FOFA Artists Making A Big Impact
With Small Works Of Art
When FOFA awarded Victor Bustamante Herrera "First Prize in Woodcarving" in our 2011 and 2013 young folk artist competitions, we did not know that we were also impacting a remarkable educational project he had helped to launch in his small town of Miahuatlán, a few hours south of the city of Oaxaca. With the goal of directing his art to community education, Victor had partnered with an established "miniaturist carver," Maestro Jesús Edel Bustamante Cruz, and several others, all of whom worked with the burly spines of pochotle trees and dried animal bones to render tiny, remarkable sculptures and tableaux.
This miniature bone carving by Maestro Jesús Edel Bustamante Cruz can fit in the palm of your hand.
The carvers formed the Colectivo Pochotle (Pochotle Collective), with the goal of keeping alive the community's disappearing cultural heritage. They were resurrecting an ancient craft, the relics of which have been found in caves in nearby hills. They believed that by researching and teaching about the region's traditional folk art and mythology, they could help the community feel rooted and proud of its heritage. Through Victor's participation in FOFA's workshops with our partner organization, the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (MEAPO), he was introduced to anthropology PhD student Elvia Francisca González Martínez. She began working with the Collective to record ancient stories told by the community elders in the local Zapotec dialect.
Over time a network of volunteer photographers, social scientists, artists, translators and designers enabled the Collective to organize regional meetings of woodcarvers and miniaturists, publish their folk tale collection in Zapotec and Spanish, and sponsor multi-disciplinary conferences with academics and rural artists. They have received modest funding from the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Oaxaca, the mayors of a few towns, MEAPO, and more recently, FOFA. A new generation of young miniaturists, current and former Collective members, have gained recognition in FOFA's competitions, including Gerardo Santiago Santos (1st prize in "Varios," 2018 for his bone carving), and Ulises Hernández Martínez (3rd prize Woodcarving, 2018).
Teaching Children About Art
and Their Community Heritage
On weekends during the seven months outside of the rainy season, members of the Collective travel to the remote villages which surround Miahuatlán to lead workshops, primarily for children. These pueblos have scarce electricity and running water, and no cell phone, internet or TV service. The artists arrive on borrowed vehicles, bringing tools, materials such as clay or pochotle burrs, and refreshments, and usually pay for gas and supplies with their own money. They bring the stories they've collected. They share examples of their own work, especially wood carving and clay sculpture, and archaeological relics.
Pochotle Collective member Victor Bustamante instructing children in clay.
Maestro Jesús Edel Bustamante Cruz takes children to dig for clay in their community.
FOFA board members Arden Rothstein and Deborah Huntington visited a workshop in the tiny town of El Nanche, population 130, one Sunday in December 2018 (most of the artists have full time weekday jobs). It was held in a one-room schoolhouse lit by several bare bulbs. About 20 children of all ages were busy carving wood with Exacto knives, etching cow bones with electric drills, painting murals on the schoolyard wall, and shaping clay by hand. Members of the Collective explained to us that this was the only creative instruction these children had ever experienced. Later we were shown photographs of some of the Collective's recent workshops, which are very popular. One workshop in Yatuela Amatlán, two hours from Miahuatlán, attracted more than 100 children, almost overwhelming the six volunteers. In many communities the Collective makes repeat weekend visits over 4-6 weeks.
Pochotle Collective member Ulises Hernández Martínez teaching carving
We were struck at how the Pochotle Collective's mission so clearly aligns with FOFA's goals. They are keeping their cultural heritage alive using art as a means of reinforcing cultural pride and personal dignity. Their activities also strengthen the artists' own sense of purpose. They told us, "
This work is governed by participation, solidarity, respect for the environment and for each other. We believe that our artistic creations are the engines of our identity."
The children of El Nanche were entirely focused on their carving projects during FOFA's visit.
A FOFA Workshop For Artists:
Showcasing the Pochotle Collective Model
The Collective's goals and impressive accomplishments inspired FOFA to showcase their work to other artists interested in community education. We invited the Collective to lead an all-day workshop in the city of Oaxaca in September 2019 to share their successes and challenges
. We asked them to speak about
how they got started, who was involved and what was most important; how they organize their workshops in the community; what does and does not engage the children; how they measure their impact; and their thoughts about elements of their work that are transferable to other communities.
Members of the Pochotle Collective lead FOFA artists in a drawing exercise
Seventeen folk artists attended the one-day event in September. Eleven Collective members led the group through exercises and discussion, beginning with an invitation to each participant to "draw oneself within one's own community." They spoke about the importance they attach to being a collective of indigenous artists, as opposed to a hierarchically-organized group, and the central role of their folk traditions to their own identity. "
The work we have done in the Collective has been based on the values of reciprocity and solidarity, typical of our indigenous communities," they told us. "This way of working allows us to build bridges of communication with those who think differently. Our natural environment, our religious beliefs and mythical tales constitute the framework through which we develop our creative processes."
The FOFA/Collective workshop was enthusiastically received and even generated local press coverage. (Spanish readers can read the coverage linked here).
In written evaluations of the experience, 15 attendees reported that they were inspired by the Collective to teach folk art with young people in their own communities.
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