Category: Arts and Crafts

Museo del Dulce, Morelia: The Sweetest Heritage

Lilia Facio Hernández offers us one of the 37 gorgeous varieties of cakes made at the Museo del Dulce de la Calle Real (the Royal Road Candy Museum). Buy as little as a slice to indulge yourself, or purchase as much as an entire cake for a party dessert. Each cake is more beautiful than the next and each one has a name from Mexico's history. This one is the Iturbide, named for General Agustín Iturbide, hero of Mexico's 1810 War of Independence and designer of Mexico's first flag.

Mexico Cooks! has had some very sweet interviews, but none has been sweeter than the time we spent recently with Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, owner of Morelia's Museo del Dulce (candy museum). Imagine spending several hours in a 19th Century Morelia mansion presently converted into a real-life version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! Delicious aromas of melting sugar constantly waft through the air, sepia-tone photographs carry us back to earlier times in Morelia, and charmingly attractive employees treat each customer like visiting royalty.

Walking into the Museo del Dulce's retail chocolate and cake shop is a voyage to the Porfiriato (the era of Porfirio Díaz), a trip to the 19th Century.

De la Calle Real, the candy-making firm that's part of the Museo del Dulce, has been in constant business since 1840. The oldest family of candy makers in Morelia prides itself on the continuity of its passion for the sweet life. Family recipes, hand-written in spidery script on yellowing pages, family photographs dating over the last two centuries, and the importance of family heritage glow in every corner of the building that was at one time the Torres home. Every corner of the many rooms of the house, now converted to a museum and retail shop, breathes history and love of Mexico.

An old wooden carreta (cart) parked in one of the museum patios looks like it's just waiting to be hitched up to a team of draft animals.

The original De la Calle Real candy shop was located in Morelia's portales (arched, covered walkways) on Avenida Madero, across from the Cathedral. Later, the shop moved to its current spot–still on Avenida Madero, just a few blocks to the east. Now, De la Calle Real has locations in Morelia's upscale Plaza Fiesta Camelinas, in Mexico City's traditional neighborhood Coyoacán, and will soon open branches in both Sanborns and Palacio de Hierro, two of Mexico's swankiest department stores.

One room of the museum is set up with machinery used in the 1940s, when the family candy business was only 100 years old! This beautiful hand-made copper pot has a double bottom, like a bain-marie, to keep the cooking candy from burning.

Not only does the company continue to produce candy from old family recipes, Arq. Torres also prides himself on participating in the rescue of recipes dating back as far as pre-Colonial days. Sweets composed of native fruits and vegetables were made with honey until the Spanish brought sugar cane to the New World. Chocolate, native to Mexico, was consumed only by the indigenous nobility as an unsweetened cold drink–served either as bitter chocolate or flavored with chile–prior to the arrival of the Spanish.

Decorated like a convent shop, this museum and sales room carry us back to the time when fine candies were made in Morelia by cloistered Dominican nuns. Click on the picture to enlarge any photo.

In the demonstration kitchen, Mexico Cooks! watched as the cook combined equal parts fresh membrillo (quince) pulp and cane sugar in a copper pot. She was preparing ate de membrillo (quince candy). When the mixture formed una cortina (a curtain) without dripping as the wooden spoon was lifted from the pot, the ate was at its point of perfection.

It's an easy walk from the Centro Histórico (Morelia's historic center) to the Museo del Dulce, but why not take the little tourist trolley instead? Hop on in front of the Cathedral (buy tickets at the Department of Tourism kiosk in the Plaza de Armas, just to the right of the Cathedral). The trolley will take you from there to some of the most important historic sites in Morelia, including the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the Conservatorio de las Rosas (the oldest music conservatory in the New World) and the glorious Templo de las Rosas (Church of St. Rose of Lima, originally the home of Morelia's 16th Century Domincan nuns), and the Museo del Dulce. The trolley trip, which lasts slightly over an hour, gives the tourist plenty of time to enjoy all of these Morelia traditions.

Dulces de la Calle Real (the candy maker's brand name) prepares specialty ates de membrillo in molds which create the embossed images of some of Morelia's historic landmarks: (from left) Las Tarascas fountain, the 18th Century aqueduct, and the Cathedral.

The candy maker prepares and packages small gourmet ates made of strawberry, pineapple, blackberry, and other fruits that are little-used in this presentation. Each box tells a story, each ate is perfectly molded.

For special culinary events, the museum occasionally re-creates antique recipes, some of which date to Mexico's colonial days. This just-made historic ate contains chayote (vegetable pear, or mirleton) and fresh fig leaves.

An excellent video, shown for everyone visiting the Museo del Dulce, tracks the history of candy making in Morelia. Long known for ates (fruit pastes) and laminillas (fruit leathers), Morelia developed another culture of candies during the Porfiriato, the long presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1875-1910). During those 35 years, the influence of everything French invaded Mexico and colored the fashion of Mexico's upper-class society. French-style sweets became all the rage, and Morelia never lagged in preparing candies and cakes to meet the demand. Today, Porfiriato-style cakes, beautiful to see and delicious to taste, are made and sold by De la Calle Real. You can sit for a while in the cozy elegance of the Café del Patio de Atrás (the Back Patio) coffee shop and choose from a menu of 37 different cakes, house-made Mexican hot chocolate, delicious fresh-made ice creams, and a mind-boggling selection of other delights from the Museo del Dulce's menu.

