Artists Helping Artisans

Rosa's flowers

2010-07-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Preparing wool stage 2 - brushing and spinning

2010-07-27T10:22:00.001-07:00

Preparing wool stage 1 - cleaning

2010-07-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

random phone shots 2!

2010-07-26T21:35:00.001-07:00

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random phone snapshots!

2010-07-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

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Ana

2010-07-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

Video coming soon

Graveyard on the way to Tenejapa

2010-07-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Rosa toasting her coffee

2010-07-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

Oventic

2010-07-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Amantenago Clay Village

2010-07-23T16:22:00.003-07:00

Amazing giant clay jaguar head

rows of artisans selling streetside

one mishappen little rabbit pot

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Zapatista Women's Coop

2010-07-23T16:07:00.001-07:00

Here are a few quick shots of some scarves made by the coop
(modeled by the women that made them) which will be used to make some furniture pieces out of...

Antonia from Chamula

and a Zapatista friend from San Andres

The coop at night

Micaela y Maria

2010-07-23T16:00:00.001-07:00

video coming soon

Rosa Gomez/Weaving Teacher and Her Family

2010-07-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the "Collaborators 1" post, Rosa's family in Zinacantan are very skilled weavers and makers of beautiful hand woven wares. Here are some shots of their work and shop, Artesanias Alcatraz.

One of the most rewarding parts of this whole experience has been getting to know families intimately and becoming a part of their everyday lives. We visit Rosa for our weaving classes everyday and spend 2-4 hours with her and her daughters. We are now to the point where not only are we learing new skills daily, we are learning about lots about each others' customs, traditions, regions and food. We are equally as curious about each other and spend hours sharing stories and asking each other questions. They have never been outside of a couple mile radius, so having us there has also been an exciting part of their lives. They have grown to trust us and we have even been able to talk to her about and help with health issues. Rosa and Belinda have been trading recipes, and Rosa has taught her how to make Mayan tortillas, how to roast coffee. Belinda made an asian stir-fry to show Rosa how to make fried rice and introduce her to different spices. Our interaction with this family has been worth the whole trip. We expected to learn crafts, but are coming away with much more.

Clases with Rosa 2

2010-07-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a little video of Rosa preparing twigs to make our warp tie-up sticks.

We are having some issues with our internet connection, but will be posting videos of the full process of backstrap weaving as soon as we are able to upload them!

On the road

2010-07-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

Some quick shots, mostly from the car, of the Chiapan countryside...

Collaborative project with Marta's family

2010-07-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more images of the start of the collaborative project with Marta's family. This is in the design phase, where we discussed color and stylistic themes from surrounding communities, prototyped the transparent panels, tested materials, and agreed on the final designs.

*See "Collaborators 1" for more info on Marta's family

Pascuala's Owls

2010-07-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of one of our wonderful collaborators, Pascuala, in the process of making a large owl for us.
*See the “Collaborators 1” section for more info on Pascuala and the Large Animal Project.

Weaving classes with Rosa 1

2010-07-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

Backstrap weaving is an art form that is passed down from mother to daughter. All girls learn from their mothers at different ages, when it is decided that they are ready. We were very lucky and honored to have had Rosa agree to teach us how to weave. Not all girls stick with it, but it is something that is sought after by men when looking for a wife, Rosa explained. Most indigenous towns have their own stile of weaving and Zinacantan is best known for its use of floral embroidery over monotone woven garments. Their pieces are definitely the most stylized of any town. The traditional outfit is worn by a large majority of girls daily. It is rare for us to see a woman in western attire. The town colors (everyone wears the same colors) change year to year as new styles are created by fashionable Zinacantan ladies.

Our first class with Rosa was all about making a warp and setting up the loom. Pretty basic equipment is used so its easy for people to create a loom themselves out of twigs and simple materials.
Here we are looping the warp, setting up our looms doing our tie-ups and weaving our first rows of plain weave.

Because Meagan and I already knew how to weave on a multiple harness floor loom, the basic concepts were easy for us to grasp. We were able to get going with some plain weave and simple graphic inlays in two days. Rosa said that it took her 4 months to learn that much and Lucia has not yet been taught inlays—so we felt pretty special that she was comfortable enough with us to teach us advanced techniques, and were happy that she could brag to friends about how quickly she was able to teach us the basics! Although I was a little slower to learn that Meaghan, who is a Textile Major at RISD and a fabulous weaver!

