The artesanias of Michoacan - an introduction
A guide to the highways and byways of Michoacan's handcraft routes, through the highways and byways of the Soul of Mexico.
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Meeting the bony woman
The tiny casita glowed in apricot hues and beamed welcoming blue trim around the doorway. The mixed scent of flowers and earth hung in the air like rich incense. Ducking under a brilliant mauve bougain...
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Mexican equipales, seated through the ages Zacoalco de Torres
Moctezuma ordered his special chair. Pedro Páramo, in Juan Rulfo's award winning novel sat upon one. Both men enjoyed equipales, the rustic leather furniture found everywhere in Mexico.
Equipale...
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Oaxaca Journal by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks is obviously too seasoned a traveller and too astute an observer to confine himself to ferns. One encounters a host of pleasures as he ruminates on a variety of topics. He muses about the New World's contributions to civilization -cocoa, tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, chilies, gourds, pepper, maize, chewing gum, cochineal and exotic hallucinogens. In Monte Alban he considers the production of rubber which the Zapotec people used to make balls.
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Journey to Patamban, Michoacan
The Fiesta de Cristo Rey has become as famous as many of the Day of the Dead rites in other communities around Mexico. It's the peak of the flower growing season in Michoacán and the residents not only gather the flowers to decorate the streets but they also paint the streets with incredible and startling floral designs.
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Saltillo, Mexico - color, culture and colonial charm
Just five hours by bus from McAllen, Saltillo is a delightful colonial city
rich in history, museums and eco-tourism. Young couples relax on iron benches surrounded by manicured gardens. Streams of water rise from a fountain into gentle arcs in the sunlight.
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Palm Sunday crafts fair in Uruapan
Artisans participating in the competition and crafts fair will come from workshops throughout Michoacán, which has more than 100,000 artisans from more than 200 communities.
Elvia Silva Bartolo belie...
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My Heart Won't Let Me Stop . . .
Juan Mata Ortíz is a small village of potters, farmers and cowboys in Northern Chihuahua. About 30 years ago, an unschooled artistic genius, Juan Quezada, taught himself how to make earthenware jars i...
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From Father To Son: On Top Of The World
"When I walked into the museum and saw my ceramic sitting there beside the plaque for the Galardón, I was astonished. I had had no idea I had been awarded the Grand Prize." José Quezada sat with his ...
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The colorful wood carvings of Cuanajo, Michoacan
An endless number of approaches to familiar motifs show themselves throughout the town.
A trogon, its cherry red neck gleaming against a body of emerald green, crawls up the side of a picture frame, f...
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Catrina: Skeletons take over the art of Capula, Michoacan
Inspired by the caricatures of lithographer Jose Guadalupe Posada, the elegant Catrina has her origins in Day of the Dead celebrations. Capula's Catrinas arrived only recently.
They stand in the doorw...
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Handmade Mexican Art from 3 de Mayo, Morelos and getting it home in one piece
If you are planning a trip to the state of Morelos in central Mexico you'll probably want to enjoy a fun day of shopping in the small colonia of 3 de Mayo. (Yes, they spell it with a real number "Three...
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Jose Maria Alejos Madrigal: Generations of ceramic creativity in San Jose de Gracia, Michoacan
"I learned from my parents. It's been passed down from generation to generation."
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