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2012-02-04T12:01:00.000-08:00

Felicidades a todos los artistas de Santo Tomás Jalieza y de San Antonio Cuajimoloyas quienes exhibieron sus pinturas en la Casa de la Ciudad! Gracias a todos quienes nos apoyaron!

Preparando el Mural para Nuestra Comunidad: Santo Tomás Jalieza

2010-11-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

La idea de crear un mural con los niños en la comunidad de Santo Tomás Jalieza surge a sólo un mes de haber exhibido

su trabajo en el Museo de los Pintores de Oaxaca el dos de octubre...entonces, surge una nueva pregunta:

¿qué sigue? ¿cómo podemos seguir motivando a nuestros estudiantes para que expresen a través del arte los elementos de su comunidad y de su vida diaria que ayudan a reafirmar su personalidad y su orgullo como niños de una comunidad zapoteca? Un mural en su comunidad es una idea que surge con los niños, una idea que ellos aprueban y que les emociona ¨Podemos mostrar nuestro mural a todos los del pueblo¨- dice una de nuestras alumnas con mucha emoción..."y dibujamos el árbol de higos y las casas y los animales¨- En esta dinámica, donde los niños y niñas proponen los elementos visuales que formarán parte del mural, se logra nuevamente iniciar un diálogo creativo y comunitario con nuestros niños, exaltando los valores alrededor de la familia, el respeto a la naturaleza, los animales del campo y todos los elementos tangibles y no tangibles que forman parte de la herencia zapoteca en la comunidad.

En estas fotos vemos algunos de nuestros artistas terminando el primer borrador de nuestro mural...ha sido un reto hablar de dimensiones en el mural, pero lo resolvimos proponiéndoles hacer primero las montañas y el cielo, y una vez terminado, hicimos casas y árboles en hojas de

papel diferentes, mismos que ellos recortaron y pegaron sobre el borrador, logrando crear una segunda dimensión de espacio en el mural...los niños vieron con sorpresa el resultado de su trabajo....

2010-09-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

2010-09-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

¡Hola! ¡Bienvenido otra vez!

Esté verano fue divertido con los niños en Santo Tomas Jalieza. Aunque hacemos muchas actividades y aprendemos muchísimo gracias a los niños, pero voy a enseñarse solo un par de proyectos de este verano.

Contar cuentos no es solo divertido sino útil en la recreación de identidades. Desde antes de la epoca prehistórica, el contar cuentos cumplía con diferentes funciones, entre ellas, divertir y transmitir las tradiciones y creencias, creando así una conexión de la communidad. Contar cuentos crea una conexión casi instantánea, porque juntos podemos compartir, asombrarnos y divertirnos, así como platicar sobre temas y eventos de mayor complexidad.

La migración es una constante en las vidas de los niños de Santo Tomas, Cuajimoloyas y muchas otras comunidades indígenas en México. Sin embargo, poca gente en estas comunidades habla de esto. Por lo tanto, un proyecto de Arte-Identidad estaría incompleto si al utilizar los cuentos como herramienta de identidad, el tema migratorio no estuviera presente.

Este verano en nuestra clase de pintura, nosotros- las estudiantes voluntarias- escribimos un cuento sobre dos animales separados porque uno de ellos necesitaba salir a otro país. Nuestro cuento no tenía texto (palabras), tampoco tenía un final, la idea es dejar que los niños escriban el resto con su pintura.

Algunos de los finales de los niños expresaron que los animales habían migrado a los Estados Unidos para encontrar trabajos como:

Recolectores de basura

Vendedores

Barrenderos

Después, ellos hicieron máscaras para llegar a ser sus propios personajes en sus finales del cuento. Echen un vistazo...

ENGLISH

Welcome back!

This summer was so fun with the kids of Santo Tomas Jaileza. Even though we did many activides and learned so much form the kids, I´m only going to show a couple of projects of the summer.

Storytelling is not only fun but also useful in the recreation of indentities. Since prehistoric times, storytelling has had many functions, for fun and for passing on traditions and beliefs, for creating community connection. Storytelling creates a connection almost instantly, because together we can share, surprise each other and have fun as well as talk about themes and events that are more complex.

Migration is a constaint theme in the lives of the kids in Santo Tomas, Cuajimoloyas y many other indigenous communities in Mexico. Without a doubt, not many people in these communities talk about it. Therefore, an art project about indentity, using stories as a tool, would be incomplete if the theme of migration wasn´t present.

This summer in our painting class, us, the student volunteers, wrote a story about two animals who were separated because one of them needed to leave to another country. Our story didn't have text (words) or an ending, so that the kids could write the rest of the story with their paintings.

In some of the kids wrote about the animals having to migrate to The United States to find work like:

Trash collectors

Vendors

Janitors

Later, the kids made masks to become their own characters to play out the ending of their stories. Take a look...

