These
wonderful embroidered tapestries are folk art of today - where
traditional Mayan skills and themes have found a new medium of
expression. This project was started in 2001 by Ramelle Gonzoles,
the founder ofFoundations
for Education a nonprofit organization which
provides financial and logistical assistance so that Maya youth can
obtain advanced education in Guatemala's secondary schools. She
started this embroidery project in a small aldea of Solola. with a
group of women of 30 called "Molaj Ixoqi - Artesanas Mayas "
(Mayan
Artisans)from a small village called Panimatzalam
in the department of Sololá.
Ramelle was
talking with the mother of one of the Foundations students,
Elma Morales who graduated as a Home Economic Teacher. Elma's
mother was working with a group of women and Ramelle suggested that
they do some embroideries with a Folk Art theme. Ramelle gave them a
sample made of different pieces of cloth. From this sample they have
come to make these beautiful folk art wall hangings or pillowcases.
All of them have the name and individual that made it on the backside
with the theme of the piece. The tapestries are approximately
18" by 18". Terra Experience is happy to help
by providing a fair trade retail outlet for these woman's art.
You can see pictures of the group from my visit in 2011 at the
bottom of this page or by clicking on the picture of the four women
on the right..
Los Ninos en La Escuela (The Children in the School)
Dia de la Madre (Mother's Day)
Refugiago (Refugee)
La Inglesia (The Church)
El Mercado (The Market)
10A* (Cutting the Flowers)
10F* (The Ceremony Maya)
10R* (Nature)
10S* (The Artisans of Santa
Catarina)
12A (The
Church)
12D (The
Cutting of Coffee)
12G (The
Ceremony)
12H (The
Mayan Ceremony)
12I (The
Wedding)
12M (The
Market)
12Q (The
Christmas Festival)
12R (The
Procession)
12S (The
Mayan Ceremony)
12T
(Cutting the Peas)
[note spraying too]
12U
(Cutting the Corn)
12W (The
pasture)
12X
(Helping Each Other)
12Y (The
Wedding)
12Y (The
Ceremony)
12-2 (The
mushrooms)
12-3 (The "tapisca"?)
12-4
(Bathing at the "tamrscal" or Mayan sauna)
12-5
(Bathing at the "tamrscal" or Mayan sauna)
12-6 (The
Wedding)
12-7 (The
Posada)
12-8 (The
Wedding)
[at Christmas time]
12-9 (The
Cemetary)
12-10 (The
Community Hall)
12-11 (The
History of Corn)
12-12 (The
Dance)
12-13 (The
Mother Earth)
12-14 (The
Weavers)
12-15 (The
Fair )
12-16 (The
Pinata)
12-17
(Recess)
12-18 (The
Refuges)
$50.00
12-19 (The
Play of the Kites)
$50.00
12-21 (The
Mushrooms)
$50.00
12-22 (The
Carriage)
$50.00
12-23 (The
Kites)
$50.00
Molan Ixoqi' Artesanas Mayas
- In 2011 I finally visited Artesanas Mayas with Ramelle and met
a number of the artisans. Here are some of the
pictures. While there I asked them to make more Tapestries with kites
- and several weeks later got some beautiful ones. Also gave
reading glasses to about 9 of the woman to help them with their fine
work (see pictures below). You can also see some of their kids
who are in school with help the sales from the Tapestries.
Be sure to scroll up to see the tapestries we have for sale.
Thanks!
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