Tag Archives: ceramics

New Etsy Shop: SouthwestRoadTrip

Aside from living in Oaxaca, most of you know that I live part of the year in Taos, New Mexico, where I am in love with all things Southwest. Apart from Oaxaca Cultural Navigator and Shop.Oaxacaculture.Com where we feature clothing, home goods, jewelry, gifts and more, I’ve decided to open a shop that focuses on handmade New Mexico and Arizona, mostly jewelry.

I’m also featuring a handmade black pot signed by famed potter Maria Martinez and decorated by her son Popovi Da. Maria is the most famous potter from San Ildefonso Pueblo, NM, who died in 1980.

Since I just finished the Southwest Road Trip with my sister and discovered so many artisans along the way that I couldn’t help supporting, this made perfect sense. The Etsy shop will be open through December 29 when I leave for Oaxaca for the winter.

https://southwestroadtrip.etsy.com

If you see something you want, you can either buy it directly from Etsy, or contact me and I will offer you a 10% discount if you buy directly from me without going through Etsy. Discount offer good through December 15, 2023.

A few pieces from the Etsy shop:

Carol Beron Ceramics Exhibition Opens at ARIPO, September 30

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Carol Beron is a ceramic artist who takes her inspiration from much in Oaxaca, from carved animal figures to pre-Hispanic indigenous organic forms. She lives in New York City and visits Oaxaca often.

At ARIPO Opening reception: Friday, September 30,  4 to 7  p.m.  

Exhibition and sale until October 15, 2016. 

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Where: ARIPO — Oaxaca’s state operated artisans gallery, Garcia Virgil #809, near the aqueduct and Plaza Cruz de la Piedra. Tel: 01 951 514 1354

ARIPO is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 pm., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

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All pieces are for sale and can be picked up on October 15  at ARIPO.

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If you are interest in particular pieces, please contact Carol Beron directly at  cgetrollin@gmail.com

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Oaxaca-Santa Fe Connection and the International Folk Art Market

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

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

Modeling a natural wool shawl woven by Arturo

Mexico is one of the most represented countries, and Oaxaca artisans are well-represented:

  • Odilon Merino Morales brought his family’s beautiful Amuzgo huipiles, woven on back-strap looms, many with natural dyes
  • Miriam Leticia Campos Cornelio and the Cornelio Sanchez family from San Antonino Castillo Velasco, Ocotlan, Oaxaca, who make incredible embroidered and crocheted clothing
  • Fernando Gutierrez Vasquez Family, from Tlahuitoltepec high in the Oaxaca mountains, who weave shawls and scarves with natural dyes
  • Arturo Hernandez Quero from San Pablo Villa de Mitla who weaves wool blankets, throws, shawls and ponchos using natural dyes
  • Moises Martinez Velasco from San Pedro Cajones, three hours from Oaxaca city in the mountains, where the family cultivates silk worms, spin the silk on a drop spindle needle, weave on back strap looms, and use all natural dyes

Moises demonstrates silk spinning with drop spindle

Moises demonstrates silk spinning with drop spindle

  • Erasto “Tit0” Mendoza Ruiz is a weaver of fine Zapotec textiles from Teotitlan del Valle, many with natural dyes
  • Flor de Xochistlahuaca cooperative makes traditional clothing from natural dyes and harvested cotton
  • Magdalena Pedro Martinez from San Bartolo Coyotepec who sculpts black clay into exquisite figures

Arturo demonstrates back-strap loom weaving at Malouf's on the Plaza

Arturo demonstrates back-strap loom weaving at Malouf’s on the Plaza

  • Agustin Cruz Prudencio and his son Agustin Cruz Tinoco carve wood figures and then paint them using intricate designs representing Oaxaca life
  • Soledad Eustolia Gacia Garcia fashions traditional Oaxaca jewelry using filigree, lost wax casting in gold, silver and copper. Her family workshop preserves Oaxaca’s Monte Alban traditions
  • Jose Garcia Antonio and Family are primitive folk artisans who make larger than life clay figures. He is blind and uses his memory and touch to represent Zapotec life

Don Jose Garcia and wife Reyna at Mexico City airport

Don Jose Garcia and wife Reyna at Mexico City airport

  • Isaac Vasquez and Family from Teotitlan del Valle brought hand-woven wool rugs in the Zapotec tradition
  • Jovita Cardoza Castillo and Macrina Mateo Martinez from Cooperative Innovando la Tradicion shipped lead-free elegant clay pots and dishes hand-polished to a brilliant sheen
  • Arturo Faustino Rodriguez Ruiz and Federico Jimenez create gold, silver and gemstone filigree jewelry, which can be seen at the Museo Belber Jimenez in Oaxaca

Alejandrina Rios and Tito Mendoza, Teotitlan del Valle weavers

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

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

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.