The candy maker created beautiful embossed jamoncillo (milk candy similar to penuche) ovals to honor Mexico's 2010 Bicentennial. Each one carries the image of a hero of Mexico's independence. These candies represent Miguel Hidalgo, father of the Independence. The candy molds are hand-carved by a museum employee.

There's a room of the store where you can dress up in Victorian-era clothing–from elegant feathered hats to fancy silk dresses, from black top hats to cutaway suits–and a shop employee will take your picture. What a terrific souvenir!

In part of the retail shop, lines of baskets hold individual candies for instant gratification of your sweet tooth–or to pack easily into your suitcase to carry home as gifts. The tissue-paper-wrapped candies are similar to jamoncillo.

Another entire room of the store is just stuffed with a variety of small toys, perfect for an inexpensive souvenir from Morelia. Inexpensive and easy to pack, they're exactly right for the child in all of us. These are baleros. The idea is to hold the long handle in your fist (with the cup on top) and catch the small wooden ball. It looks easy to accomplish–but it's quite a challenge!

Nuns originated Mexico's famously delicious rompope (a kind of eggnog). You'll find it in several flavors and bottles ranging from small to large, all made by the artisan candy makers at Dulces de la Calle Real.

Absolutely everything about the Museo del Dulce and De la Calle Real is devoted to reverence for the past, passion for perfection in the present, and devotion to the future preservation of Mexico's traditions. Every product and its packaging, designed and developed by Arq. Torres, is an homage to Mexico. Each candy box incorporates an old photo and a paragraph-long history lesson, with the treat you purchased as your sweet reward for learning.

Elia Ramírez Ramírez is packing small sweet treasures in Mexican pottery containers. The packaged candies are destined for the retail store. All employees who work directly with the public wear 19th Century costumes.

As Arq. Torres said during our time together, "We are the in-between generation. We still remember mothers and grandmothers who made candy at home. We still hold that tradition in our hearts. It's up to us to keep those memories alive, to pass them to our children and help them pass the traditions to the generations that follow. Otherwise, we will forget everything that truly makes us who we are."

Arquitecto Gerardo Torres, the delightful gentleman who runs this sweet business with passionate care, comes from a long line of candy makers. He showed Mexico Cooks! lovely old photos of his mother, his grandmother, and his great-grandmother–candy makers one and all.

Whether you are a fan of jamoncillo, ate, chocolate,
rompope or another traditional Mexican sweet, you will be as
thrilled as Mexico Cooks! was with everything about the Museo del Dulce
and De la Calle Real. If De la Calle Real is your first experience of
heavenly Mexican candy, it will spoil you for every other kind.

Come to visit, stay to give in to temptation! Employees at the Dulces de la Calle Real Museo del Dulce will be glad to help you find the perfect house-made candy for yourself, your relatives, and your friends.

De la Calle Real Museo del Dulce
Av. Madero #440
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán, México
443.312.8157

Looking
for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click
here: Tours.

3 de July de 2010
52nd Anniversary: Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán, Part Two

Gorgeous young men and women, great polka music, and inexhaustable dancing: the evening opened with a fantastically exciting estampa norteña (dance from northern Mexico).

These young men danced El Baile de los Machetes, a traditional dance from Mexico's western state of Nayarit. The dance includes precision maneuvers with flashing, clashing machetes and wild high kicks.

This Purhépecha folk dance shows off the beauty of traditional embroidery as well as the dancers' skill. The apron is cross-stitched by hand, as are the woman's blouse and the man's pants. This dance is in part a courtship ritual, ending with the men's fishnets catching the women.

19th Century dress from the northern part of Mexico included long suede coats for the men.

These handsome young men brought down the house–they might as well have been Chippendale dancers! The screaming, swooning young women in the audience adored the fellows' provocative moves.

It was the constant-motion rear view of these vaqueros (cowboys) that really got the crowd going.

A few minutes later, the guys were joined onstage by equally beautiful young women.

Frequent costume changes, exciting music, and beautiful choreography made the night intensely satisfying. The setting, in the Patio del Quijote at the Casa de Cultura, created the perfect ambiance.

The dancers never slowed down!

As darkness fell, another group took the stage for more estampa norteña.

Another traditional Purhépecha dance, performed by four men wearing carved wood pink-painted, blue-eyed masks representing Europeans in the New World. Each costume includes long white hair, a gourd at the back, a silvery fish at the side, and a cane with a horse head.

The costumes in this dance are similar to those in the photo above, but the masks are very different. From left to right, the masks represent a yellow man, an owl, a blue man, a black man, and a European man. Click on any of the photos to see a larger image.

A closer view of the dancer wearing the owl mask.

This male dancer in this Purhépecha dance wears a yellow mask. By turn, the woman dances with each of the masked men.

After one last number, a dance from Apatzingán in Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), Mexico Cooks! needed to head for home.

