In front of the 130-year-old printing press, still in operation, Julio Méndez Rivero, a fine artist and president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) in its Holguín branch, evokes with his eyes wet with nostalgia the emergence of the Engraving Workshop, created on November 12, 1969. From the emotion, he agreed to an exclusive dialogue for Radio Angulo Digital.
Julio, how was life in Holguin around this workshop?
“It was not only an engraving workshop. It was a center for the promotion and development of culture; a very interesting place, so much so that projects like the Plaza de la Marqueta Cultural Center and the Concert Hall came out of here, with the help of many institutions and creators who at that time could not be independent.”
Julio Mendez: “The Engraving Workshop must be rescued”
What was the impact of the Engraving Workshop in Cuba?
“This Workshop turned Holguin into the capital of engraving. Artists came from Havana, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba… I remember Miguel Angel Lobaina Borges from Santiago de Cuba, who came to print here, despite having workshops in that province.”
What other artists do you remember in this place?
“Here we coincided with Maestro Nelson Domínguez, National Prize of Fine Arts; I also remember José Manuel Contino, Adrián Bruzón, Leticia Leyva and Jorge Aguilar”.
Engraving Workshop, fine arts, Holguín
Do you consider that there is a debt with the history and artists of engraving in Holguin?
“We have a huge debt. I would like them to rescue the Engraving Workshop again. It was so important that families came here to live with the objective of directing several cultural institutions. Projects such as the Hotel Caribe, today Don José, arose; the first tin shop became the Casa del Tabaco, the water point became the Casa Marco and many also remember the birth of the Lugones Printing House. It was arising this way what culturally wanted and needed Holguín at that moment. Impossible that I forget the support given to us by Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, first secretary of the Party, then”.
Julio Mendez: “The Engraving Workshop must be rescued”
And the press of those years?
“They used to bring here, in a little bus, the journalists of ¡ahora! daily that then was located in what today is the Combinado Poligráfico José Miró Argenter. And there were gatherings in which the press could permanently exchange with the artists”.
Is it true that Fidel Castro Ruz, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, visited you?
“Yes, Fidel was here, he toured the workshop and gave a great speech. And I remember that I talked with him for a long time, he was accompanied by Sierra Cruz”.
What is needed to restore the Workshop’s splendor?
“Yes, Fidel was here, he toured the workshop and gave a great speech. And I remember that I talked with him for a long time, he was accompanied by Sierra Cruz”.
What is needed to restore the Workshop’s splendor?
“First of all, to look for a leader. Times are changing, the materials are different. The works can be marketed. And there are the students of the Regional Academy of Fine Arts El Alba to use the Printmaking Workshop for their benefit. I definitely believe that the Engraving Workshop should be rescued”.
Julio Mendez: “The Engraving Workshop must be rescued”
Engraving Workshop, plastic arts, Holguin
With the emotion of a Quixote who rode with a city and his artistic dreams, Julio Mendez Rivero believes possible a rebirth of the Holguin Engraving Workshop, whose building of colonial architecture is located in the centric corner of Luz y Caballero and Martires streets.
These days a possible awakening can be appreciated in that place, thanks to the exhibition “Necessary Pressure” by artist Yosvani Rodriguez Batista, dedicated to the 54th anniversary of this icon of Cuban engraving.
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