What Is Mexican Folk Art? DRAFT

Is there a line where Mexican folk art begins and ends?

After a few days of traveling with Linda Hanna, the Oaxaca coordinator for the Feria Maestros del Arte, it would seem that there might be a distinction between "folk art" and "not folk art. 

Yesterday we met Brian Gregorio Corres in his workshop. Brian is a clay artist who was a winner of a Friends of Oaxacan Art (FOFA) exhibition in 2013. He won a study scholarship that gave him new insights. In 2015 his work was rejected as “not folk art.” 

Brian Gregorio Corres entry for 2015

I’ve heard similar stories which prompted the question, 

What is Mexican folk art? 

Marianne Carlson, founder of Feria Maestros del Arte provides a starting point:

Folk art is fixed in traditions that come from communities and cultures with shared values and traditions that express and foster cultural identity.

Folk art encompasses a range of utilitarian and decorative media, including cloth, wood, paper, clay, metal and more.

Folk artists are persons skilled in a form of handmade distinctive creations that can be either utilitarian or decorative. They embody the traditions of their culture and artistic techniques and are either taught by family or apprentice with artists. 

Wikipedia offers a general definition: Mexican handcrafts and folk art is a complex collection of items made with various materials and intended for utilitarian, decorative, or other purposes. Some of the items produced by hand in this country include ceramics, wall hangings, vases, furniture, textiles and much more. Interesting, however not very useful for determining the criteria for inclusion in the category of Mexican folk art.

After saying, "First, no one can agree on what it means,” one site goes on to define it as: "Folk art" is mostly utilitarian or decorative art created by an unaffluent social class of peasants, artisans and tradespeople who live in rural areas of civilized but not highly industrialized societies.

The Mexican Folk Art Guide offers this definition: Folk Art is the name given to the artistic creations made by peasants, indigenous people or craftsmen with no formal artistic training. A folk art item is handmade and has a functional purpose opposing an art object that is made for aesthetic purposes only. Most of the folk art creations are made by anonymous people but they can be identified with a region or ethnic group culture.

As Linda and I discussed this question, we came up with possible elements of a useable … and useful … definition: 

• style … useful or decorative, figurative rather than non-objective (abstract) 
• materials … local, natural 
• creator … primarily self-taught, often from a long lineage of artisans and local traditions 
• process … hand-made, small quantities

Another element that comes to mind is … for lack of a better term … connection. Connection to spirit, to the elements (land, water, sky, plants and animals) of the local areas, as well as to traditions of culture and religion.

So here’s the challenge: How would you define Mexican Folk Art? We will update this post with other suggestions.

Gayla Pierce offers thoughts (see comments) and a quote from Japanese philosopher Sōetsu Yanagi:

“It is my belief that while the high level of culture of any country can be found in its fine arts, it is also vital that we should be able to examine and enjoy the proofs of the culture of the great mass of the people, which we call folk art. The former are made by a few for the few, but the latter, made by the many for many, are a truer test. The quality of the life of the people of that country as a whole can best be judged by the folkcrafts.”
– The Unknown Craftsman – A Japanese Insight into Beauty, Sōetsu Yanagi, Kodansha International, New York, 1989

FYI ... here is the FOFA newsletter highlighting the young folk artist winners exhibition. It is a remarkable show if you get a chance to see it.

The new folk art exhibition Mostrando la Fuerza de Mi Pueblo (Showing the Strength of My People) opened on December 8 at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca (MEAPO) in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Oaxaca. FOFA President Arden Rothstein, and Treasurer Deborah Huntington represented the organization at the opening celebration. The exhibition's sixty-six art pieces are the winners from FOFA-MEAPO's August 2018 competition. 

I was lucky enough to meet the young palm jewelry artist, Mónica Díaz Martinez. She will be showing her fabulous work at Feria Maestros del Arte 2019 ... November 8-10.

Is the Feria the Same Every Year?

Manuel Alberto de la Peña, cut-paper artist, new to Feria 2018

by Marianne Carlson, Founder, Feria Maestros del Arte

The short answer is — NO!