Thanks to the Secretaría de Cultura for its wonderful dance presentations during this celebration. Won't you come with Mexico Cooks! next year, for the 53rd anniversary of Ballet Folklórico de Michoacán?

Looking
for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click
here: Tours.

19 de June de 2010
Art and Beauty in Erongarícuaro, Michoacán: A Riot of Color at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga

The unprepossessing doorway to UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, the Erongarícuaro, Michoacán artists' cooperative originally founded in 1981 by Steven and Marina Rosenthal. "Go to the corner where the primary school is, turn right, and go halfway down," read Marina's directions. 'Halfway down to what,' wondered Mexico Cooks!, but the building was easy to find. All photos by Mexico Cooks! except as noted.

Pátzcuaro, the original capital of Michoacán, is a well-known destination for tourists, whether they are interested in pre-Hispanic religious sites, centuries-old architecture, modern working artisans, or regional Purhépecha cuisine. Just a few minutes' drive away, another side of Michoacán exists: small-town, little-visited, and still very much oriented toward Mexico's traditional way of life. In Erongarícuaro, the day bustles gently around the small plaza. The pace is slower even than that of Pátzcuaro.

In the Erongarícuaro, Michoacán taller (workshop) of Muebles Finos Artesanales Erongarícuaro–the UNEAMICH wholesale entity branded as mfa/eronga–Marina Rosenthal stands before a custom-painted panorama of canvas nudes. You can put your own face in one of the vacant spots.

Erongarícuaro, attractive in a well-worn, frayed-cuff style, is home to about 13,000 people, including a few souls from 'away'. Europe, Canada, and the United States are equally represented. Long a bohemian outpost (according to local legend, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and their international cohorts were frequent visitors), Erongarícuaro still attracts the slightly eccentric foreigner: a handful of people setting up a sustainable community, another handful interested in communal housing, and one or two long-time residents working in town.

The sales and reception room at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, where we talked with Marina. Photo courtesy Bernie Frankl, Tucson, AZ.

Steve and Maureen Rosenthal, originally from Arizona, have lived and worked in Erongarícuaro for nearly 40 years. Their commitment to the town and its people runs deep; they've put their lifework into training artists, producing incredibly beautiful furniture and home decoration over the course of the years. Their business, UNEAMICH mfa/eronga, has evolved from its 1980s-era origins as an Escuela Taller (Workshop School) to the worker-owned cooperative that it is today. Along the way, the Rosenthals and the artist owners have created a living heritage for Erongarícuaro.

One of the artists' workrooms at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga. Most of the 40-plus artist members of the cooperative were attending a community funeral on the day that Mexico Cooks! visited the UNEAMICH/mfa/eronga taller.

Mfa/eronga (the name of the UNEAMICH store that Steve runs in Tucson) has talleres (workshops) on both sides of its quiet Erongarícuaro street. One is the carpentry workshop for building and carving the wooden furniture; the other is filled with artists' cubicles where the fine decoration work takes place. Mexico Cooks! greeted Marina (Maureen's name loosely translated into Spanish) Rosenthal with a happy, "Finally! We've wanted to visit you for years!" We hugged and laughed that our meeting had been delayed for so long.

The painted backrest of a UNEAMICH mfa/eronga chair. Click on any photo for a larger view.

While giving us a running history of the business, Marina took us on a tour of the two talleres. "Steve and I came here in 1970 to finish writing a screenplay, but the option to make the movie just never panned out. By then, we were so in love with this part of Michoacán that we didn't want to leave. We started making painted furniture, and little by little, customers started seeking us out.

The exterior and interior of one of mfa/eronga's fabulous painted pieces. Photo courtesy mfa/eronga.

"When Cuahutémoc Cárdenas was governor of Michoacán (1980-86), he was a huge supporter of the state's regional arts. You know that he was the son of Lázaro Cárdenas del Rio, Mexico's forward-thinking president from 1934-1940, and he had a lot of his father's sensibilities. One of his projects was to open Escuelas Talleres–workshop schools–where artisans could receive training that would enhance the quality of their work and make it more easily sold. That's where we came in: our workshop began to receive state support for training artists. Literally dozens of artists have trained with us; some continue to work with us now, and some of our current workers are the children of those men and women who initially trained here.

Work facilities at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga are primitive, but the cooperative of artists creates glorious work in spite of the harsh conditions.

"Most of the artists we've trained knew some carving or painting techniques before they came to us. Their level of general knowledge of art was practically nil, though: none knew of the great European classical or modern painters and none had heard of any artists north of the Mexican border. Few knew of Mexico's great artists: Rivera, Kahlo, Tamayo, the Coronel brothers, and Juan O'Gorman, just to name several. One of my greatest joys has been taking our extremely talented artists to Morelia, to Guadalajara, and to Mexico City to show them art's possibilities outside their limited frame of reference.

UNEAMICH mfa/eronga artists hand-paint and hand-finish bateas (hand-carved shallow wooden bowls) from their own designs–or from your special-order design.

"We've made furniture using classic Michoacán designs, in bohemian designs, in our own designs, and with every painted decoration you can imagine. You'll find anything from a still life of hybrid roses to a caricatured cat on our furniture and home decor. Our artists, wonderfully inventive talents, can take the simplest thing and bring it to a level of beauty that attracts the most discriminating client.

