A special treat to share with you! See Oaxaca in accelerated motion, lots of stunning visual in two minutes. Disfruta bien.
Oaxaca Walk Through from LernandoFopez on Vimeo.
Go beyond armchair travel! Come experience Oaxaca through one of our upcoming photography workshops, Day of the Dead Photo Expedition or Street Photography!
Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Travel & Tourism
Tagged blogsherpa, Mexico, Oaxaca
In 2007, French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier introduced his Spring/Summer 2007 Haute Couture Collection - Virgins on the Paris runway. It was controversial, ethereal, and evocative, garnering applause and criticism throughout the world.
This week I saw this collection, along with others on exhibition at The deYoung Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in Golden Gate Park. It immediately brought to mind Mexico’s most revered saint, our Virgin of Guadalupe.
The animated mannequins draped in Gaultier’s vision of Virgin were singing hymns and crowned in areolae so magnificent, I could feel the aura. Costuming a saint-like human figure takes imagination and courage.
In 2007, Gaultier selected a Paris strip-tease queen to wear one of his virginal outfits on the runway — a statement about repentance or redemption, perhaps? He designs clothing to make you think, question, respond to society’s issues, ideals, undercurrents. (Gaultier clothed Madonna for her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, see sketch below, introducing his famous cone bra — the epitome of punk style.)
In her book, Madre: Perilous Journey with a Spanish Noun, author and linguistic anthropologist Liza Bakewell discusses the Mexican man’s pre- and post-marriage image of woman. Before marriage, she is The Malinche, the whore, sexual and fiery. After marriage, she becomes the Virgin, revered mother of his children, unapproachable.
Gaultier captures both identities and blends them perfectly into an alluring, sexual goddess who is both approachable and revered.
The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk closed at the deYoung on August 19, 2012, but will travel to other locations worldwide.
Check out our two upcoming fashion design workshops in Oaxaca, Mexico, set for winter 2013. (1) Felted Fashion Design and (2) Painting on Silk Art of the Rebozo clothing design.
Oaxaca is filled with craftsmen tucked away in small corners of the city hammering tinware into picture frames, throbbing Frida-style hearts, and ornate boxes. With hammer in hand, a large nail and metal clippers, they create exquisite designs in locally made metal. The results can be as simple as a small nicho – a little shrine, altar or blessing box. These are usually outfitted with a small glass door, empty inside, waiting to be filled with your own heart’s desire or whatever inspires you. When you are finished, hang it on a wall or put it on a table top.
Today, the Artisan Sisters offer you a choice of beautiful tin hearts for sale, painted and ready to hang. Finest quality tinware and painting. An inspiration to visit or return to Oaxaca!
Buy the entire collection of 4 REMAINING pieces below for $35 USD, includes shipping to anywhere in the USA. To purchase, send me an email first!
Left: SOLD. Tin heart with mirror, stunning crown, of red with blue accents, little turquoise dots rim the mirror. See the reflection of the potted plant in the mirror? Measures 9-1/2″ high x 5″ wide. An unusual piece, beautifully crafted! Item #1.08192012. $25 USD. Includes shipping to anywhere in USA.
Email me first to order.
Left: Flying heart — Heart on Wings. Hand-hammered tin and painted. This is the quintessential Frida-style heart that lifts the spirit. Measures approx. Wingspan is 10″wide x 4″ high. Item #2.08192012. $15 USD. Includes shipping to anywhere in USA.
Above left: Hearts surrounded by hearts! Measures 7″ high x 5-1/4″ wide. Item #3.08192012. $10.00 USD includes shipping to anywhere in USA.
Above right: Feathered crown heart. Measures 5″ high x 3-1/4″ wide. Item #4.08192012. $8.00 USD includes shipping to anywhere in USA.
Left: Not a Heart. Circle with center mirror. Measures 3-1/4″ diameter. $10 USD includes shipping to anywhere in USA.
Email me first to place your order.
To order your own tin nicho to decorate yourself, contact Chiripa: Artisan Crafts of the Americas. They will give instructions with purchase! And, be sure to visit Nicodemus at the corner of Mina and J.P. Garcia or another artesania at the corner of Reforma and Abasolo for a great selection of tinware when you are in Oaxaca.
Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture
nature: the international weekly journal of science, in its August 16, 2012 issue, published new findings that the Americas was populated in at least three distinct waves from Siberia across the Bering Straits beginning 15,000 years ago. Genetic testing has confirmed this.
The settlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago by means of the Beringia land bridge that existed between Asia and America during the ice ages. Key questions about how many migrations were involved and subsequent dispersal patterns within the Americas remain unresolved. This new survey of genetic variation in Native American and Siberian populations shows that Native Americans descend from at least three waves of migration from Asia. After the initial peopling of the continent there was a southward expansion along the coast, with sequential population splits and little gene flow after divergence, particularly in South America.
Norma’s note: Indigenous peoples of Oaxaca, like the Zapotecs, Mixes and Mixtecs, are also Native Americans. It’s fascinating to look at ancient stone carvings and paintings at Mexico’s archeological sites and see the resemblance to Asian origins. The indigenous peoples of Oaxaca were physically isolated and have been able to maintain their native languages and traditions over the centuries, although that is changing in recent years as more people migrate away from their communities in search of jobs and more economic security. For more about the peopling of the Americas, you can order a full nature article. Recommended reading: 1491 by Charles Mann.
And, there are 2 spaces left in our 2012 Oaxaca Day of the Dead Photo Expedition. We will visit the Zapotec archeological site of Monte Alban where you can see the stone carvings for yourself!
Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture
Tagged anthropology, blogsherpa, Mexico, migration, Oaxaca, The Americas
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator : Norma Hawthorne
Oaxaca Day of the Dead Photography Exhibit at Duke University Set: Chavez Family to Participate
On Tuesday, October 2, 2012, 5:30-7:30 p.m., an opening reception will be held at Duke University Friedl Building Jameson gallery for “Days of the Dead: From Mexican Roots to Present Day Practice in the United States,” in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Included will be 25 photographs taken in 2011 by participants* in the Day of the Dead Photography Expedition, produced by Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. The exhibition is organized by the Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South at Duke University, whose executive director Jenny Snead Williams participated in 2011. The exhibition is curated by Bill Bamberger, award-winning faculty member in the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies and expedition leader/instructor, and Jenny Snead Williams.
*Participants in the 2011 expedition whose work will be exhibited are: Cheryl Cross (Towson, Maryland), Liz Bryan (British Columbia), Nick Eckert (Washington, DC), Wayne Kubal (Tucson, Arizona), Jenny Snead Williams (Durham, NC), Norma Hawthorne (Pittsboro, NC), Jenny Haynes (British Columbia) and instructor Bill Bamberger (Durham, NC).
Eric Chavez Santiago, education director at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, and his sister Janet Chavez Santiago, a linguist and coordinator of the Centro Academico y Cultural San Pablo educational programs, are invited by Duke University to participate in the opening activities. They will talk about Day of the Dead traditions in their family home and village of Teotitlan del Valle and work with students to build a traditional Oaxaca Day of the Dead altar.
Chavez Santiago family rugs will also be on exhibition and offered for sale during the opening reception. The family produces extraordinary textiles woven with 100% churro sheep whose wool is hand-spun and then dyed with natural plant materials (wild marigold, indigo, moss, pomegranates, nuts) and cochineal (the bug of the prickly pear cactus that produces natural, color-fast and intense shades of reds, purples, oranges, and pinks).
The altar offerings include wild marigold (cempasuchitl), photographs of deceased loved ones, pan de muerto (special egg bread), papel picado (cut out paper decorations), the favorite fruits, foods, and beverages of loved ones, Oaxaca chocolate, sugar skulls, tamales, candles, and incense. An essential part of the Oaxaca altar is also religious and spiritual — an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and of the Crucifixion.
Jenny Snead Williams tells me that area elementary school students will be creating another part of the exhibit with Duke students and faculty, and that Duke students will also be working on a third project that relates to the US celebrations of Days of the Dead. “Overall, it’s a rather complex exhibit because it will include so many constituents from local school children and teachers, to the general community, to students and professors.
Eric, Janet and Norma will be in Atlanta on October 3 and 4, where we will be hosted by Robin and Ted Blocker, and Lauren Waits and Art Gambill, for two evening rug exhibitions and sales. If you live in Atlanta or know anyone there, let me know and we’ll send them an invitation!
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged blogsherpa, Duke University, exhibit, Mexico, Oaxaca, photography