The famous María doll sparks a new line of Mexican handcrafts - and identity
Mexico’s handcraft traditions remain vibrant today because they are both conservative and innovative at the same time. They maintain a link to the past, often through form and or generations of artisans in the same family, but these same forms and artisans evolve to respond to their changing markets.
From magic to market, amber’s role in centuries of Chiapas’ culture
It is nearly impossible to avoid the numerous street vendors in San Cristóbal de las Casas offering you “authentic Chiapas amber” at a so-called special price. Pro-tip: no matter what anyone tells you, if it’s inexpensive, it isn’t real.
But the vendors’ presence does raise interesting questions about what amber’s role is in the state’s history and culture.
Don Ramón Hernández: the throne maker of Zacoalco
If you have been to Mexican restaurants in the U.S. (and perhaps elsewhere), there is a very good chance you have seen this unusual furniture style that dates back centuries.
Equipales are distinguished with the use of criss-cross slats and padded leather. The most representative piece of the style is a chair with a curved back.
Tultepec’s ‘castles’: an art born from Mexico’s fireworks obsession
I have a confession. The first time I heard the oh-so-common sound of bottle rockets going off in Mexico, my first thought was “gunfire.” But, then, I had lived 11 years in Arizona.
As should surprise no one, fireworks are an incredibly big business in Mexico. The Mexican government calculates that a staggering 5.87 billion pesos are spent each year in the country on fireworks, just for patron saint days, as it is unthinkable to do without them.
Netflix’s “Piñata Masters” brings Mexican art of cartonería to reality TV
Although the piñata is famous, there are still elements about it and the people who make them that are unfamiliar.
Enter the streaming giant Netflix, with the aim of promoting this aspect of Mexican culture, but with a very U.S. twist: a reality-TV competition pitting seven pairs of piñata makers from all over Mexico against each other for a million-peso prize.
Acclaimed folk art and artisan fair returns to Chapala after 2-year COVID hiatus
As the long and difficult pandemic eases, one of Mexico’s best handcraft and folk art fairs is returning to Jalisco’s Lake Chapala this month.
For almost two decades, Marianne Carlson and a dedicated group of volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide some of the country’s best creative hands an outlet to get fair prices from people who truly appreciate their work.
At this school, every graduate help Mexico’s iconic sarape survive
One of Mexico’s most iconic garments is in a race against time to avoid extinction: the traditional sarape.
If you’ve ever watched a film in the Western genre or anything historic related to the north of Mexico, you have likely seen these bright, multicolored textile coverings that kept generations of herders and others warm.
Effort to preserve Oaxaca folk art focuses on the next generation
It shouldn’t be surprising that most of Mexican handcrafts’ biggest fans are from the United States. Not only are we geographically close to Mexico, the U.S. has the memory of essential craft arts like quilting to realize what we have lost – and what Mexico struggles to preserve.
How Asia came to influence the design of Mexico’s iconic rebozo
Many places in Mexico have traditional regional textile designs, but some of the finest are made not in the former Mesoamerica but just northeast in a small town called Santa María del Río in San Luis Potosí.
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Fiery Holy Week ‘Burning Judas’ tradition was almost killed by the PRI
Some years ago, there was a fad of making and smashing piñatas in the shape of Donald Trump. More recently, something similar happened with those made like coronaviruses.
This was primarily a phenomenon in the United States. Piñatas haven’t really had a history of being used for political and social statements in Mexico.
But one of the piñata’s papier-mache cousins, the Judas, was used for that purpose — and it almost led to its demise.
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For authentic Mexican hancrafts, don’t miss Uruapan’s April artisan fair
I would venture to guess that many Mexican handcraft aficionados started out like I did, attracted at first by colorful baubles in tourist markets, then wanting to know if what I was buying was “real” or not.
Tree of life sculptures by artisan Tiburcio Soteno put Metepec on the map
Tiburcio Soteno was not just a fine ceramicist, he was a central figure in a community’s struggle to maintain its identity in the face of sprawling urbanization.
National Museum show tackles issues of indigenous creativity and identity
Folk art and handcrafts, called artesanía in Mexico, are essential parts of this country’s identity. But the question of how to present them can be controversial.
The iconic cuera garment still a still a beloved northern Mexican tradition
The northeast is not the best-known part of Mexico for many expats, but there is a very good chance you have seen the region’s contribution to the country’s cowboy culture — the cuera. It has an unmistakable flair: a leather jacket heavily decorated with fringe and ornate depictions of flowers and plants.
Not just party props: Mexico’s gigantic puppets a craft woven into history
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, made them internationally famous, but Mexico’s gigantic puppets are much more than a tourist attraction.
They can go by various names like mona de calenda and gigantes, but the best-known term is mojiganga, so we will use that here.
