el arte

tradicional
de

America
Latina

Dominican
Republic

Government and development agencies are encouraging

arts and crafts
Some campesinos are involved in retaining their
heritage by continuing to create pottery for household
use and as a decorative art
Ceramics include: lamp bases, vases, ashtrays, nativity
scenes, decorative plates, candle holders, and dollmaking
Woodcarving out of biguero/calabash tree into lacquered
purses, rounded mulatto faces, fish, Spanish maracas,
and guiros (a merengue instrument)
Weavers use local fibers including palm leaves to make
baskets, straw hats, hammock ties, floor mats and rugs
Jewelry-making with amber, larimar, seashells,
tortoiseshells, bone and coral

Cuba
Gigantic paintings in strong primary colors are rendered
by artists on limestone caves. Prehistoric paintings have
been found in these caves and the rock painting serves
to highlight their existence

Belize
Garifuna formerly called Black Caribs, descend from
the Carib Indians and Africans in the eastern Caribbean
in the 18th century
Fight the influence of the British and Americas
Much of the craft industry is for tourists
Many of the traditional crafts have been revived or
maintained and many new ones have been developed
Mayan weavers make baskets, bags, and hammocks
Carving materials include the nut of the cohune palm,
coconut shell, and slate
Ceramics motifs from nature and Mayan art
Musical Instruments Garifuna and Creole drums
Dolls adult black women dressed in their finest clothes
or performing a domestic task
Mennonites wooden furniture

Ecuador
PANAMA HATS Most famous craft which is made in
Ecuador not Panama. They got the name in the 1850s
when gold miners returning from Central America to
New York mistakenly said their elegant straw hats came
from Panama. They next came to notice of the public
when U.S. soldiers wore them at the end of the 19 th
century. They are made from toquilla straw, which has to
be boiled and dried before it can be woven. A good
New
York,oryet
the weavers
Panama,
superfino,
takesreceive
three months to make and
only
a tiny
fraction
of that
sum. The
will cost
$1,000
in Paris,
London,
or
end of the 150 year tradition may be
in sight as the hats are declining in
popularity.

Ecuador
Weaving and the textile business which has become a
largescale buisess with factories and electric looms that
produce hundres of pieces a day is key to the success
for the Indigenous group - Otavaleo
Producing - Ponchos, tapestry wall hangings,
embroidered blouses, dresses, gloves, socks, blankets,
caps, belts, shawls, scarves, capes, and bulky sweaters
Hammocks and baskets are sold by the Cayapas or
Chachi indigenous group near the coast
Baskets and clay pots are made by the Amazon people:
the Shaur people make ones with fine, intricately
decorated geometric designs. The Canelos women make
ones with designs depicting aspects of their life and
mythology

Peru
Retablos are wooden boxes filled with brightly colored figures
arranged into intricate narrative scenes of religious, historical
and everyday events important to the indigenous people of the
highlands of Peru."Santero boxes" originated in Europe and
came to Peru with the Spanish Conquistadors in the 16th
century. Before bringing them to Peru, the boxes were used as
portable altars by medieval travelers and pilgrims and were
carried by soldiers into battle during the Crusades. In Peru,
they were used by the Spanish evangelists to teach the
Catholic faith to the native "infidels". The costumbristas depict
the traditional festivals of the indigenous people such as Holy
Week in Ayacucho, the branding of the bulls, bullfights, the
musical
instruments;
market
Dance of the Scissors, theAnd
hunting
of the
condor, and
Nativity
ceremonies.The
crches. They also depict scenes and
fromhealing
daily life
such as
testimonials
tell the story of the
craftsmen weaving, making
hats
social and political changes that the
Ayacucho region has suffered in the
last fifteen years. One of the most
common themes is that of terrorism,
showing scenes of slaughter of
peasants, armed fights, the Shining
Path (Sendero Luminoso) guerrillas,

Bolivia
Weaving is central to life in Bolivia
Native American families weave their own cloth, designs
and patterns have particular significance to the family,
community, or the gods
Ponchos
Dark maroon to wine colors are for daily use, black for
mourning, and bright stripes for fiestas
Different regions have different styles:
Potolo weavings depict birds like the Andean
condor
Candelaria weavings are decorated with
designs of tiny horses
Good weavings are prized:
Traditionally they were given to the Inca emperor, and
today they decorate statues of the village patron saint.
Young women who make fine cloth are
sought after as brides, as their skills are highly valued.

