Page 34 - ArtUnlimited

JoSEFiNA tEmiN

Lives and works in México City, Mexico
www.josefinatemin.com

Art is not a thing, it is a way (Leontyne Price)
The work of Josefina Temin brings us into intimate re-seeing of the natural The forms of the insects, their intricacy and lucid dynamic, and these she
world. She has invoked the craft, the unique perceptual capabilities and explored in her chosen medium, paper. when, later that year, she made the
passionate attention of a master artist and stopped time. Her unique countryside Farm her home, she made the marvelous choice to ask, “what
translations of seeds, leaves, and insects into a medium, and scale, that craft is San Miguel known for; anciently, what is made here? By the artisans?
marvelously reveals the natural world’s mysterious – and constant- capa-
city to shapeshift, from form to form... This work catches a moment in that Tin, hojalata was the answer, for hundreds of years: San Miguel craftspeople
process and transmutes it into the medium of metal, its gleaming skin and make beautiful objects, boxes, frames, lamps and lanterns, nichos, of tin.
tensile beauty, so that we can see the moment just before disappearance Temin found a Maestro, Jose Luz Badillo Dorantes, and became his appren-
and transformation: we see what is just about to Become something else tice. A special table, the tools, followed, 3 times weekly sessions learning
…just before it disappears in front of us! the metals, mastering under his guidance, the tools: the possibilities and
capabilities of the tin, and then, copper, cobre, and brass, latón.
Leaves fall, decay, and feed the earth, seeds open, and cotyledon leaves,
the first tender green appear; we would be extraordinarily blessed to catch And then she began an alchemical translation into this new material: seeds,
these brief, evanescent moments…an insect landing before us: wings flut- scaled to engage us in their sensual shapes, made to catch water, now catch
tering, the complicated structure of its tiny self, quivering…and off…off it light. Spaces held open in their sleek and sensuous bodies for the Emergence
goes… before we can know its delicate way in the world. of the New : the transformation that is their destiny. Insects, their nuances
of quiver and tremble present in their wings. Leaves gathered, recreating
Lucky we are; this artist fascinated by these forms, touched by these beings for the viewer, the Bosque floor. Playing with scale, her work embraces the
so formally exquisite, whom we may, in the pace and stresses of modern details and focuses us, pulls into the incipient sense of change, the just-
life, never notice, has caught them for us, the sensuous sheen and curves, about-to-be motion.
even to replicating of the possibility of shiver and tremble….and it is a gift
of craft and making: a seeing and honoring what might be missed, had the
And then, what of the emotion caught? Pure joy!
artist not done the work of rapturous capture…
The play of the shapeshifting light on the worked skins – the joy of one to
whom Flight is a given, the leaves knowing themselves as neighbors: not a
Josefina Temin had long been renowned for her work as a paper artist; her
one…but a many – as if the sense of forest was innate in their form… Joy!
work has been featured at many galleries and museums in New York City
As the Makers know it: play, and an alacrity: the craft of the BeautyMaker,
and her hometown of Mexico City. Temin visited an Artist Retreat in the
wedded to deep seeing, and mastery…. A gift given back, to the Maestros
countryside just outside San Miguel de Miguel to spend 3 months resting,
of generations of men and women who held these same tools, the shears
refreshing her seeing, and looking, looking…deeply at the world. She walked
and the snips: so that we, may stand here, with her work…..and see the
the land: long walks in the early morning light, and something began to come
small world, so precious, so, both known and unknown, its mystery and
forward in her seeing.
glamour, offered, again, as gift, to us.
Judyth Hill, poet & provocateur Put a Spin on the Planet: write!!
(Rockmirth@cybermesa.com / www.judythhill.com)

 EsCARAbAJos, TIN AND COPPER 3X11X9 IN. /8X28.5X23 CM. / SERIES OF 5
MEzQUITE, BRASS 5.5X17X3 IN. /13.5X44X8 CM. 
ChApULINEs, TIN 3.3X18X3 IN. /8.5X46X8 CM. / SERIES OF 2 

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