More to come on the processes of backstrap weaving and our progress…

Chamula

2010-07-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

San Juan de Chamula is a small town just outside of San Cristobal. It is in the highlands and it and it’s surrounding communities hold the largest indigenous population in North America. Their traditional outfit is best known for the really fuzzy black wool that they use to make skirts for women and vests for men. We will try and put photos up of the outfits soon.
All of the women wear thick, backstrap made, black wrapped skirts, thick woven colorful belts and silk shirts with heavy small embroidery around the collar.
Chamula holds a large outdoor market for artisan wares that are sold everyday. It also holds the most beautiful church I have ever visited anywhere in the world. You are not allowed to take pictures inside churches in indigenous towns (nor are you allowed to take pictures of people) so bear with me on the descriptions…The inside of the church is breathtaking and completely moving beyond words. The floor is covered in pine needles and the warmth of thousands of candles fills the entire church—so you are immediately filled with warmth and the scent of pine. The church is all lined with glass cases that contain various saints that are adorned with traditional outfits and are often covered in colorful ribbons and offerings. There are tables in front of all of the saints that are filled with candles of all sizes. Draped along the walls and ceiling are garlands of floral fabric and fresh fruits. Dotted along the middle of the church are people placing hundreds of colorful slim and tall candles in patterns and doing “cleansing” or shamanistic rituals. Some even had live chickens in the church with them. There are no mass services in this church, it is simply a place for people to come and pray and leave offerings. It is completely a mixture of Catholisism and indigenous religious practices. It is a truly unique and immensely moving sight. A visit to Chamula is worth it just to see this unique church.

Our handmade zoo

2010-07-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite artisan made things from Chiapas are these small wool animals.
The fabric from which they are made is all hand woven on the backstrap loom. The wool itself is all locally harvested from people's personal sheep, hand carded and spun. They are just amazing in person! Each is hand stitched and embroydered with careful and creative details.

In Search for talent at the market in San Cristobal

2010-07-12T22:13:00.001-07:00

TierrAdentro Cultural Center Cafe and Zapatista collaborative

2010-07-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

TierrAdentro Cultural Center Cafe is an amazing restaurant, meeting place and center that houses various Zapatista Artist Collaboratives. They are located on Real De Guadalupe Street. The food is delicious, affordable and largely vegetarian.The Zapatista Coops include the Sociadad Cooperativa de Mujeres por la Dignidad, from Oventic who make backstrap loom pieces. Here are a few images of the restaurant and one of the pieces from the women’s coop.
More to come on the Zapatista Women’s Coop…

Collaborators 1

2010-07-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

After looking and looking, we found a few families and artisans that were open to collaborations. Some of the collaborators were limited by the time they had to work on additional pieces because they work morning to night in their booth at the Santo Domingo market. Their work stood out though, and they were very interested in working with us, so we made it happen! Other very talented craftspeople were unable to produce any more pieces than they already had, or we were unable to communicate with them (because their native language is Tzotszil or Tzetzal) in Spanish. Many of these people that were unable to work with us had incredible craftsmanship and under extreme need, so we have purchased some of their items to sell as part of a fundraiser to keep the AHA project alive. These items will be on sale at the Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair July 24-25, http://www.renegadecraft.com/los-angeles
Any proceeds from the sale of these items will provide additional support for our current Chiapas project and help fund future projects in other regions.

We are also looking to connect some of these artisans with any stores that would be interested in carrying some of their goods, so if any of you have any suggestions, please send them our way!

Here are images an introductions of some of the women that we are currently working with:

Marta and Family
Marta Hernandez Santiz and Family
We first found Marta and her family selling their work in front of the main church on the corner of Guadalupe Victoria and Miguel Hidalgo. They set up their display of goods on the floor from 10-12pm every night that isn’t raining and the whole courtyard turns onto a nighttime market. Their family specializes in embroidery and they sell different types of embroidered shirts. We were drawn to them by their huge smiles and super friendly attitude. We were quickly introduced to Marta’s husband, and all of her children and grandchildren. We purchased some of their shirts to show our support of their work and after visiting the family on the market a second time, we told them of our collaborative project and where invited to their home.

They are originally from Chamula, speak Tzotzil and Spanish fluently, and live in San Cristobal. The two daughters Rosa and Ceci are excellent embroiderers and help Marta make all of the work they sell. They were excited to be part of our AHA project to embroider transparent panels with design details from traditional clothing of surrounding communities. Marta, Rosa and Ceci are each making a panel. They were really into identifying the clothing from the communities and were inspired by working with design motifs that they do not usually use in their own work.

Rosa Reynalda Perez Gonzales
On a super stormy day, during our first visit to Zinacantan, as we sat in the car waiting for the rain to die down, we were approached by Lucia –a young girl asking if we wanted to come over to their family’s house to see their work. She was in her full Zinacantan traditional outfit, a backstrap woven skirt, shirt and shawl all covered in embroidered flowers. We went up the hill with her to her family’s workshop/home/store, Artesanias Alcatraz on Calle Jose Maria Morelos S/N. They immediately greeted us with smiles and offered us posh (a homemade Mayan sugar cane liquor) and made us fresh tortillas, which were served with an amazing salsa, cheese and ground up sunflower seeds.
We were in love.
The family weaves on backstrap and makes scarves, shawls, tablecloths, and clothing. Some of the work is decorated with complicated patterns inserted in the warp while weaving, while others are heavily embroidered with animals and flowers. Lucia, who is 16, has been weaving since she was 14, and the other girls in the family, Reyna 10, Carolina 7 and Paola 3 are also learning textile handcrafts.
Having been to impressed by their hospitality and work, we visited the family a second time and asked Rosa if she would be willing to teach us how to weave on a backstrap loom and she happily agreed!

