Trabajo Rustico
August 3
Dionicio Rodríguez arrived from Mexico to San Antonio in 1924, and brought with him the art of trabajo rústico, the art of sculpting cement to appear as wood, or rocks. In France where the genre began in the mid-1800s, it was known as rocaille or faux bois. Later, the art came to Central and South America, and finally to the US. It is believed that San Antonio has more examples of the work by Rodríguez and others than any city in the US, although he worked in 7 other states, many of the sites listed on the National Register. Patsy Light spent 8 years researching him and his work, and wrote the book Capturing Nature, the Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodríguez in2008, lavishly illustrated with Bob Parvin’s images ad published by TAMU Press. Her presentation is a sampling of the work featured in this award-winning book. Now in its second printing, the book is being followed this fall by Artisans of Trabajo Rústico, The Legacy of Dionicio Rodríguez, which features biographies of his contemporaries and present-day practitioners. Light and photographer, Kent Rush, traveled many miles and collected a gallery of more than 100 examples of palapas (roofed shelters), benches, tables, chairs, bridges, fountains, arbors, and many other objects.