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: