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2928 West 13th St. Ashtabula, Ohio 44004 phone: 440-964-3396 Search This Site: March Exhibit: "The Requiem of the Peten": Posted: Monday, February 27, 2006 “The Requiem of the Peten” by Jamie Borowicz will be on exhibit during the month of March at the Ashtabula Arts Center, 2928 West 13th Street in Ashtabula. The exhibit can be viewed free of charge during regular gallery hours: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m.- 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. An opening reception will be held on March 3 from 7:00 - 8:30 pm where the public can view the exhibit and have an opportunity to meet and talk with the artist. Light refreshments will be available. In 1993, Borowicz began graduate studies in archaeology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and spent part of almost every summer for the next 13 years working and doing research on the Maya in Guatemala and Mexico. Because his undergraduate degree was in studio art, much of the work he did at archaeological sites involved drawing, usually reconstructions of artifacts or buildings or technical drawings of excavated objects. He eventually found himself working mostly at the Classic period Maya site of Tikal in the jungle of the Peten in northern Guatemala. One of the most magnificent Maya ruins in the region, it is surrounded by rain forest and is now part of a large national park. Borowicz spent eight to ten hours a day drawing in the mist enshrouded ruins, serenaded by howler monkeys and toucans. When the work day was over, he packed up his paints and sketchbook and walked the miles of jungle paths and through countless unexcavated ruins throughout the area. He always found something new to take in, some plant oddity, strange insect or unnoticed ruin and he often stopped to sketch or paint. Over the years, the end result of this practice was a dozen or so journals filled with notes, paintings and sketches. “The jungle of the Petén is a veritable wonderland of textures and the time I spent walking in it led to a nearly endless stream of ideas,” says Borowicz. “Everywhere you look tree bark, patterns of strangler fig vines, root systems protruding from the thin soil all create organic designs worthy of the finest manuscript illuminator or damascene artisan.” The Borowicz exhibition, is the end result of nearly 13 years of sketching and painting. It is intended as both a collection of individual paintings and as one large multi-paneled mural exploring and exposing the complexities of the jungle and the ruins within it. The current version of the show is the largest version to be exhibited. It consists of nearly 50 paintings and drawings in watercolor, oil, graphite, ink, conte and various mixed media. Although some components of the mural have been exhibited before, they have never been shown in this configuration. “What I have tried to do is recreate the sensation of standing in the middle of the jungle surrounded on all sides by this incredibly complex sensory bombardment,” says Borowicz. “The simultaneous clash of smell, sight and sound…wet soil, rotting vegetation, the flash of bird plumage, the blue head of a snake, light streaming through the canopy, the incessant grinding of insects or rain on foliage and the bellowing of howler monkeys…all of it moving across your senses like a wave.” Borowicz graduated with a BA in Studio Art from Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA in 1992. In 1993 he began graduate studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo in the field of Anthropology. He completed his Master's degree in 1996 and a Ph.D. in 2003. He teaches at Mercyhurst Preparatory School and also serves as an adjunct at Mercyhurst College teaching art appreciation. His drawings have been published in a number of books and journals and he has worked on a number of archaeological projects including the Feathered Serpent Pyramid Project in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Proyecto Templo V in Tikal, Guatemala and most recently on the Proyecto Plaza de los Siete Templos in Tikal. An exhibiting artist for over 20 years, he has had numerous one artist shows, group exhibitions and invitational shows. He currently resides in Erie, PA with his wife, Alice, daughter Maia and son Jesse.