Come to Mexico City for an art history tour to explore the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera through their art.
2015 Schedule
- April 9 – 13, 2015
We will have a long weekend — 4 nights and 5 days, to learn about Diego Rivera‘s stunning Mexico City murals, visit Casa Azul where Diego and Frida Kahlo lived, and see the largest private collection of their work at the Dolores Olmedo Museum. Through their eyes, you will better understand Mexico’s political, cultural and social history.
If you want to register, send me an email.
Our guide is art historian Valeria Espitia, M.F.A., who shares her passion for the Mexican Muralists and narrates the expedition. She leads us through these spaces to give you the most meaningful educational experience:
- Palacio Nacional
- Palacio Bellas Artes
- Museo de Mural de Diego Rivera
- Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP)
- San Ildefonso National Preparatory School and Abelardo Rodriguez market
- Casa Azul — the home of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
- Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño
Casa Azul — Museo Frida Kahlo is a tribute to the life of both artists. Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño has the largest private collection of Frida and Diego paintings in the world. She was a benefactor and life-long personal friend of Rivera.
Plus, we will shop for outstanding folk art, and eat at local markets, historic and fine contemporary and traditional restaurants!
The trip includes:
- 4 nights lodging at a top-rated, historic center hotel
- guided discussions by art historian Valeria Espitia, MFA, educated at UNAM and Southern Methodist University
- visits to folk art galleries
- introduction to Norma’s favorite restaurants (meals not included)
- transportation to Casa Azul and Dolores Olmedo Museum
Preliminary Itinerary
- Day 1, Thursday: travel day, arrive and check into our hotel. Join in for an optional group welcome dinner (arrive by 6 p.m.)
- Day 2, Friday: guided visit to SEP, San Idlefonso, and the Abelardo Rodriguez market where Rivera’s students painted, optional group dinner
- Day 3, Saturday: guided visit to Palacio Bellas Artes and Museo Mural de Diego Rivera, optional folk art shopping
- Day 4, Sunday: guided visit to Casa Azul and Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño
- Day 5, Monday: depart
Be ready to WALK and then, walk some more! Don’t forget to bring an extra suitcase to pack the treasures you pick up along the way.
Cost: $695 per person double occupancy. $995 per person single occupancy.
What the trip doesn’t include:
- breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, alcoholic beverages
- transportation to/from Mexico City
- museum admission fees
- mandatory international health/accident insurance
- tips for hotels, meals and other services
Cost: $695 per person double occupancy. $995 per person single occupancy. Maximum: 6 people.
Optional: Arrive early and/or stay later to discover Mexico City and her incredible museums and restaurants. We will provide you with a list of recommendations to explore on your own. $200 per day per person additional. Tell us your dates and we will make your hotel reservations and include this in your invoice.
Reservations and Cancellations
A 50% deposit will guarantee your spot. The final payment for the balance is due 45 days before the program start date. Payment shall be made by PayPal. We will send you an itemized PayPal invoice.
Please understand that we make lodging and other arrangements months in advance of the program. Deposits or payments in full are often required by our hosts. If cancellation is necessary, please tell us in writing by email. After 45 days before the program starts, no refunds are possible. However, we will make every possible effort to fill your reserved space or you may send a substitute. If you cancel on or before the 45 day date, we will refund 50% of your deposit.
Required–Travel Health/Accident Insurance: We require that you carry international accident/health/emergency evacuation insurance. Proof of insurance must be sent at least two weeks before departure. If you do not wish to do this, we ask you email a PDF of a signed and witnessed waiver of liability, holding harmless Norma Hawthorne and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. Unforeseen circumstances happen!
To register, email us at normahawthorne@mac.com. We accept payment with PayPal only. Thank you.
This workshop is produced by Norma Hawthorne, Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. We reserve the right to adjust the itinerary and substitute leaders without notice.
Thanksgiving and Frida Kahlo, Hospitals and Recovery
It’s Thanksgiving Day 2014. I’m at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, North Carolina recovering from knee replacement surgery in a hospital bed that reclines to any position at the touch of a finger. In the past twenty-four hours, Frida Kahlo has often entered my mind.
Mostly because she did such a miraculous job of hiding her pain and her deformity when medicine at the time did not offer sophisticated drugs or surgical techniques. She adorned herself in jewelry and costumes to focus attention to her upper body.
Mostly because I want to look “normal” just like she did. Friends will come to visit today with good cheer, turkey and mashed potatoes in hand. My bandaged leg is under a blanket, my lipstick is applied.
Mostly because having surgery is a solitary experience, even surrounded by flowers, accompanied by Facebook, family and friends who are with me in this virtual world. Frida did not have Facebook and WhatsApp to connect her. She had her imagination and insights.
She reached out to connect by looking in the mirror that still hangs above her recovery bed in Casa Azul, paintbrush and canvas in hand, sketchbook and pencil in hand, to express her feelings about life, death, politics and Diego.
I have my knitting at hand, my dreams rumbling around in my mind and my plans for the new year formulating.
When I left Mexico City last week to return to North Carolina for this surgery, I kept the image of Frida on her bed with me. Her effigy was draped in an indigo shawl reflected in the mirror above.
My knee will heal and the pain will subside. This is more than a hope. It is knowledge that my care team led by Dr. Rhett Hallows, a Duke orthopedic surgeon, is expert. Afterall, I did interview four surgeons in September!
Today, one day after the procedure, I used day-glow pink, duct-taped crutches to walk my first three hundred and one steps down the hospital corridor. The goal was three hundred, but my friend Mary Ann said, go on, you can do one more. So, I did.
I am reclined in my hospital bed ready to welcome visitors. I give thanks for the gift of life as it presents itself each day, each moment a different experience and not as I predicted.
It is a perfect day for giving thanks, to my family and friends, to the strangers who care for me, and to Frida’s memory, a woman who endured hardship and pain. Frida is a model for what it means to transcend, create and live large.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I am grateful you are a part of my life.
Looking for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Art History Study Tour, April or July 2015.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Mexico City, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged art, Duke Regional Hospital, Frida Kahlo, knee, medicine, partial knee replacement, Rhett Hallows, surgery, Thanksgiving