Uder is a professional agronomist and his love of nature has joined his creativity in an effort to promote conservation. His exhibition is on show in the Cultural Institute of Mexico and in the Gallery 87 simultaneously.

With much humility, Uder points out that Mother Nature is the artist, and that he is participating by offering a helping hand! The way he knows how to adapt the natural shapes of the pieces of wood and his use of their colors and markings suggest an extension of nature’s work rather than the creation of a human being.

“Tropical wood is by itself a work of art”, he adds, “all it needs is our ability to perceive their natural beauty”. Uder knows how to take advantages of their jasper, textures and colors, and cleverly follows the scars left by the sea, the fire, insects and the mushrooms stains. For Uder, any piece of wood holds a message. He shows us human figures, happy, sad or terrorized faces, busts of some forgotten celebrity, or animal figures found in this country. Uder explains that because wood is a warm material, a balance is necessarily found with the use of geometrical forms.

San Ramon in Alajuela is also home of some wood sculptures with artists who dedicate their work to conservation and the protection of the environment with the V Meeting of Sculpture San Ramon 2008.

Eleven sculptors from all over the country usually take part in this yearly event, where poetry and wood are brought together to give us a message of hope.  The art of sculpturing wood demands a certain kind of love and communication between the artist and the wood, a harmony has to be present in order to arrive to the creation of a piece of art that can truly talk to us with its soul. Artist show great respect to the wood, the trees and Mother Nature; this is not about using wood, this is about cooperation.

Artists such as Ulises Jimenez and son Pablo from Nicoya, Osvaldo Madrigal from Orotina, Luis Alonso Ramírez of Grecia, Marielos Miranda of Heredia and Jacqueline Córdoba from San Jose create pieces that may have been thought of in advance or just born out of instant inspiration. Invited guests of San Ramon were Leandro Moya, Rodolfo Varela, Roxana Badilla, Domingo Ramos and Raúl Gamboa.

These artists understand that art, far from being destructive, is only an extension of nature itself and can teach us respect and humility and care.

by Mireille Darras.

Photo source: http://rodolfo-uder-natura.blogspot.com/

A tamale is a traditional food. It is made of steam-cooked rice-filled corn dough with or without filling. The fillings used can be meats, cheese and sliced chillis or anything else according to taste. The Costa Rican tamale is usually wrapped in plantain leaves. There are several varieties, including tamal de gallina, tamal pisque and tamal de elote. The tamal de gallina as in the picture above is usually eaten as entree. Tamales are usually large and similar to the tamales of Mexico.

December is the most festive month of the year as Ticos and Ticas look forward to have holidays from school or work. Celebrating Christmas in Costa Rica is always done their way, the Tico way. As in this month every working Tico receives an “aguinaldo” from their employer, which is a government established holiday bonus equal to one month’s salary, the streets become full of people, spending their aguinaldo.

by Elisheva Wiriaatmadja.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/