The Popular Arts Foundation

The concept of popular arts is not precised, nevertheless, different experts in the field have tried to difine it.  A group of Latinamerica experts have said that popular arts are the tradional, materialistic and formal expression of the common people.  These people's propound roots come from the past and survived thanks to the consevationist spirit of the masses.  These same roots are also spontaneous and instinctive expressions made by artisans and popular artists without any kind of formal and sistematic education.   

The application of this concept, has been always problematic.  The word has a simple definition:" The common people, specially those of rural communities".  Like other class distinctions "popular" and "folk"carry with them the complications of historical contexs and points if views.  Such a designations implied a high degree of cultural and utilitarian points of view. but popular and folk culture has since penetretated virtually everry social and geografic area of the industrial world.  Poetic and often treated as inferior views of popular anfd folk life have further distorted popular perception.   A reciprocal and emotional concept like "folk" or "popular", while academically useful, often resists general interpretation. 

                                                                  

    Anthropologists and folklorists have classified as "popular art" a broad range of materials, from the arts of the so called primitive or non-literate peoples to those of the non-elite within literate cultures. Popular arts encompass the traditional arts prouced by memebers of a non-afluent, non-ruling, uneducated and often rural group especially when trying to define folk arts, which strongly posses these characteristics.  While the popular arts  represents the masses and is promoted and distributed using mass media and other forms of distribution, folk arts represent a smaller group and it has nore utilitarian purposes. 

   Popular arts in our modern era more than ever heavily depends on technology of reproduction such as television, radio, photography, printing and motion pictures.we will emphacised the important characteristics of the popular art which is the tendency to become narrative and to create a particular identity to a determinated social group.  The popular art styles and forms evolves and revives itself from the  past periods and changes accordingly by influences from modern technology, fine arts, contemporary objects, mass media and music. One of the main difference between "popular and folk arts is that , while, the first one creates an identity to a large group of people, the latter is reduced to tha usage of the maker or a small group of people.  Folk art is also more functional and utilitarian, usefull and often expresing a positive or negative sentiment towards society.

The Fine Arts are the works produced by artists with an organized training.  Their works have value because they provide beuty and artistic inspiration.  The "Popular Arts" are the things made by the common people.  The word "popular" means "people".  The term popular is used to distinguish the handicrafts;the everyday things that common people make by hand, from pieces made by profecional artists. 

 

Cultural Identity and Popular Art

 

 

I recently read a book called: “Coloring Colorado, The Art of Indian Children”  sponsored  by different Mexican Ministries such as: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Social Development, National Indian Institute, Office of Popular Cultures, and others well respected institutions. In the first pages of the book I found a quote written by Roberta Manchu Tom, Nobel Prize recipient in the past years, this quote says the following:” Children are the seeds of our lives and it is up to us to see that they flower.  Educating Indian children and preserving their culture Is the duty of all of us.”    Such a simple quote with such an important message.   I insist in the importance of “cultural identity”, in every specific culture.  One of the best ways of preserving this cultural identity is thru the arts, especially popular arts; every culture has a different and unique artistic expression of the masses. The Popular Arts Foundation concentrates, momentarily, in Mexican popular arts.  We will be expanding our scope in future years.  The art activities that we offer among the different places that we have the chance to service, are focus on the children. Activities such as sand painting, paper flowers, papel picado, or little straw painting help promote this cultural identity and reinforce the psychological benefits of handcrafting.  Children that are born out of immigrant parents, here in the United States, found themselves in a unique situation when it come to cultural identity.  It is important as well the acceptance and understanding of the culture that they will be growing up with; the American people has an interesting and sophisticated culture that is admired, and hated by a few, all over the world, but the success of our immigrant communities is based on the preservation of their cultural essence.

We are including a written statement by Carlos Montemayor in the book mentioned above and that I think it is a clear example of what happens when a culture loses its traditions, but gives us the hope on a revival of basic strategies to enrich and preserve our cultures.

 

In The Tradition of their Ancestors

By

Carlos Montemayor,

 (Colorin Colorado, The Arts of Indian Childre; p.21)

Overwhelmed as we are by the images of the Conquest, w often tends to forget the ensuing artistic repression endured by the Indian peoples of Mexico.  Dancing was considered a way of worshiping the gods and was prohibited.  The use of musical instrument was forbidden because of music was an offering to the gods and equally banned was the representation of dramatic works, which included dancing, poetry, acting, music and the involvement of hundreds of participants on a ‹‹stage››that sometimes stretched over the entire town and vicinity.  Instead, the Indians were forced to perform religious plays of inferior artistic value as a way to indoctrinate them into Catholicism.  The evolution of their unique architectural style was cut short with the destruction of their temples, and the Spaniards also attempted to alter the philosophical trend of their mural painting and sculpture. The Conquest also dealt a great blow to Indian languages and their written expression.  The brutal and almost complete destruction of pre-hispanic books paved the way for the imposition of the Latin alphabet and the elimination of the Indian intellectual elite, whose authors never received any recognition.  Since Sahagun and to this day, the Indians who know the most about their culture are referred to as ‹‹informants››.  In order to be able to write plays, prayers, catechisms and songs in the Indian languages, the 16^th century missionaries invented grammars and lexicons and thus control the use or writing for their own ends instead of allowing it to bend to the creative needs of the Indians.  Writing in an Indian language was limited to writing about the religion of the conquistadors. 

