The Deep Contentment of the Artisans of Oaxaca

 There is a chance to visit with so many talented artisans in Oaxaca and this trip was no exception with highlights from potters, weavers, dyers, and tinmakers.  I have watched Mareya from the Mateo Galan family in Coyotopec do her magic with an exacto knife and a toothpaste cap for years now.  And wow is she getting good.  Her father in law can throw the big pots and she does all the decorative work. They were a little stressed this visit as Lorenzo broke two of his fingers about a month ago and has not been able to work. Yet you can see she has that calm, humble thing with deep pride in her work. I'm pretty sure no two of her pots are alike. She has a huge design repertoire.

This barefoot grandmother gets her workout carding and spinning that big basket of wool to her left everyday. She's contributing to the family rug business and has some serious muscle too.

Josefina Lopez gave the best natural dye demo I've ever been to.  Here she's showing off all the colors from red to bright orange to shades of lavender that she can coax from the cochineal dye.

Can't you just feel her contentment and happiness?

Handspinning cotton high in the hills of Oaxaca, Khadi/Oaxaca is translating Ghandian values of village life, sustainability, & handwork into a beautiful experiment making stunning artisan goods and creating livelihood for hundreds of families. This is fair trade at it's finest.  (Read more about them by clicking here)

And I finally made it out to the town of Barro Rojo, red pottery.  I always see the women from Tlapazola selling their wares at the Sunday Tlacolula market and in town too - O ye of the famed pig toothpick holders.  We always have fun chatting with these women vendors with their pretty aprons and extra long braids.So I was happy to make it out to their bucolic little puebla and visit with a local potter and her family.

It was great to see Marina Martinez demonstrating how she mixes the red and the yellow clay from her community with a little bit of sand and then she hand shaped the classic comal with a corn cob and a piece of leather.  The yellow clay they gather in a pick up truck, the red clay they walk about an hour to gather. Click here for a fun video of her working 

 Really feel extra lucky that we happened to drop in as they prepared their primitive fire, no kiln firing.  It was fun watching skilled masters, all women - sisters and aunts and nieces,  in colorful billowing skirts  building their kiln with boxsprings and shards, and pots, and dung and dried agave leaves, and the roots of carrizo, and strategically placed red hot coals and big sticks of wood.  And sorry no pictures, it's considered bad luck, might make the pots crack! 

I always feel a very peaceful feeling when I come back from villages.