Thursday, November 20, 2008

Mexican Inspiration

I'm in the crazy stage of preparing for my art group's Dec. show, so my days are filled with labels, frames, and inventory sheets, with little time to work on new art.  Still, Mexico left a few impressions that are floating around in my head waiting to be developed in the future.  I want to get them recorded before they escape me.

After I did the fiber piece inspired by posters on a telephone pole, I knew I wanted to come back to that idea and work with walls as a subject, thinking of layers of color and texture.  I went to Mexico with the intention of photographing good walls to use in the future, and I was not disappointed:




One day a wonderful tour guide, Pablo, took us out to the village of weavers, Teotitlan del Valle.  We got to watch an entire family take wool from raw form to beautiful woven rugs.  My favorite part was learning about the natural dying process and seeing the gorgeous colors produced.    I haven't ventured into dying my own fabrics yet, but I keep toying with the idea, especially if I can get colors like this:



I could have spent all day in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.  One thing that jumped out at me was a book of Mayan writing.  It was full of fabulous symbols just waiting to be used in something:


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