Sometimes You Get Lucky or The Amazing Makers Fair We Stumbled Upon

(this woman could hold a long conversation with you and never once look down at her work, and her hands never stopped moving)

We got very lucky and were able to experience the last day of this two week Easter feria (fair) which  was happening on the alcala just past Santa Domingo. I bet 70 or 80 craftspeople were represented.  Each booth had two different makers with a sign saying the community, name of the artisan, and what they made. Of course a lot of them were keeping busy in their booths with some handwork.  It was off the charts.  Keep in mind, many of these communities are 8, 10, or 12 hours away from the big city and will come in just 3 times a year (Easter, Gueleguetza, and Christmas) to make a little cash and  sell their wares to the tourists - many, many of whom are Mexican tourists and also locals who live in the City.There was a huge concentration of work that would take you days, if not weeks, to survey out roaming the state. That's a lot of doors to knock on.

It's a great chance to talk directly to the people who are making the goods - about their community, their techniques, their ideas and experiences. There were embroiderers, weavers, spinners, sewers, leatherworkers, knifemakers, wood and gourd carvers - each more wondrous than the one before.

Above is one of my favorite designs from the Mixe region in northern Oaxaca.  We talked a little with these people about when their community sued the french designer Isabel Marant for plagiarism (click here for link)  Good for them. I think I'd only paid attention to the blouses and  never really realized how wide and cowgirl their skirts were.  And that belt. Plus our model could not have been any sweeter twirling her skirt for us. 

As always, doing our best to put our tourist dollars directly into the hands of the makers.  Here's Margie with her handspun, indigo dyed, raw silk throw she just purchased made in one of the last of the silk raising communities in Oaxaca, San Pedro Cajonos. The maker was kind enough to take a photo wearing a marigold dyed throw. Notice the beautiful knotwork at the end of her piece. (Click here to read more about the history of raising silkworms in Oaxaca) 

This feria happens during Christmas and July Gueleguetza too! Can't wait to visit some of these people in their communities.

And here's just a little tease to give you some idea of the magnificent quality of work on view and for sale - this is a kind of tree of life design (click here to read more about this particular design)

I did say one more beautiful than the next didn't I? Fun color play going on in this piece above plus my personal new, seeing it everywhere symbol, the zig zag. And yes you may tell me the design stands for a snake or a thunderbolt or the path we take in life but someone told me at this fair, in a much more prosaic vein, that the zig zag symbolizes the ups and down in a marriage. So there you have it - family counseling, marriage advice, and weaving all rolled into one.