Posted onSunday, November 28, 2021|Comments Off on Sunday Specials: Take 20% Off Mexican Textiles+Folk Art
It’s Post-Black Friday and I continue to review my collection and offer some of these treasures to you. Most of these pieces are new, purchased from the makers when I visited their villages. My tendency is to buy to support the makers.
How to buy: mailto:norma.schafer@icloud.com Tell me the item you want by number. Send me your mailing address. I will send you a PayPal invoice after you ID your choices. The invoice will include the cost of the garment + $12 mailing. If you want more than one piece, I’m happy to combine mailing. I’ll be mailing from Taos, NM. Next day mailing guarantee if you order and buy before December 10. On December 11, I’m in transit to return to Oaxaca and all sales done until April 2022, unless you want me to mail from Oaxaca!
Why buy a made-by-hand item? Since I buy directly from artisans and pay them outright, your purchases, in effect are a direct benefit to those makers. Most are women whose families have suffered from lack of tourism during covid. Most live in rural areas of Oaxaca far from the tourist centers. The men in their families are subsistence farmers and have no market for their crops other than to put basic food on the table: corn, beans, squash. The rest of their needs come from the work that women do — the weaving, bead making, sewing, etc. Rural Mexico is based on a cash economy.
So, thanks so much for your help and support. Happy Holidays.
#1128.1 — Fancy apron, size small, San Miguel del Valle, Oaxaca. Shoulder to hem measures 29” and side to side across front is 21” wide. Free-form machine embroidered. $95SOLD #1128.2 Hand-woven wool tote bag/overnight bag/shopping bag with zipper closure, lined with interior pockets, sturdy leather straps. All natural dyes. 13” x 17” with 3” gusset. I watch them make these in Teotitlan del Valle — perfect in every way. $175. #1128.3 — Woven wool and cotton shawl or throw dyed with wild marigold flowers in San Pablo Villa de Mitla by my friend Arturo. Wool weft/cotton warp. Cozy and soft. 18” wide x 78” long. $95.SOLD. #1128.4 Multi-strand, multi-colored beaded necklace from San Juan Chamula, Chiapas. All the ladies adorn themselves in these fanciful necklaces and the fashion has migrated to other villages surrounding San Cristobal de las Casas. Adjustable ties. $65SOLD #1128.5. Coconut shells and cacao bean necklace from the tropical east coast of Mexico near Veracruz. Strung on a sturdy, adjustable cord. Set your own length! $53#1128.6 100% soft wool shawl or throw made by my friend Arturo in Mitla. Call it what you will: window panes, hop scotch, grid design created with cochineal natural dye and natural white wool. Hand-knotted fringes. 27” wide x 70” long. $125#1128.7 Asymmetrical graduated necklace with all handmade matte black clay beads from San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca. Front closure features a dangling carved ball embellished with flowers and leaves. 21” long. Use it as a layering piece. Stunning alone or with sterling silver chain. $135SOLD #1128.8. Top. Embroidered floral face mask with gold tones. Protect yourself in hand-made style. $18 and SOLD #1128.9 Bottom. Embroidered floral mask with peach tones. $18SOLD #1128.10. Ruby red beaded necklace from Chiapas. Adjustable tie. $55 #1128.11. Natural colored coconut shell and cacao bean necklace from the Veracruz region of Mexico. Sturdy adjustable cord. $48SOLD #1128.12. Cherry red amber expandable bracelet from Simojovel, Chiapas. This color amber is rare. One size fits most. $65SOLD 1128.13 Another terrific Holiday Red beaded necklace from Chiapas. Adjustable tie neck. $55.SOLD #1128.14 Backstrap loom woven hat band, made in Chiapas. $35#1128.15 Nuts and cinnamon sticks necklace. $20#1128.16. Hat band woven on the back strap loom in Chiapas, Mexico. $35
I’m getting a late start on Black Friday Specials. I intend to post more through the weekend and into next week. This is a perfect way to support indigenous artisan craft in Mexico — textiles, jewelry and more. Today, we are starting with embroidered bags and jewelry. Here in New Mexico, we’ve had a whirlwind Thanksgiving. My son and soon to be daughter-in-law are here with me in Taos, so I’m distracted in a good way. Chilly. But warm in the sun. I hope these days bring you happiness and joy, filled with good company and food.
TAKE 20% OFF ALL LISTED PRICES. Use CODE 20BFS when you email me that you want one of these pieces.