The Feria has never been the same two years in a row. Since we’ve heard this comment a few times, I would like to clarify our process.

At least half of the total artisans invited each year are BRAND NEW.  Mexico’s many artisans work in textiles, clay, metal, paper, natural fibers, stone/rock, wood, and many more art mediums. Our primary aim is to have the best artisans in each of these areas, however, it's important to understand that part of the Feria's mission is to help artisans create better lives for their families and villages.

The Feria plan is to invite each newly chosen artisan to show for two years. For some artists, this may be their first experience with a major exhibit of this type. It’s a learning experience for them: how much work to bring? What types of pieces will most appeal to customers? How to price their work? How to pack everything for safe transport? Returning a second year gives them a chance to be more prepared and more successful.

Part of our job is to help them learn how to go beyond the creation of the work and make it a business that supports their families. Sometimes, an artist is not invited to return for the second year, or can’t return because of life changes. And, sometimes, popular artists become so successful they no longer depend as much on the Feria and we make room for other artisans.

César Alfredo Lucano Siordia, new in 2018

The Feria has become a premier exhibition for both artisans and customers. Therefore, the number of applications we receive every year is growing. Our Artist Selection Committee wades through hundreds of new applications each year looking for exceptional work. Over the years we have featured most of the maestros recognized by museums and contests. We favor work that uses traditional methods and materials and has been passed down through generations of artisans. 

The committee members are always on “artist-hunting” trips throughout Mexico and look at approximately 250-300 artisans every year in order to put together a good mix of art forms which are popular and represent the rich tradition of folk art in Mexico. Some of our maestros might be well-known or even famous, but they live and work in remote villages where buyers and collectors seldom see their work. We also search for artists who have taken a particular art form to a new level with their inventive and creative talents. 

Antonia Peralta, palm baskets, new in 2018

Another part of the Feria mission is to help ensure survival of Mexican folk art. As cheap imports using mass production techniques as well as plastics and industrial materials begin to imitate the work of fine artisans, it becomes more difficult for families to support themselves with their fine craft work.

While assembly-line pottery can often look beautiful, it means that the true artisan potters will no longer be able to dig their own clay from the earth, pulverizing and processing it by hand before forming, painting, and firing it into the kitchen ware, pineapple pots, trees of life, jaguars, chickens and other art forms that so enchant us.

Felipe Benítez Miranda, painted wood, new in 2018

In traditional crafts, artisans may use brushes chewed from the midrib of a yucca leaf or from the hair of their children. On the coast of Oaxaca, a handful of men still catch and milk snails by hand to gather the ink that turns into an exquisite purple on huipils that are woven by hand on looms, also made by hands. Insects are gathered from yucca plants and turned into a brilliant indigo while other plants are gathered to create a rainbow of natural colors. These hand processes create works of art that cannot be duplicated.

When people buy paintings or crafts mass-produced in other countries, Mexican folk art and the artisan families who make it suffer.  Many of Mexico’s various forms of folk art, such as rebozos, are already in danger of extinction. Many of the world’s cultures have already lost most of their indigenous art due to the same hardships that face Mexican artists today. In Mexico, we already see more and more artists abandoning their work, their families, and their villages to take jobs in cities where they are assured of a guaranteed income.

This is where the Feria comes in. This is where YOU, the aficionadas and buyers, come in.

If the Feria didn’t offer you new artisans yearly, we know you might not return. If we didn’t put together a good mix of art forms, you might not return. So, we’ve always worked diligently every year to put together the best gathering of artisans we can.

Together, we can help Mexican folk art survive.

Florencia Hernández Rios, new in 2018

This sign found in a local restaurant tells the story 

in just a few words:

  When you buy something

made by hand

You are buying much more than an object.

You are buying hours of 

experiments and failures.

You are buying days, weeks, 

and months of work.

You are buying a piece of heart, a moment 

of the life of another person.

"The clay is also shaping us." Guadalupe García Rios.

A wonderful thing about the Feria is that there are always surprises.

