Enjoy extended hours and refreshments on Friday, October 2 from 5 until 9 p.m. as Chiripa participates in the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art’s semi-annual Gallery Night.
One of our featured pieces will be this painting by Gregorio Mendez. We met Sr. Mendez in February while traveling to remote Cuetzalan, Puebla, Mexico.
Take this opportunity to bring in friends who’ve never been to Chiripa. We’ll be on hand to talk about the people who make the fine artisan crafts that we sell and to give information about the places where the art is made. With winter just around the corner, perhaps it’s time to plan that warm weather trip to Mexico. We’ll help you pick the spot.
A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl
"We caught the familiar brown-and-yellow bus as it left the second-class bus depot in Oaxaca’s gritty Abastos Market (“abastos” means “provisions,” and thousands of people of limited means buy and sell daily necessities at this big market). We rode to the end of the line, and got off at the village of Mitla. The village is an important textile center, and is also the site of important pre-Columbian ruins.
KZ contemplates the plethora of patterns at Mitla.
The pattern we often see in rugs sold at Chiripa.
"On our return ride, we got off at Teotitlán del Valle, the most important of Oaxaca’s rug-weaving villages. There, we greeted old friends and picked out a lovely selection of hand-woven rugs, purses, pillow covers and table runners for Chiripa (guaranteed to warm and brighten your environment).
The Santiago Family in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Another pattern at Mitla similar to the design in the rug above.
"Our last stop was the village of Tule, to see what may be the world’s largest tree. The famous 'Tule Tree' is about 2,000 years old, and has a trunk as big as a house! The tree is still healthy, and green with new growth. But it is surrounded by a clutter of souvenir shops and food stands, and expanding development threatens its water supply." -JM Aug 6,2009
A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl
"At dawn, we caught a taxi to the Puebla bus terminal and boarded for the 4-hour trip to Oaxaca in southern Mexico. It is a beautiful ride, through wild mountain lands and cactus forests. But we were happy when the bus pulled in to the new first-class terminal in Oaxaca.
"On our first afternoon in Oaxaca, we spent a little time in the bustling market southeast of the zócalo. Our friend Kathy boldly accepted an offer to try a sample of chapulines (fried grasshoppers), which are widely sold by street vendors here. She decided, however, that the sample was plenty (something about an oily taste, and legs sticking in her throat). Good protein, though.
KZ tastes grasshoppers in the Oaxaca market.
"On our first night in Oaxaca, we had dinner with our young friends Eric and Elsa. Eric is Zapotec, the eldest son of traditional weavers in the indigenous village of Teotitlán del Valle. If he marries in Teotitlán, Eric will receive a share of village land and will assume the rights and considerable responsibilities of village membership.
"But like many Mexicans, Eric is torn between 2 worlds. He learned Spanish and Zapotec at home (each village speaks a different dialect), but is fluent in English and adept with electronic media. He has traveled widely in the U.S. (including Madison, where he presented a weaving demonstration at Chiripa). At a young age, he is already Director of Education at the magnificent new Textile Museum in Oaxaca (if you are ever in Oaxaca, you must check out the museum on Independencia, just a few blocks east of the zócalo).
Eric in the center at Chiripa with his father Federico on the left and Elsa on the right.
"Eric worries that Oaxaca’s rich weaving tradition is dying out. The craft is still practiced on wooden and backstrap looms in villages throughout the region. But even here, cheap industrial textiles are quickly replacing hand-woven products for home use. Young people are not learning many of the traditional skills, and the older generation will eventually be gone. Eric works long hours to document and share the treasures that still exist, and to help struggling artisans find viable markets. Chiripa is trying to help." -JM, Aug 5, 2009
A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl
"A late afternoon shower welcomed us to Puebla, and the air was cool. We checked into the comfortable old Hotel Coloniál (the hotel building has been on the city map since 1668), then walked to the tiny shop of our friend Miguel.
Miguel, his wife Lila, and their son Daniel were there to greet us – as were a crowd of humorous little skeleton figures that Miguel and his wife produce in their home. Skeletons on skis, skeletons playing tennis, skeletons at work – seemingly as alive as you and me (maybe more alive than me). You can see them for yourself at Chiripa.
"In the evening, we strolled around Puebla’s beautiful colonial zócalo (central plaza). Across from the cathedral, workers had cut down a huge old tree – the patriarch of all the trees on the zócalo (other trees also seemed to be in bad shape). The benevolent old tree had looked down on generations of strolling lovers, beaming parents, and chattering children chasing pigeons, but now it was just a carcass lying in the street. Workers with chain saws hacked at the outer rings of its huge trunk – like the crew of the Pequod hacking at the carcass of a giant whale.
"There is a new sculpture in the zócalo – a kind of white illuminated maze with trees wrought in iron. At its base is a quotation that goes something like this: “It is true that we must all leave this life. But the works that we labor to create, with all our strength and determination, will endure forever.” That may or may not be true, but the kindly old tree is definitely gone." -JM Aug 4, 2009
The next few posts will be taken from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. There will be some repetition from my day by day summary from afar, but, his words will give more color to the trip. -kl
JM waiting in line for tickets.
A sample of the modern buses and facilities in Mexico.
"We managed to meet at the Mexico City airport (whew!), then boarded the first available bus for the 2-hour ride east over the mountain pass to the city of Puebla.
"As we entered the bus, there was a small diplomatic problem. Our assigned seats were already occupied and, rather than confront the issue, we just moved further to the back of the bus. But it was the wrong decision. As the bus filled, other passengers were perplexed to find us in their seats, and soon the whole bus was in confusion.
"We tried to move against the tide, to our original assigned seats near the front. But that just compounded the swelling logjam. No one was angry. But people were talking rapidly, waiving their tickets, and grappling with baggage, kids and grandmothers. The patient bus driver finally sorted it all out. We sheepishly took our correct seats and, despite everything, the bus pulled out right on time." --JM Aug 4, 2009
