Art for Water Initiative

By Viridiana Gutiérrez

Art has always played a fundamental role in educating, raising awareness, and mobilizing people. Art is a powerful tool for steering the imagination and bringing complex issues to the forefront, for example, how climate change and water scarcity are intricately interwoven.

San Miguel artist and resident Erica Daborn recently partnered with Caminos de Agua, a local NGO, through the “Art for Water Initiative,” to support their programs. These programs bring clean water to vulnerable San Miguel de Allende communities and the surrounding region of the Upper Rio Laja Watershed, comprising more than 2,800 rural and urban communities exposed to the double risk of water contamination and water scarcity.

A new “Art for Water” event will take place on Thursday, December 8, from 6-9pm, at Relox 78, Centro, where some of Erica’s paintings and works on paper will be available for purchase. With every sale, Caminos will receive 30% of the sales. With each purchase, you will not only be promoting the arts but helping to raise funds for a significant social cause.        

Erica Daborn was born in Winchester, England. She studied at the Winchester School of Art and then at the Painting School of the Royal College of Art in London, where she received her MFA. She moved to the U.S. in 1984, where she taught at several art colleges, including for 20 years at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2015, following a 15-year relationship with San Miguel de Allende, she settled here permanently with her husband, filmmaker Dennis Lanson. Erica Daborn uses muralism to promote environmental and social awareness through her series “Dialogues with Mother Earth,” which has been exhibited in museums in Mexico and the U.S. during the past six years. Visit www.ericadaborn.com to learn more about the artist and see the work in the sale.

Caminos de Agua is a community-focused, data-driven, and science-oriented NGO based in San Miguel de Allende, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, registered as a nonprofit in both the U.S. and Mexico. We are a diverse team made up of immigrant residents and Mexicans, technologists and community organizers, researchers, and educators, augmented by a satellite network of technical advisors and researchers from around the world. We are united by our shared purpose and mission of improving human health and community well-being through adequate and affordable access to clean water. Visit www.caminosdeagua.org to learn more.

“Art for Water” 

Initiative Presenting Erica Daborn

Thu, Dec 8, 6pm

Relox 78, Centro, San Miguel de Allende

Free Entrance