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Selected Oaxacan crafts

featured online

to help Oaxaca's indigenous craftspeople

As many readers know, Oaxaca is experiencing serious problems. A teachers' strike that started in May, 2006 escalated into an extended confrontation between activists and the government (Click here for background and current updates). One result was a reduction in tourism by at least 90% during most of 2006. That in turn made life extremely difficult for Oaxaca's indigenous craftspeople, as well as for thousands of other workers and small business owners. Although tourists are gradually returning, Oaxaca's talented and hardworking craftspeople still need help.

Even though the strike ended in 2006, the Oaxacan economy did not fully recover before being hit by the international financial crisis of 2008. Oaxaca's indigenous craftspeople are still struggling.

To help out as much as we can, we've decided to publicize some local craftspeople via our website. Our hope is that people who love Oaxacan crafts, will be encourage to come to Oaxaca, recognize these talented artisans, and buy from them, or, in the case of the tapetes--handwoven rugs--described below, commission weavings on-line.

We've decided to start with weavings from the traditional weaving village of Santo Tomas Jalietza, located just south of Oaxaca, represented by artisan Altagracia Gomez Mendoza.

You can meet Altagracia by clicking here.

You can preview her work by clicking here.

Our second featured artisans are Teotitlan del Valle weavers Joel Gonzalez and his son Eden. Joel has been weaving most of his life, and his son Eden is following in his footsteps.

Eden Gonzalez at a traditional Teotitlan festival

You can read about Joel, Eden, and their weavings by clicking here.

You can view photos of a small sample of the beautiful tapetes they weave at this Picassa site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/robtadler/TapetesDeTeotitlanDelValle?authkey=0jSNpgFObpM#

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