Country Day Artist In Escondido Show

The North Country Times story on the opening, attached here, included an interview with Gabriel:

North County Times

San Diego children were well-represented in an international contest sponsored by the Mexican government, and their achievements are celebrated in a exhibit that opened Tuesday at the Children's Museum in Escondido.
Of more than 6,000 entries in the contest sponsored by Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, six of the 60 finalists are by San Diego County children. More than half of the finalists are displayed throughout September at the Children's Museum and the main Escondido Library.
Javier Guerrero, who joined the museum as its executive director in July, said a final 15 artists will be selected in September.
Remedios Gomez Arnau, the consul general of Mexico in San Diego, was joined by Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler and about 50 guests at the museum Tuesday for a reception to launch the exhibit.
"It's an invitation to all the children all over the world," Arnau said of the exhibit, which is organized by the Institute for Mexicans Abroad and open to children ages 7 to 14. "What we want for them is to be more interested in knowing about Mexico."
The contest, "Este es Mi Mexico (This is my Mexico)," is in its 13th year. Children this year were asked to draw art in honor of the bicentennial of Mexican independence.
San Diego County children among the finalists are Matthew Almaraz, Gabriel Jinich, Ariel Ledezma, Francisco Madero, Gabriella Roman and Valeria Villegas.
"I know he's behind the revolutionary war," Alejandra Ruiz, 12, said about her portrait of Emiliano Zapata, a hero of the 1910 revolution.
Alejandra said she would like to be an artist or a photographer working with landscapes. She has displayed her work at school before, but never at a museum with a reception.
"It's very cool," she said. "I was very excited. It's like a dream, almost."
Chula Vista resident Gabriella Roman, 13, a student at Hilltop Middle School, created a black-and-white drawing of two women next to a donkey and cactus.
"I like ocean sceneries and animals," said Gabriella, who hopes to be professional artist. Her piece is on display at the library.
Ariel Ledezma, 9, a student at Cook Elementary in Chula Vista, drew a portrait of revolutionary Francisco Madero, president of Mexico from 1911 to 1913.
"We learned how one of the men wanted to kill another one, but one of the other men was trying to put an end to it," she said.
Ariel said she likes to draw and paint, and she hopes to be an artist when she grows up.
La Jolla Country Day School student Gabriel Jinich, 8, drew a picture of Agustín de Iturbide, the general who marched into Mexico City in 1921 to end the War of Independence. In the stylized picture, Iturbide is leading his troops through the Mexican flag.
"He was the one who continued the independence of Mexico after the other general died," Gabriel said.
Guerrero said he organized the art exhibit quickly with the help of his staff and a friend who works for the consul general of Mexico.
"It just seemed like we needed to do something in the community," he said.
Among the children's artworks on display at the museum, three are from Russia, two are from Costa Rica, two are from Poland, one is from Canada, one is from Cuba, one is from Ecuador, and one is from Korea.