Ignacio Punzo, master of hammered Copper and Silver

Hello again!, this time I would like to write you about Ignacio Punzo Angel, the best artisian from Santa Clara del Cobre Michoacan in Mexico. The town is part of the Pátzcuaro region of Michoacán, and ethnically dominated by the Purepecha people. These people have been working with copper since the pre-Hispanic era, and led to this town’s dominance in copper crafts over the colonial period (1519–1821) until well into the 19th century.
Most of the town's population (82%) its employed on making copper crafts, there are 250 registered workshops but only 2 of them have been inducted in to the "Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art" collection by Fomento Cultural Banamex, one of them its the one own by Ignacio Punzo Angel and his sons.
Ignacio's studio its maybe the only one in Santa Clara del Cobre that also has pieces of Silver. This its because thanks to his level of craftsmanship he has developed a base of collectors and Museums that are able to afford such beautiful items just like the ones in the photos. If you would like to see the items that we have in stock by him please make sure to visit our online Gallery Los Naguales.

The new era of Patric Jars (Tiburcio Soteno)

Hi again!
As many of you may all ready know this 2010 in Mexico we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution and 200 years of the Independence from Spain!. Well over the year I will be writing about Mexican Folk art that Celebrates the Bicentennial and Centennial.
This time the subject for this post will be the "Patriotic Jars" many of them where made in the early 1900s as part of the celebration of the 100th years of the Mexican Independence. This first photo shows an example.

Many of this antique jars where made in Metepec in the State of Mexico, one hour away from Mexico City. Unfortunately now in modern days its impossible to find some one in Metepec that could make similar items, well that was until thanks to the idea of good friend, collector and customer Michael Ricker we commissioned Great Master of Mexican Folk Art Tiburcio Soteno to start making testes in order to recreate this old jars with great decoration. The result was a very impressive piece of folk art with a great composition and a great amount of work, much more sophisticated compared to the old ones.
The subject of this Patriotic Jar that Tiburcio Soteno made was the "Decena Tragica" a passage of Mexican the Mexican Revolution when in October of 1911 president Madero was betrayal by Victoriano Huerta and the American Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, so the jar shows Huerta and Lane, below its the "Palacio Nacional" being fired by cannons, the people below represent the civil people that where killed as part of the battle.
If you want more information of Tiburcio please check my older post about his Trees of life, or write me to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx, we can commission him special order items. Enjoy!!

Our Day of the Dead Paper Mache Linares Exhibit

Well the day finally arrived and on October 24 we had on display our exhibit of life size day of the dead Skeletons by Ricardo Linares and Felipe Linares at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery day of the dead celebration!.
The place of display was the Cathedral Mausoleum of the Cemetery (where the rests of Rudolph Valentino are). A perfect place with the look of a Museum where besides the Linares art also on display where paintings from Local artists and by artists from Rosarito Mexico like David Silvah and Francisco Cabello.
The event took place from 4pm to 11pm and all of the time the Mausoleum-Gallery was packed with visitors (see photo). From all of the pieces on display the Wedding set made by Ricardo Linares was very popular (Groom, bride, girl with rings, bishop and dog!!), other popular pieces that everyone took photos of where a big Catrina and an Enramada (branchmen) both of them made by Felipe Linares).
We would like to thank our patrons that very kindly let us use the pieces that we have sold them over the last few years. Our patrons are: Kelly Holland, Amy and Arthur Franz and Joan Kramer and Brian Hudson!.
Over the next days and weeks we will receive other very interesting life size pieces by the Linares, they are special orders by our collectors, I will make sure to post the photos!, one of them its a life size Cuahutemoc (Aztec Warrior) by Leonardo Linares, a Life size Judero (street vendor of Judas paper figures) and a Life Size Crowned nun made by Felipe Linares!!.
If you would like to inquiry about Linares pieces, please send us an Email to mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx and also you can check our online store to see what we have on stock by them, click here to see them.

What is day of the dead?

Mexican Day of the Dead is an interesting holiday celebrated in the cities and countryside in central and southern Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 & 2.
Even though this coincides with the Catholic holiday called All Soul's & All Saint’s Day, the indigenous people have combined this with their own ancient beliefs of honoring their deceased loved ones.
They believe that the gates of heaven are opened at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of all deceased children (angelitos) are allowed to reunite with their families. On November 2, the spirits of the adults come down to enjoy the festivities that are prepared for them.
In most Indian villages, beautiful altars (ofrendas) are made in each home. They are decorated with candles, lowers (wild marigolds called cempasuchil & bright red cock's combs) mounds of fruit, peanuts, plates of turkey mole, stacks of tortillas and big loaves of bread called pan de muerto. The weary spirits need lots of food, bottles of soda, hot cocoa and water. Toys and candies are left for the angelitos and on Nov. 2, cigarettes and shots of mezcal are offered to
the adult spirits. Little folk art skeletons and sugar skulls, purchased at open-air markets, provide the final touches.
Day of the Dead is a very expensive holiday! Many spend over two month's income to honor their dead relatives. They believe that happy spirits will provide protection, good luck and wisdom to their families.
On the afternoon of Nov. 2, the festivities are taken to the cemetery. People clean tombs, play cards, listen to the village band and reminisce about their loved ones. This tradition keeps the village close. Day of the Dead is becoming very popular in the U.S.~ perhaps because we
don't have a way to celebrate and honor our dead, or maybe it's because of our fascination with its mysticism. We would like to thank Angela Villalba for her information about this subject, you can check her wonderful webpage at http://mexicansugarskull.com

Celebrate Day of the Dead Hollywood Style!!

