Local artists display "Frames of the Mind" at art center

  Artist Angelica Villasenor and Manuel Cuen will display their work at the Yuma Art Center in a new exhibit beginning Friday.

  The dual exhibition, "Frames of the Mind," will be on display in the west gallery of the art center, 254 S. Main St., through Nov. 21. The opening reception will be open to the public beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, and the artists will be present to discuss their work.

  Villasenor said her interest in painting began when she was about 4 years old. She started off by painting nature such as landscape scenery, trees, animals. Now 26, she has found her own style and different outlook on life, she said.

  "I have found in painting and writing the best way to channel my emotions and frustrations positively. My paintings are a reflection of honesty and pure feelings, reflections of the courage and strength that characterize a new generation of women."

  Villasenor, a native of Degollado, Jalisco, Mexico, immigrated to the United States in 2003. She said she grew up as part of a generation that still accepted "machismo" and still believed that a woman's place was in the home while men went to work and received the benefit of an education.

  But she had a different perspective. She became one of the first females in her family to receive a college education, she said, and now holds the titles of psychologist, writer, actress and also a painter.

  "I began to feel the need to look for a way that women too have that right to get their studies, that right to an opinion, that right to express ourselves. We are not going to be an object for men, that we too have our forms of expression and feelings.. I want to give a different perspective, a way of being a woman."

  Villasenor said that 100 percent of her special collection on display will be available for sale.

  "I am finally becoming detached. At first, I felt that this sentiment was so close to me and I couldn't detach myself from them, but then I saw it as being too selfish on my part. But I have to learn to detach from my creations so I can continue to create more ... just like generations who have to detach from some traditions that aren't good or unjust."

  Cuen, born in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., became interested in painting when he was in sixth grade. He studied fine arts at the University of Sonora and at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City.

  Cuen, who heads the Yuma Mexican Consulate's Institute for Mexicans Living Abroad, said his current collection on exhibition at the art center presents the sun as the central element.

  "My paintings have been changing over time. Now I have been working with the idea that it's a very strong element in our region, and the stars that you see in the background of my frames symbolize the sun. I am passionate about working with this theme of the sun because it's simply an element that we live with every day."

  Since he works at the Consulate of Mexico in Yuma, he is exposed to everything that occurs on both sides of the border, Cuen said. In many of his paintings, you can see some type of plastic fence which represents the border.

  In other paintings, he paints the dead individuals to symbolize those who were trying to cross the desert. He also paints the stories and the aspirations of the individuals who live in Mexico, he said.

  "For me painting is like creating poetry. I like writing poetry and many times I grab my poems and convert them into images."

---
Stephanie Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@yumasun.com or 539-6847.