Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Professional sculptor Dolores Ortiz and museum specialist Ricardo Duarte were recently contacted by City Hall to meet with Puerto Vallarta Mayor Salvador Gonzalez Resendiz to discuss the preservation of the Malecón sculptures during the reconstruction project.

Dolores Ortiz is a sculptor trained at the University of Guadalajara who, along with many other international presentations to her credit, recently participated in the International Sculpture Exhibition in Beijing for their Olympic Games. Dolores is an academic professor of Arts and Humanities at the University of Guadalajara School of Visual Arts and the Center of Arts Architecture and Design.

Ricardo Duarte, a cultural and museum specialist, was the coordinator of activities and exhibitions of the arts at The University of Guadalajara for 9 years. He was also director of Zapopan Art at the Raul Anguiano Museum in Guadalajara. He graduated from the Advanced Management Program at the Getty Museum Leadership Institute and is a member of Leadership in Museums, a national institution.

Currently, work on the removal of the sculptures is in the early stage with Dolores Ortiz overseeing this process. Some of the sculptures will be safeguarded, while others will be mounted in different areas on the Rio Cuale Island.