To honor the centenary of the birth of Bergara-born painter Miguel Okina, the Bergara Artists' Association, Beart, organized an extensive program of activities throughout 2024 and 2025. Among these events, the presentation of the book Miguel Okina 1924-2021. Artea etxeetara iritsi zenekoa stood out last September in the main hall of the town hall.
Now, the author Miguel Angel Elkoroberezibar has made this book available on the xubi.eus website. Alongside it, he has also published a text titled Bergara, pintore herria. This text is based on the lecture Elkoroberezibar himself gave during the presentation of Okina's book, and it highlights the importance that plastic arts and artists have had in Bergara over the last 250 years, explaining the "keys to transmission".
“"In Bergara, painting emanates dignity; it has always been treated with respect. Whoever decides to be an artist has felt not only the support of their family but also the encouragement of the townspeople over the years. Generation after generation, enthusiasts have learned from whom and where; in school, in studios, among friends, in academies, or on the street."
As Elkoroberezibar states in the introduction to his text, in Bergara, painting and painters have always been treated with respect. As an example, he mentions that in 1774, the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country founded the Free Drawing School of Bergara, taking as a model the statutes of the Royal Free School of Paris and under the direction of the Count of Peñaflorida.
In addition to the book, the Beart association organized two exhibitions in the Aroztegi hall on the occasion of Okina's birth centenary: Zurian beltz, which featured 100 charcoal portraits by Okina, in March of last year, and the Miguel Okina Anthological Exhibition, in October of the same year. Furthermore, visits were organized to various gastronomic societies in the town where the artist's works hang on the walls.
Miguel Angel Elkoroberezibar has compiled numerous publications he has written in recent years about the history, personalities, and artists of Bergara, as well as various audiovisual materials and photographs, such as those by Don Serafin Esnaola, on the xubi.eus website.