In Mexico’s north, silver artisans revive a dormant colonial industry
It is hard to overstate silver’s historic and current importance to Mexico. Despite centuries of sacking, Mexico still is the leading producer of silver ore in the world.
But with the exception of Taxco, Guerrero, Mexican silversmithing is unknown, and that is a shame.
Mexico still struggles to get the lead out of its pottery
You might think that at this point, everyone knows the danger of lead and that nothing you buy anymore contains it. But in Mexico, that is not quite the case.
On Day of the Dead, sugar-based folk art such as the popular sugar skulls survives and thrives
It is almost a given to say that Mexicans can be creative with just about anything, even with something as common today as sugar.
So how did it get intimately connected to Day of the Dead?
Is Santa Clara the only place to get copper crafts in Mexico?
On the surface, it is rather curious. By far, most Mexican copper is mined in the state of Sonora, and Mexico mines enough of it to be one of the top 10 sources in the world. But the small town of Santa Clara del Cobre in central Michoacán seems to be the only source of artisanal handcrafted copperware.
Use of natural dyes hangs on by a thread in Mexico
As cauldrons boil on the open patio, Juana Gutiérrez creates visible magic as fibers, along with her hands, turn all kinds of beautiful colors. She is coloring yarn with dyes made naturally, a skill in danger of disappearing — but not if people like her have anything to say about it.
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Artisan dolls based on legendary Mayan elves help Cancun’s vulnerable
I first saw Aluxin dolls — the troll- or elf-like figures created by Mexico City native Javier Alba — at the Doll Museum in Amealco, Querétaro, the closest thing Mexico has to a national doll center. Being so different from the others on display, they caught my attention.
The workshop of Jacobo and María del Carmen Ángeles is by far one of the best-developed production and sales operations of any traditional handcraft maker. In fact, they could just simply be called San Martín Tilcajete, Inc.
Through a pandemic, silversmith stays dedicated to his Mazahua heritage
José Wilibaldo García has a very understanding wife, and he needs to. This craftsman not only gave up a career in dentistry to work with silver but his jewelry has also brought him lots of attention from (female) jewelry lovers.
In tiny, remote Michoacán community, Purépecha artisans embroider award-winning designs
“They are some of my favorite craftspeople because they are a cooperative in the truest sense of the word. … they work together as a team trying to help each other,” says Terry Baumgart, an expert in Michoacán crafts for the Feria Maestros del Arte.
You might have heard of Durango, Colorado, or the Ford Durango or perhaps you have even seen the map of the Mexican state in the movie Rango, but most foreigners have no clue about this Mexican city.
The Amazing Handcrafts of Michoacan
With about 8,000 artisans keeping over 30 crafts traditions alive, the amazing handcrafts of Michoacán have every bit of the charm and cultural importance that Oaxaca and Chiapas do, but yet they languish in relative obscurity.
Artisans’ longstanding partnership falls victim to its own success
Most visitors to Mexico have likely seen the popular and affordable Mexican souvenir of bright paintings on a dark-brown, rustic paper. These look like something that has been done for centuries, but in reality they are the result of a recent merger of two separate indigenous handcraft traditions.
Bright star of Tonala’s famed burnished pottery artisans began as an outlier
José Luis Cortéz Hernández is one of the most prolific of Jalisco’s famous burnished potters of Tonalá. With a career of over three decades, he is an acknowledged master in his field.
Nahua weaver group doesn’t just preserve dying skills, it’s changing lives
It might not seem logical for a group of women specializing in the same kind of handcraft to promote and sell together. After all, isn’t each the other’s competitor? Ah, but there are other factors to consider.
How an accident led to one Oaxacan woman’s revival of a dying handcraft
Mexico’s handcrafts are folk art in the truest sense of the word. Influenced by changes going on around them, ordinary people living and working outside of vaunted artistic circles reinterpret culture and traditions that can be millennia old. Sometimes that innovator is even “just a housewife.”
A handcraft can sometimes document the rise and the disappearance of a historical movement.
In 1994, various indigenous communities in the southern state of Chiapas rose up against the Mexican government. At issue were a number of longstanding disputes over land as well as changes brought about by neoliberal policies, including the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Nonprofits help Mexico’s artisans learn to sell in a socially distanced world
If anything good comes from this pandemic, it may be that the Mexican artisan community “discovers” the internet.
Even before Covid-19, traditional artisans’ greatest challenge has been to get fair prices for their creations. Essentially, the problem is that they almost always live in poor, rural areas, far from urban and international markets where the people with the money and desire to support them can be found.
A single mother’s need to survive spawned decades of Otomí industry
As a newbie to Mexico on one of my first trips to Oaxaca I was captivated by huge swaths of cloth almost entirely covered in embroidery. Having been a quilter, I know the time and torn-up fingertips necessary to do this kind of needlework.
