Showing posts with label Natividad Amador. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natividad Amador. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Natividad Amador



Natividad Amador lives in Juchitán de Zaragoza in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.  She studied arts at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, where she learned graphics and painting in the style of the Oaxacan school of painting.  Upon returning to Juchitán, she wanted to assimilate the uniqueness of her culture and to incorporate it in her painting.  She found it in the textiles and embroidery, which is also called chain stitch, characteristic of the huipiles of the isthmus.  It is thus that she began to develop painting in textile.  She learned the technique of embroidery and developed it to achieve the expression for which she was looking.  She found ways to stitch to give contrasts of tone and breadth in order to generate shadows and a sense of depth.  


Natividad Amador vive en Juchitán de Zaragoza, en el Istmo de Tehuantepec. Estudió artes en la Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, donde aprendió gráficos y pintura en el estilo de la escuela de pintura oaxaqueña.  Al regresar a Juchitán, quisó a asimilar la singularidad de su cultura e  incorporarla en su pintura. Ella lo encontró en el textil y el bordado, que también es llamado tejido de cadenilla. Es característico de los huipiles del istmo.  Es así que comenzó a desarrollar la pintura en textil.  Aprendió la técnica de bordado y la desarrolló para conseguir la expresión que ella esperaba.  Ella encontró formas de coser para dar contrastes de tono y amplitud para generar sombras y una sensación de profundidad.


In December of 2010 the Museo Textil de Oaxaca presented an exhibition of her work called Pinthila (combining the spanish words, pintura e hilar).  In that exhibition there were 36 embroidered paintings realized in collaboration with her art teachers, the masters: Alejandro Santiago, Arnulfo Mendoza, Damián Flores, Eddie Martínez, Francisco Toledo, Gabriel Macotela, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, José Villalobos, Juan Alcázar, Luis Zárate, Miguel Ángel Charis and Víctor Chaca. In that work, carried out for two years, some of the works were translations of pictorial pieces, as it is in the case of Eddie Martínez; others were from working together in the studios of painters as Gabriel Macotela, and in some cases, the artist gave her a "sketch" and left that Natividad free to make a textile piece, as it happened with Demián Flores.  I have a Picasa web album of some that work.

A close up showing finished and unfinished areas

En diciembre del 2010 el Museo Textil de Oaxaca presentó una exhibición de su obra llamada Pinthila (combinación de las palabras, pintura e hiliar).  En la exposición hubo 36 pinturas bordados realizadas en colaboración con su maestros de arte, los maestros: Alejandro Santiago, Arnulfo Mendoza, Damián Flores, Eddie Martínez, Francisco Toledo, Gabriel Macotela, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, José Villalobos, Juan Alcázar, Luis Zárate, Miguel Ángel Charis y Víctor Chaca. En ese trabajo, realizado durante dos años, algunas de las obras eran traducciones de obras pictóricas, como es el caso de Eddie Martínez; otros eran de trabajar juntos en los estudios de pintores como Gabriel Macotela y en algunos casos, el artista le dio un boceto y dio Natividad libretad para hacer una pieza textil, como sucedió con Demián Flores. Tengo un álbum web de Picasa de algunas obras.




In these photos from a visit to her studio in Juchitán, you can see details in her current work and see how she progresses with a piece of her work.  There are also photos of the underside of the work.  She talked about the difficulty of convincing the public to accept textile on the same level as painting. There is an additional gallery of the visit to her studio here. Please take time to look at the photo galleries.

The underside

En estas fotos de una visita a su estudio en Juchitán, puede ver detalles con su obra actual y ver cómo progresa con una pieza de su obra. Hay también fotos de la parte inferior de la obra. Ella habló de la dificultad de convencer a la opinión pública a aceptar textil en el mismo nivel que la pintura. Hay una galería adicional de la visita a su estudio aquí. Por favor, tómese el tiempo para mirar las galerías de fotos.

una pieza diferente

la parte de abajo







Sunday, January 23, 2011

Museo Textil de Oaxaca



In the heart of the city of Oaxaca an eighteenth century mansion houses the Museo Textil de Oaxaca [MTO]. Since its inception in 2008, the MTO’s mission has been to provide a broad view of the designs, techniques and creative processes for the manufacture of textiles from Oaxaca, Mexico and the world. It does this through the ongoing exchange of expertise through conferences, workshops and exhibitions. The museum hosts exhibitions, does conservation and preservation, has an extensive private collection, ho;ds classes and workshops, and has a store which sells, yarn, clothing, and publications. It’s worth your time checking out their website for the photography. Sorry but Google translate can’t do much with the website directly but cutting and pasting text into Google translate works quite well you just need two windows open. If you take the time you’ll get some insight into the sophistication of this project. They constantly change exhibits, run classes and workshops, maintain a museum collection and library, do conservation and restoration, and have a wonderful museum store. If you want a closer look at the museum’s activities they keep a diary El Diario Oficial del MTO. The diary runs through Google translate quite well. It is made up of individual articles on topics such as natural dyes, costumes, articles on individual weaving villages, conservation activities, individual weavers, and a short picture story of the restoration of the building itself. The interests here are both broad and deep. While most of the focus goes to local artisans they have both knowledge and a worldview of textiles. Like good jazz they both respect the tradition while blowing open the boundaries of the art. For some examples of exhibitions you can look here.


The Current exhibition at MTO is called Pinthlia, a contraction of painting (pintura) and spin (hilar). Pinthila is the work of Natividad Amador and is a collaboration with other Oaxacan artists. After studying fine art at the University of Oaxaca Bonito Jaurez shedecided that her painting was lacking something. so she returned to her home in Juchitán where she found what she was looking for in the typical Isthmus textiles with chain stitch embroidery also know as "tejido" (weaving). She developed her technique by finding different angles to the stitch to get her contrast of tones and to generate shades and depth in order to paint in textile. She next established a dialogue with other artists that she considered to be masters. The result is on display until February 6th.



I have large format photos on picasa some with fine detail. The large format photos can be blown up using the magnifying glass icon, then made even larger with the + icon on the upper left. This detail shot of the bird figure gives some idea of the complexity of her work. I hope you take time to look them over. Natividad's work is quite fantastic. Enjoy!