Leslie (Denver, CO) and Kaola (Chapel Hill) joined me for a reunion

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, from Nigeria, taught indigo batik at Museo Textil de Oaxaca

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

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 Oaxaca trunk show at La Boheme, Canyon Rd.

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

 

 

 

A Day of Clay: Visiting Santa Maria Atzompa with Innovando la Tradicion

In their own words, Innovando la Tradicion is a creative platform where artisans, designers and artists share skills, knowledge and stories to rethink and honor the ceramic traditions of Oaxaca.  The group helps potters and pottery communities in Oaxaca with support to develop their trade.

Francisco finishing the clay comal (griddle)

Francisca finishing the clay comal (griddle)

Before the new year, my sister and I joined a one-day excursion to Santa Maria Atzompa sponsored by Innovando la Tradicion and hosted by Gregorio Desgarennes Garzón who everyone calls Goyo. The idea was to spend time with a local family, part of the Innovando la Tradicion collective, and learn how they work with clay to make functional and decorative pieces.

 

This was not a shopping trip. It was a meaningful educational and cultural experience to go deeper into Oaxaca’s indigenous traditions. In Atzompa, craftsmen have worked in clay for centuries. They shaped religious articles, storage and cooking vessels for the Monte Alban ruling class, long before the Spanish conquest.

  

These same traditions continue today with some modification of the ancient technologies.  In addition to firing the wood kiln, there is also a modern propane oven for cooking clay at higher temperatures. Traditional shapes take form alongside innovative contemporary sculpture.

 

Our multi-national group spent the day with Francisca, her husband Guillermo and their three daughters Karina, Vianney and Maité. Clay has always been in my family, say the couple. We added our impressions: It is the material of possibility, the smell of the earth, it evokes chocolate, bread, eating, family and nature.

Guillermo took us into the yard first to demonstrate how the large clay chunks are broken up with a mallet made from a hardwood tree limb. He digs the clay himself from a pit not far from the village center. Some of us volunteered to give it a try and didn’t last too long.

 

After the clay is pulverized to a fine powder and put through a sieve, it is mixed with black clay that comes from the bottom of a nearby lake. This gives it strength and elasticity. It is Guillermo who does all the heavy prep work.

How do you know when it’s ready? someone in the group asks. We can tell by touching it, was the answer. There is no written recipe.

My sister and I loved watching all this because our dad was a potter in Los Angeles and the entire process reminded us of our growing up years, watching dad knead the clay, then work it on the wheel into functional and whimsical objects of beauty.

 

Just as we did, the children here play with clay when they are young, forming simple shapes made with the coil or pinch pot method.

Each day, Guillermo prepares a batch of clay that Francisca will make into comals for sale to clients or at the local market. They make only enough for that day. Francisca is known for her fine clay comals. Her mold is a 12-year old comal that is the correct diameter and thickness. She will make about eight comals in a day. Each one, used for making tortillas or their variation, may last for about two months.

 

Her tools are trees and gourds. She uses her fingers to feel the thickness of the clay, testing it, determining if she needs to add more to the center for strength.

Her children know how to do this, too, now. But she dreams that her children will go to university and have a profession. Yet, she also wants them to make ceramics.

As Francisca pulls and shapes the clay, we watch mesmerized as she forms a beautifully round, perfect comal with lip that is desired by all who work with corn, another artisan craft.

The comals will sell for 55 to 70 pesos each. It takes about an hour to make a large one.  In the currency exchange rate of pesos to dollars, that’s about $3 to $4.50 each. At the rate of eight per day, the gross is $24 to $36 USD per day including labor and materials.

 

When the comal is finished, Guillermo carries it to the sun to dry. Francisca and Guillermo can fit about 36 comales into the adobe kiln, stacked vertically. The kiln is covered and fueled with wood. After about two hours the temperature reaches a low-fire 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The fire burns out and the clay contents cool, then are removed and prepared to transport to market.