How to buy: mailto:norma.schafer@icloud.com Tell me the item you want by number. Send me your mailing address. I will send you a PayPal invoice after you ID your choices. The invoice will include the cost of the garment + $12 mailing. If you want more than one piece, I’m happy to combine mailing. I’ll be mailing from Taos, NM. Next day mailing guarantee if you order and buy before December 10. On December 11, I’m in transit to return to Oaxaca.
These bags are about 10” wide x 9” high and have a 44” strap that easily works as a cross-body bag. Holds just enough to be very useful: coin purse, lipstick, brush or comb, cell phone and shopping list. I use mine for daily wear. Pretty enough for an evening out and for gift-giving.
#1. $50#2, $50#3. $50SOLD. #3. $50#4. $50#5. $35#6. $35SOLD. #7. $50#8. $50SOLD. #9. Hearts and Pearls. 18” long braided necklace. Oaxaca fashion necklace embellished with handmade black clay heart from San Bartolo Coyotepec and faux black pearls. Heart has cut-out designs. A dramatic and fun piece to wear during the holidays or any time! $85.SOLD. #10. Hearts and Sparkles. 18” long braided necklace with cut-out designs in black clay heart, embellished with rhinestone sparkles. Perfect for holiday dressing or anytime. $85. #11. Stunning Vintage 12K Gold Filigree and Amethyst Glass earrings. $325. These are some of the finest filigree work I have seen in Oaxaca. With French hook backs. 1” wide x 2” high. #12. Clay Beads and Hearts. Dangle earrings, 3” long x 1” wide, with sterling silver findings. $45.SOLD. #13. Vintage sterling silver filigree, pearl and amethyst glass earrings made in Oaxaca. I bought this from a village woman who inherited them from her grandmother. She needs the money because of Covid. Measures 3/4” wide x 1-1/2” long. French backs. $175.
First, thank you friends and readers for your years of following Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. I’ve been writing this blog since 2007. That’s 14 years reporting about Oaxaca (and Mexico) culture, traditions, textiles and the changes that have taken place over this time. There is a lot in the archives! I also want to thank you for your support of the artisan makers who I feature here. So many are grateful for our help and have expressed this to me recently, especially since COViD has all but truncated their ability to bring the beautiful things they make to visitors and collectors. You are their lifeline.
Elizabet Vasquez Jimenez, Triqui weaver, says, ¨A million thanks. You helped me so much because I had no sales in months. Thanks to God and for knowing all of you. Saludos y benediciones.”
Huipil woven on the back strap loom by Elizabet Vasquez Jimenez, Triqui indigenous tribeElizabet at our Day of the Dead expoventa, Oaxaca. She traveled 6 hours by van to show us her work.Elizabet in her village, traditional Triqui huipil Natural dyes, handwoven wool and leather bag, by Estela Montaño
Estela Montaño, woven bag maker, cried as she told me, “You kept us alive during COVID with your help. You sent us customers and we are grateful. You are all angels.”
We have been living with COVID for almost two years (since March 2020) and the pandemic has altered (am I’m thinking perhaps for my lifetime) how we make our way in the world with people we love and care about. I recently returned to Oaxaca after being gone for 19 months. I’m grateful my two adopted campo dogs, Tia and Butch, remembered me! I’m grateful to my Chavez Santiago family for their love and support over the last 16 years, making it possible for me to live with them and enjoy the astounding beauty of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.
The COVID era brought many changes to all of us. We lost friends and neighbors to the virus. Some of us lost family members. Some of us still feel at risk and are wary of gathering this Thanksgiving and of socializing with those who are vaccine resistant. I hear from many friends that they are fearful of traveling outside their local area, let alone getting on an airplane to go to a distant land. These are polarizing and discomfiting times.
Left to right: Fernando, Barbara (visitor), Estela and Juana — Montaño family bag makers
This said, I’m extraordinarily grateful to those of you who are traveling with me to Mexico this year — 2021 and 2022. Thank you. I feel very reassured that when we practice COVID safety with vaccines and masks and hand sanitizer that we can stay healthy. Everyone on our recent Day of the Dead Culture Tour tested COVID negative the day before returning to the USA. For this, I’m incredibly grateful.
This has been a year of dramatic change for me. COViD isolation did me in and I made the decision just a year ago at Thanksgiving (where four of us huddled on the Taos Rio Grande Gorge mesa for an outdoor dinner), to change my lifestyle, leave downtown Durham, NC condo living in exchange for the austere beauty of northern New Mexico and the wide open spaces. Without COVID, I doubt this would ever have happened. At age 75, I decided to build a house! Crazy? Maybe. Liberating? Definitely.
