YOU ARE INVITED! September 17, 7 pm — Oaxaca Photography Center Manuel Bravo, corner Garcia Virgil and M. Bravo
Follow-up your visit to the ExpoVENTA of Mexican Textiles and Jewelry Show and Sale with this opening exhibition of photographs from the Toledo Collection to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Centro Fotografico Manuel Alvarez Bravo. Hope to see you there!
Posted in Photography
Tagged Centro de Fotographica Manuel Bravo, expoventa, jewelry, Mexico, Oaxaca, opening, photography, textiles, Toledo collection
The book, Textile Fiestas of Mexico: A Traveler’s Guide to Celebrations, Markets and Smart Shopping by Sheri Brautigam and published by Thrums Books, is hot off the press. It’s a comprehensive guide to some of Sheri’s favorite Mexican textile villages and towns. I contributed two chapters!
Textile Fiestas of Mexico, book cover
Sheri invited me to cover Teotitlan del Valle, the Oaxaca rug weaving village where I live, and Tenancingo de Degollado, the ikat cotton rebozo weaving center in the State of Mexico, where I often visit and lead study tours. Of course, the answer was Yes! I’m happy to say I contributed both the descriptive narrative and photography for these two sections.
Grand Master Evaristo Borboa Casas, age 92, ikat rebozo backstrap loom weaver
Sheri and I share our secrets with you because our first priority is to support the wonderful, talented Mexican artisans — many of whom are Grand Masters of Mexican Folk Art. Whether you join a tour or get there on your own, you want this book in your back pocket or tote bag for insider tips.
Selection of Teotitlan del Valle wool rugs from Porfirio Guttierez studio
How You Can Order the Book!
ISBN: 978-0-9964475-8-4
$24.95 trade paperback
120 pages
200 color photographs, map, glossary, and index
Buy your copy at Amazon, ClothRoads, and at your favorite Indie bookstore. Distributed to the book and library trade by Independent Publishers Group. If you live in Oaxaca, the book is soon to be available at Amate Books on Macedonio Alcala.
How to Buy in Mexico
Patrice Wynn is the Mexican distributor for Textile Fiestas of Mexico. She is also selling the book to buyers in Mexico, both at AbraZos, Zacateros 24 in Centro Historico, San Miguel de Allende, and also by mail. Please write to ventas@sanmigueldesigns.com to get details of how you can have it shipped to you in Mexico, either as an individual or as a store.
Here’s a preview of photos I contributed to the chapters on Tenancingo de Degollado and Teotitlan del Valle.
Tenancingo weaver Jesus Zarate with his amazing ikat butterfly rebozo
Come with me to Tenancingo, February 2-10, 2017 for an ikat textile study tour. We have a few spaces open for single and double occupancy. You’ll meet everyone I talk about in the book!
Knotting the rebozo fringes can take two or three months
The beauty of the book is that you can use it when you travel independently or as a resource on a guided visit.
Weaver in the Teotitlan del Valle rug market
One-day Natural Dye Textile & Weaving Study Tour–November 3, 2017
We tell you how to get there, the best artisans (in our humble opinion) to visit and when the major festivals are scheduled.
We recommend how to negotiate purchases in the markets and from artisans in their homes. What is the fair and ethical way to shop in Mexico? Sheri explains it!
Indigo dye pot, Teotitlan del Valle
We help you discern the good from the bad, the better quality from the mediocre.
At the Sunday rebozo market, Tenancingo de Degollado
And, we give you restaurant and lodging tips — because where to eat and sleep means you will have a more enjoyable experience.
Ancient Zapotec temple stone, Teotitlan del Valle Community Museum
Through description and photos, you can see what to expect before you get there and plan your travels so your time is well-spent.
Juana Gutierrez cards sheep wool, a woman’s tradition to prepare for spinning
Chapters include Oaxaca, Chiapas, Uruapan and Puebla, plus Estado de Mexico (State of Mexico). You go deep into local markets, cooperatives and regional celebrations.
