like it. The only time I felt like I didn´t accomplish my job is one time when I spent several hours on a project where I was told to do whatever I liked design-wise and the owner told me he liked it but in the end, he covered the walls of his restaurant with paint where I created art which never was seen. As artists, sadly, it’s all too common that people ask you to create art in their property so you can promote your work not wanting to pay cash believing they are doing ‘you’ a favor to “promote” your work. Often it can be disrespectful given the time and effort I spend on a project. My clients are mostly friends that I met back when I was bartending at the Shamrock Bar in Bucerias and referrals from them; they are Mexicans and foreigners as well.”
“My inspiration comes from basically anything. It depends on my mood or the circumstances as to what I consider beautiful. I have a dark sense of humor. One day I make this beautiful girly piece and the next day I´m painting or putting together stinky bones that I just found at the beach.”
Silvia loves water sports; snorkeling, sailing and, surfing. She’s also passionate about horse riding and CrossFit training. Although she doesn’t cook very often Silvia enjoys doing so. One of her favorites is ribeye with rosemary butter and cow´s heart a la Mexicana. She also told me “I make decent sushi and octopus salad”
As to whether Silvia believes the changes to the area are for the better, “Of course, there are more job opportunities, and I’m concerned there is not the infrastructure to keep our town healthy; like spaces where children can learn art, sports or study. It seems the focus is on tourism without considering the need for places to feel safe, we must feed the people’s needs at different levels to avoid crime and to teach everyone to be a better society. I believe we need more trees. I wish developers would include more green areas to their buildings.”
When I asked her what people around town might not know about her, Silvia responded, “What I want them to know, hahaha – That I like to support projects but sometimes I don´t know how, like I would love to have a place where everyone can go and recycle their plastic bottles in a fun way. Have you ever seen these machines you can build at home? You grind plastic to make it into little pieces and you can “cook it into a bowl” or something else that’s useful or make a string that can be used for other projects. I’d also like to see empathy workshops. Empathy is something humankind is lacking.”
Silvia told me she “Feels proud every day as I always try to be a better person… I’m far from what I was, we all make mistakes whether we are conscious about it or not but it’s our journey to improve ourselves and be better.”
Silvia invites you to visit her town and hopes La Cruz will always stay like it is; this beautiful little town. She hopes that anyone who moves here keeps it as nice and friendly as it has always been.
Contact Silvia for artwork and murals at silveloi@hotmail.com or on her Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Silveloi
