The art space of the Sociedad Democracia in Arrecife hosts the exhibition of Margarita Negro García called 'Origata: My experience with markers and Cochineal'. The inauguration held on Thursday afternoon included welcome words from the president of the Sociedad Democracia, Lorenzo Lemaur, who thanked and congratulated the painter for her magnificent works and the public for their attendance.
Next, Lala Crespo, secretary of the Milana Association, introduced Margarita, who with her dedication and work is achieving the set objectives, becoming a very good ambassador of the Milana Association that opened the doors for her, providing information on how to extract the colors from the cochineal to paint and dye. Margarita, very enthusiastic about the reception, explained in great detail how cochineal was introduced to the Canary Islands as a natural dye in the first decades of the 19th century. In addition, the painter made herself available to the public to clarify any doubts, which she kindly answered.
Margarita Negro García, originally from El Bierzo, province of León, is a retired nurse who has always had a special fondness and taste for crafts. In 2006, she got to know Lanzarote after reading Rafael Arozarena's novel 'Mararía'. From 2008 to 2015, she visited Lanzarote four or five times a year for personal reasons and fell in love with the island, and on the occasion of her retirement in 2020, she settled in Lanzarote, choosing the town of Costa Teguise.
The first thing Margarita bought at a craft fair was a jar of cochineal, without knowing what she could do with it, also knowing the scarves. It was in 2021 when she began to draw landscapes and flowers with pens and markers, to make Christmas cards, but in 2022 she met the 'Milana Association' led by Chana Perera and she was the one who gave her all the information to experiment with painting with cochineal. From that moment on, she began a dyeing workshop with Jacinta on the application of natural dyes in the art of crafts, expanding her knowledge with Amparo and Yolanda. In this way, Margarita became more and more involved in deepening how to obtain better results in order to paint with cochineal and visited the craft store in the Farmer's Monument where Conchi also advised her. Already fully involved in crafts with cochineal as 'Grandmother Collaborator', she gave a workshop for two weeks at the Costa Teguise school to illustrate to the children about the prickly pear and the cochineal.
The exhibition has two display cases where one can see the tools used to collect the cochineal, all reproduced in cardboard by the artist herself along with photographs of details of the collection work. In the other display case, there is a wide variety of wool and silk cloths dyed with cochineal dye and a beautiful collection of scarves.
The pictorial work exhibited consists of a significant number of paintings, in the form of collage, as well as drawings with markers and cochineal dye, mostly with typical scenes of Lanzarote to which must also be added the information panels on the uses and benefits of the prickly pear plant.
The exhibition can be visited in the art space of the Sociedad Democracia until Sunday, August 6th from 9 in the morning to 10 at night.