ENCOMPASSING MEXICAN FOLK ART NEW WORKS ALL ABOUT INSPIRATION.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

A playful figurine of a mermaid with a guitar from Mexico inspires an equally playful penciled drawing of a mermaid by an American artist.

This cross-pollination of ideas is at the heart of ``Mirando al Sur/Mirando al Norte,'' a new art exhibition at California State University, Northridge.

Both the colorful drawing by J. Michael Walker and the black clay figure are part of the exhibition that opens Saturday and showcases the work of 27 Los Angeles artists who used the work of some of Mexico's greatest folk artists as inspiration for their own work.

The exhibit - whose title means ``looking south, looking north'' - pairs the contemporary Los Angeles works with the Mexican pieces that inspired them, allowing visitors to compare both.

``We are so imbued with the notion that ideas flow from East to West,'' says Kent Kirkton, Mexican folk art collector, CSUN journalism professor and department chair, who created the exhibit with Sybil Venegas, professor of Chicano Studies at East Los Angeles Community College.

``The idea that ideas also flow from North to South and South to North doesn't get talked about as much, but it's an important influence in contemporary art in Los Angeles.''

Kirkton, 60, of Glendale and Venegas, 55, of Los Angeles selected 27 pieces of Mexican folk art crafted in pottery, jewelry, wood, textiles and papier-mache by Mexican artists such as Miguel Linares, Angel Santos, Salvador Vasquez, Zenon Martinez, Adrian Luis Gonzalez and Ignazio Punzo for the exhibit.

The professors then approached 27 Los Angeles artists and asked them to respond to the Mexican pieces with their own work.

Walker was given the mermaid of black clay, which served as a taking-off point for ``Serenata de Sirena'' (Siren's Serenade), a luminous color pencil on paper drawing of a smiling, fleshy mermaid strumming a stringed instrument.

Some of the local artists featured in the exhibition are Leo Limon, Margaret Garcia, Eloy Torres, Alfredo de Batuc, Barbara Carasco, Diane Gambo and Wayne Alaniz-Healy, as well as Man One, Susan Elizalde-Holler and David Flury.

Gilbert Lujan, 64, of Los Angeles a Chicano artist who also is known as Magu, says he was delighted to participate in the exhibit. His colorful painting of two travelers in a low-rider adorned with Mexican designs and flora, ``Returning to Aztlan'' is on the postcards and posters for the show.

``I think it's stupendous, largely because I believe that artists should be depicting cultures and that artists are the best representatives and ambassadors to any culture,'' Lujan says.

Ricardo Reyes' acrylic painting, ``El Sueno de Pedro Linares'' (``Pedro Linares' Dream'') with its fantastical creatures, is based on the true story of a Mexican pinata maker who fell ill and dreamed of weird creatures he calls ``alebrijes,'' which he then sculpted in papier-mache.

Exhibited along with Reyes' painting are two of the ``alebrijes,'' crafted by a Linares family member and painstakingly painted with elaborate, intricate geometric designs in enamel paint.

Kirkton says he also hopes the exhibit will go a long way toward contradicting the idea that folk art is crudely made and not real or high art. In reality, many ``artes popular'' pieces are made by second- and third-generation artisans.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

MIRANDO AL SUR/MIRANDO AL NORTE

What: Art exhibit celebrating the influences of Mexican folk art.

Where: The Main Gallery at the corner of Etiwanda Avenue and North University Drive on the California State University, Northridge, campus.

When: An opening reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the galleries will include a performance by Willy Loya and the Trio de Alma and a low-rider exhibition by the Duke's Car Club. A gallery talk is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday. Regular gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Exhibit runs Saturday through Nov. 19.

Admission: Free. Parking in lots B6, E6 and student lots is $4. For more information, call [phone], or visit www.csun.edu/artgalleries.

CAPTION(S):

9 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) J. Michael Walker's ``Serenata de Sirena,'' below, was inspired by the clay figure at right.

(3 -- 4 -- color) This skull jug, above, led to Rude Caldero's ``Renacimiento,'' in onyx, right.

(5 -- color) Ricardo Reyes' ``El Sueno de Pedro Linares,'' on display at the CSUN exhibit, tells the story of a pinata maker who becomes ill and dreams of weird creatures that he then sculpts in papier-mache.

(6 -- 7 -- color) Lalo Garcia's ``Las Ollas de Molinaro,'' above, grew out of the Ollas ceramics at left.

(8 -- 9 -- color) David Botello's ``The Farmer's Seed,'' left, depicts the clay sculpture above.