Guadalupe García Rios

Guadalupe García Rios opened her "Story behind the Art" presentation about high-fired ceramics with a short video which made us laugh, cry and fall in love with her art and with her.


Guadalupe loves clay. At one point in the video she proves her passion by flinging herself face first into a pile of clay.


Don't miss this beautiful and inspiring video done by two incredibly talented young people: Alma Silva and  Helios Nieto, who spent a month with Guadalupe and captured her heart and the brilliance of this folk art. Thank you Alma and Helios for permission to share this touching video.

Click here to watch video

Rebozos - Endangered Folk Art?

Reprinted with permission from Mexico Stories

Note: Special discussion of the history and endangerment of this symbol of Mexican identity at Feria Maestros del Arte, November 9-11, 2018.

By definition, a rebozo is a handmade shawl woven either on a footloom or backstrap loom. Which means that any shawl or length of material, no matter how beautiful, should not be called a rebozo unless it is handmade. 

The history is long for this particular textile item, and continues to grow more complicated with time.

Neill James, an adventurer and travel writer in the 1940s, wrote in her book, Dust on My Heart, "The rebozo, a two-meter length of cotton or silk, is the most useful garment ever thought up by women.

"It’s a wrap during the chill dawn and after sunset hours; during the heat of the day draped Arab style over the head, it’s a hat. Coiled turban-like atop the head, it serves as padding when carrying a heavy burden. Given a few intricate folds and purchased fetchingly at an angle, shading the face on the sunny side, it’s an eyecatcher. 

I’ve seen babies wrapped in it, women sleeping in it; I’ve seen it uses dexterously as a shield while a nude modestly bathed in the river. Tied across the shoulders, it is an effective knapsack for caring heavy burdens. Draped madonna-like over the head it is high fashion is the most exclusive church.”

And in her own, sometimes slanted, style, she added, "And should fancy dictate, with her rebozo, a woman could even hang herself.“

Wikipedia states:

The origin of the garment is unclear, but most likely derived in the early colonial period, as traditional versions of the garment show indigenous, European and Asian influences. Traditional rebozos are handwoven from cotton, wool, silk and rayon in various lengths but all have some kind of pattern (usually from the ikat method of dying) and have fringe, which can be finger weaved into complicated designs. The garment is considered to be part of Mexican identity and nearly all Mexican women own at least one. It has been prominently worn by women such as Frida Kahlo, actress María Félix and former Mexican first lady Margarita Zavala and still popular in rural areas of the country. However, its use has diminished in urban areas.

We should be happy the term rebozo comes from the Spanish rather than the Nahua, an indigenous people who call it "ciua nequealtlapacholoni.” 

This bit of material has been beloved by women throughout time and place in Mexico and played a role in the Mexican Revolution of 1910 when it was adopted by the Adelitas. These rebel women used it to smuggle guns and other weapons past government checkpoints making it synonymous with Mexico's struggle for independence.

Is the Rebozo, symbol of Mexican identity endangered?

Rebozo by Teofila Servin, Feria Maestros del Arte 2018

Ana Celia Martínez, professor of Mesoamerican studies at the National Autonomous University, says there are fewer than 200 rebozo weavers left in Mexico.

Logically, the culprits are progress and globalization. As Professor Martínez states, "Chinese rebozos are inexpensive and mass-produced using synthetic fibers. The end product is very fragile and frays very easily and the dyes wash off after a short time, while Mexican rebozos can remain intact for decades.”

Professor Martínez won the Tenerife International Artisan Prize 2014 for her project, “Izote, Iczotl, fiber with identity, tradition and permanence,” designed to preserve an endangered type of fiber called izote, which is produced in Zumpahuacán in the State of México. (Izote is known as the yucca plant in the southwestern US.)

Izote is seen to have historical importance because its use in pre-Hispanic times is evident in documents such as the Codex Mendoza, a 16th-century manuscript containing a history of Aztec rulers, where the pictograms show izote blankets.

Marta Turok

At Feria Maestros del Arte 2018, the premier Mexican folk art fair in Mexico, Marta Turok, a Mexican applied anthropologist focusing on socio-economic development will speak on the forces that endanger the rebozo. Through research, government work, education and advocacy, she has worked to raise the prestige of Mexican handcrafts and folk art and to help artisans improve their economic status. Her work has been recognized with awards from various governmental and non-governmental agencies.

Feria Maestros del Arte 2018, 

November 9-11 Chapala, Mexico - Daily Schedule

More about rebozos:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebozo

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2640556/The-incredible-story-colourful-rebozo-scarf-changed-course-Mexican-history.html

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/rebozo-is-endangered-says-textiles-expert/

More about Izote:

http://leticiaalaniz.blogspot.com/2015/09/flor-de-izote-yucca-blossoms-omelette.html

Amate: from banned to beloved Mexican folk art

"Nowhere was the cord between man and spirit 

more tightly bound than in the making of amatl,  

the sacred paper of the pre-Hispanic peoples.” 

— Rita Pomade,  

“Amate Art of Mexico - (Where the Secular Meets the Sacred)"

 

Making amate

The cord was almost broken and might have been destroyed and lost forever if it hadn’t been for the Otomi peoples of Puebla. 

Imagine a current industry, central to the well-being of all people. Paper for instance. 

Imagine your life without paper, even in this day of electronics. Imagine a foreign power coming in and banning the production of paper, all paper ... no Bibles, no textbooks, no magazines or newspapers, no photographs, art prints, posters about coming events, or even business cards. 

That’s what began in the 1500s when Spanish conquistadors and priests decided that amatl … bark paper … was the work of the devil. We know they destroyed almost all of the codices, folded paper books, but they also destroyed the paper-making process and the foundation of the Maya and Nahua information systems. Thousands of years of knowledge and wisdom disappeared and only bits and pieces have now been put back together.

It’s hard to imagine, but here’s a story Rita Pomade tells in her article referenced above that offers a sense of the scope of the loss:

Records show that in 1507, when Moctezuma had to prepare for the New Fire Ceremony, a ritual of renewed life that took place every 52 years, he ordered a million sheets of amatl to be delivered to Tenochtitlan to insure that the ceremony would be successful and to avoid the wrath of the gods.

By the time Cortes arrived on the shores of Mesoamerica, there were at least forty-two papermaking centers, and they were producing almost half a million sheets of paper per year for use in tribute alone.

Only in the remote villages of the Otomi people was traditional bark paper and painting maintained as part of their important traditional ceremonies and rituals. Rita Pomade continues:

The Otomis still prepared the paper from the bark of the ficus and the bark of the mulberry tree - brown paper from the ficus and white paper from the mulberry - just as they had done in pre-Columbian times. … In spite of the dangers involved, these people had continued their rituals dedicated to fertility, successful crops, and curing disease.

By the 1970s, amate artists were finally starting to gain the attention they deserved, and the art form spread outside of Puebla and into neighboring states, where artisans of this region, who had once only decorated their pottery, started putting their colorful paintings on this unique paper, painting scenes of festivals and village life, using mostly animal hair and plant fiber brushes to apply natural colors and dyes.

Feria Maestros del Arte, Mexico's premier folk art event, will feature six different paper artisans, including two masters of amate:

Rubelio Sánchez Santos. - from one of the Otomi villages that helped keep this art form alive, 

Rubelio now takes it to a new level. He twists and molds the paper into fantastic patterns as strips of the paper are braided, twisted and inserted into the design seamlessly.  

His amate comes from the bark of the Jonote tree that is soaked in a hot water bath with natural dyes such as flowers, ash, etc. Later the pulp strips are placed on a board in a grid form and hammered with a flat stone until the paper holds its form. He has developed several very interesting methods to decorate the paper with natural found objects such as seeds, and also embroiders the paper by hand and elaborately records designs representing the different Otomí gods.

Juan Damaso Gaspar & Eutimia Mendoza Fabian, has been painting on amate for over 30 years. He lives in Xalitla, a town in the Balsas River basin in the state of Guerrero that is renowned for producing amate paintings.  

