I was born in a land that has her womb full of sunlight; that smells of tobacco, and the air intoxicates you because it tastes of rum. The sea caresses all of her body: it dresses her with garments made from coral and salt. Marisela Verena Each year here in Guadalajara, we host an international […]
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Cogan’s Reviews Although it’s about Mexico, this one starts off in Ecuador in the 1960s where the author was doing doctoral fieldwork for a dissertation on haciendas in that country. His work took him to a remote research station on the side of a mountain seventy miles from electricity, running water, telephones, etc. One day […]
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Coyote doesn’t offer a word to guide us through this mysterious and arduous process. He leaves us to our own world, to our private vision quest. The sweltering heat of the lodge is suffocating. Sweat drips from my body and mixes with the earth I sit on, creating mud. The amber necklace I’m wearing begins […]
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At the start of the Mexican Revolution (1910) painting in Mexico had reached an all-time low. The then President, Porfirio Diaz had been in power for more than 30 years and in the words of famous American art critic, Mackinley Helm, “nowhere else in the world, not even in Victorian England, had bad taste in […]
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The sights, sounds and smells of Christmas in Mexico are wondrous, and Xalapa is no exception. Sparkling lights, music, cohetes (fireworks) and hot chocolate mix together to fill your senses. All Saints Day (Todos Santos) in early November ushers in the Christmas season and from then on a torrent of events seem to happen at the same […]
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“Does your husband ever carve nudes,” I asked Enedina Castillo Castillo, only half jokingly. She grinned up at me with those wise eyes. “Once he carved a David that looked like the one by Miguel Angel,” she assured me. “You mean the one in Italy,” I asked incredulously. “Sí, the one with the hands. “And the….” […]
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“Without watercolors we wouldn´t know nearly what we know about the ancient Mexicans,” said the gentleman across the expanse of polished desk with a sweet smile. “All of the codexes were painted with colored pigment in water on amate paper (thick, handmade paper from the inner bark of the amate tree that only grows in the State of Morelos). […]
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Letters From Mexico In the seven years that I have lived in Oaxaca, I have often caught glimpses of the Maestro working in his studio; run into him at various cultural functions; and crossed his path on the street. His life and his works have had an affect on my life here, far greater than […]
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“The faculty of being is born in the habit of creating,” says multi-talented artist Raymundo Becerril Porras, whose very life seems to personify this idea. Creation, after all, is an integral part of who he is, with his career encompassing that of painter, dancer and writer. As Becerril notes, “for me, art is my life.” […]
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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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