Micaela
Micaela and her sister live in Chamula. They set up their work on the corner next to town hall. They are wonderful craftswomen who are both deaf and super cheerful and welcoming to tourists. They spin their own yarn and weave their own wool textiles to make little Chamula dolls that wear the traditional Chamulan women’s outfit. Because of their age, and because its difficult for us to communicate with them (not knowing Tzotzil or sign language) we had to commission existing work in order to support them. When we bought the first 5, Micaela was soooo happy she jumped up from the floor hugged and kissed me and continuously touched her heart and extended her hands out to me! It was an incredible feeling, knowing that doing such a small thing could help someone so much, and that you can so easily make someone’s day. We ended up with 20 beautiful Chamulan lady dolls. We visit Micaela and her sister regularly and are always greeted with a smile and giant hug.

Adelina

Pascuala
Pascuala is a wonderful older woman who is from Chamula and sells at San Cristobal’s Santo Domingo Market. We were drawn to her booth by these amazing little embroidered and slightly rough owls. She is really really good at making these little guys that are unique to her. We really wanted to collaborate with her, and due to the fact that she works alone in her booth from 8am to 8pm everyday except Sunday, we had to come up with a project that working ladies could do at their own booth. These projects needed to be similar in process to what they already knew how to do, since they did not have time to learn new techniques while manning their booth and attending to their potential clients. They also had to be visible enough that passers by could see what new exciting and different work they were doing to help bring attention to their booth and differentiate them from other vendors—helping them sell more.
So, this project ended up being a “Large Animal Collaboration”, were we would select an animal that they excel at, and help them choose color schemes and commission a large version of it.
Pascuala was asked to do large owls.

Foto aqui de Ana

Around San Cristobal de las Casas

2010-07-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

San Cristobal was founded in 1535 by Jesuits. The architecture is very Spanish colonial with quaint streets and large pedestrian walkways with endless shops, restaurants and bars. There are lots and lots of churches, some up on hills with long stairs leading up to them, and the view of the city, and others scattered throughout the city. The ones around the center of town, have large open areas surrounding them that are used by vendors day and night.

Our home for the next couple of weeks-Kukurrutz

2010-07-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

The first few days of our trip were focused on finding an apartment for the month, and visiting small villages to find collaborators. The hunt for an apartment was ended when we met a very nice Chiapaneco who put us in contact with his good friend Thomas who happened to own the Kuku Rutz apartments. We are here for 17 days, due to availability, and will be moving to a more modest apartment after that (which is $7 USD cheaper). The city is full of hotels and hostels that average $18 USD a night. It is relatively easy for one to arrive in the city without reservations and find a nice place to stay. Finding a furnished apartment was a little more difficult, but our beautiful Kuku Rutz accommodations were only $25 USD a night! So, if you are thinking about visiting Chiapas, I would highly recommend basing yourself in San Cristobal, and exploring towns from here.

Welcome to Chiapas Territory of Traditions and Colors

2010-07-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today marks our first week in Chiapas! We have been busy traveling to many small villages to meet artisans and to see the things that are created in each town as well as getting situated. So far we have spent time in San Cristobal (where we are based for the month), Chamula, Zinacantan and San Andres. There are sooooo many skilled artisans! They are mainly Mayan women who work in textiles. We have been spending time visiting with them, seeing the extent of their work and finding materials and other resources with which we can carry out the collaborations. We will be uploading images of the women, their work and their towns shortly-- with descriptions!
Here are some images of our long awaited arrival!
Thanks again to everyone who made this trip possible! xxTanya

we made it!!!

2010-07-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

I was initially drawn to Chiapas for the indigenous communities whose craft traditions vary from town to town. As the Mexican state with the largest indigenous population, nearly 1/3 of the inhabitants are of Mayan descent, they have been able to hold on to their indigenous identity longer than other regions. Their history of strife and unrest to maintain their indigenous sovereignty, have helped and hindered their preservation of traditional craft.

The predominant craft forms in Chiapas are textiles. Each town wears a distinctly different outfit that is hand woven on a backstrap loom and embroidered. San Cristobal de las Casas is the Mexican city with the largest indigenous population, and it is where people from all of the surrounding towns come to sell their handmade goods. The surrounding community of Chamula, holds the largest population of indigenous people in North America.

We are looking forward to exploring the communities, learning, and sharing with you, the different traditions of each town and helping to bring attention to the crafts of each region.