 ***

These two artists will help you understand how this art form which was banned 500 years ago has now become one of the most beloved of the Mexican folk arts. 

More information:

1. Mexconnect:  “Amate Art of Mexico - (Where the Secular Meets the Sacred)"

2. https://study.com/academy/lesson/amate-bark-painting-facts-history-designs.html

A Victory for Mexican Folk Art

Liverpool stores* to sell dolls made by artisans in Querétaro.

The Liverpool department store chain is going to sell artisanal rag dolls made by the indigenous people of Amealco, Querétaro.

The store has agreed to carry the products following months of negotiations that started in December, when customers complained that Liverpool stores were selling cheap knock-off dolls of Chinese manufacture.

Querétaro Sustainable Development Secretary Marco Prete Tercero announced that the sale of the dolls, known locally as pachas and throughout Mexico as Muñecas Marías, will start in September, without specifying the stores that will carry them.

Residents of Amealco have traditionally created their dolls by hand, spending anywhere from two to seven days to complete each one. They sell for up to 500 pesos (just over US $25).

The state has also decided to further protect the Amealco dolls by declaring them cultural intangible heritage, a declaration that will take place at a ceremony on August 15 in the Constitución Plaza of Amealco. Click here to read the full story

• Liverpool, is a mid-to-high end retailer which operates the largest chain of department stores in Mexico, operating 23 shopping malls including Perisur and Galerías Monterrey. Its 85 department stores comprise 73 stores under the Liverpool name and 22 stores under the Fábricas de Francia name. It also operates 6 Duty Free stores and 27 specialized boutiques.

Otomi Embroidery: the next textile trend to watch

Otomi by Tonani Lirio de Los Valles

 For thousands of years, Mexicans have created colorful textiles, which originally identified the maker’s village or ethnic group. Otomi embroidery became popular in the 1960s, when a severe drought forced farmers to find new sources of income. The Otomi people live in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains in the central state of Hidalgo. 

Legend has it that the prints’ figures, birds, and animals were inspired by nearby cave drawings. The juxtaposition of negative and positive space makes the patterns appear graphic and modern, especially in monochromatic versions. Native artists draw all flora and fauna by hand, never using stencils. The typical menagerie includes animals like armadillos, roosters, squirrels, and deer. 

All images are hand drawn, using no stencils.

Florencia Hernández Rios and her daughter, Rosa González Hernández, work under the name of Tonani Lily of the Valleys. They are from an Otomí region that borders Hidalgo where the same dialect is spoken, and at the same time live in a pueblo where Nahuatl is spoken. This is why their town has a combination of two embroidery techniques.

In their community of approximately 200 people, the economic situation was very precarious. Women with the desire to support their families began embroidering Otomí tablecloths. Seeing this need, Rosa began to study dressmaking to give the group yet another avenue to support their families. She worked alone for one year to make her first collection. Many did not believe in her project, but she clung to her roots and her conviction, and with great effort, won First Place in the Pahuatlán Semana Santa Consurso (judged art show) 2008. Winning this award inspired the group to continue their work, continually improving the items they made.

Today, Tonani supports more than 50 women artisans, who share Rosa’s goal to continue promoting culture through their clothing and inspire clients with the joy of color and the magic of their fanciful Mexican prints. Vogue magazine has suggested Otomi might be the “next textile trend to watch.”

Otomi by Tonani Lirio de Los Valles

Unfortunately, the Otomi style has become so popular that it has been copied and reproduced by factories in China and India. When you buy from Florencia and Rosa, you are buying items crafted by the women of Tonani and the spirit and beauty of the Otomi people.

The mystery of pineapple pots

Pineapple pots by Hilario Alejos

Did you ever wonder why pineapple pots, one of the most popular of Mexican folk arts, 

come primarily from a place where pineapples don’t grow?

Pineapple pots are particularly popular because pineapples have long been a symbol of warmth, welcome, friendship and hospitality. But how did pineapples get linked to hospitality?

