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by Harriet Hart

“In the beginning of the world the Goddess of the Moon taught women to weave,” writes Walter F Morris, Jr., an expert in the textiles of Chiapas. This November lakeside will welcome two Mexican textile experts, renowned anthropologist Marta Turok and cultural tour director Stephanie Schneiderman of Tia Stephanie Tours. These two women are assisting Marianne Carlson to organize “a Feria Within a Feria”, a special event which will bring rebozo artists from different regions of Mexico to lakeside where they will demonstrate their craft and sell their wares. The 7th annual Maestros del Arte Feria will be held November 13th to 15th, 2007 at the Chapala Yacht Club this is the first time a specific type of Mexican folk art will be featured.

Why single out the rebozo for such an honor? According to Stephanie Schneiderman, the rebozo is a universal garment in women’s Mexican dress, worn by many social classes. Ms. Schneiderman calls it a ubiquitous garment, “a syncretic fusing of the indigenous elements of the pre-Hispanic tilmatli (cloak/cape) and the Spanish mantilla or shawl.” The mantilla came to Mexico on the galleons that plied their trade between Manila and Acapulco. The addition of the fringe to the basic garment shape is believed to be one of the primary embellishments from this outside influence.

Marianne Carlson, founder of the annual Maestros del Arte Feria, is very excited about this event and describes it as “an opportunity to see the different styles of Mexican rebozos right next to one another.” The rebozo artists who will present their works include award winning Cecilia Bautista from Michoacán who makes the traditional Purépecha black and blue striped rebozos and adds beads and feathers to the fringe; Escuela de Reboceria from San Luis Potosí which creates hand-woven silk rebozos using a back strap loom and making copies of 19th century designs as well as modern innovations ; Adolfo Garcia Diaz from Mexico with his handwoven cotton palmeado (or palm leaf) version; Camelia Ramos, Don Isaac Ramos Padilla and Jose Mancio from Mexico with their hand woven work; Luis Rodriguez Martínez from Mexico with rebozos typical of the ones made in Tenancingo; the Sociedad Cooperative Textil Artesanal from Michoacán and Ernestina Tomas Silva, another prize winning textile artist.

The two textile experts helping organize this event have interesting backgrounds. Stephanie Schneiderman was born in Havana, grew up in Mexico City and has lived in Miami and Phoenix. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations and a certificate in Latin American/Caribbean studies from Florida International University. She also has a master’s degree in International Management. She has traveled extensively in Mexico, is fluent in Spanish, and has a passion for this country and its culture which she shares by leading special interest tours. These include trips to Oaxaca and Chiapas with a focus on textiles and folk art, and an upcoming tour to Mexico City in March 2010 with an emphasis on The Mexican Rebozo: Techniques and Heritage. How lucky lakesiders are that we can learn from her right here at the Feria.

Marta Turok, whose family originates in Massachusetts, was also raised in Mexico City and remembers feeling at home there but also being torn between two identities: American and Mexican. She attended Tufts and during college she grappled with three identities: Mexican, American and Jewish, complicated by her desire for a career in anthropology. She was fortunate in being able to design her own program of study at Tufts and specialized in Mexican folk art. Preserving traditional indigenous crafts became her passion and life’s work. She conducted doctoral research in Chiapas where she discovered that textile designs had a meaning, that there was continuity between pre Columbian Mayan culture and contemporary practice. She opted to share her knowledge with the people of Mexico, practicing a type of “practical” anthropology.

In 1988 Marta began a foundation that publishes books about folk art and reaches out to hundreds of isolated communities, supplying fabric, embroidery thread and needles to promote the creation of textile art. In 1989, realizing that markets are necessary, she created the Asociacion Mexicana de Arte y Cultural Popular which has grown, prospered and succeeded in getting folk art to the marketplace. Her outreach efforts on behalf on Mexican folk artists led her to assist Stephanie Schneiderman in organizing the Rebozo Feria this year at lakeside.

Both Stephanie and Marta will be on hand at the rebozo booths during the Feria where they will share their knowledge and expertise. Marianne Carlson says “the Feria is there to educate the public about what they are buying. If people could watch a rebozo being made from beginning to end, they would be astounded. It takes months of intensive work.”

Marianne knows that the indigenous folk art of Mexico is in danger of disappearing and that artists need outlets for selling their work. Textile art is the most endangered of all due to modern technology and the availability of synthetics. “It breaks my heart,” she says, “to think of these artists being forced to abandon their art. I think it takes part of their souls when they give it up.”

This year’s Rebozo Feria is a unique opportunity to meet all three of these special women and the artists they are working so hard to assist. The weavers’ booths will be together; some will demonstrate using the back strap loom and rebozos will be modeled at noon as part of the larger Feria’s fashion show. Speaking of fashion, shawls are big this year on the runways of Europe.

What sets Mexican shawls apart is the knotting of the fringe, not to mention the beauty of the designs and the quality of the workmanship. This is a chance to own a piece of wearable art that will last a lifetime, something you can pass on to your children and grandchildren and, at the same time, to meet the artist and learn more about Mexican culture.

For information contact Marianne Carlson at (01152 from outside Mexico) 376 765-7485 or email mariannecarlson@gmail.com

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