Tag Archives: International Folk Art Market

2020 Chiapas Textile Group Reunites in Santa Fe

In February 2020, a group of travelers came to together for a Oaxaca Cultural Navigator textile tour in Chiapas. We gathered in San Cristobal de las Casas and spent the next week together exploring weaving villages around this historic colonial city. In the process, many became good friends. It was only a week after the tour ended and everyone went home that we went into Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown. The group continued to communicate via WhatsApp messaging and formed a strong support for each other during those dark-day years. About a year ago, there was the sentiment to have a reunion, which materialized this past weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We decided to gather together for the International Folk Art Market, staying at the historic Hacienda de Chimayo, about thirty minutes north of the capitol city. We came from Denver, Texas and North Carolina and it was so satisfying to be together again.

Still a few spaces open for Chiapas 2023!

We spent a lot of time with Amalia Gue from Coban, Guatemala, and Olga Reiche from Antigua, Guatemala because we are enamored with what they weave.

We are planning a winter 2025 textile tour to visit them. Let us know if you are interested in going with us by sending an email to Norma Schafer.

Eric is busy in Oaxaca preparing for the July 19 and July 20 day tours to Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec and San Pedro Cajonos. We still have spaces open, so if you are in Oaxaca this summer, please come with us. These are two special destinations where weavers create extraordinary cloth from natural dyes in cotton and silk.

Norma leaves on July 12 for the WARP international textile conference in Kent State University, Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. She’ll be doing a presentation on Sunday featuring the textiles of Chiapas and the Oaxaca coast. We will be posting about this conference while it’s happening!

Here is extraordinary pastillage pottery from Santa Maria Atzompa, Oaxaca, made by Enedina Seferina Vasquez Cruz. She was at the Folk Art Market this year. Leslie volunteered in her booth.

Oaxaca Artisans in Santa Fe, New Mexico 2019 IFAM

Thursday parade features Mexican delegation with Teotitlan weaver Isaac Vasquez

The 2019 International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has come to an end. The three-day extravaganza is a chaotic mix of tribal, ethnic, indigenous creativity from around the world. It brings together many talented artisans who have no other paths to reach international markets.

Santa Fe is a destination for many reasons. This is where friends from all over the country converge to volunteer, too. A group of us planned a reunion around being here. We coordinated our volunteer time. We stayed at the same, small, old Route 66 motel that has been in service since the 1950’s. I imagine my dad may have stayed there as he pulled a trailer with all our family household belongings behind our 1953 Plymouth station wagon on the journey west from Detroit to resettle in Los Angeles.

Don Jose Garcia Antonio is blind, feels his way to sculpt Oaxaca life

The market officially begins on Friday night with a special opening night preview at $250 per person admission. I always volunteer, so I get to watch the passing parade of Texas and Oklahoma oil and gas heiresses and collectors dressed in their finest attire. It’s a cocktail party that goes from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. The ticket gives one first pick. I volunteered with Santa Fe de Laguna, Patzcuaro, potter Nicolas Fabian Fermin, and I packed up lots of beautiful pots that night.

Weaver Pedro Mendoza, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, at Banamex Foundation booth

The frenzy continued on Saturday morning when the Early Birders got in at 7:30 a.m. After the late night on Friday of bubble-wrapping ceramics, I just couldn’t get going to get there before 10 a.m. when the event opened to general admission. With hundreds of artisans and thousands of people, it was a crush to get through the aisles to see all that was offered at this huge bazaar.

Yesenia Yadira Salgado Tellez, Oaxaca filigree silversmith

That didn’t give me much time to cover more than a fraction of the aisles, since I was meeting friends Jennifer and Mark Brinitzer, Ann Brinitzer and Katie and Don Laughland for an early lunch in the cafe. The women came with me on our 2019 Chiapas Textile Study Tour (a few places open for 2020) and we became fast friends.

Remigio Mestas is noted conservator of finest Oaxaca textiles, at Banamex Foundation

It was thrilling and heartfelt to see so many artisans I know from Oaxaca represented at this outstanding exposition. It takes years of making highest quality work to gain this level of recognition, plus it takes entrepreneurship and some luck to gain entry to this juried show.

Amada Sanchez, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca, master weaver and dyer

It’s very expensive for artisans to participate, too. They must cover their own shipping, travel, lodging and food expenses and they give 20% of their sales to the IFAM organization for the opportunity to sell.

Weaver Porfirio Gutierrez Contreras and dye-master sister Juana, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
Client wears fuschine-dyed huipil, Dreamweavers Cooperative, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca

If they are part of a cooperative with many makers, the profits must be divided. As with the case of Dreamweavers Cooperative from Pinotepa de Don Luis, there were three representatives at the Folk Art Market — Amada, Teofila and Patrice. Patrice did a fundraiser and collected over $4,000 USD to cover some of the expenses. And, they had excellent sales. However, the net gets divided among 30 weavers and dyers, so each person might earn only a few hundred dollars.

Selvedge Magazine Latin Issue co-editor Marcella Echeverria, Mexico City

For individual artisans and families, the profits are much better but ONLY IF there are sales. If it is a slow year, there is an opportunity to sell at a discount (the artisan names the percentage) on Sunday afternoon, the last day of the show. Brisk sales one year does not guarantee success for the next. The risk is entirely on the shoulders of the artisan.

