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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Hip hop is probably not the first thing that pops to mind when you think of Oaxaca.  However, I can assure you, there is more to Oaxaca than colonial architecture, religious processions, colorful traje (costume), and traditional music.  As repeated blockades and occupations attest, and the El Silencio Mata posters illustrate, there are voices struggling to be heard.

For one of those voices, check out this trailer from the documentary film, Cuando Una Mujer Avanza (When a Woman Takes a Step Forward), about “Mare” a young Zapotec hip hop artist from Oaxaca.  As the promo states, her unique life experience is a rarely heard perspective on life and community liberation.  As an up and coming MC in a state known for popular and indigenous rebellion, Mare’s life and experience has been channeled into very powerful and conscious rapping and singing.

Update:  Check out the article, Mare Is a Rapper Hell-Bent on Equality for Women in Mexico.

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Carved wood woman sitting -- back curved into chair.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”  — Henry David Thoreau

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In Coyoacán, Federal District of Mexico City

Magenta numbers 104 against bright yellow wall

San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas…

Wooden number 40 against white patch on tan rock wall with terracotta geometric design

And Oaxaca…

Black Art Deco 502 against white wall

The zeros have it!

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Oaxaca bound!

After a delightful, but cold and wet (4-6″ of hail!) textile intensive 6-day visit to Chiapas, I’m homeward (as in, Oaxaca) bound!

Wall art spelling OAXACA

I promise not to ever again complain about Oaxaca’s sun-filled dry season!

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For a whole variety of reasons, this is so appropriate not just here, but…

all over the world…

And, given the current war on women’s hard won reproductive rights, it’s especially pertinent during this “election” season in the USA.

Silence does indeed kill!

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Yesterday, having just posted Celebrating the Women of Oaxaca, I set off for my cataloging shift at the Oaxaca Lending Library.  As I turned up the Alcalá, I was greeted by bevy of beautiful and colorful women in all shapes, sizes, and lifestyles — Oaxaca’s tribute to women on International Women’s Day.  By the way, you can see in the distance in one of the photos, the Migrantes are still here.

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Meanwhile, down at the Government Palace, the City Council recognized the history and contribution of 10 women conferring upon each a Distinguished Citizen award; Zapotec women demanded justice for the disappeared and prisoners; and several city workers dismissed over a year ago (according to them, without cause) held a protest demanding reinstatement.

Thus was International Women’s Day in Oaxaca!

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Samuel Bautista Lazo is one of the smartest, joyous, and Zen-like people I know.

Sam sitting cross-legged in a natural alcove in the mountain

Sam is my young, previously mentioned, Zapotec friend who is getting his Ph.D. in Sustainable Manufacturing at the University of Liverpool.  Sam is from Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca, a village watched over by El Picacho, the sacred mountain — whose presence is unmistakable and palpable.

El Picacho

The village is known for its traditional performances of the Danza de la Pluma (about which I’ve posted on numerous occasions) and their skillful and creative weavings with wool.  Like a majority of its Zapotec residents, Sam and his family weave — father, Mario Bautista Martínez; mother, Leonor Lazo González; and brother, Celestino Bautista Lazo.

Sam and his family pose in their yard

The family was featured last year in an article, The Crafts of Oaxaca, posted on the Lark Crafts website.  Like many others, on my first visit in 2007, I couldn’t resist buying a couple of tapetes (rugs), including this one, which now serves as a welcome to all who enter my little casita.

Tapete on floor: geometric patterns in rust, beige, agua

A friend and I returned six months later and had the privilege of climbing to the top of El Picacho with Sam.

Sam on top of El Picacho

And no, I did not join Sam in leaping from one rocky peak to the other!

Looking forward to your return, Sam!

(ps)  Here is a Dixza video of  Sam from 2008, where he discusses the interpretation of the symbols and patterns woven into Zapotec rugs.  You might also want to check out others in his Dixza series from Teotitlán del Valle.

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Strolling along Calle Prof. M. Aranda several days ago, I wondered…

maybe this was a case of…

the parts…

being greater…

than their sum.

What do you think?

Urban art by sanez.

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Last night I joined a standing-room-only crowd for the book launch of Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular de Oaxaca (Grand Masters of Folk Art of Oaxaca) at the Centro Académico y Cultural San Pablo, in Oaxaca city.  This beautiful 340+ page book was the joint effort of the Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú, Fomento Cultural Banamex, the State of Oaxaca, and CONACULTA (National Council for Culture and the Arts).

Cover of the book

The press was there in full force, as was governor Gabino Cue, benefactor Alfredo Harp Helu, and a number of other movers and shakers on Oaxaca’s cultural scene.  Many of the artisans were also in attendance and several posed for photographs holding their copy of the book at the reception that followed.

