Zapotec rugs are wool-woven in a foot loom in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. The town has a pre-Hispanic weaving tradition and is world famous for its fine tapestries and wall hangings decorated with traditional Zapotec and Mixtec fretwork, idols, and animals.
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History of the Vejigante Mask: The origins of the tradition go back to 12th century medieval Spain. The vejiganterepresented the evil Moors who were defeated by St. James. People dressed as demons (vejigantes) in a procession thrown to honor St. James. In the 17th century the vejigantes began to more generally represent good v. evil. In Puerto Rico, the Taino culture is also a part of the festival, and the vejigantes are heavily influenced by music, more specifically bomba and plena. The mask itself is known as a “máscara careta,” which literally translates into “grimace mask”, and poignantly describes the scary look on its face. The vejigante is the person in costume who carries a vejiga (cow bladder) gigante (giant). The cow bladder is inflated and dried in the sun, then filled with seeds or beans and the vejigais used by the vejigante as a “weapon” during the parades and celebrations, as they playfully bop people with the rattle. Today, manufactured store-bought rattles are used. As with other Carnaval celebrations, the Vejigante Festival in Ponce is a burst of color. You are surrounded by not only the masks, but incredibly ornate costumes that glitter and mesmerize.  Los Tigres del Norte:
Norteño bands have come and gone, but Los Tigres del Norte has remained in the spotlight since the 1960’s. A staple within the regional Mexican genre, the band has won five Latin Grammy's and sold over 32 million albums over the years. The five-person group also advocates for immigration rights and joined the national boycott against Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070, which denies illegal immigrants basic human rights. gathering words para mami One day I will write you a letter after I have gathered enough words I have heard pop! pop! pop! like little soap bubbles escaping the animated mouths of the women who share pieces of gossip like bombones in la lavandería every Sunday One day I will write you a letter after I have gathered enough words that blossom without thorns in painted mouths, in someone else’s countries… In my corner, I listen to how voices ring without the sting of bofetadas and how they undulate above gushing water and swirling clothes in machines that vibrate in la lavandería recogiendo palabras
para mami una carta te escribiré después de que he recogido bastantes palabras que he oído escapar ¡pum! ¡pum! ¡pum! como burbujitas de jabón que escapan de las bocas animadas de las mujeres quienes reparten bochinches como bombones en la lavandería cada domingo una carta de escribiré después de que he recogido bastantes palabras que florecen sin espinas en bocas pintadas, en tierras ajenas… en mi esquina oigo como las voces suenan sin la quemada de bofetadas y como ondean sobre chorros de agua y ropa arremolinándose en las máquinas que bailan en la lavandería una carta te escribiré después de que he recogido bastantes palabras y bastante coraje para dejarlas resonar en mis sueños mudos hasta que me canten: escríbenos así en la lengua de tu niñez recóbranos y en ese momento podré regresar sin miedo a la lavandería con mis bolsas de ropa y palabras que bastarán y me entregaré a las burbujitas  Rafael Soriano: The Artist as Mystic. Cuban painter Rafael Soriano (1920–2015) was an acclaimed master of geometric abstraction and a global figure in the twentieth-century art world; his work resonated with international artists of Latin American origin like Roberto Matta, Rufino Tamayo, and Wifredo Lam. Olga AlbizuAlbizu studied drawing under Miguel Pou and painting at the University of Puerto Rico under Spanish painter Esteban Vicente. In 1948 she was awarded a scholarship by the University of Puerto Rico to study in New York under German painter Hans Hofmann. Albizu also studied under Morris Kantor, Carl Holty, and Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League in New York. Albizu attended the legendary Parisian art school Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1951, and in 1952 attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1956 Albizu’s paintings began to be used for record-jackets for bossa nova albums produced by RCA and Verve Records. In 1958 she settled in New York City and her first solo exhibition was organized in Puerto Rico. She stopped painting in 1984. Albizu is the pioneer of Abstract Expressionism in Puerto Rican art, and her work has been described as lyrical.
September 15th - October 15th we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month through poetry, literature and art! Frida Kahlo Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter, who has achieved great international popularity. She painted using vibrant colors in a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico as well as by European influences that include Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically express her own pain and sexuality.  |
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