House under construction, Taos Rio Grand River Gorge Mesa
When I left Oaxaca on March 12, 2020, my plan was to stopover in Huntington Beach, CA, to visit my son Jacob for a week and then to go up to Santa Cruz to see my sister Barbara before heading back to Durham for a while and then return to Oaxaca. I stayed with Jacob for two-months in a one-bedroom apartment. We juggled space and time. We bonded even more as mother and son. It was a blessing. I also got to know Shelley, who became his fiancee this year (they are getting married in March 2022). Her mom, Holly, has become a friend. COVID brought them closer together and they decided to make a life together.
Little did I know then that my boy would get approval from his office in March 2021 to work from home on a permanent basis and move to Albuquerque. We are now both living in the same state after being separated for over 30 years. Jacob and Shelley will be here this week for Thanksgiving, joining a group of 15 family members and friends under a heated tent outdoors on the Rio Grande Gorge Mesa. We are monitoring invitees for vaccines, exposure and overall COVID health.
It’s cold here in Taos, but the sun is shining, delivering beauty and hopefulness. Even the drying sagebrush is green today. Reminding me that even in the worst of times, there are many things to be grateful for. This, to me, outweighs the commercialism of the season and Black Friday.
Francisca Hernandez, master blouse embroiderer from Chiapas, says: “Thank you for the special orders over the last year. You have helped sustain my family. Otherwise, we would have earned very little, if anything.”
Francisca’s French knot embroidered blouse
I remember Oaxaca losses from COVID: Estela, a woman from San Bartolome Quialana, in the Tlacolula valley foothills who worked at Tierra Antigua Restaurant, always gracious, cheerful, helpful. Juvenal, my 52-year old friend, generous and compassionate, who left behind a wife, three children and new grandchild born after he died in a San Diego Hospital in February 2021. Juan Manuel Garcia, Grand Master of Oaxaca Folk Art, silversmith and filigree jewelry maker extraordinaire, died at age age 77 in January 2021. I miss them, and so many more. 700,000 is an unfathomable number. I am grateful to be among the living. I mourn our losses.
Juvenal with his family
Ím grateful for the vaccines that offer a miracle for life without risk of death or severe illness necessitating hospitalization. So much to be grateful for among the tragedy of our times.
This coming week, in the spirit of the season, I will be posting a Black Friday Sale either Tuesday or Wednesday. What I offer will all be hand-made, made in Mexico — and will be sure to bring joy to whomever receives them.
I also want to follow-up with the continuing discussion about Day of the Dead, commercialization of a pre-Hispanic tradition that has changed dramatically in the last two years. I want to share what readers sent to me and talk about whether Muertos has been co-opted by the film Coco, by the influx of mezcal drinking young tourists, or by COVID itself.
Day of the Dead, Teotitlan del Valle, photo by Carrie Wing
Sending you blessings for a holiday filled with gratitude, giving thanks, abundance, good health and joy, however you celebrate and with whom.
Norma
P.S. I’d love to hear what this year has wrought for you and your thoughts about gratitude and giving thanks at this season. Write me at: norma.schafer@icloud.com
Posted onWednesday, November 17, 2021|Comments Off on Francisca’s French Knot Blouses + Rosario’s Embroidered Shoulder Bags: Holiday Shopping
Just in time for the holidays! Colorful hand-embroidered blouses and shoulder bags from Mexico, yours to gift or for festive wearing during the next few weeks and beyond.
Francisca is an expert in embroidered blouses using the French Knot technique. She lives in Aguacatenango, a small Chiapas village about an hour-and-a-half from San Cristobal de las Casas. I met her in the plaza some years back during one of our Chiapas textile study tours (there is one space open in the March 8-16, 2022 tour). Her work was far and away the best quality of all the women there, with dense embroidery, all hand-finished seams (no machine stitching in this garment), and 100% Mexican cotton cloth called manta. During Covid, when there were no tourists (and there aren’t that many now, either), I began to order blouses from her to help the family earn income. She sent me this group of all LONG SLEEVE blouses to Oaxaca and I brought them back in my luggage.
The blouses are perfect for winter in southern climates. In the colder north, layer a white HeatTec t-shirt underneath for warmth.
Rosario is a friend from Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. I asked her to start making these colorful embroidered shoulder bags last year, also during covid. Her family lives in a humble, concrete block house ringed by a dirt patio. In the traditional way, she cooks outside on the comal — making tortillas, tamales, beans and squash — the staples of campesinos throughout Mexico. The bags are lined, have an interior pocket and zippered closure. They are fun to wear daily or make a delightful, whimsical addition to any festive occasion.
Ethical sourcing and fair trade. I pay both these women outright for what I order at the price they ask. No bargaining! No questions asked. The money goes in their pockets immediately and we can all feel better that we are supporting women and Mexican artisan craft. Francisca told me she can only make two blouses a month! It takes Rosario a month to embroider the pieces to make eight bags. They are embroidered front and back.
How to buy: mailto:norma.schafer@icloud.com Tell me the item you want by number. Send me your mailing address. I will send you a PayPal invoice after you ID your choices. The invoice will include the cost of the garment + $12 mailing. If you want more than one piece, I’m happy to combine mailing. I’ll be mailing from Taos, NM. Next day mailing guarantee if you order and buy before December 10. On December 11, I’m in transit to return to Oaxaca.
Blouse details:
Size Medium/Large has an embroidered bodice that is 14” wide. Sleeve is 21” long from shoulder to cuff. (Longer sleeves this time!) 27” wide armpit to armpit. 28-1/2” long from shoulder to hem. $125 each.
Size Large/Extra Large has an embroidered bodice that is 16” wide. Sleeve is 21” long from shoulder to cuff. 29” wide armpit to armpit. 28-1/2” long from shoulder to hem. $135 each.
Care Instructions: Wash in cold water on delicate cycle in washing machine using a mild soap like Fels Naptha or baby shampoo. Do not use Woolite. Hang to dry. Use medium-hot iron to press. Or, dry clean.
Posted onThursday, November 11, 2021|Comments Off on Oaxaca Day of the Dead Women’s Creative Writing Retreat 2022
ONE space open for shared room!
Arrive Friday, October 28 and leave Saturday, November 4, 2022.
We gather for Day of the Dead 2019 in the traditional Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico to write with intention for eight days and seven nights. Day of the Dead inspires us to revisit our memories of people and places, to dig in and go deep, and to write in whatever genre speaks to us: memoir, journaling, fiction, personal essay, creative nonfiction, and poetry. We are here to express our relationship with life, death, love, loss and mourning. Day of the Dead is a launching pad to kindle memory.
New and seasoned writers are welcome. Come to kindle and rekindle the writer’s life.
Cost is $1,995 per person for a shared room, and $2,695 for a private room. A $500 non-refundable deposit will reserve your space.
There are 3 shared rooms available and 7 single rooms available. First come, first served.
During this time, Oaxaca honors her ancestors: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, young ones lost to tragedy. Loss surrounds us: loss of time, loss of relationships, loss of self and identity, loss of a loved one or someone with whom closure was incomplete. We approach writing this week within this framework.
Day of the Dead Altar
It is also a celebration of life, the continuum, the link between the generations before and the world we inhabit. During the workshop we discuss Day of the Dead symbols, meaning and concepts, comparing Mexican beliefs with those from our own cultures to spark memory and creativity. Perhaps we explore this in writing or use it as a device to trigger imagination. Together, we will build a group altar to remember our own loved ones, going to the village market to shop for altar decorations.
Day of the Dead offers each of us an opportunity to explore the tenor of life, and the meaning of life and death, transition, passage, and relationships. Memory is powerful. Recall gives us permission to exhume and revisit, to sit with what is at the surface or buried deep within, to see beyond the mask. Writing gives outlet to self-expression whether your goal is to publish or not.
Teotitlan del Valle is our base. It is an ancient weaving village about thirty minutes beyond the hubbub of the city where Day of the Dead rituals are practiced much as they were hundreds of years ago.
During our time together, we will integrate our writing practice with visits to San Pablo Villa de Mitla and a home altar spending the day on November 1 with a local weaver friend to go deep into family traditions. Then, on the evening of November 2 we will go with a local family to the Teotitlan del Valle cemetery to guide the difuntos back to their resting places.
Visit to bag-making studio in Teotitlan del Valle
There will be optional daily activities in our schedule: gentle yoga, afternoon walks, and mini-seminars on writing topics such as writing effective description and dialogue, grammar, or submitting creative work for publication. Each person will have a private coaching session, too.
We will also schedule visits to local artisans to see how they make their work, as well as visit their altars and learn more about family beliefs and practices.
Roses on the writing table with journal notes
Planned Itinerary: 2022
Friday, October 28: Arrive and check-in to our retreat space. We suggest you arrive a day early to avoid unplanned travel delays.
Saturday, October 29: Morning yoga (optional), breakfast, writing workshop, lunch, afternoon independent writing, optional activities, group dinner, coaching session
Sunday, October 30: Morning yoga (optional), breakfast, visit to Teotitlan del Valle market to shop for altar decor, independent writing, lunch, afternoon workshop, group dinner, coaching session
Monday, October 31: Morning yoga (optional), breakfast, writing workshop, lunch, afternoon independent writing, visit to artisan homes to view altars/demonstrations, group dinner
Tuesday, November 1: Morning yoga (optional) breakfast, visit to Mitla for Day of the Dead history and traditions, traditional lunch, evening independent writing, optional activities, group dinner
Wednesday, November 2: Morning yoga (optional), breakfast, writer’s workshop, chocolate making and tamale making demonstration with traditional lunch and Teotitlan de Valle cemetery visit, group dinner
Thursday, November 3: Breakfast. Day on your own. Gala final dinner and reading
Friday, November 4: Depart
We reserve the right to make itinerary changes and substitutions as necessary.
You can add-on days in Teotitlan del Valle or Oaxaca before or after the retreat at your own expense. We can arrange transportation for you to/from the airport and to/from the city at your own expense.
What is included?
Complete instruction with five workshop sessions
7 dinners
7 breakfasts
5 lunches
7 nights lodging
transportation to Mitla altar
daily gentle yoga (optional)
mini-seminars on writing topics
one coaching session
Please bring a photo of a loved one. We will build a group altar, too.
We are pleased that Robin Greene is returning to lead this intensive writer’s retreat. This will be her ninth year teaching with us to rave reviews.
Novelist and Poet Robin Greene in Oaxaca, Mexico
Robin Greene is Professor Emerita of English and Writing and retired Director of the Writing Center at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, where she held the McLean Endowed Chair in English from 2013-2016. Robin has published two collections of poetry (Memories of Light and Lateral Drift), two editions of a nonfiction book (Real Birth: Women Share Their Stories), and a novel (Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman). Robin’s second novel, The Shelf Life of Fire, is forthcoming from Light Messages Publishing in spring 2019, and Robin is currently working on a sequel.
Robin is a past recipient of a North Carolina-National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Writing, and has published over ninety pieces of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in literary journals. She has received two teaching awards, the latest of which, the Cleveland Award, received in 2017, is the most prestigious award offered by her university. Robin has given over a hundred academic presentations, literary readings, and writing workshops in a variety of venues throughout the US.
Additionally, Robin is a registered yoga teacher (RYT200), cofounder and editor of Longleaf Press, and cofounder of Sandhills Dharma Group, a Buddhist meditation group. She holds a M.A. in English from Binghamton University and a M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Art at Norwich University and is a certified yoga practitioner.
Day of the Dead, Some Links to Culture and Traditions
What is a Workshop Session? The group meets daily for about three hours to actively listen to each other’s writing, giving supportive and constructive feedback about what resonates or not. We offer guidelines for the process. Everyone takes a turn to read and everyone participates. Writers may accept or reject suggestions. Workshops offer an important learning tool for writers to gain feedback about how their words are communicated and understood.
How to Register: Cost is $1995 per person for a shared room, and $2695 for a private room. A non-refundable $500 deposit will reserve your space. Send us an email to mailto:norma.schafer@icloud.com to to o say you want to attend and if you want a shared or private room. We will send you a PayPal invoice to secure your space. The balance will be due in two equal payments. The first payment will be due on February 1, 2022. The second and final payment will be due on July 1, 2022.
Required–Travel Health/Accident Insurance: We require that you carry international accident/health/emergency evacuation insurance with a minimum of $50,000 of medical evacuation coverage. Proof of insurance must be sent at least 45 days before departure. In addition, we will send you by email a PDF of a witnessed waiver of responsibility, holding harmless Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. We ask that you return this to us by email 45 days before departure. Unforeseen circumstances happen! Be certain your passport has at least six months on it before it expires from the date you enter Mexico!
Plane Tickets, Arrivals/Departures: Please send us your plane schedule at least 45 days before the trip. This includes name of carrier, flight numbers, arrival and departure time to/from our program destination.
