Rebozos!

Juana Cano Sebastian is the leader of a group of women in the remote Indigenous village of Turicuaro, Michoacan where they weave fine beautiful cotton rebozos, (shawls), napkins, and bedspreads on a backstrap loom. The photo on the left was taken when Juana delivered about three dozen rebozos to me that were ordered by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She traveled about an hour by combi (micro-bus) to meet us at our hotel, Meson de San Antonio in Patzcuaro, barefoot as usual, greeting me with her usual warm embrace. We placed our order with Juana and her daughters, who are also skilled weavers, a month before on our first visit to her village, which is located in a remote Michoacan valley that looked to us like our version of Paradise. Several friendly townspeople assisted us in our search for her house, and because it was the rainy season, the women were weaving inside. Normally the backstrap looms are tied to a tree in the patio. One of Juana's daughters is weaving below while two of Juana's grandchildren were running around outside.










Juana learned how to weave from her husband’s aunt, and then taught her daughter-in-law, Aurelia Martinez Vargas, and her daughters, Ana Luisa, Isidora, and Socorro. The women of Turicuaro, which has about 1,800 inhabitants, have been weaving fine rebozos similar to these for hundreds of year. The women soak the cotton yarn in a large tub of water mixed with “almidon” which is a corn starch. They rinse and dry it, and then form the yarn into balls. The Turicuaro weavers make rebozos with stripes, or solid color rebozos that are sometimes of the deshilado style, which means literally "un-threaded" but what we might call lacy or see-through. The intricate designs of flowers, bread, and chickens that are tied and created in the ends of the rebozos reflect the natural surroundings and daily life of the village. The work is delicate and beautiful ... it's mind boggling to me how they remember the pattern of the ancient designs.
I will be exhibiting a large selection of beautiful Turicuaro rebozos at the 2009 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market on July 11 & 12. For more info. on purchasing them, take a look at the TEXTILE pages of www.mexicobyhand.com.

Paper Mache Pirate Skeletons from Patzcuaro, Mexico

This pirate guy on your left is a recent creation of one of our favorite artisans in Mexico who makes calaca or skeleton figures-- Jose Andres Chavez of Patzcuaro, Michoacán. He makes chefs, punk rockers, doctors, all kinds of sports figures (basketball, soccer, baseball, golf, and football), brides and grooms, and of course beautiful Catrinas.
He is the guy who made the amazing life-size figures (like the one on the right) that are the prominent decoration at the peña Colibri, the great folk music club in Morelia's Centro Historico. There you can hear quality musicians perform Cuban and Mexican music every night of the week, and see a fine performance of Michoacán's Dance of the Viejitos (dance of the little old men) around midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

But that's not my point here. This creative artist, Señor Chavez, is always trying out new ideas. So he made the pirate last year when Pirates of the Caribbean starring Johnny Depp was so popular, but then right after that, we had some real modern day pirates who started to commit some horrible violent acts...so pirates didn't look all that much fun anymore. But now I find out that there's an annual Pirate Festival that takes place in June, right here in the S.F. Bay Area, about a half hour from where I live! Thousands of people go every year, and appear to be nuts for all things pirate. I assume that most of them believe that "the only good pirate is a dead pirate". Well, the guy above...is definitely dead. Should be a popular item for these folks' Day of the Dead celebrations, don't you think?

Mr. Chavez also made us some San Francisco Giants figures, player #25 to be exact. Barry Bonds skeleton figures--plus a lot more--are also available at www.mexicobyhand.com.

Embroidered Blouses

It's a common sight in Michoacán. Women and girls sitting on small chairs,while they embroider beautiful blouses, called guanengos here in the Meseta Purepecha. They sit next to the burnished pots that are made in their village of Cocucho...hoping to sell them to tourists who flock to Uruapan during the Palm Sunday crafts fair (see post of April 12 for more) or to Patzcuaro for Day of the Dead.It's always a good time to go if you want to see a large selection of fine guanengos, and here are some samples.


The first one pictured below won a prize at the concurso, but the others are also quite beautiful.



