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Why Travel With Us: Help sustain traditions.
- 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 Connection and 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
Tell us how we can put a program together for you! Send an email norma.schafer@icloud.com
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Oaxaca, Mexico: Center for the Graphic Arts
Before going to meet Alan Altamirano aka MK_Kabrito, founder of La Chicharra graphic arts studio for a workshop demonstration on woodcut techniques, we spent the morning with master printer and lithographer Fernando Sandoval. Fernando and his group do traditional lithography using copper plates and the acid wash technique. Master artists like Francisco Toledo and Sergio Hernandez rely on his impeccable expertise to produce the highest quality images. We were able to see many of these masters’ work during our visit.
We met Alan and translator/photographer Luvia Lazo Gutierrez in the studio and for the next two hours we learned about the printmaking process, using different plates for each color. (Note: we are offering a printmaking workshop in January 2016. Please contact us if you are interested.)
Some of us volunteered to try our hand at it — time consuming and labor intensive. Alan says it takes him at least thirty hours to make a large woodcut. Then he does the registration process, applying the ink to the wood and laying the paper exactly over the correct spot.
There is also a large work area and a printing press. So the large pieces go through the press rather than transferring the image to the paper by hand.
I work with local experts and guides to put together an unusual and intimate view of Oaxaca, her art, food and culture. I am not a tour guide but an expert at award-winning university program development. If your organization has interest in a program such as this one, please contact me.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged Alan Altamirano, art, artists, Fernando Sandoval, graphics, lithography, Mexico, Oaxaca, printmaking, Sergio Hernandez, Toledo, woodcut