The Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City is featuring a special exhibition about the Virgin of Guadalupe. The images include primitive figures in carved wood, elaborate paintings and wood carvings from church altars, woven and embroidered textiles, and contemporary 2016 photographs by Federico Gama taken at the Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Why am I so taken with this exhibition? Certainly not from a religious point-of-view, but from one interested in the cultural expression of this great nation. The Virgin of Guadalupe is Mexico’s own, personal patron saint.
To me, she is a woman of strength and valor, able to transform and uplift a nation. She is Mother Earth, fertility and blessing. Her figure transcends and tricks the Spanish overlord. She is disguised as and more than the Virgin Mary. Her roots are indigenous. She belongs to the people.
I am also taken with the various artistic expressions of her figure, how she is depicted: from facial expressions, use of color and shadows on the folds of her gown, the portrayal of the angel at her feet, from simple to elaborate. It seems that everyone had their own version of the Virgin of Guadalupe vision.
As my friend, artist Lena Bartula says, In Guad We Trust.
Who wants to join me for lunch in San Marcos Tlapazola tomorrow, Saturday, July 14? I’ll be there by 11 a.m. in time to see Lila Downs, the madrina (patron) of the celebration, cut the ribbon for the official opening.
This is the third year of the festival and each year it grows bigger. In addition to selling the specialty ceramics of the village — the beautiful red clay dinnerware and accessories — you can dance, eat, take photos, drink atole and mezcal, buy aprons, and just overall enjoy the festivities.
My own Teotitlan del Valle kitchen has a shelf of red clay dinnerware made by Macrina Mateo Martinez, one of the more famous artisans.
San Marcos is located in the hills about 20 minutes above Tlacolula. You could combine this with a visit to the Sunday market, too.
I took the photos below in 2015, the year I separated from my wasband, still deciding how I would spell my new last name which is a derivative of my mother’s maiden name (in case you were wondering why the names don’t match!).
Red clay pottery, San Marcos Tlapazola, photo by Norma Schafer
Fueling the kiln at San Marcos, photo by Norma Schafer
Portrait of a potter, San Marcos Tlapazola, photo by Norma Schafer
Mujeres del Barro Rojo, San Marcos Tlapazola, photo by Norma Schafer
Driving from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with stops back and forth in Taos and Abiquiu–Ghost Ranch (to pay homage to Georgia O’Keeffe), I am constantly reminded that this land was once Mexico. The landscape reminds me of Oaxaca: expansive with arroyos, crevices, looming 12,000 foot mountains, scrub oak, sign posts telling of land grants established soon after the Spanish Conquest.
My pilgrimage to visit friends along the way embellished my road trip adventure on the back roads of America’s Southwest. In Taos, my friend Winn gave me a list of thrift and consignment shops to visit in Santa Fe. She said sometimes there is Native American jewelry, too. That hooked me!
This is especially interesting since Santa Fe is that eclectic mix of old-timers who have been there for forty years (and collected a few things), and socialites who come for the summer season. They might be oil and gas heiresses from Texas and Oklahoma who seek a milder summer climate. They come for the opera and the markets: International Folk Art Market, Spanish Market, and Indian Market.
They shop on the Plaza at Santa Fe Dry Goods filled with Euro-designer labels, attend galas, frequent cocktail parties, and then shed barely worn attire. Here’s where these clothes end up:
Gaspeite and Sterling Silver Navajo bracelet, thrift shop find
Artifact. 930 Baca St., Santa Fe. (505) 982-5000. I found a vintage Navajo sterling silver cuff inlaid with gaspeite, and a brand-new skirt hot off the rack from the Plaza at a fraction of its original price.
The Beat Goes On. 333 Montezuma Ave., Santa Fe. 505-982-7877. Here, the discovery is a Peter Nygaard jacket and a raspberry colored crinkle top. Score! This shop is around the corner from …
Doubletake. 320 Aztec St. at the corner of Guadalupe St., Santa Fe. (505) 989 – 8886. This shop is in two parts: amazing Native American jewelry, accessories and furniture; and clothing.
Look What the Cat Dragged In. 2570 Camino Entrada. This shop benefits the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. I never made it here! Hopefully you will. Let me know what you think.
If you are destined for Santa Fe this summer to volunteer or attend the International Folk Art Market (or any of the others), you might find this bonus thrifty shopping itinerary worthwhile. I did!
Posted onSaturday, April 21, 2018|Comments Off on Folk Art Makers in Oaxaca Artisan Villages: Kinship, Work and Compensation
I subscribe to a website named academia.edu that recently published a paper by Alanna Cant, an academic from Kent University, United Kingdom. Dr. Cant spent almost a decade studying and writing about the relationship between the owners of a large, successful wood carving and painting workshop in San Martin Tilcajete and the people who are employed there making alebrijes.
The article is important because it expands understanding about how folk art gets made and marketed, who gets recognition for the work, and a different form of compensation. It emphasizes how the importance of family relationships and kinship take priority over economic independence and personal recognition for artisan work.
We learn from this that making a name for oneself and making money is not the primary driver for most people who live in community.
It’s very important for us not to judge by our own standards, but to observe and understand the differences and similarities between cultures.
In many small villages throughout Oaxaca, in fact throughout Mexico, safety, security and economic well-being depends on mutual support. These practices are ancient and deep, embedded in tribal relationships rooted in loyalty and commitment. It is far more important for many talented crafts-people to support strong family relationships than it is for them to break away and start their own enterprise.
I’m not a cultural anthropologist, yet I extrapolate that this may be the norm in many villages of weavers, potters and embroiderers. Cooperatives are usually extensions of family units of parents, children, aunts, uncles and cousins — a social organization that differs in practice from co-ops in the USA. Producing quantities of artisan-made work depends on more than a few pairs of hands.
