Alebrije Art Around Oaxaca – 20220622

Today I jumped on the moto to head down to San Martin Tilcajete. I REALLY love the albrije art that they make around Oaxaca and San Martin is known as the birthplace with the best shops. My plan was to drive the 40 mins south to walk around the various shops and look at the art.

Once I arrived I walked around as the absolute only tourist there. Very few shops had opened up even by 11am. Clearly the only tourists that go there go there with van groups and I’m assuming it always happens at a predetermined time. Because I just king of bumbled around letting myself into shops as the artists stared up at me from their work

My favorite shop was a place called Taller David Hernandez. They showed me the process of how they made them and they were so well done. After seeing it none of the other places looked nearly as good. At the taller they were working on an octopus for some lady in San Francisco and it was absolutely amazing. He said the piece would cost about $10,000 which seemed like not a terrible price for how much work gets put into it. You can see the work in progress. The dark blue is just the primer and the stripe on one of the tentacles is the more intricate pattern that will eventually cover the entire octopus.

The process consists of them getting the wood which is a specific tree, cutting it into shape of an animal, letting it dry for 10 months, and filling the cracks that form with chips of wood. They then soak it in gasoline and then prime it and begin painting. Watching the girls do the painting was amazing. I don’t know how its possible that they painted so finely. It really made me want to do some drawing again.

When I got back I headed to the market to get some overdue things done. I bought an extra pair of pants as my other ones ripped this morning cleeeeear down the crotch, and I hired a guy to change out my phone battery for 100 pesos. He did a great job and I went to eat some lunch and some mangos from my favorite mango lady while he did it.  The “Manila” mangos here are sooo good especially with the spicy salt that mango lady puts on it.

Then I rested for a bit at the hostel a little before heading out of Oaxaca for the warmer and more humid air of Chiapas.