Search by Topic
Stay Connected!
LIKE Us on Facebook!
See Us Social
Norma Writes for Selvedge Latin Issue
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
- Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university program development experience. See my resume.
Study Tours + Study Abroad are personally curated and introduce you to Mexico's greatest artisans. They are off-the-beaten path, internationally recognized. We give you access to where people live and work. Yes, it is safe and secure to travel. Groups are limited in size for the most personal experience.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, universities and other organizations come to us to develop customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Our Clients Include *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
PRESS
- WEAVE Podcast: Oaxaca Coast Textiles & Tour
- NY Times, Weavers Embrace Natural Dye Alternatives
- NY Times, Open Thread–Style News
- NY Times, 36-Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico
Our Favorites
Another Sepia Photography Afternoon with Potter Irma Blanco
Being in Oaxaca must include a visit to the regional artisan villages. That’s one reason why we focus summer photography workshops on “Market Towns and Artisan Villages” — to give participants a chance to go beyond the city and explore the work of Oaxaca’s folk artists. Among the best is potter Irma Blanco, daughter of Teodora Blanco, who developed the style of affixing pieces of clay decoration to the larger clay body.
Irma is featured in the recently published Grand Masters of Oaxaca Folk Art from Banamex Foundation. There is a current exhibit of her work and others in this collection at the San Pablo Cultural Center Gallery (Hidalgo between Fiallo and 5 de Mayo).
Irma sits on her knees atop a folded blanket in front of a small wheel that she turns by hand to form the clay. Her husband digs the clay from a quarry in a nearby village. She uses her fingers and palms to create the shapes that will become sirenas (mermaids), farm animals, catrinas, and statuesque virgins.
We also wanted to stop to visit her brother Luis, but he was in Santa Fe at the International Folk Art Market. Irma is a gracious, welcoming woman with a warm smile. Before we left she asked if we could have a group photo together with her! of course, we were delighted to comply.
I found myself moving back and forth between color, sepia, and black and white, and then using Lightroom, a photo editing software, to take the color down to just a hint. It felt as if some details lent themselves better to the mystery and mood that sepia creates. Our assignment for the day was to get the details, texture and pattern in sepia. It was a satisfying, creative photography experience.
Which do you think works best?
Still spaces left in Day of the Dead photography expedition starting October 28, 2012.
Like this: