New World Women is a native women artisan group in Tecalpulco, Guerrero who decided to form a production cooperative. These skilled artisans are the original designers and producers, creating beautiful jewelry. Theirs is a cottage industry with a goal of perpetuating the region's craft tradition and creating a source of work that can keep their people at home — an alternative to migrating to urban centers or to the U.S. These enterprising women utilize modern means of communication. They communicate through their web page and via romantic novelas serialized on blogs. They write e-mail, post videos on YouTube, and have published an unusual book: The New World Mexican Women Workbook: How to Make Your Own Traditional Mexican Jewelry. read more

In 1966, the Mexican Olympic Committee contacted my husband with a proposal: To photograph the most talented and notable of Mexico's creative community. Among those he was to photograph was the highly acclaimed and brilliant artist, Leonora Carrington, a woman as well-known for her eccentricities as for her creative output. Leonora took to my husband immediately and invited him to one of her famous dinners. "Bring your wife," she said. read more

  Siqueiros: Biography of a Revolutionary Artist is a fascinating read for anyone looking for a great story with fascinating characters. It's also an enlightening read for anyone interested in Mexi... read more

"I was six when I started to paint," he recalls. "It all started at the public library here in Ajijic. There was this woman, Neill James. She was a great woman, very generous. She gave us kids everything - watercolors, paper, brushes, and even furniture to work on. I spent my weekends painting all day. " read more

Mexico is a haven for exiles where the braver or weaker or more foolish can find themselves or re-create themselves or… lose themselves. T. M. Spooner's novel, Notes from Exile, is a lakeside st... read more

Mexico is a haven for exiles where the braver or weaker or more foolish can find themselves or re-create themselves or… lose themselves.

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  You can't isolate yourself. Modernity arrives and replaces what you have. >Changing Dreams by Vicki Ragan and Shepard Barbash is a thoughtfully written and provocative book - one which should... read more

Mexico is a country infused with goddess energy. When you're in her arms, you want to stay there, cradled in her warm, moist smells, re-charged by her underbelly of pulsating earth energy, and sustained by a wisdom born of a history filled with extraordinary achievements and major defeats.

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This June one of Mexico's most venerated composers comes to Washington, DC. The life and loves (and there were many) of Agustin Lara will be brought to the stage in a work commissioned by the Gala Hisp... read more

Julia Taylor's ebook, The Trick is Living Here, is an informative reference on getting settled in Mexico as well as a delight to read. It isn't everyday that you find a good source of solid, factual information coupled with a wry sense of humor. read more

Mexico in 1910 was a country in despair. Foreign domination had been replaced by the tyranny of President Porfirio Diaz. Two-thirds of the people lived in abject poverty and slavery was growing at a fa... read more

Between 1920 and 1940 Mexico went through a period of radical transformation. The revolution had ended and in its wake an energy for transformation was unleashed that was unparalleled anywhere. For the... read more

When we talk of Mexico's great painters, Francisco Goitia isn't the first name that comes to mind. Yet, without a doubt, he is one of last century's great painters. He the spirit of his times and refle... read more

On October 25, 2002, one hundred years after her birth , the Mexican painter Maria Izquierdo was declared a Monumento Artistico de la Nación by Mexico City's National Commission for Arts and Culture. ... read more

I've just recently seen the " Tamayo Illustrador" exhibition at the Museo del Periodismo y las Artes Graficas in downtown Guadalajara. Rufino Tamayo is a Mexican icon, and this was one show I did... read more

Nowhere was the cord between man and spirit more tightly bound than in the making of amatl, the sacred paper of the pre-Hispanic peoples. This paper was so important to the spiritual needs of ... read more

At least ten years before the "Big Three" - Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros - came into their own as world-renown muralists, a lone painter was setting the groundwork. His name was Saturnino Herran. He was t... read more

The influence of Mexican design on Christian work has been the subject of much controversy. Bernard Bevan in the “History of Spanish Architecture” claimed that the influence of Mexican designs was practically negligible in Mexico and whatever seemed that way was due to “poor Indian workmanship”. read more

Once upon a time... The historical overview: Part 2 Mexico is a country of marked contrast – raw and vital in its energy, still and timeless in its majesty. The non-hurried pace of its people ... read more

There is no more glorious an experience or heightening of the senses than to walk through Puebla's exquisitely beautiful downtown on a sun drenched afternoon. Every building is a work of art. And every... read more

The 1920s should not have been a flourishing period for Mexican art. The revolution had just ended. The cruelties of war and constant political upheavals had fragmented the country. And illiteracy was rampant.

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When Cortes and his small band of bounty hunters first set foot on the shores of pre-Hispanic America, little did they know what real treasures they would take back to the Old World. The precious metal... read more

It would be a terrible oversight to write an "Arts in Mexico" column without paying special tribute to Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico's greatest living artists. In the eyes of many, he is Mexico's gre... read more

This past February I had the pleasure of attending the first concert of the 2005 season given by the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra. It was the first time I had heard the orchestra, and I was impressed by t... read more

During the heady days that followed the Mexican revolution, the air was filled with fervent nationalism. The euphoria of new beginnings brought out the best in creative vision from talent that fed on t... read more