From the editor.

• Author: Kiernan, James Patrick

This issue of Americas celebrates art, in its many and diverse forms. And a surprising number of the artists featured in these pages deal not with one art form but with their own integration of elements of several: painting, photography, literature, architecture, music, ceramics, and film.

Miguel Sayago, reflecting on his photographs of Chilean painters in their studios, tells a story about each image, and how it came to be. The Argentine novelist Luisa Valenzuela writes about architect painter Giancarlo Puppo, who not only combines elements of both disciplines in his paintings but also writes short stories to accompany his mixed-media pictures.

Sergio Ortiz traces the trajectory of filmmaker Jorge Ruz's inspiration, which involves the conservation of art, from the discoveries of Maya culture by his archaeologist father in Palenque to the detailed restoration of an eighteenth-century hacienda, Xcanatun, in the Yucatan and its transformation to a first-rate hotel and spa. Janelle Conaway reminds us of the seventh annual...