The blouses below were made by women from Erongaricuaro and Tocuaro, two villages on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro. The women also embroider rebozos and beautiful shirts for men. Please contact me if you'd like to see more and if you're interested in making a purchase-- check out www. mexicobyhand.com to see our current selection available for sale.

Morelia's Cultural Attractions

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Anyone who has visited Mexico City for any period of time is struck by the amazing number of quality museums available. Though "chilangos" (slang term used to refer to people from Mexico City, which is called D.F. for short) look down their noses at the "provincias", meaning anywhere outside of the Mexican capital, other large cities often have wonderful museums to visit. And unlike here in the U.S. it won't cost you much, in fact many are free! I highly recommend you check them out.
In addition to the permanent regional museums that have collections about Michoacán history (unfortunately minus English translations), every time I am in Morelia, I try to visit two cultural attractions that often have wonderful temporary exhibits. The first is the Palacio Clavijero, an important historical building which has recently been renovated. In the summer of 2008 we saw a fantastic exhibit that included numerous pieces from the extensive 60,000 piece Pre-Columbian art collection of Diego Rivera, that inspired him and often appears in some of his paintings and murals. I learned from that exhibit that there was a very strong connection between Michoacan's traditional folk art and Rivera's paintings. Of course his wife, Frida Kahlo also collected pieces from Michoacan for her kitchen. In April this year I saw an interesting exhibit at the Palacio Clavijero about the Indians of the Amazon, plus a large exhibit by Mexico City surrealist painter, Arturo Rivera. The Palacio was a former Jesuit college built in 1660 and is located on Nigromante near Ocampo, between the Jardin de las Rosas (one of my favorite spots in Morelia) and the biblioteca, the old library, which you should also check out.
My other favorite museum is the modern art museum, Museum de Arte Contemporaneo Alfredo Zalce (MACAZ). Zalce was a well-loved artist from Michoacan and you can see his extraordinary murals at the Palacio de Gobierno. I saw two beautiful exhibits this past April at this small museum located in the bosque across from the aqueduct and Plaza Morelos, or "el caballito" as the locals call the large statue of Morelos on horseback. On the first floor there was a show featuring a collection all by women artists, held over from Women's History month. There I discovered Fanny Rabel, a student of Frida Kahlo's who also worked with Diego Rivera and David Siquieros, another of Mexico's most recognized muralists. She was part of the group of artists known as "Los Fridos". Rabel, originally Rabinovich, was a Polish Jew who immigrated too Mexico in 1938. She died in 2008. I found a couple of images like this lithograph and the painting above on the internet, but really there is very little information on her.
On the second floor of the museum was a color photography exhibit called "Cuatro Rumbos", which refers to the four indigenous groups in the state of Michoacán. The collection won an award from UNESCO, will be going to France's Mornay Arts Center, and later will be published as a book. There are a large number of photos of Otomi and Masawa people living in the eastern part of the state, and who are less familiar to me. Some of the Masawa women (photos below) who live in the sierra-- where the Monarch butterfly sanctuary is -- weave beautiful pine needle baskets sold by Mexico By Hand. www.mexicobyhand.com






















The Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Alfredo Zalce is open Tues.- Fri. 10-8, Sat/Sun 10-6.
Admission is free.
You can see a slide show of Ivan Holguin Sarabia's photos on the link below.
http://www.agenciainfomania.com/galerias/Cuatro%20rumbos,%20Atlas%20Etnografico%20de%20Michoacan%20de%20Ivan%20Holguin%20Sarabia/slides/IMG_8193.html

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE!

Mother's Day in Mexico is always
May 10th.
Mothers and their children in both Mexico and the United States enjoy being together. In indigenous communities in Mexico, mothers teach their daughters how to weave, make clay pots, and of course to make tortillas. Grandmothers, mothers, and children spend a great deal of time working together.



Three generations of women from the village of Cocucho are pictured above, embroidering blouses called "guanengos", while they sell their clay pots at the Palm Sunday market.

(above) Juano Cano Sebastian with one of her daughters and two grandchildren-- from the weaving village of Turícuaro.
The rebozos of Turícuaro and guanengos from Cocucha can be seen and purchased on www.mexicobyhand.com.

