Leonard showed at the Casa del Diezmo in nearby Celaya in the fall of 1994, and he and Reva were

honoured by the State of Guanajuato the fol  lowing spring with simultaneous shows at the Casa Diego
Rivera, the muse  um in the three-storey birthplace of the artist in the state capital. "Both of us a bit
worn and tired but it's done and over - and went very well," Leonard reported.4 CANTE, an ecological
group newly moved to a three-century-old building in San Miguel, asked Leonard and Reva to help with
an inaugural show in the conference hall. Reva mounted photos of their early activities in San Miguel
and Leonard showed watercolours from that period. The State of Aguascalientes honoured him with a
show at the Casa Teran in the capital, Aguascalientes, as did the State Watercolour Museum in Toluca,
State of Mexico. The cultural centre in San Miguel did back-to-back exhibitions, first of Leonard's works,
in a room reserved until then for Mexican artists, and then of eighty-seven of Reva's photographs. Reva
had exhibited her photographs so infrequently in San Miguel that they were a revelation to most
people. "When we looked at her works, a whole world opened up, her world," recalled Carmen Masip,
the fine arts school director who put on the shows.5 Reva felt faint at the opening of the show on 6
January 1997 and was given some oxygen. She was eventually hospitalized for cardiac arrhythmia and
had a pacemaker installed. More than ever, the Brooks found themselves reversing their roles. Reva,
who had always run the household and was Leonard's business manager and social secretary, slowly had
to relinquish these duties as her short-term mem  ory started to fail her. Now, for the first me in their
married life, Leonard had to take charge of everything, even doing the food shopping. He was forced to
cut down the time spent in his studio and all but abandoned his music. During this period in the lives of
the Brooks, there arrived in San Miguel two middle-aged women who, through happenstance, would
make it their goal to see that Leonard and Reva received recognition in Canada as they had in Mexico.
While an art teacher at the Tecumseh High School in Chatham, Ontario, Karen Close had accompanied a
colleague to the Art for All show at the Art Gallery of Windsor in 1980. The friend was intent on buying a
York Wilson work, but as they passed through the main show room Karen's a en  on was drawn to one
of Leonard's collages, First Snow. She thought it cap  tured the feeling of fresh snow in a treed area like
the ones where she and her husband took their two small children cross-country skiing. She put in her
bid and bought the work for $350. 344 Leonard and Reva Brooks She and a best friend from
kindergarten onwards, Jill Kilburn, had prom  ised themselves a trip together once their children were
grown up, so September of 1996 found them in San Miguel. Karen wanted to meet the Brooks. "When
we arrived, they were exceedingly friendly," Karen said. "Reva took us into her office to show us her
photographs. It just overwhelmed us. It was a disaster. We're looking at these gorgeous photographs
and they're just in a mess, all covered in dust."6 On a visit to Leonard's studio, she bought two paintings,
promising to send a cheque for $1,000 once she got back to Shanty Bay, Ontario, where she lived with
her businessman husband, Tom. That might have been her last contact with the Brooks had not
someone stolen the cheque from the mail and cashed it, prompting a series of telephone
conver  sa ons with Leonard. During one of those calls, Leonard men oned that David McTavish,
director of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University, was in San Miguel on Brooks
Foundation business. Since Leonard sounded upset, Karen impulsively asked if he would like her help.
"That would be wonderful," Leonard replied. So Karen, who had never travelled alone in her life and
spoke no Spanish, flew to Mexico City and took the four-hour bus ride to San Miguel. She soon found
herself becoming the current No. i pro  moter of the Brooks.