2010-04-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine anyone who DOESN'T love to listen to a children's story, kids and adults alike. There we were at the community center, waiting for our students, hopeful that we would be joined by a few despite the fact that, being Semana Santa, it was vacation time. Fatima rounded the corner, greeted us and sat down, and began to leaf through the selection of children's books we had brought with us. It didn't matter that the books were written in English, the pictures were enough to tell the story. Soon, Vilma, a regular in the program, and Aleida joined our informal reading circle.

" Hacemos un cuento? "

2010-03-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

"Close your eyes really tightly and imagine a character. Can you see your character? Is it an animal or a person? Now picture your character in the forest surrounding Santo Tomas. Can you see it there? Now what is your character doing? Who are the other characters?" And so began each child's trip through his or her imagination, in preparation for creating a book using pencils, markers, and paint.

The Hen and The Lion by Melina
Once there was a hen and a lion.One day the lion passed by the hen house filled with many hens and he fell in love with the most beautiful one and they got married.

They had a baby with the head of a lion and the body of a hen.

The End

The Snake and the Hamster
by Emmanuel

The snake left his cave to go eat the hamster.

When the hamster saw the snake he ran to his cave.

But the snake was very quick. The snake covered
the cave and chased the hamster to another cave.
A big rock fell on the snake and the hamster was able to escape.

The End

Revealing the Legends

2010-03-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

While the 5th and 6th graders in the community of Cuajimaloyas were disappointed not to be working with us again today, as were we, it was lovely to spend the morning with a new group of students, as well: 3rd and 4th graders this time. In order to get the stories and legends of the community flowing, one of the elder teachers began by telling the story of how Cuajimaloyas and its neighboring communities came to be. Surprisingly, very few of the children admitted to being familiar with the legend. What an ideal opportunity to reinforce the vitality of our self-identity project with the kids! It didn't take long for one of the girls to get up the courage to tell a story she had been told by elders in the community, and others were soon to follow. Stories of eagles, serpents, friars, dwarfs, magical deer, devils, and, of course, the legendary "La Llorona" circled about the group. The attention the children gave to their friends' telling of the stories was truly magical! This week's 'homework' for the kids, of course, is to interview their parents, grandparents, and others in order to learn still more stories and share in the oral history of the community.

¡Fiestas!

2010-03-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

There are a total of 12 of us today, 8 children and 4 adults, gathered in the auditorium. Our theme is fiestas, so we begin with hearing a legend about the Sun and the Moon, and how they compete to watch over the people’s parties on Earth. The children inch ever closer to the book, not wanting to miss a single page and the colorful evocations of the festivals.“What do you have at your parties here in Santo Tomas?” one of the adults asks. “Pinatas!”, “Shrimps!”, “Candies and cakes!”, and, again, "Pinatas!" And, with the celebration of the Day of the Samaritan coming in just two days, "Fruit water!" as, of course, every home and business in the town makes and offers homemade fruit water to all others in the community, just as the story of the Good Samaritan goes. The excitement grows as the children recall various festivals throughout the year, and how they celebrate. Today, instead of individual pieces of paper, the children will put their ideas onto a mural, both in drawings and writing: a communal effort demonstrating their tradition of fiestas in the community of Santo Tomas Jalieza.

Pride emerges in Santo Tomas Jalieza

2010-03-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Within moments of arriving at the auditorium in the community, I found myself draped with children. Sure, they may not have had any idea who I was, but with a bit of interest shown and Spanish shared, I was one of them. As I moved around the group taking photos, 13 year old Gilberto was quick to hide from the camera, making it very clear that he did not want his photo taken. I reassured him that I would respect his wishes and continued with snapping pictures of the others. An hour or so into our time there, the children were busy drawing their images of animals on large sheets of paper, each one sprawled within his or her own space. Gilberto was awfully busy and quiet, so I approached him and observed him drawing the most exquisite hummingbird perched atop a detailed and subtly shaded prickly pear cactus. What an artist!! I saw his pride begin to emerge in spite of his claim that he never practiced drawing. Only when he held up his drawing and gave me a delightful grin in front of the camera did he completely give in to his satisfaction at a job well done.

Teachers and Students Alike

2010-03-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

“How many of you speak Zapotec?” was the question put forth to the 5th and 6th graders in the Sierra Norte community of Cuajimaloyas. Silence and shy faces were the responses. In an attempt to begin the process of encouraging these eager children to learn about and take pride in their language and culture, it was important to find out a bit more about what they were bringing to the table. Fast forward an hour or so, with students and teachers alike gathered casually outside on the basketball court, and a different story began to emerge. As the children gained comfort and began their interactions with a group of University students from the United States, suddenly a variety of Zapotec words were heard and seen: “Uno, tu, one; dos, chupa, two; tres, tsuna, three...”. “How do you say ‘my house’ in Zapotec?” The pride on the little boy’s face as he gently corrected a friend was obvious: “It’s ‘my house’...'yuu ki', not ‘house my’.” Clearly, all were involved in teaching and learning in this rich cultural exchange.