The magazine Southern Living tells this legend about pineapples:

The sea captains of New England traded among the Caribbean Islands, returning to the colonies bearing their heavy cargoes of spices, rum, and a selection of fruits, which sometimes included pineapples.  According to the legend, the captain would drop anchor in the harbor and see to his cargo and crew. Once his work was done, he would head home, stopping outside his house to spear a pineapple on a fence post. This would let his friends know of his safe return from sea. The pineapple was an invitation for them to visit, share his food and drink, and listen to tales of his voyage.

As early as 1613, the Shirley Plantation of Virginia, a bastion of Southern hospitality, featured a pineapple finial atop its roof.

But, how did pineapples come to be part of the Mexican folk art scene? Some say they didn’t start out as pineapples … they were pine cones. Early buyers of the attractive pots thought they were pineapples and started calling them pineapple pots. Over time, the makers of the pots went along with the name and started making them look even more like pineapples.

Pineapple pots by Hilario Alejos

Hilario Alejos, is a featured artist in the beautiful "Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art" book published by Fomento Cultural Banamex and will be showing his work at Feria 2018. Keep in mind that these decorative pots start when a group of men with picks and shovels extract large chunks of clay which is put into sacks and brought back to the Michoacán village on the backs of burros or mules.

This is the raw material with which Hilario Alejos Madrigal creates his celebrated pineapple pots with their bright green glaze. Hilario’s work stands out for its dintinctive handcrafted appliqué work. He learned the secrets of working with clay from his mother, Elisa Madrigal Martínez, creator of the famous pineapples of Carapan.

In the beginning, they produced handmade utilitarian pieces but were drawn to creating more elaborate objects. Hilario and his wife, Audelia, began to fabricate new figures which they entered in diverse competitions. 

Outstanding are the ornamental pineapples, elaborated with techniques of appliqué and openwork, and whose production requires exceptional skill and mastery. Here is a brief video featuring Hilario.

Pineapple pots by Hilario Alejos

So, they may have started out as pine cones, but they are now, officially, a beautiful symbol of the hospitality and warmth of your home.

More about pineapples here.

Meeting the Artists: Inside the making of Mexican Folk Art

Back-strap loom showing the purpura purple

While many people love Mexican folk art, not as many understand how it is made and what makes a piece found in a local market place different from the work of the carefully chosen artisans who display their art at the Feria. Last year, to help people understand the processes and materials that are the foundation of Mexican Folk Art, the Feria initiated a series of educational presentations by some of the artisans. The series was such a hit that it will be continued this year.

A story that was heard frequently last year comes from the presentation by the group of weavers from Oaxaca know as Dreamweavers. Several people reported that they had admired one of the Dreamweaver huipiles or other pieces of work but didn’t truly understand its beauty and uniqueness until they attended their presentation. There they learned about the men who go into a hazardous sea to pry the purpura snail from the rocks and gently coax its “milk” onto the cotton yarn they carry. In the sunlight this milk turns a luxurious purple. The presentation included a video and a chance to hold one of the endangered purpura shells. 

Rug by Jacobo Mendoza

The Dreamweavers presentation last year helped lead to this year’s theme: The Colors of Nature and they will be back this year to share their amazing story and more about what they are doing to protect the endangered snail. 

Here are the presentations that are scheduled for this year:

Marta Turok: The challenges of sustainability and natural dyes and the future of two of the most iconic Mexican garments. Leading Mexican Folk Art expert Marta Turok will give us a behind the scenes look at what is being done to protect the future for the Mexican Folk Art world.

Mariano & Cilau Valadez: Overview of the deep spiritual beliefs expressed in colorful Huichol yarn art.

Guadalupe (Lupe) García Rios: The making of high-fired ceramics using ancient Purépecha symbols.

Dreamweavers: Ancient traditions: purple magic from an endangered snail.

Jacobo Mendoza: Beyond colors and shapes … Zapotec rug weaving, symbols and working with colors from nature.

More about the ancient traditions of the purple dye.

Zipiajo: Two Model Artisan Collectives

What is an artisan collective?