Another artist's workspace at UNEAMICH mfa/eronga.

"The work that comes from our talleres has spread all over the world. Right now, we're working on furnishing a hotel–not the first one, and we surely hope not the last! Disney commissioned pieces for a restaurant, we have other long-time restaurant clients who decked out their restaurant with our pieces and need frequent replacements, and we have years of background making custom pieces for private customers.

The man carving intricate hand-drawn orchids into this chair back said, "Solo soy carpintero." ('I'm just a carpenter.')

"Our stories range from the sublime to the truly ridiculous. We've gone through times of terrible famine, when we couldn't make our payroll–think of the horrors of the 1994 devaluation of the peso! But our artist workers stayed with us, even when we couldn't pay regularly. Really, it's the workers who have always made our business a success. You don't measure success just by looking at your bank balance. Loyalty to one another: that's a huge measure of success, in my mind.

For your home, mfa/eronga sells cinema seating made in the old-fashioned style, but of new materials–and in this case, painted with artists' stylized portraits. Other styles are available. Photo courtesy mfa/eronga.

"Right now, because economic times are really challenging, Steve is staying across the border in Tucson, running our retail operation. I'm here with our youngest daughter, running the talleres. Our staff here in Erongarícuaro currently numbers about 43, down from a high of 160 working artists. But we keep on going; our loyalty is to our cooperative artists, and their loyalty is to the cooperative and to us.

Nothing is wasted, everything is recycled. Out of this chaos of wood trimmings come works of art.

Flowers in a vase, hand-painted on an artist's workspace wall. Making art is more than a job; art is a way of life.

You can see more mfa/eronga furniture and home decor on their website, mfa/eronga. The website includes an online store as well as a catalog, a price list, and a newsletter. If you're planning to be in the Morelia/Pátzcuaro region, please contact Mexico Cooks! for a guided tour of Erongarícuaro, the mfa/eronga workshop, and more entrancingly beautiful villages in Michoacán.

Cactus in bloom on mfa/eronga chair backrests.

Looking
for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click
here: Tours.

22 de May de 2010
Ay, Qué Chulo (Oh, How Cute…): Animal Photos from Mexico

Ardillita (baby squirrel), one of twins, on the roof of Mexico Cooks!' bodega (outdoor storage closet). January 2008.

It occurred to Mexico Cooks! today that we rarely (make that never) play the 'cute animal' card, but there are certainly a lot of cute critters to enjoy in Mexico. Call them bonito, lindo, or chulo, the result is the same: a long sigh of awww.

This extremely cosmopolitan cocker spaniel, out for a stroll in Coyocacán, Distrito Federal. November 2009.

Mother and daughter, on the road to Erongarícuaro, Michoacán. May 2008.

Our very own Chepo, looking piratical in his sweater. January 2010.

Qué burrito más bonito! (What a cute little burro!) Zirahuén, Michoacán. July 2008.

Tigers at the Circo Atayde Hermanos, Morelia, Michoacán. August 2008.

Find the burro… Ajijic, Jalisco. March 2007.

Conejito de flores (little bunny made of flowers), Festival Internacional de Música de Morelia. November 2009.

All together now: awwwwww. It's a xoloitzcuintle puppy from Pátzcuaro, eight weeks old. September 2008.

Next week Mexico Cooks! promises to bring you something from the kitchen.

Looking
for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click
here: Tours.

8 de May de 2010
State Support for the Artisan Community in Michoacán, Mexico

At Morelia's Casa de Artesanía: a Purhépecha girl with traditional clothing, jewelry, and clay jug, all part of Michoacán's folk art heritage.

The Morelia Casa de Artesanía (its acronym is CASART), has provided government support to the artesanos (artisans) of Michoacán for 40 years. Earlier this year, more than 400 artesanos participated in a lively and beautiful exhibition, competition, and sale at the Casa de Artesanía. More than 700 pieces were entered into competition, representing more than 40 communities in Michoacán. Fifty-seven Michoacán artisans won prizes for their traditional and/or innovative work.

A conjunto de pirekuas–traditional Michoacán musicians singing Purhépecha songs–participated in the opening reception at the Casa de Artesanías.

The competition included four artisan categories: pottery (including low- and high-fired pieces, pieces that are lead-free, and pottery in general); wood (furniture and miscellaneous decorated pieces); textiles (wool and cotton, including clothing, embroideries, tablecloths, wall hangings, rugs, and blankets); and fibers and vegetable matter (palm fibers, bamboo, reed, and other fibers).

Three miniature decorative metates (grinding stones) on a tray. Each individual metate, made in Zinapécuaro, Michoacán, is no bigger than three inches long.

In spite of mid-winter unseasonably heavy rain, the CASART exulted in a very large and exuberant turnout for its 40th anniversary celebration. Mexico Cooks! was delighted to be among the guests for the opening exhibition and sale.

Traditional dancers from Tócuaro, Michoacán, wearing their masks, capes and be-ribboned straw hats.