Deprived of their music and musical instruments, of their theater and dance, their books and their art, the Indian peoples were forced to take the long way around, through other forms of expression, in order to retain their cultural identity.  today, five hundred years later, we are witnessing a renaissance of intellectuals, poets, storytellers, playwrights, and historians who write in their own languages, of their own volition and for their own people and whose works can be read in numerous books, magazines and newspapers.  The children are aware of and taking part in this cultural revival; two years ago appeared in print the literary output of Chinantec children, between eight and fourteen years of age, from the community of La Esperanza, Santiago Comaltepec, in the state of Oaxaca. There, the bilingual teacher, Eusebio Ramon Lopez Hernandez from the Regional Office of Popular Cultures set up a writing workshop for children in which I participated for sometime in 1982.  The reaction on the part of the children was astounding.

     Indian languages were used to describe and eulogize Mexico long before Spanish; they draw their inspiration from a culture which envisions the world as a living being and procreator of mankind; this concept seems obvious to young Indians who understand it on a deeper level than we do. It is for this reason that when they describe and paint the world, they are consciously taking part in the perpetuation of life for the entire planet and its peoples.  In this exhibition, The Art of Indian Children, the earth is not a static, imaginary stage; it’s alive and as tangible as man himself.  This is a vision of the world which already existed way before the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World.  These young artists are only continuing the task begun by their ancestors: Understanding who they are and expressing it, in order to reshape and make whole for the first time, the ancient image of Mexico.

 

 

The continuity of the richness of our cultural past, present and future has become an essential part of the process of recognition of our true cultural identity. Popular arts continue to be an important asthetic tool to facilitate this so called "cultural continuity" thru the motifs on pieces of art such as: jars, blanquets, framed and wood wood work and many other popular artistic expression.

In the popular or folk arts, there are works that are made only to express beauty such works made with: straw or  feathers mosaics to hang on the walls.  Pottery bases for flowers or toys for the children.  According to Patricia Fent Ross on her book " Made in Mexico, the story of a country's arts and crafts", somethings are made for religious use; clothing and ornaments for the imagen in a church, special pottery for certaing religious holidays, the painting of a miracle healings and the little silver "milagro" figures for prayers or thanks offerings.  Even though they serve no useful purpose, these objects are considered popular arts because they are made by people in the small villages and not by profesional, educated artists.  Most of the handicrafts of Mexico are ordinary things for daily use, and they must be considered art pieces because the makers take time and effort to fill every little detail with beauty and practicity; this arts and crafts are the sort of things or tools, people from the past , used to make by hand.  Now with modern technology, people have fogotten how to make them.  Nowadays, almost everything is manufactured in big factories and sold at big market places.  These items are repetitive in form and sometimes do not have the quality that hand-made crafts possess, but for artisans, it is very hard to compete with multi-million companies so these artisans, sometimes, end up selling their creations to these commerical entities which will re-sell these items in big cities for high prices.  Thruought Mexico, there are still Indian and Mestizo towns were objects are still made by hand.  Blankets dishes , jewerly, crosses for religious worshiping are still made by hand in states like Oaxaca, Michoacan, Tabasco, Morelos and other important artistic centers.  Every creation, either called "popula" or "folk" is a unique entity with no other identical to itself.  Every blanket, dish or sculpture is a separate piece of creation.  Our artisans in an effort to financially survive, sometimes have to sell their works for  less than what is really worth.

These visions came , if induced by peyote, from images in the subconcious. These images and ideas are what psychilogist Carl Jung called “ archetypes”.  Archtypes are patterns of behavior that every human has and are expressed through  dreams and images. These archtypes that Dr. Jung discovered in the early 20^th Century, are part of the bases of mythology in cultures around the world, according to “Power of the Myth”  by bill Moyers. Many of the design that Huichol people draw come from the imagination of the artists. Theoritically, they close their eyes, in meditational form, and they draw what they see in their visions, using yarn, beads and other media.  The method Huichol people use or used to free their spirits in sear of visions is not precised. Some popular theories argue that originally artists would used “peyote”(colore vision induced cactus),to reach the spiritual trance  and have access to images only found in the subconcious.  These images, according to Jung’s theory, are the prodcut of the collective subconcious that every human being has or the product of past experiences saved by the person’s mind.