Ikat rebozos by Evaristo Borboa Casas, Tenancingo de Degollado
Author Sheri Brautigam owned a textile design studio in San Francisco for twenty years. She has worked as an English Language Fellow for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, and as a serious collector and purveyor of fine indigenous textiles from Mexico and Guatemala. She sells collector-quality textiles through her online shop, Living Textiles of Mexico, and writes a blog, Living Textiles of Mexico.
Omar Chavez Santiago explains the symbology of the weaving patterns
FYI: Many of you know that Teotitlan del Valle is a town of about 6,000 people and 2,000 looms. The major “industry” here is wool tapestry weaving. In the book, I concentrate on a handful of weavers who work only with natural dyes. We are committed to promoting environmental sustainability and respiratory health.
Cleaning a rug woven with naturally dyed wool–Federico Chavez Sosa
Posted in Books & Resources, Chiapas, Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Teotitlan del Valle, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism
Tagged book, celebrations, fiestas, guidebook, Ikat, independent, Mexico, natural dyes, Norma Schafer, Sheri Brautigam, shopping, textiles, tips, tourism, tours, travel
The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market runs from Friday night to Sunday afternoon the second weekend of July each year. Festivities start days in advance with galleries and retail shops all over town featuring artisan trunk shows from various parts of the world. (Mark your 2017 calendar for July 14, 15, 16)
La Chatina! Vintage blouses, embroidered + crocheted. Photo from Barbara Cleaver.
Barbara Cleaver brought a collection of vintage Chatino blouses to La Boheme clothing gallery on Canyon Road, and anyone with a connection to Oaxaca showed up to see what was in store.
Cross-stitch Chatina blouse detail. Photo from Barbara Cleaver.
Barbara, with her husband Robin, run the Hotel Santa Fe in Puerto Escondido, and are long-time residents of both Santa Fe and Oaxaca. The coffee farm they manage is not far from the Chatino villages near the famed pilgrimage site of Juquila.
Chatino people have close language and cultural ties to the Zapotec villages of the Oaxaca valley. Their mountain region is rich in natural resources and many work on the organic coffee farms that are an economic mainstay. About 45,000 people speak Chatino. Hundreds of indigenous languages and dialects are still spoken in Oaxaca, which make it culturally rich and diverse. This is reflected in the textiles!
Barbara has personal relationships with the women embroiderers of the region and what she brought to show was the real deal!
Chatina woman wears extraordinary embroidered blouse. Photo from Barbara Cleaver.
The blouses are densely embroidered with crocheted trim. The older pieces are fashioned with cotton threads and the needlework is very fine. Newer pieces reflect changing times and tastes, and include polyester yarns that often have shiny, gold, silver and colored tinsel thread.
We see this trend in other parts of Mexico, too, including the more traditional villages of Chiapas where conservative women love to wear flash!
The shoulder bag — called a morral — is hand-woven and hand-tied (like macrame), and equally as stunning.
Fine example of Chatino bag from Barbara Cleaver
UPDATED INFORMATION
A follow-up note from Barbara Cleaver about the bag:
The Chatino bags have a proper name in Spanish, which is "arganita." Morral is also correct, in the sense that all Mexican bags are generically called that. Also, the knotted part ( where they stop weaving and start knotting the woven part), is then often embroidered. In Karen Elwell's photo, the birds in the knotting are embroidered over the knotting, rather than being created by the knotting.
Underside of knotted and embroidered Chatino bag, from Barbara Cleaver
To enquire about purchasing any of Barbara Cleaver’s Chatino clothing and accessories, please contact her at Mexantique@aol.com
Chatino shoulder bag, called a morral. Photo by Karen Elwell.
Karen Elwell, whose Flickr site documents Oaxaca textiles, says that the flowers and birds border (above) are machine stitched and the parrots and flowers (below) are hand-knotted from the warp threads of the woven bags. (See Barbara Cleaver’s more exact explanation above.)
Barbara has many examples of these. I was just too busy looking to take good photos!
Invitation to La Boheme trunk show, pre-Folk Art Market.