Made in Ocumicho, Michoacán, this is a representation in clay of an outdoor cenaduría (supper spot). The largest figures are no more than four inches high; the hand-modeled and painted clay food is tiny. Click on the photo for a bigger and better view.

Detail of the cenaduría menu–written on a clay tablet. The offerings: an order of fried tacos with beef, an order of enchiladas with chicken, an order of buñuelos (foot-wide disk of fried dough) with white atole (sweetened corn drink, served hot), pozole (pork and hominy stew), and a list of drinks.

Miniature calabazas (squash similar to pumpkins) on a tray.

Emilia Reyes Oseguera, president of the Unión Estatal de Artesanos (State Artisans' Union), said that the various artisan communities are developing new designs to meet the needs of today's market. Sergio Herrera, director of the Casa de Artesanía, acknowledged that commercialization of their work is the Achilles heel for the artisans. He added that this is a global problem and is not unique to Michoacán or to Mexico.

Embroidery from the Lake Pátzcuaro region, sewn with a fine, fine hand, shows numerous daily activities of la vida campestre (country life). Stitched along the top of the piece are "Los Viejitos", representing one of Mexico's best-loved folk dances.

Michoacán's Governor Leonel Godoy Rangel and his wife, Magdalena Ojeda Arana, support their state's arts and crafts. Governor Godoy presided over the opening ceremonies for CASART's recent anniversary. He and his wife are wearing ribbon necklaces festooned with miniature hand woven baskets made in Michoacán.

CASART manages several state-run folk art stores located across Michoacán. Through its program of acquisitions, the government offers financial support either to community artisans' cooperatives or to individual artisans. CASART's beautiful flagship store is located next to Templo San Francisco on Plaza Valladolid in downtown Morelia.

Hand-made wooden tops on display (and for sale) at Morelia's Casa de Artesanía.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

1 de May de 2010
Ana Pellicer Forty Year Retrospective at Palacio Clavijero, Morelia

La Tehuana (1996). Silver-plated copper, resin, and electroformed lace fabric. Click on all of the photographs for a larger view of each sculpture.

In September 2009, Mexico Cooks! met and interviewed James Metcalf and Ana Pellicer, internationally acclaimed artists who are long-time residents of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán. Privileged to photograph a number of their sculptures at their home in September, I was nevertheless unprepared for the visual and emotional impact of Poemas Forjados (Hand-wrought Poems), a lifetime retrospective of Ana Pellicer's work that opened on March 27, 2010 at the Palacio Clavijero in Morelia.

La Libertad Purépecha (1987). Mixed media: fiberglass, wood, plaster of Paris, textiles, copper, and brass. In honor of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the French sculptor who created the original Statue of Liberty, the pleated skirt which represents the traditional guari (Purhépecha woman) garment is the colors of the French flag. I asked Ana Pellicer why she chose to create the body of the sculpture in purple. The simple answer: "She is in mourning."

The 75-sculpture exhibit, which fills several huge rooms at the Clavijero, is divided into themes: Secretos, Mujer, Luz, Poder, Libertad, and Juego (Secrets, Woman, Light, Power, and Sport).

Caja, Jugadores de Pelota (Box, Ball Players), Serie Secretos 2003. Hammered copper, repoussé and silver plate, approximately 20cm long, 12cm wide, and 3cm deep. The sculptured box top represents the pre-Hispanic Purhépecha ball game that may have been the forerunner of both baseball and basketball. The 'Secrets' portion of the exhibit includes boxes, books, clouds, and other sculptures.

Ana Pellicer sculpts predominately in copper, hand-forging and
hammering every piece. She works directly on the metal in the
traditional pre-Hispanic "technique of fire" that is still practiced by
Santa Clara del Cobre's artisans. She begins her labor directly on the tejo (round ingot) of copper. Her sculptures also may include bronce (bronze), hule
(hand-harvested rubber), chuspata (lake reed), resina (resin), latón (brass),
and plata (silver).

Libro 1 (Book 1), 1970. Hammered repoussé brass, plastic, and paper, approximately 20cm square. Ana Pellicer produced this and other mixed-media sculptured books to record her creative process.

La Medusa, Serie Mujeres, 2010. Cast bronze, repoussé copper, marble and wood. Ana Pellicer points out details of the sculpture; the Medusa's head opens on a hinge, revealing her brain.

For more than two years, Ana Pellicer worked to gather the pieces in this current exhibit. Dispersed in public and private collections around the world, the owners have loaned the sculptures to Michoacán, where they were originally made. "It gives me so much pride to exhibit my sculptures in the enormous rooms of the Palacio Clavijero, where the proportions of the building suit the proportions of the work," said Pellicer.

Querubines, Serie Luz, 1998. Repoussé copper, resin, and iron. Many of the pieces in the series Light include resin, which collects and concentrates the light in each of the sculptures.

