Kevin June 26th, 2010
The Purepecha indians from Huancito, Michoacan have for centuries made off of their utilitarian cooking pots by digging the clay from the local river beds. Over the last 25years however several families in Huancito have taken it upon themselves to rescue their ancient tecniques of making laquer paints from the natural clay pigments. Red, black, brown, and white are natural colors that the woman extract from the clay by working it on a metate. The pots are hand formed and the colors are barnished onto the pots, painted and fired.
The origins of the Purepecha is just one of the many mysteries surrounding this ancient tribe. Linguistically they have no relatives, but have been very successful in maintaining their dialect; today most kids are sent to school to learn Spanish as it is not spoken in the home. The Aztec called the Purepecha humming birds, it is still a recurring theme in their folk art today.
Tags: Barnished pottery, ceramic pots, Indian art, laquer paints, Mexican Folk Art, Mexico, Michoacan, natural paints, Peyote People, Pottyer, Puerto Vallarta, Purepecha, Tarascan
Kevin June 26th, 2010
Cecilio is one of the pioneers of realism in Huichol yarn painting but had been going through some tough times. After a long drought that can only be compared to writers block, Cecilio believes he was hexed by a jealous shaman who block his creative powers. After about 3years of trying to work off this evil hex Cecilio
is back with a new distinct style that collectors are really going to love.
Kevin June 26th, 2010
Santos Daniel is undoubtably one of the most collected Huichol artists. A pioneer of the art he has over 25years of experience that add real depth to his portfolio. Vibrant colors combined with his unique tecnique of texturing the yarn make up Santos trade mark style. We are very excited to be able to show a selection of his 24″ pieces are are eagerly anticipating his latest 4′ masterpiece that should be done in the next week or two.
Tags: Ethnic Art, Huichol art, Huichol Artist Santos Daniel Carrillo Jimenez, Huichol Indian Art, Huichol yarn art, Indian, Mexican Folk Art, Peyote People, Peyote People Puerto Vallarta, Puyerto Vallarta
Kevin June 4th, 2010
After almost a year we are very excited to have Luis Castro back health and ready to work. Luis was commissioned by the British Museum in London to do a number of pieces for their boutiques. His work was to coincide with the exhibition they were hosting on the life of Moctezuma. Unfortunately because of personal reasons Luis was only able to produce a handfull of pieces compared with the number the museum ordered him to do. It was not long after that when his father Eliseo had Luis in an institution seeking the help he needed to straighten his life out. Its been a long, hard struggle back but Luis is now healthy, and very excited about getting back to work.
Kevin May 23rd, 2010
Luis Ruiz Ramirez from Las Guyabas is one of very few artists that have been able to blend the Huicholes ceremonial art with todays commercial bead art. Every piece is a true prayer to their gods, the paper flowers represent the beauty of nature, the quartz rocks are their ancestors, coins are a monatary sacrifice used as offerings to the gods, deer hair is used for abundance so the Huichol will have food in their homes and the cotton or sheeps wool will bring the clouds that make it rain.
Kevin May 16th, 2010
Neikame has done it again, forever pushing the limits of his cultures traditional art he has come up with another masterpiece that will undoubtably knock your socks off. An almost perfect combinations of form and color combine to bring a level of surrealism that few will ever come close to copying.
Kevin May 16th, 2010
After almost a year dealing with some personal problems, Luis Castro is back and better than ever. Sometimes one needs to take a step back and evaluate where you are going. The time off definately did not hurt Luis’ work as he still has that special touch that seperates his work from just about everyone else.
Tags: day of the dead, Ethinic Art, Huichol, Huichol art, Huichol yarn art, Indian, Jalisco, Mexico, Nayarit, Pacific Coast, Peyote People, Puerto Vallarta
Kevin March 21st, 2010
Wow, what a winter, its nice to see that the weather is finally changing. This winter in Mexico was undoubtably one of the coldest ever, Huichol got more snow this year than ever. It was just over 12years ago the last time it snowed in the sierra but unlike this year it didn’t stick.
Its been a difficult year to say the least, a number of pilgrammes from Santa Catarina have been hasseled in Wirikuta where they collect the peyote. The Mexican authorities do not respect the rights of the people let alone the indigenous population. Its a sad state of affairs here, the drug violence has been overplayed in the media and is negatively effecting tourism which indirectly affects the Huichol who depend on it to sell their wares. Puerto Vallarta today is flooded with Huichol crafts, real art however is becomming more difficult to find.
Neikame is an artist who just happens to be Huichol. His surrealistic renditions of his cultures tradions and beliefs are still pushing the limits of the traditional art. Yarn art and bead art have be done for years, they have even began mixing the two but this new piece is the very first to use beads strickly as an accent rather than part of the coherent pattern.
Kevin December 6th, 2009
For years now people have collected the fantastic wood carvings that the Zapotec indians in Oaxaca create. Arrazola and San Martin are two villages that have created a burgening industry that pairs collectors with carvers. As with every craft however there are only a handfull of artistis who gain world wide recognition for taking the art to another level. We are pround to present the work of Jacobo Angeles Ojeda, a young carver who is undoubtably one of the most collected artists from San Martin. Jacobo and his wife Maria have developed their own ‘indigenous’ style of painting that pairs traditional Zapotec geometric patterns with the popular wood carving. Jacobo creates his own native paints from vegtable extracts to make his pieces just a bit more native. The details within their work are absolutely incredible and show why their work is some of the most prized for collectors the world over.
Kevin October 4th, 2009
Huichol art is taking on a whole new direction with Neikame’s surreal interpretations of his cultures traditional myths. A little Salvador Dali with some Frieda Kahlo, Neikame is a real breath of fresh air in a world that had been content to copy Jose Benitez for the last 10years. Self taught, Neikame is not only a yarn painting but has come up with his own mixed media presentation that incorporates yarn, beads and acrylic paint.
Neikame is not well recognized but has an extraordinarily loyal following of collectors. He doesn’t create paintings very often but when he does they are filled with raw emotion. He sincerly believes that his art reflects his cultures transformation into the contemporary world and is not affraid to tackle subjects like the Huichol loosing its culture. Periodically we will be featurings Neikame’s new pieces here and hope that you will enjoy seeing him progress as an artist as much as we have.