Semana Santa in Michoacán

Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) is the beginning of Michoacán's Easter/Holy Week celebration. For lovers of Mexican Arte Popular, there is no better place to be than at the Domingo de Ramos Concurso and Tianguis in Uruapan--the largest crafts fair in Latin America. And I was so happy to be there this year. I don't care for Uruapan and don't recommend you visit except on Palm Sunday, which in case you don't know is the week before Easter. But this event is unique. The concurso is a juried competition where large cash prizes are awarded to a few dozen artisans, and then the art-- the pieces that won plus the pieces that didn't-- is all for sale. The art gets better and better; museum quality pottery, copper, textiles and more. Both tourists and serious collectors were truly dazzled this year.

Then there's the tianguis, which is an Aztec word that basically means market, which runs for two weeks and is spread out across the two plazas in Uruapan. There you have a mixture of some cheap souvenir type stuff and some absolutely fantastic folk art and crafts offered by some of Mexico's great masters...who are there for you to meet.
(below) An artisan from San Jose de Gracias where they are famous for their clay pineapples.
Martina Navarro (right) is a master artist of Michoacan lacquerware called maque.

If you're there on Saturday morning the day before, there is a very cool parade of artisans from all the different pueblos. Potters often throw little clay pots to the crowd that lines the town's streets, and the appreciative crowd throws back confetti to honor the artists. It's a fun, feel good event.
Doug and I produced a video documentary back in 2004 on the Domingo de Ramos festivities for the Casa de las Artesanias, the event's sponsor.If you'd like to learn more, the DVD is available for cost on our website: www.mexicobyhand.com.


After shopping madness in Uruapan, I like to experience the religious side of the holidays and take in the Procesion de Silencio or Procesion de los Cristos -- which are solumn processions by candlelight through the streets of Morelia and Patzcuaro on Good Friday. You will see lots of Catholic rituals, which I don't fully understand, many of which appear to be unique to Mexico and its observance of Holy Week. Though one should be silent, picture taking is permitted.
Though thousands of Mexican families flock to the country's beaches, many head for Michoacan during Semana Santa. Patzcuaro, normally a pretty sleepy town except during Day of the Dead, was jumping this year on Good Friday. So if you go then, make sure you have a hotel reservation. I saw a number of folks looking for rooms to no avail. Patzcuaro also has its crafts booths lining the elegant Plaza Vasco de Quiroga, but it is smaller and less interesting than the one in Uruapan. Though there are lots of people--mostly Mexican tourists-- you can easily walk the cobblestone streets and enjoy all that picturesque Patzcuaro has to offer. Want to cool off and chill out? Head for the beach either before Palm Sunday or after Mexican vacationers go back to work. Then you'll have the water all to yourself.

But is it safe??

I'm off again to Mexico tomorrow, April 1st, and I'm sure you've heard some of the noise of late about the drug-related violence in that country. The U.S. State Dept. has issued a travel advisory, a Hollywood crew recently picked up and moved out of their film location in Culiacan, Sinaloa (didn't they know that is one of the top hot spots for the drug cartels?) and CNN's Anderson Cooper has been reporting from the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez all week. A lot of attention is finally being paid now to the situation by the U.S. government, with President Obama publicly addressing the issue and Hilary Clinton making a trip just this past week. If you are wondering whether you should cancel your plans to visit Mexico, my answer is NO, and I will be addressing that issue in the next few posts. For now, I suggest you take a listen to what Secretary of State Clinton had to say when she was interviewed recently by Ana Maria Salazar of Radio Universal.
http://videos.eluniversal.com.mx/audiogalerias/galeriasdet106.html
I read my morning paper today, and it reported that on one day in this country there were 2 savage attacks of violence perpetrated by 2 American men, resulting in the deaths of 2 children, 7 nursing residents and a nurse--all innocent people. Last week 4 police officers were killed closer to my home in Oakland. I'm curious, do other countries of the world issue travel advisories to their citizens warning them about visiting the United States?
Finally our country is recognizing the role it plays in the Mexican drug war; we provide the weapons and eager customers for illegal drugs. Maybe Americans can stop pointing fingers at others and try to tackle the issue of violence in our own society.
This is a complicated problem and there are no easy solutions.
hasta la proxima...