The recurrent themes of Pellicer's work–light, power, women, secrets, sport–develop in strength and beauty as the viewer passes from gallery room to gallery room in the Palacio Clavijero. Quotations from philosophers as diverse as Greece's 700 BC poet Sappho and Mexico's 15th century AD poet Netzahuacóyotl dot the exhibit's walls, both taking from and giving depth and comprehension to the works. From Netzahuacóyotl, for example:

    "Percibo lo secreto, lo oculto:
    Así somos,
    somos mortales.
    de cuatro en cuatro nosotros los hombres,
    Todos habremos de irnos,
    todos habremos de morir en la tierra…"

    "I perceive the secret, this hidden thing:
    we are this way,
    we are mortals.
    Four at a time we men,
    All of us must leave,
    All of us must die to this earth…"

Arracada Monumental de la Libertad (Monumental Earring for the Statue of Liberty), 1986. The hand-forged hollow copper earring weighs approximately 45 pounds. Ana Pellicer sculpted the single earring and several other pieces of jewelry to fit the Statue of Liberty on the occasion of her 100th birthday.

Anillo de la Libertad (Ring for the Statue of Liberty), 1986. The repoussé copper and resin ring, made to the same scale as the earring above, fits the ring finger of the Statue of Liberty. The statue measures 305 feet from its base to the tip of her torch.

Objeto Encontrado en la Tumba de una Reina (Object Found in the Tomb of a Queen), Serie Poder, 1996. Hammered copper, glass, and tempered mica. The axe is the pre-Hispanic Purhépecha power symbol. Ana Pellicer described this piece as el hacha santificada (the sanctified ax) because of its halo.

Beisbol (Baseball), Serie Juego 1999. The baseball sculpture measures approximately 70cm in diameter. Pellicer laughingly said, "I signed this huge baseball as if I were a sports star!"

Ana Pellicer herself embodies the five themes of this magnificent retrospective exhibit. A strong, intelligent woman, filled with light, with power, with humor, and with her own creative secrets, Pellicer's life work offers us a penetrating look into her world and our own. Do not miss this opportunity to share her vision.

Poemas Forjados de Ana Pellicer
Palacio Clavijero
Nigromante No. 79, between Av. Madero
Poniente y Santiago Tapia
Colonia Centro
Morelia, Michoacán
March 27-June 30, 2010
Hours: 10AM to 6PM, Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays)

Looking
for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click
here: Tours.

10 de April de 2010
Mexico Cooks!: A Backward Glance at 2009

Mexico Cooks! started 2009 with a bang, offering tamales and rosca de reyes to celebrate the New Year.

In February, we purchased this gorgeous cazuela (large clay cooking vessel) at Tzintzuntzan's annual fiestas patronales (patron saint's festivities).

We ate delicious capirotada (bread pudding), a Lenten specialty unique to Mexico, in March.

The kitchen at Pátzcuaro's Museo Regional de Arte Popular (Regional Popular Arts Museum) is one of our all-time favorite displays.

The spring arrival of the infamous AH1N1 influenza virus shocked Mexico and the world. Suddenly, everyone on the street was wearing a protective tapaboca (surgical-style mask).

June took Mexico Cooks! to Rancho Casa Luna in San Miguel de Allende for a marvelous weekend of cooking with friends.

Our culinary research assignment for July: Morelia's homage to Guadalajara's signature snack, the famously spicy torta ahogada (drowned sandwich).

Mexico Cooks! met the delightful Doña Felícitas and her family at Morelia's Mercado Nicolás Bravo in August.

In September, Restaurante LU, part of Morelia's Hotel Best Western Casino, offered Mexico Cooks! a chance to try the new menú bicentenario (bicentennial menu). Mexico celebrates its 200th anniversary during all of 2010.

Lila Downs captivated Mexico Cooks! and all of Morelia in October.

Noche de Muertos in Tzintzuntzan's cemetery. We dedicated the entire month of November to information about and photos of the Day of the Dead.

Frijolitos refritos (refried beans) and how to prepare them–along with some traditional Michoacán recipes for your kitchen–highlighted December.

Come along with Mexico Cooks! for the year 2010! You'll discover as many new caminos de México (pathways of Mexico) as we can fit into every month. We look forward to having you with us.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

2 de January de 2010
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

May every moment of the year to come be filled with the joys of all you hold dear.

Happy holidays from Mexico Cooks!.

25 de December de 2009
Piñatas!

Traditional piñatas ready for sale decorate the door to the Hernández family's tiny taller (workshop) on Av. Lázaro Cárdenas.

Among clean ollas de barro (clay pots), plastic receptacles filled with engrudo (flour/water paste), and colorful, neatly stacked rounds of papel de china (tissue paper), Sra. María Dolores Hernández (affectionately known as Doña Lolita) sits on an upturned bucket. She'll celebrate her 80th birthday on December 24, and she still lights up–just like a Christmas tree–when she talks about her business and her life.

The last point of the star-shaped piñata is in Doña Lolita's hands, nearly ready to be glued into place.

"When I was a young woman, raising my family together with my husband, it was hard for us to make a good living here in Morelia. We had eight children (one has died, but six girls and a boy survive) and we struggled to make ends meet. My husband was a master mason, but I wanted to help out with the finances. I knew a woman who made piñatas, and I thought, 'I can do that.' So I started trying my hand, nearly 60 years ago."

Doña Lolita adds another layer of newspaper to this piñata in progress. "You can't put too much newspaper on the pot, because it will take too long to break," she explained. "And you can't put too little on it, either, because then the first child to hit it will break it. That's no good, either. You just have to know how much to use." Click on the photo to enlarge it and get a good look at the clay pot inside the paper maché.