El lobo y los changos: un cuento de Nico. The wolf and the monkeys: a story by NIco

2010-02-13T15:15:00.000-08:00

Nicolás or "Nico" as we all call him, came a bit tired to our last class, i think he was playing

soccer all morning, at school and after school. Nico is in second grade and he is a true artist.

He is also a bit of a perfectionist so he always helps me when it comes to having things in order...he won´t accept a piece of paper that is not evenly cut and if he does, he lets me know the paper could have been cut evenly.

This time he created a story of a wolf and some monkeys, can you read it?

"Una vez el lobo iba a su casa y empezó a oler algo y se vió en un charco, pero en el árbol habían dos changos muy traviesos y el lobo fue hacia el árbol y se comió a los changos"

So Nico´s wolf eats monkeys! I like it!

Mi primer día en clase de pintura. Perla, 7 años.

2010-02-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Perla came to her first painting class today, her little friend Vilma, who has never really missed a class, invited her to come. When she walked into the auditorium where we work, Vilma held her hand and took her to where I was seating, on the floor, getting the paint ready. "Ella es nueva y no tiene pincel ni papel"/ "She´s new and she doesn't have paper nor a brush" said Vilma to me. I gave Perla both the brush and a piece of paper and she sat next to Vilma. On her first day she painted "una flor, un perro, una mariposa y muchos corazones".

I hope Perla´s mom will bring her next class, Vilma was really happy to have her new "painting friend".

Estilo abstracto: one of our youngest artists.

2010-02-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

Damaris is only 4.5 years old and she loves to paint. She won´t use the brush and gives full responsability to her little fingers...no distractions, no looking to the other kids even when they spill paint next to her...she is in her own abstract world, painting. Her fingers won't stop blending red and blue, orange and white. She will only call me if she needs a different color: - "color morado"...¿tiene color morado? - "Do you have pruple color?" It´s her favorite color but I dont have any left. I look around and say "No tengo". She is not really bothered by not having purple though, she continues creating her art, quietly...

"¡Mire la serpiente maestro!" / "Look at the snake teacher!"

2010-02-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

When Christopher finished this painting, he came right away saying "maestro, maestro, maestro...mire, mire.mire" as he is pulling my jeans to get my attention. Then he goes and points at the snake and the spider in the painting, can you see them? "¿Puede ver la serpiente y la araña?" They are both in white color and the only reason why they have black eyes and mouth is because I did not identify them right away!...I know. Chris noticed my hesitation and said "bueno, les pongo sus ojos" "Ok, I´ll put eyes on them". He came back a few minutes later and happily pointed at the spider and the snake.

This little artist, he is only 6 years old, loves snakes and there is always one in his paintings, this is the first time he makes them white though...i wonder if the spider next to it had something to do with it.

There is a story of a "fire snake" in the community which lives somewhere in the mountains. The story tells this snake is "Quetzalcoatl" the feathered snake, the one prehispanic "deity" that created Mexicans.

"Hoy fui a clase de Música" / "Today I went to music class"

2010-02-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

Aleks or Alex for Alejandro, is the name of this one little artist who came to our "clase de pintura" all excited after his first music lesson in the community. In his work you can see the "reloj grande" (big clock) which is to "play the instruments", as he said. He wanted to know if it was ok to paint about his music lesson: "¿puedo, puedo maestro?" and so he did, then he told me about the instrument he would like to play. See the word "roc" written on his work? There´s some of the influence of "rock stars" through television...It was nice to hear they actually had music lessons though, extracurricular activities are not the norm in most of the communities.

2010-02-06T13:12:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T13:10:00.002-08:00

Artist: Angie, 4 years old

2010-02-06T13:10:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

2010-02-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

2010-02-06T12:56:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T12:55:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T12:54:00.002-08:00

2010-02-06T12:54:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

2010-02-06T12:50:00.001-08:00

2010-02-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

2010-02-06T12:48:00.001-08:00

Title: "La isla"

2010-02-06T12:47:00.001-08:00

Artist: Vilma

Title: "Yo"

2010-02-06T12:46:00.001-08:00

Artist: Juan

2010-02-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Artist: Kenia

2010-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Artist: Vilma

Title: "Mi casa"

!Aqui está nuestro arte!

2010-02-06T11:50:00.001-08:00

Artist: Nico

His description: "Es un castillo" (it´s a castle)

Little Oaxacan Artists, Community of Santo Tomás Jalieza

2010-02-06T10:35:00.000-08:00

Bienvenidos!

Ollin Tlahtoalli Center in Oaxaca and the children of Santo Tomás Jalieza, Ocotlán and San Antonio Cuajimoloyas, Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, are happy to share their art through this blog.

The art here presented is the result of a project that started almost three years now! Our goal is to re-affirm indigenous indentities through art projects where children are the main actors, teachers, and providers of information.

We invite to immerse yourself in the world of the children in our rural Oaxacan communities. Through their art we hope you can understand what makes indigeous children proud of who they are, where they come from and what is most important to them. In the years that we have committed to this project, we have received many lessons on community, family and rural life but most importantly around the complexities of being an indigenous child.

let´s begin to see the world through their eyes...