Feria Board Member: Steve Checkoway

by Martin Ibarra

Feria Board Member Steve Checkoway came to Mexico in 2002 to work in San Luis Potosi in the metalcasting industry.  After he retired, he and his wife Beverly moved to Ajijic in 2005.

Steve attended the Feria in 2005 and 2006, then became a “shlepper,” helping with set up and tear down in 2007. After what he calls making the unfortunate mistake of suggesting a better way to make the name tags, he was immediately appointed Name Tag Coordinator and then joined the Board in 2008, where he now has responsibility for Admissions, Raffle, and the Appreciation Luncheon as well as Name Tags.  

When asked why he stays involved, he laughs and says, “I stay involved because you'all on the board won't let me get away.  Seriously, I'm not as "into" the art as much as most of you are; I just enjoy contributing my organizational abilities as my contribution to the Mexican community, and I really enjoy seeing the "so happy" artisans as they are preparing to leave on Sunday.” Steve says he stays involved with the Feria, "Because it provides awareness to both the Mexican and ex-pat communities of the situation of so many of these artisans and the status of Mexican folk art in general.”

Asked for a memory about his time with the Feria, he recalls, “using flashlights to see (and sharing tequila to keep warm) with members of the hosting team, back when the old buses sometimes arrived 'rather late.’” 

by Ignacio Garcia

When asked about his favorite folk art, Steve says,"Several years ago my wife Beverly & I met Martín Ibarra* and Ignacio Garcia.  We now take visitors to their homes/"studios" several times a year, so I guess I'm partial to Martín's virgins and Nacho's molcajetes**.  We're also happy and proud that we got Nacho into his first Feria a few years ago and that he'll be at his third this year."

*Ibarra was recently called one of the three or four best artists of his genre in Mexico by Bernardo Colunga (brother of the sculptor Alejandro) and has had his name mentioned in the same breath as regional pottery legends Jorge Wilmot and Jose Bernabe. Martin is a true folk art artist who exemplifies the best in Mexican handicrafts.

**The tradition of carving basalt in Mexico is believed to have begun with the Olmec peoples of the Gulf Coast in the second millennium B.C., if not earlier. Many of the Aztec sculptures still exist despite massive destruction by the Spaniards, who considered them to be heathen idols.