If you are a collector or appreciator of Mexican craft, this article may interest you. It will give you insight into the making of Mexican folk art and how indigenous communities are able to survive and support each other over 8,000 years of existence.
Their experience is very different from ours. Entrepreneurship and commercial success, too, comes at a cost as television and the internet make the world of things more important than the world of people.
Omar Chavez Santiago is a fifth generation weaver from Teotitlan del Valle who works in natural dyes. His family operates Galeria Fe y Lola in Oaxaca city. I asked my Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) to alert the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City that Omar was coming on March 1, 2018, for his visa interview. Few are successful. Omar received a 10-year visitor visa. He is here and we are excited.
Omar Chavez Santiago explains natural dyes in Oaxaca, Mexico
Wendy Sease, owner of INDIO Durham, will host Omar this weekend for a Mexico Art & Textile Trunk Show. Thank you, Wendy. Please come!
FIRST TRUNK SHOW — INDIO DURHAM
SECOND TRUNK SHOW — ECHOVIEW FIBER MILL, WEAVERVILLE
Thanks to Judi Jetson from Local Cloth and Grace Casey-Gouin from Echoview Fiber Mill, for hosting us in the Asheville area. Please let your NC mountain friends know!
Preparing the cochineal dye bath, Teotitlan del Valle
Getting the most intense red possible! Straining the bugs.
Bamboo bobbins with natural dyed wool, ready to weave
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma contributes personal essay, How Oaxaca Became Home
Norma Contributes Two Chapters!
Click image to order yours!
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
*MINNA-Goods
*Selvedge Magazine
We offer textile experiences in our studio where we weave and work only in natural dyes.You can see the process during our textile tours, dye workshops or customized weaving experiences. Ask us for more information about these experiences, customized scheduling, and prices.
Oaxaca has the largest and most diverse textile culture in Mexico! Learn about it.
1-Day OaxacaCity Collectors Textile Tour.Exclusive Access! We take you into the homes and workshops of Oaxaca State's prize-winning weavers. They come from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Mixteca, Mixe, Amuzgos and Triqui areas and represent their weaving families and cooperatives here. For collectors, retailers, buyers, wholesalers, fashionistas.
1-Day Oaxaca Textile Walking Tour 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.
2022 Going Deep, Not Wide--Extended Tours
July 25-31, 2022. Oaxaca Textile Adventure Tour: Sierra Norte Mountains. Visit two remote mountain villages where silk and cotton are woven into glorious cloth and dyed with natural plant materials. Come early or stay later for Guelaguetza! Not too late to join!
October 28-November 4, 2022: Women’s Creative Writing Retreat in Teotitlan del Valle — Memory and Tradition. Click this link to read about it. ONE SPACE OPEN FOR SHARED ROOM.
October 29-November 4, 2022:Day of the Dead Culture Tour. We meet locals and visit 4 villages to experience this mystical pre-Hispanic observance, awesome and reverent. Still space for a few more!
February 5-13, 2023: Bucket List Tour: Monarch Butterflies + Michoacan. Spiritual, mystical connection to nature. Go deep into weaving, pottery, mask-making and more! We haven't offered this tour since 2019 and we anticipate it will sell out quickly. TWO SPACES OPEN
February 21-March 1, 2023: Chiapas Textile Study Tour--Deep Into the Maya World Based in San Cristobal de las Casas, we travel to distant pueblos to meet extraordinary weavers --Best of the Best! Just a handful of spaces open.
Stay Healthy. Stay Safe. In Oaxaca, wear your mask. Questions? Want more info or to register? Send an email to Norma Schafer.
Maps: Teotitlan + Tlacolula Market
We require 48-hour advance notice for map orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after order received. Please be sure to send your email address. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map After you click, be sure to check PayPal to ensure your email address isn't hidden from us. We fulfill each map order personally. It is not automatic.
Dye Master Dolores Santiago Arrellanas with son Omar Chavez Santiago, weaver and dyer, Fey y Lola Rugs, Teotitlan del Valle
Santa Fe, New Mexico Consignment & Thrifty Shopping: The List
Driving from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with stops back and forth in Taos and Abiquiu–Ghost Ranch (to pay homage to Georgia O’Keeffe), I am constantly reminded that this land was once Mexico. The landscape reminds me of Oaxaca: expansive with arroyos, crevices, looming 12,000 foot mountains, scrub oak, sign posts telling of land grants established soon after the Spanish Conquest.
My pilgrimage to visit friends along the way embellished my road trip adventure on the back roads of America’s Southwest. In Taos, my friend Winn gave me a list of thrift and consignment shops to visit in Santa Fe. She said sometimes there is Native American jewelry, too. That hooked me!
This is especially interesting since Santa Fe is that eclectic mix of old-timers who have been there for forty years (and collected a few things), and socialites who come for the summer season. They might be oil and gas heiresses from Texas and Oklahoma who seek a milder summer climate. They come for the opera and the markets: International Folk Art Market, Spanish Market, and Indian Market.
They shop on the Plaza at Santa Fe Dry Goods filled with Euro-designer labels, attend galas, frequent cocktail parties, and then shed barely worn attire. Here’s where these clothes end up:
Gaspeite and Sterling Silver Navajo bracelet, thrift shop find
If you are destined for Santa Fe this summer to volunteer or attend the International Folk Art Market (or any of the others), you might find this bonus thrifty shopping itinerary worthwhile. I did!
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Folk Art
Tagged consignment shops, New Mexico, Santa Fe, thrift shops