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Weekender: Art Tours, Tequila And Mariachi Music With The Kids

Joel Salcido
One of the images on display at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Take a tour of a garden filled with art, do some “educational” shots of tequila and bring the kids to play some mariachi music. Here are some ideas for how to spend your weekend.

Tonight, Sylvia Gonzalez-Pizaña said you should head to King William for two events one block apart.

"Today we have two outdoor exhibitions. We have Somos San Antonio at the Edward Steves Homestead. And then we have the closing reception of Danville Chadbourne's sculpture exhibit," she said about the Villa Finale event.

Both the Steves home and Villa Finale are huge and beautiful, but tonight's events are outside, in the yard. At Villa Finale it's all about the beautiful grounds and the sculptures.

Credit Jack Morgan | Texas Public Radio
Danville sculpture in front of Villa Finale

"The sculptures by artist Danville Chadbourne have been here since the spring and are a wonderful collection of very modern art,” Gonzalez-Pizaña said. “This is a chance for people to walk our gardens, get a look at the sculptures, get a look at the art."

Then at the Steves Homestead there's an art show called Somos San Antonio.

"Somos San Antonio is the art exhibition we have for local artists. They can either be artists that are established or even those artists who do it as a hobby," she said.

IF YOU GO WHAT: Somos San Antonio & Sculpture closing WHERE: Steves House and Villa Finale WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday COST: Free

Also tonight-- how much do you know about tequila? Photographer Joel Salcido said "It's a very labor intensive process that most people are not aware of."

Salcido went to Mexico to meet and photograph the people who farm the Blue Agave, from which Tequila comes.

"These guys are incredibly skilled and it's a generational job,” he said. “It's passed from father to son and so forth."

Credit Joel Salcido
Part of the tequila production process.

Salcido's collection of amazing behind-the-scenes pictures document the process from start to finish, and are on display at the Institute of Texan Cultures. Tonight he's there for an opening reception, with amazing tequila backstories.

"Tequila really doesn't come into being the iconic and symbolic drink of Mexico up until the revolution,” Salcido said. “The peasants and the poor people of Mexico prefer to drink tequila because it was the people's drink."

But Pancho Villa--not so much.

"Pancho Villa didn't allow drinking,” he laughed. “At all!"

Salcido's stunning pictures of the tequila creating process has been published in a coffee-table book. He'll be there at the ITC to sign copies.

"And there'll be a little bit of food I'm sure and some Mescal, some tequila."

IF YOU GO WHAT: Aliento a Tequila WHERE: Institute of Texan Cultures WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday COST: $10 to $12

Then on Sunday, Martha Marinez-Flores said the Pearl is going to be alive with Mariachi.

"During our farmer's market at Pearl we will have the Guadalupe Mariachi Academy at 10:30 a.m. and Campanas de America at 12," she said.

Credit Matt Buikema
Mariachis

That's just the beginning, though.

"We have a youth showcase at the Pearl Stable from 4-6. And then we have our main showcase at the Park from 4 to about 8 p.m.,” Marinez-Flores said. “Our headliner is Stephanie Urbina Jones and the Honky-Tonk Mariachis, with special guest Juan Ortiz of Campanas de America."

She said those with children will feel welcome because the Mariachi Academy is letting kids go hands-on.

“They bring mariachi instruments to children to learn about to see, to touch them. And that's going to take place from 5 to 6," she said.

Several years' worth of Mariachi programs in schools are beginning to yield great young talent, and they will be performing on Sunday.

“The thing that makes San Antonio so special is that we have generations of musicians here that are nurturing this beautiful tradition of mariachi,” she said.

IF YOU GO WHAT: Mariachi Lab 2019 WHERE: The Pearl Stable and Park WHEN: 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday COST: Free

Jack Morgan can be reached at Jack@TPR.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii.

Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii