Twelve years ago, at the end of an eight-year solo-circumnavigation on her 31-foot sailboat, Henry chose Puerto Vallarta for her home. She took a break from painting to write By the Grace of the Sea: A Woman’s Solo Odyssey Around the World (McGraw-Hill/2002), opened a women’s sailing school, and finally returned to art. A long-time watercolorist, she spent spring 2008 exploring new avenues for her artistic expression…moving from realism to pure abstract, from watercolor to acrylic and oil, expanding the physical size of her pieces, and rekindling her passion for painting.

Appointments to visit the studio are available at other times at 222-4119. The Pat Henry Studio is located at Jacarandas 183 in Zona Romantica. Her show includes abstracts as well as monotypes. See www.pat-henry.com

May 28 to June 1, 2008, Puerto Vallarta will be home to the first annual Puerto Vallarta: Arte Contemporaneo, a contemporary art festival that will transform Puerto Vallarta into a showcase of art by Mexican and international artists.

Twenty-two artists, eight panelists and three art galleries will be participating in this year’s inaugural festival. Extended Borders: Shifting Cartographies will promote dialogues between Mexican artists and Los Angeles-based artists on globalization, the idea of extended borders, and hybrid identities.

Art lovers and collectors will see exhibitions and public art projects including videos and installation art along Puerto Vallarta’s Malecón, and will be able to participate in discussion groups.

All participating artists have had their work exhibited in prestigious museums in the USA and Mexico, many of them having exhibited in the Whitney Biennial. Some of the participating artists in this year’s festival include Francis Alÿs, widely considered to be among the most important artists working today; Los Angeles born and Guadalajara-based Eduardo Sarabia whose work is influenced by the poetics of the black market and northern Mexican folklore and who is in the Whitney Biennial 2008; and Los Angeles artists Mario Ybarra Jr., also participating in the Whitney Biennial 2008 and whose works have been exhibited at the Tate Modern, and the Prague Biennial.

Rita Gonzalez, an assistant curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Alma Ruiz, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, will be leading panel discussions. Puerto Vallarta: Arte Contemporaneo is directed by Los Angeles curator Pilar Perez.

Rich in culture and steeped in tradition, Puerto Vallarta is home to numerous cultural festivals from music, theater and film to culinary arts, and traditional indigenous cultures.

Additional information on Puerto Vallarta: Arte Contemporaneo ‘08, Extended Border: Shifting Cartographies available.

Original article appeared on Mexico Premiere