This was how I met Tenango embroidery for the first time.
Monterrey doll artisans’ work bears a “neither here nor there” perspective
“We are neither from here nor there,” say Monterrey-based artisans Mayra René and Bertha García, but that is a boon for their art.
The northern part of Mexico is not known for art, or even handcrafts for that matter. Fine decorations and art have been the purview of central and southern parts of the country, where more complex civilizations developed.
Can Mexico’s artisans make the shift to online selling?
It is almost cliché now to say that the pandemic has hit people hard, often those who can least afford it.
These include Mexico’s artisans, whose centuries-old traditions today depend on the tourism industry and the festival calendar. Who knows when the festivals will resume and when the people will decide it’s safe?
Women potters lead the way in Oaxaca
A great deal of Oaxaca’s charm is the appearance of a timeless culture, even in the face of sprawling modernization. Its strong handcraft tradition reinforces this notion, and at first glance, it looks like all is done just like it was a hundred years ago. But there has been important innovation, with a number of women leading the way.
The Rebozo: Mexican women’s annual ritual of wrapping themselves in patriotism
On September 16, Mexican Independence Day, millions of women dig out the rebozos in their closets to wear with genuine pride. But this yearly ritual also demonstrates an ambivalence that many Mexicans have about their heritage.
Reinventing Guadalajara ceramics: the legacy of artisan Jorge Wilmot
Eight years after his death, the legacy of ceramics artisan Jorge Wilmot lives on in the establishment of the Guadalajara metro area as a source for world-class ceramics. His fusion of art, technology and design elements from the past reinvented the working of clay.
The huipil, a ‘canvas’ for culture and identity, is truly indigenous
After the Conquest the Spanish imposed many of their cultural norms on the people of what is now Mexico, not in the least related to dress. As a result, many of the traditional indigenous garments seen today show European influence and even origin.
Which are the real alebrijes? Papier-mache from CDMX or carvings from Oaxaca?
In the 2017 movie Coco, Walt Disney Pictures popularized the idea of alebrije for mass audiences around the globe as a kind of “spirit-guide” between the lands of the living and the dead.
The María doll: from street vendor to international icon
Smiling along with her sisters in markets and on street vendors’ stands is the “María” doll. She is readily identified by her wide face, hair braided with multicolored ribbons, and a vaguely indigenous dress.
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“Alebrijes,” Handcrafted Monsters on Parade in Mexico City – Craftsmanship Quarterly “
Sometime in the 1930s, a Mexico City artisan named Pedro Linares lay on his bed delirious and racked with fever. In his hallucinations, he felt surrounded by a series of terrifying monsters, who were made of parts from different animals in gaudy, clashing colors. Over and over, Linares heard the monsters whisper a single word: “alebrijes.”
How to Buy Authentic Mexican Handcrafts Expats in Mexico
So, you have bought a number of really cool looking objects from street vendors and tourist markets in Mexico. But what exactly have you bought? Was it made by the person you bought it from? By someone else? Or (gasp!) made in China? I’m going to tell you how to buy authentic Mexican handcrafts.
Artisanal toymakers resist competition from high-tech products
Despite decades of brutal competition from plastics and electronics, Mexico’s traditional handcrafted toys still manage to survive.
Christmas in Oaxaca means it’s time for radishes, but not for eating
In Oaxaca city, add giant, gnarled radishes to the list of must-haves for the Christmas season.
Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) on December 23 combines farming and hand carving to create one of the most important events in the capital city.
Artisans and artists unite
Twelve years ago, the Museo de Arte Popular (Folk Art Museum) in Mexico City decided to establish an event to pair artisans with fine artists, designers, architects and the like to create and exhibit innovative works.
Chiapas works to rebuild a lost heritage in handcrafts
With a large indigenous population that continues to follow centuries-old traditions, Chiapas is one of Mexico’s principal producers of handcrafts.
The Glow Of Mexico’s Amber Vallarta Tribune
There are only a certain number of amber mines in the world. They have come about because there are certain conditions that must be right in order to form deposits
Beyond Copying Vallarta Tribune
In the United States, handcrafts are few but those that exist are done by those who are enamored by the process and/or the product (think quilting). The vast majority of craftspeople in Mexico do not have this luxury. They create in order to sell and pay the bills. That is not to say that other factors do not come into play, but the need to produce something that will sell means that markets have a huge say in what gets made.
Children’s dolls for tourists by Creative Hands of Mexico
Mexico had, and to some extent still has, a tradition of traveling theatre, especially puppet shows for children. It is not surprising that I have found a significant number of artisans today who have some kind of connection with this theatre.