The Bullfighter and the Ballerina/El Torero y la Bailarina

Artist Ellen Ziegler presents a talk and slide show about a true Mexico City love story and the making of a bilingual artist's book.

In 1941, while New York's Ballet Theatre was in residence at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Miriam Golden, a young ballerina and principal dancer (who also happens to be Ziegler's mother), fell in love with Mario Moreno, also known as "Cantinflas," an actor, comedian, and bullfighter. Their romance lasted a year; their friendship for the rest of their lives. Called "the funniest comedian alive" by Charlie Chaplin, Moreno is considered to be Mexico's greatest actor.

Offered as a complement to Libreria Donceles, Ziegler will describe how the book's Spanish translation was hand-typed and bound in Mexico City in the Portal de Evangelistas, an historic area where scribes have been working for hundreds of years, writing letters for clients by hand and now by typewriter.

This charming tale will told in English and Spanish, with translation by Amanda Reichert of Vámonos Language School. Come learn more about why a book can be considered art and about how an artist's book is made.

Represented by SOIL Gallery in Seattle, Ellen Ziegler is nationally known as a maker of award-winning artist books.