Guatemalan painter shows his work to new audience at Beaux Arts Fair

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| Friday, September 10, 2004 11:03 PM CDT | () comments

David Burke

Guatemalan native Benedicto Ixtamer, in his first trip to the United States, struggles with his English, but some of his thoughts come through loud and clear.

"My art is in my body," the 23-year-old said, with a gleam in his eyes.

Ixtamer brought dozens of his oil-on-canvas pieces with him on the flight from Guatemala City to Chicago, and he will put those on display this weekend during the Beaux Arts Fair in downtown Davenport.

He is the guest of Jeanne Nakamura of Bettendorf, a speech pathologist who visited Ixtamer's village of San Juan La Laguna several times � one of the few persons of that profession the country has seen.

She became enthralled with the colorful artwork by Ixtamer, and encouraged him to visit her in the United States. He arrived in the Quad-Cities last week, and is in the United States on an extended visa.

One of eight children born to a farmer-builder father and a mother who weaves for a living, Ixtamer found solace in self-taught painting, even if it meant the disapproval of his family.

"I remember when I began to paint, it was hard to get the money to paint," he said. "Every time I would talk with my father, he would give me the opportunity to earn money for paint. It was hard to get."

"When he started, he just wanted to develop a style using the materials he had," said Nakamura, adding her own observations to interpreting Ixtamer's Spanish. "He tried to develop a style that was different from the other art around. Many people paint in Guatemala, and their styles are similar. But Benedicto really has a talent for really picking out details and seeing things that other people don't."

Ixtamer brings vibrant colors to the canvas, in a country where most artists use only watercolors.

"The people, they think about my art, they think rich art," he said. "My art has many colors, and I paint life from Guatemala. They think it's special art, because not all people paint the same. I (paint) an original piece, about my town and its culture."

Most of Ixtamer's painting reflects the culture of his village, a city of about 18,000 people known for its coffee and corn production.

"During the day they sell tomatoes and vegetables and things they grow," Nakamura said. "There are special stores just for bread, for everything the need."

Nakamura said Ixtamer's art accurately depicts life in the village.

"It really represents the Mayan culture. It's really important to him that people around the world have knowledge of the Mayan people and their culture," she said. "That's really very important to him."

San Juan La Laguna is one of 12 villages that circle a large lake. The lake is believed to be 1,500 feet deep, although not even undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau could make his way to the bottom.

"It's really beautiful," Nakamura said. "It's located on a lake that was an extinct volcano. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's in the mountains, so the days are kind of like today and the nights are cool."

Guatemala was the site of political unrest in the 1980s and '90s, but Ixtamer said the climate has changed since then.

"His father was arrested for coming home late, because they thought he was a guerrilla or a leftist," Nakamura said. "The climate's not like that now. We met the president's wife, who came to the village and is in charge of social programs in Guatemala."

Ixtamer volunteers teaching painting and English, and has studied physical therapy with hopes of being a physical therapist. He's also a volunteer tour guide for tourists, and through the years collected the e-mail addresses of the Americans whom he befriended. His first week in America he e-mailed all of them, and received replies with offers from people around the country to come and see them.

He has heard Nakamura describe the Beaux Arts Fair � a semi-annual fund-raiser for the Davenport Museum of Art and its 2005 descendant, the Figge Art Museum. Ixtamer is looking forward to displaying his work for an American audience, after receiving good response for the one exhibit he had at a museum in Guatemala.

"In Guatemala, you have to have connections to get into shows," Nakamura said. "He sees this as a great opportunity for people to see his work, and it might open doors."

Ixtamer will be a part of the Gallery Hop in The District of Rock Island later this month, and some of his work is on display at ArtFX in Rock Island.

Married and the father of a 2-year-old son, Ixtamer has been the most amazed by the technology he's found in America, Nakamura said. His eyes have widened at everything from the automatic door at the supermarket to a garbage disposal in the sink to the microwave oven.

Food in Guatemala is cooked over a fire, when it is cooked at all.

"Most of the food they eat are vegetables and fruit, and they eat them raw," Nakamura said.

Ixtamer hasn't taken to American food yet, Nakamura said, and his found himself making tortillas during the day.

"He said his wife would think that's funny," she said. "That's woman's work."

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com.