Posted in Clothing Design, Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving
Tagged Barbara Cleaver, blouses, Chatino, clothing, design, Embroidery, folk art, handwoven, International Folk Art Market, La Boheme, Mexico, Oaxaca, Santa Fe, shoulder bags, textiles, weaving
The 2016 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market is over. Hard to believe it’s been ten days since I last wrote a blog post.
Moises Martinez Velasco (left) and Arturo Hernandez Quiero (right), Oaxaca weavers
This is the second year I’ve come to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to volunteer for this amazing, often overwhelming experience of meeting hundreds of artisans from around the world. They come from as far as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, remote regions of the Himalayas, Thailand and Africa, Algeria, South America, and more. There is hand-woven silk, cotton, wool and plant fiber dyed with indigo, cochineal and persimmon. They fashion silver and gold jewelry, dresses, bed coverings, hats and shawls.
Modeling a natural wool shawl woven by Arturo
Mexico is one of the most represented countries, and Oaxaca artisans are well-represented:
Moises demonstrates silk spinning with drop spindle
Arturo demonstrates back-strap loom weaving at Malouf’s on the Plaza
Don Jose Garcia and wife Reyna at Mexico City airport
Alejandrina Rios and Tito Mendoza, Teotitlan del Valle weavers
It was an intense three-days of volunteering with Arturo Hernandez and Moises Martinez. Being a volunteer assistant is more than writing up sales receipts.
Life-size sculpture by Don Jose Garcia Antonio
It means helping non-English speaking Oaxaca weaving friends show and sell their amazing textiles. I opened indigo, cochineal and marigold dyed silk and wool shawls to help people see the full beauty of the textiles. On Sunday, I worked from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and helped them pack up what was left.
Women from Flor de Xochistlahuaca Amuzgo weaving cooperative
Santa Fe is also a place of reunion for me. Many friends who I’ve met in Oaxaca converge on Santa Fe for this market, and it’s a chance to catch up, have a meal or a glass of wine, and share stories.
Friends Leslie (Denver) and Kaola (Chapel Hill) wear Amalia Gue huipiles, Guatemala
Special saludos to Ellen Benson, Ruth Greenberger, Sheri Brautigam, Norma Cross, Sara Garmon, Barbara Garcia, Susie Robison, Leslie Roth, Kaola Phoenix, Winn Kalmon and Dori Vinella. We converged from Philadelphia, Chapel Hill, Denver, Taos and San Diego to help sustain this tradition and see each other.
Gasali Adeyemo, Yoruba, Nigeria, teaches indigo batik at Museo Textil de Oaxaca
I’ll be here until Friday, when I go to Los Angeles and then San Francisco to see my family. I’m certain there will be more synergies with Oaxaca as my travels unfold.
Jewelry from the Belber Jimenez Museum, Oaxaca
P.S. The International Folk Art Market needs more volunteers! Considering putting this in your travel plans for 2017.
The weekend started with a Chatina, Oaxaca trunk show at La Boheme, Canyon Rd. thanks to Barbara Cleaver
On-going: Oaxaca One-Day Natural Dye Textile Study Tour
February 2017: Tenancingo Ikat Rebozo Study Tour
Mazahua Textile Artisan Added to Tenancingo Rebozo Study Tour
We are adding a nice detail to the already textile extensive — and intensive — Mexico Textiles and Folk Art Study Tour: Tenancingo Rebozos and More!
Mazahua embroidered bodice with fine detail of animal figures
We have invited two indigenous Mexican artisans, one is Nahuatl who lives on the volcano side of Orizaba and the other is Mazahua from Estado de Mexico (State of Mexico) to come to our hotel for a needlework demonstration and sale. Their work is among the finest of this type in the region.
Fine cross-stitch needlework, called punto de cruz, examples of Mazahua work
Cross-stitch embroidery embellishes small cotton handbags, called bolsas
The study tour meets in Mexico City on February 2. We travel for a week together and return to Mexico City on February 10. Departure day is February 11.
4 spaces open! Will one be yours?
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Posted in Clothing Design, Cultural Commentary, Folk Art, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged cross-stitch, learn, Mazahua, Mexico, Nahuatl, needlework, State of Mexico, study tour, Tenancingo, textiles, travel