Kinich Ramirez

In his 27-plus years of living, Kinich Ramirez Martinez has tasted life in both Mexico and the US – traveling from Mexico City (where he was born in 1978) to Cancun; Guadalajara; Los Angeles, California; and finally back to Cancun once again. This firstborn of Adolfo Ramirez and Guille Martinez, Kinich has experienced as much […]

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Casa del Arte Popular Mexicano, Cancun

Cancun’s cultural oasis: La Casa del Arte Popular Mexicano

Tucked away between the towering hotels of Cancun’s sparkling shores is a cultural treasure known as La Casa del Arte Popular Mexicano. Perched atop the pier on Kukulcán Boulevard in Cancun’s hotel zone, the tiny museum is brimming with handcrafted pieces that reflect Mexico’s rich artistic legacy. Careful thought went into the creation of La […]

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Serpents writhe on a fierce horned mask by Tonala artisan Prudencio Guzman. He names this design "The Death of Ambition." Costumed Tastoanes in frightening masks battle Saint James in a ritual dance each year on July 25th. © Kinich Ramirez, 2006

Wandering warriors: the Tastoan masks of Prudencio Guzman

As a boy, Prudencio Guzmán Rodríguez was haunted by the mysterious characters known as Tastoanes, who are part of a tradition that spans more than a century in the municipality of Tonalá, Mexico, where he grew up. The Tastoanes would come to Guzmán in a recurring dream, in which he was walking down the street […]

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Jorge Wilmot ceramic

Mexican master ceramist Jorge Wilmot: the interval between before and after

“I am from Mexico, but it is like (being) from another country that no longer exists,” says famed potter Juan Jorge Wilmot Mason. Born in Monterrey 77 years ago, Wilmot eventually made his way to his long-time residence of Tonalá in the late 1950s. He says that Tonalá had far fewer inhabitants back then and […]

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This nearika -- Huichol yarnwork "votive" painting -- depicts the sacred blue deer, who also appear as shamans on eac side of the composition. © Kinich Ramirez, 2006

Huichol Indian art: yarn paintings (cuadros estambrados)

This months cover features an example of Huichol yarn painting, Cuadros Estambrados, a transformational art form to the artists and shamans of the Huichol people, who use it to depict their myths, sacred totems, and stories. This particular example sprung from the imagination of Justyn Vallori, a local artist and psychic who says she was drawn […]

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