Every year a very interesting event takes place at the Hollywood Cemetery to Celebrate Day of the dead. On this festival, the cemetery receives thousands of visitors (24,000 last year) to enjoy Music, dance, art, folk art and traditional Mexican rituals for the dead like altars, flowers and food. This year the main Mausoleum (where the rests of Rodolfo Valentino are) will be transformed in a Hi End Gallery where between others, a group of artists from Rosarito Mexico will have on display there art, the artists are: David Silvah, Francisco Cabello, Lucy De Hoyos, Daniel Franco, Alfredo Villafaña and Becris.
Along with those artists from Rosarito, our Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art Gallery www.losnaguales.com will have a "museum display" inside the Mausoleum with papier mache art of the Linares family, 10 pieces will be on display and they belong to collectors from the LA Area that have acquired there part of there collection with us, like Amy Franz and Kelly Holland. Some of the life size pieces that will be on display are: a Catrina (by Felipe Linares), a Frida Kahlo (by Felipe Linares), Cilindrero (by Leonardo Linares), a weeding couple (by Ricardo Linares), and a very realistic Bishop (by Ricardo Linares).
We hope you could join us on this celebration, this year Lila Downs will be performing on the Event. For more information please visit http://www.ladayofthedead.com, we will also have a booth where we will be selling day of the dead art, right in front of the main entrance of the mausoleum. Feel free to get in touch with us for more information! mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx
For more information on the Linares Family please check my older posts one about Ricardo Linares and and older on Felipe Linares. To see the items by the Linares Family that we have for sale click here

Entijuanarte 2009, Another face of Tijuana

Hi friends!!
Some times we have exchenged Emails about how the situation its in Tijuana (all the bad things we usually see in the news), well this time I would like to share with you the other face of Tijuana, a cultural event that hapend last weekend, its name its "Entijuanarte", basically its an art fair at the Tijuana Cultural Center (this was the fifth year). The fair, showed paintings, performance, theather, music, cloth by local designers and other cool stuff. Arround 50,000 people visited the fair, and it was very exciting to see the work of new emerging artists and also see the work of reknown artists like David Silvah.
For the closing event there was a very interesting concert where 20,000 people went see it, this concert was an experiment to fusion Nortec Music with clasical instruments of the Orquesta de Baja California (Nortec its a world famous type of electronic music that originated in Tijuana, it has a big influence of Norteño music or Banda music). As you can see in the video of youtube the concert was exceptional and 20,000 people with joy started to shout "Tijuana, Tijuana, Tijuana" at the same time. Click here to see a Youtube video of the concert!
Over the year there are other cultural events in Tijuana like "Opera en la Calle", which its an Opera festival in the streets where thousands of people gather to enjoy live Opera music, food and art. Lets hope that all this cultural inspiration gets more in the hipe, so people could talk also about good things of Tijuana.
Here it is a link to an article on the San Diego Union Tribune about Entijuanarte, click here.
If any of you guys would like to visit next years event, please send me an email in order to remind you next October (mexfolkarts@yahoo.com.mx).
Enjoy!!!!

Ricardo Linares: Humor & Day of the Dead

I have been always a big fan of papier mache folk art, specially the one made by the Linares Family the creators of those fantastical animals called "Alebrijes". The story tells that the Patriarch of this family "Don Pedro Linares" saw this fantastical animals in his dreams while beein sick. Once he recovered, he started making those fantastical figures on papier mache and gave them the name of "Alebrijes". He never imagined that his creation will have such a deep reception on Mexican Folk.
Ricardo Linares (grandson of Don Pedro) at age 40 its one of the most prolific members on the family; museums, Galleries and private exhibitions in the States and Europe have had his work on display some the places are: San Jose, Sacramento, San Fransisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. Over seas his work has been in Spain, France, Germany and Australia.
The special trade mark of Ricardo has been the sense on humor that his pieces show, for example you can see scenes with devils and angels figthing for the soul of a skeleton, or the same devil and angel having fun with a bottle of Tequila. One of his most famous piece its called "Dolor de Cabeza" (The headache) basically its a day of the dead skeleton running with an expression of pain in his head, and poping out from it there it is an Alebrije!!. Another piece that I like its the piece entitled "El coco" (the bogeymen) it shows a skeleton with a mask playing a joke to a scared smaller skeleton.
For more information on the Linares Family, you can also check my older post on Felipe Linares. Enjoy!!
To see the art by Ricardo Linares that we have for sale click here.