Carlos Reyes and his collaboration with Mayan weavers

Carlos Reyes from Mexico City lived for a number of years in New York, where he became interested in cooperative art projects.

In his current art project, "Acciones de colaboración con grupos de tejedoras en México a través del teñido con tintes naturales y el uso de telar de cintura", he collaborates with local weavers from several of Mexico's states and in these videos he is in Chiapas.

He tells about his project and reflects on his experiences with the local weavers, where the collaboration has also been an encounter between two very different parts of Mexican culture: Carlos Reyes and his privileged middle-class background from the big city meeting with and the skillful weavers and their beautiful craftsmanship, but at times also from an economically disadvantaged life in the rural districts of Mexico.

We follow him to Magdalena, San Juan Chamula and Pantelhó in Chiapas and meet the local weavers.

Vídeo: Me enamoré de Chiapas

Vídeo: Me enamoré de Chiapas

Log into your Vimeo account to see the video.

The artist Carlos Reyes is in Chiapas to collaborate with local weavers on his project with vegetable dyes.

Hear how he ended up in Chiapas and about the multiple purposes of the project.

Vocabulario al capítulo

  • Sustantivos
    artista m /f visual
    Mercadotecnia f
    Artes Plásticas m pl
    proyecto m
    arte m
    tintes naturales
    residencia de artista f
    comunidad f
    textil m
    telar
    artesano
  • huipil m
    coladera f
    carrera f
    colaboración f
    objetivo
    contaminación
    Verbos
    aceptar
    contaminar
    enseñar >< aprender
    pasar
    perder /ie
  • regresar
    teñir
    tirar
    usar
    vender >< comprar
    viajar
    adjetivos y otros
    a cambio
    consciente
    vario
A textile artist in Chiapas
Carlos Reyes muestra un ensayo de su proyecto.
A textile artist in Chiapas
Carlos copia los antiguos diseños Maya, aquí en San Juan Chamula
A textile artist in Chiapas
Carlos muestra la lana teñido de Grana Cochinilla.

Vegetable dye, Mayan designs and collaboration with local weavers

Carlos Reyes is in Chiapas to collaborate with local weavers on his project with vegetable dyes.

The starting point of the project is Leticia Arroyo's book Tintes naturales mexicanos, and he also draws inspiration from the work on Native Mexican designs in William Morris's book, Living Maya (Presencia Maya), where the designs and their symbolism, according to Morris, can be dated back to Mayan culture.

In the collaboration, stylized works are weaved by local weavers who each gets a single vegetable dye in a palette of shades to work with and together Carlos and the weaver decide which local design to use.

In the meeting with the skilled weavers, knowledge is exchanged both ways. The weavers use plants that grow in their area and not all the plants are reproduced in the book.

In turn, Carlos Reyes can contribute with knowledge of colour techniques and how to make colours more durable.

Foto: Suzan Desezar
En el primer encuentro con las tejedoras de Magdalena se discuten diseños y tintes naturales

Más sobre...Casa Na Bolom

Más sobre...Casa Na Bolom
Casa Na Bolom, San Cristóbal de las Casas
Más sobre...Casa Na Bolom
Patio en Casa Na Bolom

In San Cristóbal de las Casas lies the beautiful Casa Na Bolom. In addition to being a museum of Danish archaeologist Frans Blom and his Swiss wife Gertrudy Duby Blom's work with Lacandon Indians, the place serves as a hotel.

At the same time, artists and scientists working with indigenous cultures are offered shorter or longer stays in the student accommodation.

Casa Na Bolom in San Cristóbal de las Casas was founded in the fifties by the Danish arqueologist Frans Blom and the Schwiss photographer Gertrude Duby.

It serves a museum for the cultures of The Highlands of Chiapas and offers a very interesting library, a house of culture with exhibitions and concerts and a restaurant.

Furthermore the organisation supports various projects and releases, amongst others this edition on textiles by Walther F. Morris jr.:Guía textil de los Altos de Chiapas

See the webpage of the organisation: Casa Na Bolom

More about the organization and the founders: La asociación Na Bolom.

 

 

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