Reservations and Cancellations. We accept payment with Square, Venmo or Zelle. We will send you an invoice when you tell us you are ready to register. After July 1, 2022, refunds are not possible. If you cancel on or before July 1, 2022, 50% of your deposit will be refunded, less the $500 reservation fee. After that, there are no refunds.
To further explain: if we cancel, participants receive a 100% refund.
Travelers are required to take out international travel insurance. If you are too sick to travel and/or come down with covid, or your flights are cancelled or any other legitimate reason, you would file a claim for reimbursement with the insurance company.
All documentation for plane reservations, required travel insurance, and personal health issues must be received 45 days before the program start or we reserve the right to cancel your registration without reimbursement.
Proof of covid vaccine is required, with up-to-date boosters. If still required, we will arrange for covid tests at your own expense (estimated $80) to exit Mexico and re-enter the USA.
Terrain, Walking and Group Courtesy: The altitude is almost 6,000 feet. Streets and sidewalks are cobblestones, mostly narrow and have uneven paths. The stones can be a bit slippery, especially when walking across driveways that slant across the sidewalk to the street. We will do some walking. If you have mobility issues or health/breathing impediments, please let me know before you register. This may not be the workshop/study tour for you. Traveling with a small group has its advantages and also means that independent travelers will need to make accommodations to group needs and schedule. We include plenty of free time to go off on your own if you wish.
How to Get To Oaxaca: United Airlines operates direct flights from Houston. American Airlines operates direct flights from DFW. Delta Airlines has a codeshare with AeroMexico with a connection to Oaxaca from Mexico City. All other major airlines fly to Mexico City where you can made independent connections on Interjet, and VivaAerobus. Check Skyscanner for schedules and fares before you book. Note: I always book directly with the carrier for better customer service.
Workshop Details and Travel Tips: Before the workshop begins, we will email you study tour details and documents that includes travel tips and information.
To get your questions answered and to register, contact Norma Schafer. This retreat is produced by Norma Schafer, Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC.
We know the culture! This is our land! We are locally owned and operated.
Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
Eric was founding director of education, Museo Textil de Oaxaca + folk art expert
Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
Norma is a seasoned university educator.
We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
We organize private travel + tours for museums, arts, organizations, collectors + appreciators.
Creating Connectionand Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here
Meet Makers. Make a Difference
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Arts organizations, museums, designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *North Carolina Museum of Art *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
December 6-14: Oaxaca Textile Tour and Workshopsincluding dye and weaving workshops, Tlacolula market, spinning village visits, plus lots more. With Fiber Circle Studio, Petaluma, California. Registration open!
January 11-17, Deep Dive Into Oaxaca: Cooking, Culture + Craft.Take a cooking class and printmaking workshop, visit artisan studios, weavers, and potteries, eat street tacos, taste artisanal mezcal, shop at markets, and explore the depths. SOLD OUT
February 6-15:Guatemala Textile Study Tour: Cloth and Culture. Discover Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Panajachel, Chichicastenango Market, and visit Coban where they weave fine gauze cloth called pikbil. SOLD OUT
March 12-17: Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour 2025. This is cultural immersion at its best! Following the Dominican Route, we visit potteries, churches, Triqui weavers working in natural dyes, a cooperative in Tijaltepec that makes smocked blouses, the expansive Tlaxiaco Saturday Tianguis. Experience another side of Oaxaca.
October: Japan Folk Art and Textile Tour.ONE SPACE OPEN! Email us.
Oaxaca has the largest and most diverse textile culture in Mexico! Learn about it.
When you visit Oaxaca immerse yourself in our textile culture: How is indigenous clothing made, what is the best value, most economical, finest available. Suitable for adults only. Set your own dates.
One-Day Tours: Schedule When YOU Want to Go!
Ruta del Mezcal One-Day Tour.We start the day with a pottery master and then have lunch with a traditional Oaxaca Cook, who is the mole-making expert. In Mitla, we meet with our favorite flying shuttle loom weaver, and then finish off with a mezcal tasting at a palenque you may NEVER find on your own! Schedule at your convenience!
Teotitlan del Valle Map with select rug weavers, restaurants, village attractions
Tlacolula Market Map -- where to find food, shopping, ATMs, and more
Our Favorite Things to Do in Oaxaca -- eating, shopping, gallery hopping + more
We require 48-hour advance notice for orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after your order is received. Please be sure to send your email address. You can click here to Buy Map. After you click, you can check PayPal to double-check you included your email address. We fulfill each order personally. It is not automatic.