"The woman who made piñatas wouldn't give away her secrets, so I had to figure everything out for myself. You should have seen me the first time I tried to make a bird's beak for a parrot-shaped piñata! A man I knew told me to make it out of chapopote (a kind of tar), so I did. It hardened all right, but later in the day the weather warmed up and that beak dripped down to here! What a mess! I finally figured out how to make the shape out of paper, but I just about broke my head thinking about it!"

Pre-cut rounds of papel de china (tissue paper) wait to be glued onto a piñata. The black plastic bag holds strips of newspaper.

Doña Lolita told me about the different grades of paper used to create different styles of decoration on the piñata, and she explained different kinds of paper-cutting techniques; she's absolutely the expert. Here, her son-in-law Fernando cuts tissue paper for fringe. His hands are so fast with the scissors it made my head spin; he can even cut without looking.

"In those days, the clay pots cost four and a half pesos for a gross–yes, for 144. In the old days, I usually sold about 7,000 piñatas every December, so you can imagine the investment I made just in clay pots. In the 1960s, I could sell a large piñata for seven pesos. Now–well, now the pots are much more expensive, so naturally the piñatas cost more, too. The large ones cost 45 pesos. This year, I'll sell about 1,000 piñatas just for the posadas. "

Piñatas in various stages of completion hang from every beam in Doña Lolita's tiny workshop.

"When my daughter Mercedes was about eight years old, she wanted to learn to make piñatas. She'd been watching me do it since she was born. So I taught her, and I've taught the whole family. Piñatería (making piñatas) is what's kept us going." Doña Lolita smiled hugely. "My children have always been extremely hard workers. There was a girl for each part of making the piñatas. Every year, we started making piñatas in August and finished at the beginning of January.

This gigantic piñata, still unfinished, measures almost six feet in diameter from point to point.

"One time, we had so many piñatas to finish that I didn't think we could do it. So I thought, 'if we work all night long, we can finish them by tomorrow morning.' Only I couldn't figure out how to keep the children awake to work all night." She laughed. "I went to the drugstore and bought pills to stay awake. I knew I could keep myself awake, but I gave one pill to each of the children. And in just a little while, I was working and they were sleeping, their heads fell right down into their work! What! Those pills didn't work at all! The next day I went back to the drugstore and asked the pharmacist about it. 'Oh no! I thought you asked me for pills to make them sleep!' he said." Doña Lolita laughed again. "We finished all the piñatas in spite of those pills, but you had better believe me, I never tried anything that foolish again."

Doña Lolita builds piñatas with her son-in-law, Fernando Cedeño Herrera (left), her daughter Mercedes Ayala Hernández, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. A close friend, Oswaldo Gutiérrez López (background), works with the family. Her grandson Enrique, 19, says he intends to keep the family business going.

Oswaldo Gutiérrez works on this piñata in the doorway of the tiny taller. Doña Lolita has taught many people the art of creating traditional piñatas, but her family and her loyal customers say she's the best piñatera (piñata maker) in Morelia.

"People come from everywhere to buy my piñatas. I don't have to take them out to sell; I only sell them here in the taller. Because they're so beautiful and well-made, all the best people in Morelia–and lots of people from other places–come to seek me out and order piñatas for their parties. I've taught my family that our work is our pride and our heritage, and my children have all taught their children the same. That is our legacy, our family tradition."

Fill the piñata with candy like these bags of traditional colación (hard candies especially for Christmas).

But why piñatas, and why in December? During the early days of the Spanish conquest, the piñata was used as a catechetical tool. The body of the piñata represented Satan; each of the seven points symbolized the seven capital sins (pride, lust, gluttony, rage, greed, laziness, and envy). Breaking the piñata equated with the triumph of good over evil, overpowering Satan, overcoming sin, and enjoying the delights of God's creation as they pour out of the piñata. Doña Lolita's most sought-after piñatas continue the traditional style, but she also creates piñatas shaped like roosters, peacocks, half-watermelons, deer, half moons, and once, an enormous octopus!

Now, for the nine nights from December 16 through December 24, Mexico celebrates las posadas. Each evening, a re-enactment of the Christmas story brings children dressed as la Virgencita María (ready to give birth to her baby) and her husband Sr. San José (and a street filled with angels, shepherds, and other costumed children) along the road to Bethlehem, searching for a place to stay. There is no place: Bethlehem's posadas (inns) are filled. Where will the baby be born! For the re-enactment, people wait behind closed doors at certain neighborhood houses. The santos peregrinos (holy pilgrims) knock, first at one door, then another. At each house, they sing a song, begging lodging for the night. At each house, the neighbors inside turn them away in song: 'No room here! Go away! Bother someone else!' Watch a lovely slide show: Las Posadas.

Freshly toasted cacahuates (peanuts) also stuff the piñata. The wooden box holding the peanuts is actually a measure, as is the oval metal box.