Colectivo Cuanari, Zipiajo, Mexico

Weaving, pottery, basketry and other indigenous crafts have been around for hundreds or thousands of years. However, there is little today that cannot be made faster and cheaper than these crafts made by hand. From a logical, profit-and-loss point of view, most crafts would be turned out in a plastics factory somewhere in the lowest-wage countries. 

There is something, though, about things made with natural materials, by hand, using the craftsmanship, designs and symbols that have been handed down for untold generations. A huipil, woven on a backstrap loom, hand embroidered with spun-cotton thread, dyed with the gently and hand-gathered milk of an endangered sea snail, is not the same as a garment churned out in a factory in China, even if they look similar. 

Artisan in Zipiajo, Mexico

However, competition between the worlds of handcrafted arts and factory produced decorations is fierce. To stand out from the world of machine-produced plastics, artisans have to continuously upgrade their skills, improve their designs, and learn how to sell their goods to the world. For the women or men living in remote villages in Mexico, trying to subsist by producing the rugs, pots, blankets, wood or leather goods that have been produced in their villages for as long as anyone remembers, can be overwhelming.

Thus was born the idea of working together, sharing work, materials, ideas, identity and money. In Mexico and other countries where indigenous people still make crafts in time-honored ways, village artisans have been joining together to improve their arts and their income. Some artisans report that, before joining a collective, they were making only a few pesos an hour. With the help of the collective, their products are better, in more demand and their income, while still extremely low, has doubled. 

Zipiajo: Two collectives working together

President Maria Elvia Bartolo at the Feria

Terry Baumgart, Feria artist co-ordinator for Michoácan has worked extensively with two  collectives from Zipiajo: Collective Cuanari (Morning Stars), an all women textile group, and Zirati (the name of the tallest mountain near Zipiajo), a ceramics group of both men and women. Both groups will be part of Feria 2018.  

Terry has great admiration for the work of these collectives, not only because of the lovely cross stitch blouses and shirts and their primitive clay pots and figures, but also because of their methods of handling their collective work and income.

Terry states, "Maria Elvia Bartolo is the president of the Zipiajo collective. They are my all time favorite collective at the moment. I know of no other group like them in Mexico. For decades they have had the understanding among their members that if someone wins a prize, all the artisans that submitted work to try to win a prize get to share the prize money. The prize winner keeps 50% of the money and the other 50% goes to their fellow artisans in their group. I think this is a fabulous idea as it keeps the interest and enthusiasm up to keep doing their work with the intention of improving their quality. 

“Because their village is remote, it is expensive to make the long journey to purchase material, thread and other supplies. It would be prohibitively expensive for each artisan to make the trip individually, so the groups have a few representatives who make the trip to Pátzcuaro a few times a year to purchase their materials.

“Zipiajo is a tiny village, but its artisans are well known and have won numerous prizes at the state and local level. They are highly respected by Fonart, which has provided advice and funds to professionalize some of their efforts. For instance, for the textiles, each woman creates her own design, oftentimes inspired by nature such as a flower, and then Fonart has put lovely books together that have each artisan's design, name and information.”

(Fonart: 44 years of promoting the artisanal activity of the country and the human, social and economic development of artisans.)

Fonart produced books featuring Zipiajo artisans

Why the Feria encourages collectives 

Encouraging collectives and their participation at the Feria has long been a support of the Feria Maestros del Arte organization. In order to continue the traditions of Mexican folk art, the artisans need to be able to support themselves and their families. Collectives that share ideas, processes and money tend to be more successful, not only in creating quality products, but also in providing financial support for their families. 

Feria artisans keep all the money from their sales

When artisans show at the Feria, they pay no booth fee, no commission and their travel expenses are covered. Part of our mission is to ensure the survival of the traditions of folk art by making sure every cent from the sales of the artisans' work goes directly to the artisan.

Zipiajo artisans at work 

These photos are from Florence Leyret, a remarkable photographer from France who has been living in Pátzcuaro for several years and shared these photos of the ancient traditional technique of firing in the earth rather than in kilns, honoring a promise Zipiajo President Maria Elvia Bartolo made to the elders to honor and maintain the ancient traditions.

  
More photos of Zipiajo artisans and their work: