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Amazing and special is the only way to describe today. Gladys and her brother Mateo arrived last night and we were ready to hit the morning running to visit two of the artisans that READ has come to know through our visits to Otavalo. Our goal is to feature them on the website when our online store goes live.
We started with Mercedes, who Ginny and I met last year in the market. The mostly cotton weaving, and some lamb’s wool weaving is so different than anything else we have seen in the market. Her fabrica (factory) is on her small farm in a small community called Agato, just outside of Otavalo. There are three families that work together in this fabrics. There are at least 10 looms, but they are all hand looms. These are not automated looms, they must be worked by the weavers. It is amazing to see how much work goes into each piece. The patterns are lovely and pretty irresistible if you can judge by the size of the bag Mateo had to carry down the road to the car.
Our next stop was to another family studio, but these artisans paint nativities. I have often wondered how all of these are carved. At this studio, they have carvers who come each morning and afternoon and rough out the main part of the figure. Then, the husband and wife who are the head of this studio, finish out the pieces. The husband went to art school and he shared his sketchbook with us. Very special and very talented. They have one piece that was mind blowing. Fairly large, but the detail was amazing. Such a stunning piece and it is something that could go into any gallery.
The pieces then go to the first sister who paints the main colors onto the pieces, these go to another sister or niece who paints these delicate outlines. Finally, another sister or niece, paints in the details. They all have their specialty, work together each day and were so much fun. They even let Lori and I try our hands at the painting. Pretty intimidating!!!! I painted a few minutes but didnt’ want to mess up the piece. They start learning at quite a young again. Finally they put the finish on the piece and it’s ready to go to the market or for READ to get quite a few pieces!
In both places the artisans were so kind, enthusiastic about sharing their work and very welcoming to us. It gives one such a perspective about all the passion, talent, time, and creativity put into each of these pieces. I always admire the amazing work, but seeing it done, how much is put into each piece, gIves me a level of admiration that I didn’t have before. We continue to build these relationships to stock up READ sales but the artisan know the work that READ does, and they appreciate that the funds we raise return to Ecuador to support the programs READ has in our Resource Centers.
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