After several houses turn away la Virgen, San José, and their retinue, they finally receive welcome at the last designated house. After the pilgrims sing their plea for a place to stay, the guests assembled inside sing their welcome, "Entren santos peregrinos…" (Come in, holy pilgrims…). The doors are flung open, everyone piles into the house, and a huge party starts. Traditional foods like ponche (a hot fruit punch), buñuelos (a thin fried dough covered with either sugar or syrup), and tamales (hundreds of tamales!) pour out of the kitchen as revelers sing villancicos (Mexican Christmas carols) and celebrate the coming of the Niño Dios (the Child Jesus). Finally, all the children line up to put on a blindfold and take swings at a piñata stuffed with candy, seasonal fruits, and peanuts.

This five-pound bag of hard candies shows a blindfolded (but peeking) boy ready to break open the filled piñata. Luis Gómez, a merchant at Local 290, Mercado Independencia in Morelia, offers these and other bags of piñata candies.

Mandarinas (tangerines) are in season at Christmastime and round out the goodies in lots of piñatas.

The piñata, stuffed with all it will hold, hangs from a rope during the posada party. A parent or neighbor swings it back and forth, up and down, as each child takes a turn at breaking it open with a big stick. Watch these adorable kids whack away.

The piñata, lovely though it may be, is purely temporary. Nevertheless, happy memories of childhood posadas with family and friends last a lifetime.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours

19 de December de 2009
Feria de Artesanías (Artisans’ Fair), November 2009, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

Esferas de barro y su platón (clay spheres and their platter) from Zinapécuaro, Michoacán. Feria de Artesanía, Pátzcuaro 2009.

Carved wooden molinillos (chocolate beaters), rolling pins, and spoons from Quiroga, Michoacán.

The state of
Michoacán, rich in clay, copper, wood, and other natural resources, is
home to thousands of highly skilled artisans. Their traditional work
includes the use of all of those natural materials. Each year during
Pátzcuaro's festivities for the Day of the Dead, an all-Michoacán
artisans' fair entices tourists from all over Mexico (as well as from
the rest of the world) to support the local crafts-making economy.

Floreros de barro (clay vases) from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

La Huesuda (the bony woman) on a platter, Capula, Michoacán. La Huesuda is among the many, many Mexican terms for death.

Piñas (pineapples) from San José de Gracia, Michoacán. These were originally made to be containers for serving agua fresca (fruit water).

The November artisans' fair in Pátzcuaro and the larger
all-Michoacán artisans' fair in Uruapan that takes place annually from Palm Sunday through
the end of Easter Week are the biggest income-producing events for many
of the state's artisans. Due in part
to the global economic crisis, in part to fear of the AH1N1 virus, and
in part to reported drug-related violence in Mexico, tourism all over the country has fallen to record
low levels. During 2009, most Michoacán artisans have experienced a precipitous
drop in sales.

Comedor (dining room table and chairs), Cuanajo, Michoacán.

Highly decorated platones de cobre (copper platters) from Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán. Photo courtesy of this Flickr user.

Michoacan's artisans work using centuries-old techniques to create both traditional and modern designs. Among village families, skills are passed from generation to generation. It's unusual to find an artisan who has formally studied his or her art, but it is far from unusual to find enormously talented artists, even in the smallest towns.

Cocuchas (pots from the tiny Purhépecha town of Cocucho), Cocucho, Michoacán.

Detail of cross-stitch blouse, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

Figuras de barro (clay figures), Ocumicho, Michoacán.

Many artisan families are currently confronting the tension between the desire to continue to produce arts and crafts and the overwhelming need to feed their children. In an economy geared toward the purchase of necessities, not luxuries, the purchase of personal and home adornment comes last for the average tourist. Although sales were up somewhat at the 2009 Pátzcuaro artisans' fair, in general sales for 2009 have been very low.

Viejito de trapo (Dance of the Viejitos rag doll).

In many
instances, young artisans have left their family's traditional work
altogether to seek employment in other sectors. Thousands of young men
have left Michoacán to try their luck in the United States. Hands that
once worked clay, copper, wood, and reed now wash dishes, bus tables,
and pick crops far from home. The questions that plague the artisans
who remain in Michoacán are: who will keep the traditions alive? Who
will continue the work of centuries? Do today's young people care if
the old ways die out?

Platón (platter), Guadalupe Ríos, Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Some municipalities, such as the copper arts-producing town of Santa Clara del
Cobre, the pine needle arts-producing town of Casas Blancas, and the rag doll producing town of Zirahuén, are working together to find a solution to the artisans' need
for support. In Santa Clara, nearly 90% of the town is employed in the copper industry. Municipal authorities recognize that artisan productivity is vital to the town. The town governments have proposed a grant of two thousand pesos (approximately $155 USD at today's exchange rate) each to 35 needy artisans for the purchase of necessary materials to continue working in their traditional fields. The sole requirement for participating in the grant program is that the recipients document how the money is spent and how many people are either direct or indirect beneficiaries of the program. Of course, one very small municipality's tiny stimulus program will not save all of
Michoacán's artisans, but it may help stave off their need to stop
production. The larger question is whether this generation and those to come recognize the value of their historic work. That remains to be answered.

Vajilla (dishware), Capula, Michoacán.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours

28 de November de 2009