'REQUIEM OF THE PETEN' Artist's show recreates jungle, ruins

He spent 13 summers in the land of the Maya.
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ASHTABULA -- "The Requiem of the Peten" by Jamie Borowicz will be on exhibit during March at the Ashtabula Arts Center, 2928 W. 13th St.
In 1993, Borowicz, an Erie, Pa., resident, began graduate studies in archaeology at the State University of New York at Buffalo and spent part of most summers 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 10 hours a day drawing in the mist enshrouded ruins, serenaded by howler monkeys and toucans.
Journals
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 Borowicz exhibition is both a collection of individual paintings and one large multi-paneled mural exploring and exposing the complexities of the jungle and the ruins.
"What I have tried to do is re-create the sensation of standing in the middle of the jungle surrounded on all sides by this incredibly complex sensory bombardment," said Borowicz.
XThe 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 7-8:30 p.m. where the public can talk with the artist.