By Natalie Taylor
Perla Stepensky’s fascinating and complex life is reflected in her artwork. Born in Mexico City; her parents were second generation immigrants from Ukraine. The European and Mexican ethnic backgrounds are part of who she is, and she is proud of both roots.
Perla began with a degree in Interior Design, then had a beauty salon in Polanco in the 70s, which led to her next career. The shop was across the street from the Red Cross and patients’ relatives would often come to her shop, asking to use the phone. Perla engaged with them, heard their distress, and tried to help them through the difficulties. This resonated with her, and she decided to go back to school to study psychology, and human behavior.
As a licensed therapist she became involved in the care of a 12 year-old boy, and her keen observation led to a diagnosis of a pituitary tumor, and the life-saving subsequent medical care. The experience was so powerful, it caused her to question everything around her, and she took a one year sabbatical. During this time, she took up ceramics and sculpture, and began to create artwork with her hands. One of her earliest pieces—still in her possession—is the head of a woman. It is a clay figure, with the unique feature of having cloth part of the sculpture. What is particularly significant, is that the sculpture—with the clay, was fired in a kiln without burning the cloth, and the folds show up the final product.
Her artwork became a passion, and she learned to sculpt with wood, glass, iron, marble, silver and bronze. This led to jewelry making, using amber and different stones. Perla feels fortunate in having had some great masters as teachers: Jorge Flores and Heriberto Juarez, among them. She earned awards, and exhibited her works in major galleries and museums, such as the Latin American Art Museum, and the Bowers Museum in California. She has had over 200 expositions in Mexico and the US.
In the early 90s, Perla visited Oaxaca and spent time with the native people. She saw them create art with the basic tools, and techniques that went back millennia. She was overcome with the wealth of talent she saw in the hands of these humble artisans, who continue to create amazing art passed down through generations. This experience made Perla deeply aware of her “Mexicanness”—her Mexican heritage, and her immense pride in being part of those ethnic roots. She spent a lot of time with the native population, living and trading as they did. She lived without money, using her skills as trading material for subsistence—offering painting and ceramic classes, teaching children how to make piñatas—all in exchange for the essentials of living. In Oaxaca she learned to sew, to embroider, and even how to paint cloth with original organic materials used by the Indigenous people. Her contact with the people in the village was more important than all her academic learning, because it made her aware of the importance of being in touch with nature; of the peace that comes in being one with the universe.
She divorced her husband, after a 50-year marriage, and chose to burn all her bridges. This meant abandoning Mexico City, leaving behind lifelong friendships, a career, and everything that she had been part of. But she was ready to move on, and since both her father and sister were in San Miguel de Allende, she moved here in 2018. She has not regretted her decision and has made a new life here. Perla continues counseling patients and gives art classes to special-need children.
But she is also focused on her sculptures. Some of her most significant works are bronze sculptures done with lost wax technique, which makes each piece absolutely unique. She then adds a specially made patina, so the bronze appears in a variety of colors. She also sculpts in marble. Another important line is mounting different rocks on pedestals and bases. She had a full exhibition titled Picando Piedras—chipping away stones—which she does literally when she collects rocks from mines. But it is also her metaphor for life, chipping away, getting rid of debris, until we have polished something crude to perfection.
In the photo she is shown with a black marble sculpture to her right, and a black rock mounted on a base made of bronze. To contact Perla you may email her at: Perla.Stepensky51@gmail.com
Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. www.natalietaylor.org Contact: tangonata@gmail.com
