Lazy Girl Goes to Cuba: Part Three

El arte del mosaico
While in Havana our group from the Katonah Museum of Art was treated to a visit to the home and studio of artist José Fuster. I should pause now to introduce you to the Executive Director of the Katonah Museum of Art, Darsie Alexander. Darsie was on the trip to Cuba with us, and she lent invaluable insights to all of our visits to art venues.

Darsie is a relative newcomer to the Katonah Museum, having come from the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 2014. There she curated the exhibition, "International Pop," which travelled to Dallas, and most recently, to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it opened to much acclaim.

Full disclosure, my sister, Jeanne, serves on the board of the Katonah Museum, and that is the reason I was lucky enough to find out about the Cuba trip, let along go on it myself!

Darsie Alexander, Executive Director of the

Katonah Museum of Art,

with a statue of Cuba's national hero, José Marti, 

who led a revolution against Spain in 1895.

A Visit to the Home of José Fuster

Prolific mosaic artist, José Fuster, lives in the village of Jaimanitas. The denizens of this village are the happy recipients of his artistic largess, as he has not only decorated his own abode, but the humble and eccentric houses of more than 80 families in the village.

 Jeanne Markel standing inside the

Fuster compound.

 Luncheon was served to us during our visit.

I claimed a perch on this tiled wall.

Looks like a giant person with

a big heart.

 The gatekeeper closed the doors

once we were inside the Fuster compound.

 Wonderful structures reference other great

mosaic artists like Antonio Gaudi's work

in Barcelona, Spain.

Could this be the Virgin Mary by the pool?

 The most charming areas were

set up for our lunch.

 The mosaic "park" is complex.

 Claire looking happy.

 Lunch will be served.

The tablecloths were decorative and

lovely.

 The mosaics were multi-level.

 Another artist one thinks of is Simon Rodia

who made the Watts Towers enclave in Los Angeles.

For Sue Kreitzman

 Carol Markel posing with Banana Lady.

 Our delicious lunch.

The Bucanero beer was great.

 Outside the Fuster compound on the road.

There were delightful souvenir shops.

 A Fuster house in the village.

 At the corner of Chavez and Main.

 Houses in Cuba are nothing if not eccentric.

Viajes felices!

See information about the Katonah Museum here.
Read Holland Cotter's review in the New York Times
of "International Pop" here.