After the demonstration, we took a lump of clay and began to form our own pieces. Some of us used a small wheel the size of a plate, balanced on a rock, to turn our work. Others shaped the clay using forefinger and thumb or rolling coils and stacking them. The pieces were primitive and imaginative. It was like being a child again! Totally freeform.

Then, the tables were made ready and Francisca served us a wonderful lunch of sopa de guias, tlayudas and horchata water that she prepared. The family joined us in celebrating the end of a very satisfying day.

A special thanks to Goyo for translating everything from Spanish to English and giving us great insights into the clay making process.

Contact Innovando la Tradicion at the little clay shop 1050 Grados, Rufino Tamayo 800, Oaxaca Centro, phone 951-132-6158 to find out when their next clay tour is scheduled. It’s a wonderful experience. Don’t miss it.

 

 

 

 

Soft Landing Oaxaca, and Teotitlan del Valle

It’s a four-and-a-half hour bus ride from Puebla CAPU to Oaxaca ADO bus station. Taxi from Puebla historic center to CAPU is 80 pesos. Bus ticket is about 450 pesos on ADO GL deluxe service. Easy. Scenic. The road dips and rises through mountains studded with mature saguaro and nopal cactus, flowing river beds (it’s the rainy season) and dramatic gorges. When going south, choose a seat on the right side of the bus.

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Prep kitchen — al fresco — at La Biznaga Restaurant

A good time to write, read, lean back and enjoy the ride. I arrived in Oaxaca on Sunday night, just in time to skip the last Guelaguetza performances on Monday but not the crowds strolling the Andador Macedonio Alcala. Or, the sounds of the festivities echoing from the Cerro del Fortin pinnacle starting at 10 a.m.

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People asked me, are you going to Guelaguetza? Did you go to Guelaguetza? I told them no. I went for the last two years, had a great time, took lots of photos and decided I didn’t need to repeat the experience for a while.

Sunday night, I discovered La Salvadora, a patio bar on Guerrero that serves great artesenal Mexican beer, sandwiches, salads, and usually has live music. A great way to land. Thanks, Hayley.

On Monday I walked over 12,000 steps Oaxaca is one of the best walking cities in Mexico with the Andador limited only to pedestrian traffic.

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Carol and David invited me to lunch at their departamento under the shadow of Basilica de Soledad on the other side of town, so I walked there, passing colonial adobe buildings in need of renovation.

Before that, I walked to ceramic Galeria Tierra Quemada and recycled glass studio Xaquixe to check out mezcal cups that my sister asked me to get for her, and then I went back again as she honed the decision.

I finished off the day with a Spanish potato and egg torta (a famed tapas) with organic salad, and a glass of excellent, reasonably priced (40 pesos) red wine at Tastevins on Murguia close to Benito Juarez, with Hayley. This place is becoming a favorite, relaxed, good food, moderately priced.

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On Tuesday, I clocked a bit over 10,000 steps. Janet and I met for a great breakfast — organic blue corn memelas with poached eggs, red and green salsa — at Cabuche before she went to work. (It’s my in-the-city-neighborhood-go-to-eating-spot.)

Handmade paper box at Xaquixe

Handmade paper box at Xaquixe

Then, a return trip to Tierra Quemada (meaning burnt earth) for the final order and shipping.

TierraQuemada2 Xaquixe

 

And a return to the Xaquixe shop on 5 de Mayo between Abasolo and Constitucion to oggle the handmade paper and glassware once again.

Prepping for comida corrida at La Biznaga

Prepping for comida corrida at La Biznaga

After taking care of fingers and toes from all the pavement pounding, I met Martha and Hayley at La Biznaga for a great vegetarian spinach lasagna (Tuesday is vegetarian comida corrida). The portions are so generous, there was enough for lunch today.

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My good friend and taxista Abraham picked me up late afternoon and I arrived back in Teotitlan del Valle. I don’t have internet connection where I live, so I’m now at my Teoti go-to restaurant Tierra Antigua for reliable service and an excellent horchata.

This Saturday Abraham and Rosa are getting married. It’s been in the planning for a year. I’ve known Abraham for about eight years — smart, always reliable, taught himself English, muy dulce — very sweet. He asked me to be the madrina (godmother) of the photography! It’s my gift to them, and I’m excited about participating in all the related activities and then sharing them with you. I have permission!

Soft landing!