Art Above

I recently posted photos from the Anthropology Museum of the artwork of the Huichol tribe from western Mexico.  Every time that I walk down Madero Street in the "Centro Histórico" I see in a balcony above, a display for a shop selling Huichol art.  I keep telling myself that I should go visit the shop, and last Thursday I did.

The balcony is on the last block of Madero Street before you reach the Zócalo, the main square of Mexico City.  According to the sign, you enter through #15 on the Zócalo.  At the end of the block I turned left, and found the doorway marked 15.  I went inside.  A man was seated at a desk, and I asked him where the shop was.  He directed me up a flight of stairs, and there I found several businesses including the art gallery I was looking for.  The place is called "Yawí Arte Tradicional".

The shop consists of two small rooms filled with incredible yarn paintings and beaded work, much of it by one noted Huichol artist.  In the second room there are also some high quality work from other parts of Mexico.  The lady in charge was very pleasant.  We chatted at length about the artwork, about pieces of handicrafts that I have, and about the display of Huichol art that I had seen in the Anthropology Museum.  The lady said that she believed that the artist had a piece on display in the museum.

Look at these large animal figures covered with intricate designs all done in beads.

It's not surprising that most of the items here cost hundreds, or even thousands of dollars.  I found a reasonably priced, small, beaded item that I bought as a gift for someone back home.  It came with a certificate of authenticity from the artist.

The lady was then kind enough to take my picture standing next to a beaded figure of a mariachi musician.