Born in 1975 in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, Pedro is the eldest of nine children. His parents, Bulmaro Mendoza Martínez and Raquel Gutiérrez de Mendoza, taught him the art of weaving traditional wool textiles in the Zapotec style.

Pedro comes from a proud community of weavers who skillfully weave their imaginative ideas and tradition into their work - Xaguie Zapotec (at the foot of the stone) references the sacred mountain of the Zapotec and Teotitlán in Nahuatl means "place next to god."

At the age of eight, Pedro began to dabble in the art of weaving wool rugs of all sizes. Today, he is considered a maestro (master) of using vegetable dyes. From an early age, Pedro has strived to develop and implement new techniques but keeping true to the tradition and authenticity of his weaving heritage.

In 2008, Pedro won the "Benito Juarez" State Prize for Popular Art in both 2005 and 2006, the second prize in the National Popular Art Contest in 2007 and the first prize of all categories of the "Benito Juarez" State Prize for 2008 for his revival of the pluma torcida (twisted feather) weaving technique (winning piece shown in photo above left). Pedro's "Pieza Galardonada" won the Grand Prize at the Concurso Nacional Gran Premio de Arte Popular 2009 (The photo to the right shows the winning weaving. To Pedro's right in the photo, is Candida Fernández de Calderon, Director or Fomento Cultural Banamex and publisher of the landmark book "Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art."

Pedro is also featured in the book "Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular Oaxaqueño" Fomento Cultural Banamex and in March 2011 received recognition as an outstanding craftsman, by the state government

Pedro started a Ethnobotanical Garden in his area, which is a public, non-profit institution devoted to education, research and conservation of the biocultural legacy of southern Mexico. He has taken a number of formal courses on dyeing and weaving. In particular, he obtained a diploma awarded by the Ministry of the economy and the Institute of Culture of the Oaxaca State Government after participating in a course on innovative techniques in 2003. He conducts workshops on local dyes on a regular basis at his personal weaving taller (workshop) in Teotitlán, geared to both foreign visitors and youngsters from the community who are learning to weave.

Contact information:
Pedro Mendoza Gutierrez
Oaxaca

Or contact Marianne Carlson at (from the US) 01152 376 765 7485 or email mariannecarlson@gmail.com.