The Living Art of Oaxaca

By Bonnie Kassel and Tony Romeo

Some of the greatest discoveries in my life have happened by chance. My husband and I initially came to Oaxaca to rent a house for my elderly mother and thought it made sense to sign up for a Spanish class at the ICC. After a week of verbs and tenses, our instructor Hector asked us to choose a subject for conversation. Being an artist in the States, I chose art. What were the odds that this man would be deeply involved in the local art scene?

When we first arrived in San Augustine Etla, I was surprised to see that the new museum Hector had spoken of was still under construction. Obviously I’d missed something during our discussion! Teams of architects and designers clutching 3' rolls of plans and drawings mingled with work crews and scaffolding. Unlike litigious America, they kindly told me it didn’t matter and that I was free to walk around wherever I liked. Words can never really express the emotions I felt wandering the grounds of a 19th century textile factory brilliantly being transformed into a contemporary art school and museum. Someone in the government had the foresight to not tear down this fabulous building or the magnificent old-growth trees around it. Another group obviously had the knowledge to select an architectural team from Mexico City, headed up by a woman, which was world-class. Industrial details of the past were left butted next to the most contemporary materials and fixtures of the present. And pools of cascading water would be everywhere. The museum was stunning and as progressive as anything being done in Frankfurt or Tokyo. I had no idea.

When we returned four months later the museum, water running and the first exhibition installed, lived up to all we’d hoped. The incredible pale green rock unique to the state was in use everywhere - some crushed into gravel and scattered around the trees in the newly created gardens. Brochures with schedules of classes being offered had been printed and we saw that the emphasis would be on textiles, printmaking, photography and restoration. I could imagine the special events that would take place standing on one of the many balconies and terraces surrounded by breathtaking views.

There’s a handmade paper factory within walking distance of the new museum and the Wednesday market in Etla, spilling out from the church plaza and spiraling down the steps is one of the most picturesque in the entire valley. In addition to being a terrific place to sample an abundant variety of foods, there are a couple of simple but excellent restaurants and I can’t imagine a more perfect day trip to get the feeling of life in the villages that surround the city.

Our next great surprise was the Popular Art Museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec. Ceramics are a big deal in Oaxaca, as they should be. Really extraordinary collectible pieces are being created by highly acclaimed artisans in various villages. Atzompa for green, Coyotopec for black, San Marcos Tlapazola for red. There is no better venue to see the best examples of the different work being done in the state than at this really beautiful newly created museum. It’s also extremely helpful to visit first before you visit the individual villages yourself. The Director of the museum, Carlomagno Martinez, is a well-known ceramic artist and has had a lot of input in the selections for the outstanding gift shop. Not touristy items, but rather, fairly priced high quality crafts. While waiting for bowls I’d purchased to be wrapped, I couldn’t take my eyes off some spectacular figurative fireworks, which are truly great folk art, hanging from the ceiling. Carlomagno himself, had covered the figures with bits of assorted colored paper, and even though highly impractical, I haven’t given up on the idea of having one crated and shipped home. There were hardly any people at the museum the day we visited and learned it is not well publicized which is sort of mysterious. Why create something so special and keep it a secret?

Back in town, a photography class was in progress when we visited the recently relocated Manuel Alvarez Bravo photography museum on Murguia. Observing students working together at a long table gave me further insight into what was going on in Oaxaca. The extent of classes available, the well-stocked libraries for research - this was a cultured city invested in the promotion of all the arts. We’d been amazed at the density and diversity of excellent artisans as we visited outlying villages surrounding the city. And equally amazed at the inclusion of creative arts in all the holidays and celebrations we’d witnessed. Originally designed altars in every restaurant, marigold flowers and colored sand patterned on graves for Day of the Dead in November. Swaying musicians carved from giant radishes for El Noche de los Rabanos in December. Was it genetics that made so many members of one family truly talented? And because of the sophistication of the city and better communication, was the two-way street of past and present a natural progression? Younger people being influenced by more contemporary art, contemporary art being influenced by younger people with the knowledge of kilns and woodcarving deep in their DNA?

A new acquaintance got us invited to an opening at The Contemporary Art Museum. Established in an impressive 17th century home on Calle Macedonio Alcala, the building is rumored to have once be owned by a descendant of the Cortez family. If I had to pinpoint a time, I would say it was that night that our education of living avant-garde Oaxacan artists began. The bookshop at the museum is definitively the best source for books and catalogues of many artist’s work not found elsewhere. The selection is vast and from what we now knew, it made complete sense that many fine painters had their studios in the Oaxaca area and were represented by important galleries in town that had worldwide connections.

To become familiar with the names on the Oaxacan art scene, exploration of galleries became a part of each day we were in town. Soon the names began to roll off our tongues. Toledo, Santiago, Llaguno, Navarro, Olguin. I had no idea of the magnitude of Alejandro Santiago’s work when we bought three of his red and sepia colored paper collages at the small Galleria Quetzalli on Constitucion. That is until we were given directions to their larger loft-like gallery on Murguia only a few blocks away. It’s a huge space containing equally huge canvases. I actually became emotional when shown a Santiago painted screen that I later learned was purchased and shipped to its new owner’s apartment in Paris. It was here we first learned of the 2501 ceramic figures he is currently executing for the powerful Migrantes exhibition that will take place in Monterrey, Mexico in 2007.

Like so many things in life, the more you learn the more you realize you don’t know. Just wandering, we were drawn into the new Philatelic Museum that turned out to be another visual gem. Almost Japanese in the simplicity of design, the variety of cactus and gigantic jacaranda that dominate the garden don’t let you forget for an instant that you’re in Mexico. Sitting in that garden, my husband and I both realized that our discovery of the arts in Oaxaca had just begun. We spoke of the integration of craft and art that surrounded us, and the seamless integration of that art into the daily life that we witnessed every day. So many places lose what’s best of the past as they develop. But not in Oaxaca. This was a truly unique, remarkable, architecturally stunning city. And at exactly the same moment we both said, “we will have to come back.”