Tag Archives: Fe y Lola Rugs

Meet Us in Nashville, TN — Pop-Up, June 9-11, 2023

If you live in or near Nashville, TN, or want to make a weekend trip to this legendary music capital, come join us at Parachute Home in The Gulch neighborhood. We will be there for three full days with Galeria Fe y Lola handwoven and naturally dyed rugs, and beautiful wearables from southern Mexico — Oaxaca and Chiapas.

If you’ve never been to Nashville, or it’s been a while, here is the attraction. Nash is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and home to Vanderbilt University. Legendary country music venues include the Grand Ole Opry House, home of the famous “Grand Ole Opry” stage and radio show. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and historic Ryman Auditorium are Downtown, as is the District, featuring honky-tonks with live music and the Johnny Cash Museum, celebrating the singer’s life. 

When I was there in early April, I made a stop from Oaxaca on my way back to Taos to visit dearest friend Kathryn, who just moved from UNC Chapel Hill to a new job at Vanderbilt. I became enamored with Downtown Nash and Broadway, where music venues open to the street, and for the price of a tip to the musicians, you can hear some amazing tunes, all day and well into the night. We made a forage to Parachute Home and the manager who is originally from Northern Mexico, was keen on the idea of a pop-up. So, here we are! Janet Chávez Santiago will represent galería Fe y Lola, coming from Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.

Everyone is invited! Please distribute widely!

WARP Textile Conference Free and Online

Annual Meeting/Conference is June 18-20, 2021

Weave a Real Peace (WARP) is an international textile networking organization made up of weavers, academics, and interested supporters. Their mission is to exchange information, raise awareness of the importance of textile traditions to grassroots economies, mobilize textile enthusiasts, and create conversations that result in action.

I’ve been a member for several years, and helped the organizers produce their very successful 2017 Annual Meeting in Oaxaca, Mexico.

This year because of Covid, the annual meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. It is FREE and open to the public. All you need to do is register in advance. I’ll be there and hope you will join me!

Click Here to Register for Unraveling Borders, Weaving Networks and to see the full program.

Kudos are in order: My godson Omar Chavez Santiago from Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, was just named an Alice Brown Memorial Scholarship recipient by WARP. It is a two-year honor. Omar will attend this virtual conference and the next one in 2022, which will hopefully be in person! Omar is a fourth generation weaver and works only with natural dyes. He is part of the Fe y Lola Rugs gallery and an accomplished textile designer who incorporates contemporary elements with traditional tapestry weaving techniques.

Two BIG Oaxaca EVENTS and Special Prices for Valentine’s Day

Love Oaxaca? Love artisan makers? Mark you calendar for this Friday and Saturday, February 14 and 15 in downtown Oaxaca, Mexico. Two big expoventas feature some of Oaxaca’s top artisans. English and Spanish spoken. Debit and credit cards accepted.

SPECIAL PRICES — TWO DAYS ONLY 10th Anniversary Celebration

Family Visit to Oaxaca: What to Do

While my sister Barbara has been to Oaxaca many times and spent her honeymoon here in the 1980’s, this is my brother Fred’s first visit. They are only here a week. Hardly enough to scratch the surface.

Here we are with mezcalero Oscar Hernandez

But a priority visit is mezcal tasting in Matatlan and one of my favorite palenques is Gracias a Dios. Thank God for mezcal.

Salud. Cheech-bayoh. L’Chayyim.

I’ve known mezcalero Oscar Hernandez since almost the very beginning of the brand. His daughter Emmy runs the retail and tour side now. Over the years they have grown, added on a bottling facility, and they just built a new big pit where they roast and smoke the agave cactus. They export to the USA and internationally, too.

We started tasting a bit after noon — medio dia. Soon, it was time for lunch!

My son Jacob likes their tepeztate and Gin mezcales. He put in an order for my brother to bring a bottle of each back to California.

Me, Emmy and Barbara — un poco borracho!

I also wanted to introduce my Zapotec family to this palenque so we did a road trip to Mitla. It ended up being an all-day event, with an added visit to the archeological site and to meet Epifanio, my favorite dealer of antiquities.

Meet Frijol, the palenque mascot
Street art in Pueblo Magico San Pablo Villa de Mitla

Mitla is a post-classical Zapotec archeological site that came into dominance after the decline of Monte Alban. Many of the buildings’ carved designs are replicated in the rugs woven in Teotitlan del Valle. On the day after Christmas, the site was packed with visitors.

Zapotec temple, San Pablo Villa de Mitla

The admission fee is 75 pesos per person and entry closes at 5 p.m. You need at least an hour to see the primary site, climb down into the tombs and climb up the steep stairways to the ceremonial patios.

Fred did the climb. Barbara and I didn’t.

It’s a good 30 minutes to get to Mitla or Matatlan from Teotitlan del Valle. If you are coming from the city of Oaxaca, plan for at least an hour on the road. Many people stop to look at rugs in Teotitlan del Valle either coming or going. If you are traveling independently (without a tour guide) consider visiting the workshop of Fe y Lola rugs. They are my host family and their work is exceptional.

Mitla (Mitclan in Nahautl) was the burial site for Zapotec royalty and priestly class. A very important precursor to Day of the Dead celebrations.

Have lunch in Mitla at a lovely little comedor, Doña Chica. We did. It is always delicious. Try the mixed grill molcajete and order your tlayuda with chicken instead of tasajo if you are so inclined.