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Friday, January 10, 2003

TUCSON, THE ONLY U.S. STOP FOR KINO ART SHOW

By Anthony Broadman

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

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Omaggio a Padre Kino” is an acrilic by Giorgio Tommasi of Italy

On May 3, 1681, Father Eusebio Kino landed at Veracruz, Mexico. The New World has never been the same. Kino, a Jesuit priest. established 12 colonial missions in what he called Pimeria Alta the land straddling the present day Arizona-Sonora border – forever marrying the cultures of Spain and the Sonoran Desert.
But he was from northern Italy, not Spain.
It took an international ensemble o fMexican, Italian and U.S. artists to bring about “Homage to Father Kino,” a ret rospective o fhis legend and legacy.
This artistic look at the man born Eusebio Francisco Chini opens Saturday evening with a reception from 5:30 to 8 at El Centro Cultural de las Americas.

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“Il Lungo Viaggio” By Annamaria Rossi Zen is among the works int the exhibit

Blanca Villalobos, a Sonoran artist living in Tucson and a living testament to the rich acculturative product of Kino’s colonization, brought together an international ensemble of artists for the exhibit.
The list of contributors to the the exhibit reflects the international interst in Kino’s life.
In concert with a cultural association celebrating Kino’s life from his hometown of Segno, Italy,Villalobos gathered more than 60 works – paintings, engravings. photographs. ceramics ,sculptures and mosaics from 33 artists.
The exhibit “shows how peopIe from another country become related to you and your ideas, Villalobos said in an in an interview last week.
Organizing has exhibit has given Villalobos an appreciation of its subject – especially – when she realized Kino was responsible for her favorite food: taquitos de carne asada. He brought beef cattle to the Southwest.
Tucson is the only U.S. city to host the traveling exhibit, which has shown in Segno and in Obregon, Guaymas, Hermosillo and Caborca, Sonojra.
In addition to artwork inspired by Kino’s life, the special collections department of the University of Arizona Library and the Arizona State Museum have lent artifacts from the priest’s lfe to the exhibit.
Claudio Chini of Segno, a descendant of Kino’s, will tly to Tucson for the opening of the exhibit.
Kino’s contribution to the hjstory of Southern Arizona and the legacy of the missions he constructed here -in Tucson, Tumacacori and Guevavi – are retlected in Tucson being selected as the exhibit’s only stop in the United States, according to.Homage” promoters.
From Tucson, the exhibit con tinues on to Magdalena, Sonora, where it will conclude on March 15 -the 292nd anniversary of Kino’s death.

Quick take
Homage to 
Father Kino
When:  Opening reception is 5:30-8 p.m. Saturday. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; noon-4 p.m. Sundays. The exhibit runs Jan.11-31.
Where:  EI Centro Cultural de las Americas, 40 W. Broadway
Cost: Free
Information: 621-1481

Contact reporter Anthony Broadman at 573-4124 or
broadman@azstarnet.com

Copyright © 2003 Arizona Daily Star