 Peyote Cactus

These drawings could also come from other original drawings, already in existence, were the artisan could add or remove, symbols, shapes or figures to produce a new and different product.  The designs in the huichol art are varied.  Many of the designs are based on cacti shaped drawings, native to their habitat.  Many of the designs for example, have the native hallusinogent cactus called “peyote”, many other will have the sun as the central theme.  The eight –pointed star and the four-petaled toto flower from the peyote cactus are frequently found as patterns of designs on bags and embroidery work.  The cross stiched technique is often used on clothes embroidery where the colors most often used are: yellow, orange,green and blue.  We could also find gourds decorated with yarn and hats decorated with charming colorful embroidered designs.

Artesanías de Nayarit

De acuerdo a la Coordinación de Fomento a las Artesanal del Estado de Nayarit, en su publicación “Todos Somos una Familia”, el arte étnico posee una belleza enigmática, es único en el mundo por su simbolismo místico, mágico y religioso.

Ojos de Dios

Los Tejidos con estambre y elementos rígidos son relevantes en el arte ritual.  Los ojos de Dios, según los Huicholes, son talismanes.  El ojo de Dios es símbolo de poder y sirve par ver y entender cosas desconocidas.  Es una ofrenda que elabora el padre al nacer su hijo, y este representa los primeros años de vida.  El ojo de dios también simboliza los puntos cardinales de los indígenas: norte, sur, este, oeste y centro.

 “El acto de transcender de la naturaleza a la cultura, es la legitimación de nuestra identidad, la artesanía es parte substancial del patrimonio cultural del pueblo Nayarita. En las ultimas décadas se han desarrollado nuevas formas de expresión artística, dando lugar a formas estéticas que conjugan lo antiguo y lo moderno y que demuestran la tradición viva de los pueblos indígenas” (Coordinación de Fomento a las Artesanías del Estado de Nayarit, DIF Nayarit; tel. 01 311 212 55 99 Ext. 137).

Handcrafts from Nayarit

According to the Coordinacion de Fomento a las Artesanias del Estado de Nayarit, in its publication called “ Todos Somos Familia”, the ethnic art has an enigmatic beauty, is unique in the world by its mystical, magical and religious  symbolism.

The Eye of God

The weavings with yarn and rigid elements are relevant in the ritual art.  The eyes of God, according to the huicholes, are talismans.  The Eye of God is a symbol of being able to see and to understand unknown things.  It is an offering that elaborates the father when his son is born, and this represents the first years of childhood.  The Eye of God also symbolizes the cardinal points of the natives: north, south, east, west, and center.

 “The act of transcend from nature to culture, is the legitimating of our identity.  The crafts are a substantial part of the cultural patrimony of the State of Nayarit.  In the last decades new forms of artistic expression have been developed, giving rise to aesthetic forms that conjugate the old and the modern art, and that demonstrates the living tradition of indigenous cultures” (Coordinacion de Fomento a las Artesanias del Estado de Nayarit, DIF Nayarit; tel. 01 311 212 55 99 Ext. 137).

500 × 498 - Huichol Art by José Benitez Sanchez, Maximino Renteria de la Cruz and others

indigoarts.com

Mexico and its people are always changing in complex ways.  Mexico is a country that sometimes it seems primitive and other times portraits the advances in industry, technology and politics.  Now we could see people in small villages using cell phones; and others registering for e-mail accounts.  Some of these little towns have grown considerably thanks to the support in conjunction, between the immigrant community in the U.S. and the State and Federal Mexican Government.  Now, through these efforts, these towns are building new schools, public libraries, hospitals; and making improvements to other public services.  Now, more than ever, rural areas have access to the Mexican education system, but nevertheless this advance in education, many young people are deciding to stay in their hometowns, to take care of the family flock of sheep or cattle. This way of agricultural method never reaches levels of prosperity for different reasons: lack of proper education on agricultural management, family conflicts, which will affect the chances of looking at the family as a tool of economic growth. 

Some thing in Mexico will never change; like the fact that most of the states in the north are rich and the areas in the south are poor.  This is perhaps the reason why the south has been the cradle of many arts and crafts production. The people of the small towns in Mexico are very peculiar.  Most of them are not well educated, but are very polite and courteous instead.  They have also, in many cases, retained their old way of thinking and life style; including their arts and crafts.  Some of these crafters often migrate to Mexico City where sometimes, continue their production. Many others migrate to the U.S. Here in this country, they arrive with no materials and tools; but with knowledge and their creations in mind.  The rapid social pace in big industrialized cities such as Mexico and Los Angeles will, in many cases, forced these artisans to abandon their creativity for a less satisfactory occupation.