One of the artisans who was not there was the late potter, Dolores Porras from Santa María Atzompa, as Parkinson’s disease had claimed her on November 1, 2010.  Four pages in the book are devoted to this maestra of pottery and her pioneering work with glazes.  Examples of her work can be seen all around Oaxaca, including these scattered in the garden at the hotel, Las Golondrinas.

Vase in the shape of a woman's face and rounded body

Her work has inspired imitation, but as is evident in these pieces, her whimsy, creativity, and sense of proportion would be difficult to match.

Urn with the face of a woman.

I want to thank potter Michael Peed for pointing out these hidden treasures…

Tall vase in the shape of a woman.

following a showing of his loving documentary, Dolores Porras: Artista Artesana de Barro Santa María Atzompa.  (Click here for an excerpt on YouTube.)

DVD front and back covers

And then there is this one, I discovered on my own, the very next day — on a bathroom shelf, no less — at Casa Linda

Vase with image of a woman, with pointy breasts.

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There are only a few more days left to be delighted by “Manos que crean y ojos que leen” (Hands that create and eyes that read), a whimsical exhibition of popular art at the Biblioteca Andrés Henestrosa.  The pieces were commissioned by Rosa Blum (who, with Henry Wangeman, owns Oaxaca’s bilingual bookstore Amate Books) to celebrate reading and promote the incredibly creative artisans of Oaxaca who were suffering from a drop in tourism following the social conflict of 2006.

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So…  If you are in Oaxaca, be sure to see it before it closes at the end of this month.  If not, you might want to consider a trip down here (Oaxaca is NOT on the US State Department travel warning list), visit some of these artisans in their villages, see their work up close and personal, and perhaps purchase a few unique treasures from these talented people.

For other pieces in the exhibit, see Chris’s photos over at Oaxaca-The Year After.

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… let us walk together.  And we, in Oaxaca city, have been for the past several weeks thanks to Oaxaca born artist Alejandro Santiago.

The streets and sidewalks around Santo Domingo have been peopled with “La Ruta del Migrante – Caminemos Juntos,” his heart wrenching sculptures representing the 2,501 migrantes, men and women, who have left his pueblo of San Pedro Teococuilco almost deserted.

No two sculptures are the same; each is a tribute to the unique individuals who, most certainly with great reluctance, left the homes of their families and ancestors to make their way north in search of jobs.  The pain in their contorted bodies, their faces, and their feet causes me to pause every time I pass.  I’ll let the images speak for themselves and ask the questions societies all over the world need to answer.

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These migrantes on the streets of Oaxaca are scheduled to disappear at the end of the month and I don’t know where they are next headed.  However, two documentaries have been made about Santiago’s tribute to migrantes:  Twenty Five Hundred & One by Patricia Van Ryker and 2501 Migrants: A Journey directed by Yolanda Cruz.

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I knew it was going to be a good day when a colibrí greeted me on an early morning stroll up to the weekly organic market.

Black outline of a hummingbird on a white wall.

There were other critters and creatures in plain sight…

Multicolored creature painted on terracotta wall

and peering out from their hiding places.

Multicolored creature painted on wall in back; with bougainvillea in foreground

However, you must proceed with caution because, most dangerous of all…

Pile of torn up street rubble in street, with red sign:  Precaución - Hombres Trabajando

there are men at work!

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As you may have gathered, one of the things I love about living down here is the pervasiveness of public art.  So, on a recent trip up to Mexico City, it should have come as no surprise to see the city is filled with heroic sculptures and abstract modern pieces, both serious and whimsical, for all to see, contemplate, and enjoy.

Even benches are an excuse to let the creativity flow.  (S)he is ready and willing to talk or just listen…

Vertigris ostrich bench

He will provide shelter from the storm OR scorching sun, as the case may be!

Aluminum bench topped with a whimsical red chair with lounging figure.

When it’s been an upside down kind of day, have a seat here.

Green metal bench with bottom of torso with legs "seated" on top.

Or, on a Sunday, when the Paseo de la Reforma is closed to traffic, you can park your bike and put a song in your heart!

Smiling young woman sitting on a black iron bench with musical notations; her lavender bike in front.

¡Buen día!

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The ladybug and the…

The wall art in Oaxaca never ceases to surprise and delight.

Male torso in yellows and reds with a little blue and black

Pretty buff, no?

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Wall art from here…

Multicolor mountain lion wall art.

Wall of 142 Throckmorton theatre on Madrona,  Mill Valley, CA by Zio Ziegler

to there.

Wall of Espacio Zapata on Porfirio Díaz, Oaxaca de Juárez, OAX

And, sacred mountains from here…

Mt. Tamalpais

to there.

Green rocky top mountain against white cloud and blue sky

Transition time… Mill Valley back to Oaxaca.

Save

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