Oaxaca in Berkeley!
Crafts Weekend at Talavera!

SATURDAY & SUNDAY
October 15th & 16th

This weekend we are privileged to celebrate two of Mexico's most cherished crafts:

Jesus Sosa returns to Talavera from San Martin Tilcajete with his charming pieces carved from the wood of the copal tree. Children and adults alike delight to see Jesus create his whimsical figures before their eyes.

Marcelo Cipriano brings a magnificent selection of beautiful and durable Zapotec rugs woven on the traditional looms of Teotitlan del Valle from the prized wool of the churro sheep, in all-natural colors derived from plant, animal, and mineral sources of the region. He will describe their dyeing and weaving techniques.

Jacobo and Maria Angeles at Talavera

March 4, 5 & 6, 2011

Visitors to Talavera Ceramics & Tile were amazed and delighted earlier this month by our 3-day visit from Jacobo and Maria Angeles. The celebrated Zapotec artists from Oaxaca, Mexico, charmed the crowds, including a TV crew, gathered to admire their extraordinary work. Here are a few pictures that capture some of the power and intricacy of that work as well as some of the fascination they inspired as they carved their sculptures from copal wood, mixed their pigments from a surprising variety of natural sources, and executed the minutely detailed and evocative decoration that bring their sculptures to life.

Standing about a foot tall, this piece is carved from a single block of copal, a wood native to the artists’ Oaxaca region, and embellished with an intricate tapestry of imagery drawn from sources in Zapotec tradition.

The rabbit’s face conveys the mastery of meticulous design that characterizes the Angeles’ work.

This small area of the rabbit’s surface exhibits the subtle grace with which a variety of representational and abstract elements are assembled to celebrate the complex world that is the real-life rabbit’s home. The artists achieve their delicate variations in color through their masterful combinations of natural elements.

“Fox” by Jacobo and Maria Angeles

“Owl” by Jacobo and Maria Angeles

“Quail” by Jacobo and Maria Angeles

Jacobo Angeles carving with his machete. The artist gives his work its basic form with the swift and sure strokes of his machete. He then refines details with smaller knives and sandpaper.

Visitors watch Jacobo Angeles mix pigments. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and California State Senator Loni Hancock were among the visitors watching the artists create a full spectrum of pigments using such natural elements as crushed limestone, honey, lemon juice, indigo, pomegranate seeds, and the pulverized bodies of the scale insect called cochineal.