The National Museum of the American Indian Exhibits the “Vochol”: The Huichol Indian Decorated VW Bug

The Vochol, a piece of contemporary indigenous artwork, is being exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian from March 21 through May 6, 2012 in Washington, D.C. as part of its international tour. The museum welcomes the 1990s Volkswagen Beetle named “Vochol” decorated by indigenous craftsmen from the Huichol (Wixaritari) communities of Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico, who used more than 2 million glass beads and fabric to decorate the vehicle.

The name Vochol is a combination of vocho, a name for the Volkswagen Beetle in Mexico, and Huichol, which are the native Mexican Indians who beaded the car, originally from West Central Mexico and widely recognized for their colorful beadwork and fiber arts. The Huichol Indians took seven months to bead and design the car, which depict culturally important designs, ceremonies and historic events, including the Mexican Revolution and Mexican independence from Spain; the Vochol serves as a demonstration of the complex intersections between traditional and modern cultures, and helps promote the Huichol Indians’ rich culture and talent.

This one-of-a-kind vehicle is presented in collaboration with the Association of Friends of the Museo de Arte Popular and the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City, the Embassy of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Institute. President Marie Thérèse Hermand de Arango of Mexico’s Museum of Popular Art, shared the Vochol’s latest itinerary for the international tour in an exclusive interview with MexicoToday.org, stating, “Following the Washington, D.C. exhibition, the Vochol will visit Denver in June for two months,” and, “After going back to Mexico for a first restoration, the Vochol will travel by sea to Paris, France where it will be exhibited on October 1. We are hoping to also show it in Brussels where we are in conversations with a famous venue. Following a second trip to Mexico for another restoration, the Vochol will come back to the United States for the April 2013 inauguration of an important building in Houston, Texas.”

For more on the Vochol, click here to see MexicoToday’s exclusive photos of the inauguration at the National Museum of the American Indian.

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José Guadalupe Posada: “Gran calavera eléctrica” (Grand electric skull) 1900-1913.

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Day of the Dead Folk Art Drawing

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José Guadalupe Posada: “Birth of Venus” (1913)

osada’s best known works are his calaveras, which often assume various costumes, such as the Calavera de la Catrina, the “Calavera of the Female Dandy”, which was meant to satirize the life of the upper classes during the reign of Porfirio Díaz. Most of his imagery was meant to make a religious or satirical point. Since his death, however, his images have become associated with the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, the “Day of the Dead”.

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Alfonso Castillo Orta: “Fire Skull” (2010)

Don Alfonso was granted Mexico’s most prestigious award, Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes in 1996. Castillo is known for his amazing Day of the Dead inspired art.

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Jose Guadalupe Posada: Calavera Revolucionaria, Day of the Dead

For centuries the inhabitants of Mexico have created fascinating folk art expressions of the Day of the Dead: magnificently decorated skulls and catrinas, fabulous candelabra, trees of life and attractive skeletons. Skilful artists transform wood, clay, tin and paper into wonderful Day of the Dead sculptures many inspired by Jose Guadalupe Posada.

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Mata Ortiz Pottery

Mata Ortiz has recently seen a revival of an ancient Mesoamerican pottery tradition. Inspired by pottery from the ancient city of Paquimé, which traded as far north as New Mexico and Arizona and throughout northern Mexico, modern potters are producing work for national and international sale. This new artistic movement is due to the efforts of Juan Quezada, the self-taught originator of modern Mata Ortiz pottery, his extended family and neighbors.

Mata Ortiz pots are hand built without the use of a potter’s wheel. Shaping, polishing and painting the clay is entirely done by hand.

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Manuel Lepe Macedo (1936 – 1984)

Manuel Lepe was a Mexican artist who painted in a Naïve style. He painted mostly themes based on the landscape and townscape of his native Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

Lepe was never formally trained as an artist, and attended only four years of primary school. His artwork came to symbolize Mexico culture and Mexican lifestyles. He was named Mexico’s national artist by president Luis Echevarría Álvarez in 1979.

After his death in 1984, his workshop in Puerto Vallarta was preserved as a gallery and museum. Some of his works are on display there as well as at the Peter Gray Museum of Art on the Coastal Campus of the University of Guadalajara, North of Puerto Vallarta.

April 17 is celebrated in Puerto Vallarta as Manuel Lepe day.

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Mexico’s Fine Arts Institute celebrates 65th anniversary

According to Fox News Latino, the National Fine Arts Institute, or INBA, is celebrating its 65th anniversary with an exhibition in Mexico City showing the best of its treasures, including works by Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo and Saturnino Herran.

The exhibition, “Foundations. 65 years of INBA: Bequests, Donations and Acquisitions,” runs until Aug. 21 at the Museum of the Palace of Fine Arts and is made up of 254 pieces created by 97 Mexican and foreign artists since the 17th century.

This review of INBA treasures will inspire the public to reflect on the preservation of Mexico’s artistic heritage and the role that government plays in art and culture, exhibit curator Ana Garduño told Efe.
“With its founding (in 1946), INBA took on the responsibility of enriching and protecting Mexico’s cultural assets, and today’s exhibition is a demonstration of that commitment,” Garduño said.

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Marcelino Bautista Sifuentes: Papel Picado Artist

Marcelino Bautista Sifuentes is a Mexican-American artist known for his papel picado (Mexican paper cutting). Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and raised in Los Angeles, California, He began learning his skills later in his adult life. Sifuentes has been commissioned to create works and give demonstrations for many notable institutions such as the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at the California State University, Los Angeles, the Chicano Resource Center at the California State University, Fullerton, and the Japanese American National Museum. Sifuentes currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Images courtesy of MyPapelPicado.com

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