Odilon Merino Morales shows an exquisite hand-woven San Pedro Amuzgo, Oaxaca huipil,

Odilon Merino Morales from San Pedro Amuzgo on the Costa Chica of Oaxaca, Mexico, consigns what he doesn’t sell with Sheri Brautigam who runs the online Etsy shop, Living Textiles of Mexico. If you didn’t get to the show and want one of these incredible textiles, please contact Sheri. She also has pieces from Pinotepa de Don Luis’ Dreamweavers Cooperative.

Master weaver Isaac Vasquez, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

The benefit of doing this is that the artisans do not need to pay the return shipping for unsold goods and it leaves the beautiful pieces in the USA for better access to those of you who missed the show and want to make a purchase.

Patrice Perillie, Amada Sanchez and Norma Schafer in our huipiles

I volunteered on Saturday afternoon from noon to 6:00 p.m. with the Dreamweavers Cooperative. I know these women well since I lead study tours to their remote village on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica.

The IFAM show is a destination and an adventure. Since I know many of the artisans, it is a special and heart-throbbing experience to meet them outside their humble homes and villages in the world of commerce. For some, this is their first visit to the USA. Their first flight on an airplane. Their first success at getting a visa to enter the USA and overcome the fears of border crossing and disrespect.

Hand-woven native green Oaxaca cotton, purple snail dye, indigo, cochineal

This is the moment to applaud what Oaxaca artisans have accomplished. There are so many more talented people whose work goes unrecognized and unrewarded. For those of us who love Mexico and appreciate the talent, history, culture and art, the process of bringing accomplished artisans to the world marketplace is an on-going effort.

Thanks to all who support and applaud what they do.

My pal Winn, volunteer extraordinaire, writing up a sales slip

In the vast New Mexico landscape, one can disappear, rediscover Georgia O’Keefe, experience Nuevo Mexico, land of enchantment, understand the history and artisanry of nearby Native Americans who live along the Rio Grand River. It is hot, dry, high desert with the kind of beauty that brings the romance of the Old West into one’s spirit.

View from Abiquiu, New Mexico

Look at the rain over purple hills, fields of sage and lavender, the dry withered look of dehydration — plants and people, wrinkles in the earth and on weathered faces. I imagine what it would be like to be an indigenous person here, too. I know the Oaxaca story well. There are many similarities — both experienced the Conquest, the attempt at culture annihilation, and the resurgence of identity amidst the face of adversity and hardship.

Again, let’s applaud the talent of our First Peoples.

Santo Domingo jewelry maker Warren Nieto

Mexico in Santa Fe, Nuevo Mexico—International Folk Art Market

Tonight the famed Santa Fe International Folk Art Market opens on Museum Hill to the thrill of all of us who embrace the work created by indigenous people as an expression of self, culture and community. It will continue through the weekend.

On Thursday afternoon, skirting a dramatic downpour of rain, the IFAM officially began with the Parade of Nations around the Santa Fe Plaza. Outstanding artisans from Mexico represented the best of the entire country and her dedication to craft preservation and culture.

From Oaxaca, Isaac Vasquez, and behind Don Jose Garcia and Teresita Mendoza Reyna Sanchez, ceramic sculptors from San Antonio Castillo Velasco

It takes a village. It takes the ingenuity, dedication, years of creative work without the promise of recognition. It takes collectors and appreciators who reward talent by purchasing amazing pieces. It takes the support of NGOs and individuals who give time, energy and resources to step in to help artisans, most of whom speak no English, or may speak some Spanish, and who prefer to communicate in their indigenous language, which is probably their first language.

The International Folk Art Market brings people together from all around the world to celebrate native craft and creativity. It offers a forum to appreciate, understand and applaud.

From Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca, Dreamweavers Cooperative—Txinda Purple Snail Dyes

The parade around the plaza brought tears to my eyes for many reasons. This joining, this coming together in celebration is a marvel. I recognized so many faces from the artisans I know in Oaxaca and Mexico. We waved. We embraced. The crowd responded.

The Market is juried and space is limited. Many talented people from Mexico apply and are not accepted. Space is limited. Most wouldn’t even dream of coming this far because it requires about $2,000 US dollars to fund the travel and expenses for one person. There is an application fee and artisans pay a percentage of sales to the organization, too. And, then, of course, there is the huge obstacle of getting a Visitor Visa to enter the USA.

From Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Porfirio Gutierrez and sister Juana Gutierrez

So this is a special group in many ways.

To be here is to have pride in Mexico, what her people do and create, the tenacity required to get this far, the savvy to be able to translate creative work into an application, the perseverance to risk ridicule and jealousy by peers who wish they could have achieved.

From Pátzcuaro, Michoacan, Nicolas Fabian Fermin and Maria del Rosario Lucas, potters

There are joys for all us derived from being in a community of like people from around the world.

Bienvenidos. Welcome to Santa Fe.

Chatino Textiles from Oaxaca at Santa Fe Trunk Show

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. Photo from Barbara Cleaver.

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.

Chatina blouse detail. Photo from Barbara Cleaver.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Invitation to La Boheme trunk show, pre-Folk Art Market.

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