Paraguay
Handicrafts of carved bowls, plates, furniture, and other
items. The woods of the dry Chaco are hard with a fine
grain. Some are very dense, and some have subtle
colors. One, the quebracho, meaning ax breaker, is
extremely hard.
anduti is lace made by the women of the town of
Itaugua. The art was brought from Spain, but the
designs are mostly Paraguayan. Most of the women of
the area are working in this trade. Womens head
coverings or Mantillas and colorful tablecloths and
napkins are some of the items these women create.

Chile
Handicrats: pottery, baskets, carvings, weavings
Arpillera a plain piece of cloth onto which scraps of
material are embroidered to create pictures and
patterns. They were first made by a group of women
whose men folk had been persecuted by the military
regime. It was a way of earning some money and of
protesting against the government. The idea caught on,
but now everyday scenes are equally popular. A good
one can take up to a year to make.
Mapuche Indians add to their income by making finely
crafted silver jewelry, pottery, and hand woven ponchos,
sweaters for sale in the local markets
Chilote Island people (Chilotes) women weave
blankets, ponchos, socks, and scarves for the markets

Mexico
As Mexican eat, dress, play, or pray they use replicas of
the crafts used by their ancestors
Ancient Indian traditions are still followed
Pottery
major activity, done by hand, without a wheel.
Weaving
done on a back strap loom.
Clothing
Huipils long embroidered dresses; long blouses;
quexquemetls or ponchos; capes
Wool
Spanish influence by introducing sheep
Serapes / blankets and rebozos / shawls

Mexico
Local crafts are sold in bustling bazaars and street
markets everywhere in Mexico.

Nicaragua
Passed down from the Nicarao Indians
Weaving, Macrame knotting strings and ropes for
decorative designs, Hammocks, Ceramics
Musical Instruments:
Marimba - like a xylophone, Maracas, Chirimia like a
clarinet

Recent
development:
Mural Painting
show
political
messages
and historical
events

Venezuela
Forest Woods are used to make handicrafts including
carved models of birds, fish, and other animals for the
tourists
The Moriche Palm is used to
make baskets by the Warao
people. They dye the fibers
with extracts of nuts and seeds
and the bark of various trees.

Colombia
Tribes of the Choco make baskets, and etch designs on
gourds that are used as containers, carve figurines,
make flutes and drums
Pasto patterns an art form
practiced by the Pasto Indians, a
pasto lacquer is a fine, very
glossy, and hard-wearing layer
that is applied to painted goods,
such as wooden pots, tabletops,
and stools. A natural resin the
material is prepared from the
fruit of the mopa-mopa, a plant
of the same family as coffee. The
sticky kernel of the fruit is
chewed until it becomes a black
paste, then spread into very thin
sheets that are laid on the object
being decorated. Patterns are
then cut out of the paste,
http://home.freeuk.net/barnizdepasto/aboutbarniz.htm
allowing the colored paint

Colombia

Brazil

Spotted Jaguar
by Marcilio Barroco

Red Clan Warrior

by Neival Lima

Countryside by Elenice

Devil
by Marcilio Barroco

Brazil
Happy Childhood by Ricardo Siccuro

Enjoying the Music II by W. Lima

Puerto Rico
Shaped by Taino, Spanish and African heritage and
American influence
Masks:
Veigante made from coconut or wood for Lent
originally in shape of devils head to scare local people
into repenting, now made in shape of animal heads for
tourists
Tatting:
Twine patterned together to have a lace like effect.
Hammocks (orginally created by the Taino people) are
decorated with it. As a border it is called mundillos.
Done in northwest coast in Aguadilla. Traditianal pava
hat worn by jibaros is also made there.
Musical Instruments:
Tres, cuatro, seis guitars with 3, 4, and 6 strings
percussion insturments quiros (rattle),
claves, guiro
Saint Carving: santos every family owns many, every

El Salvador
Folk art plays a central role among the Indians
Musical instruments, pottery vessels, stone sculptures,
architectural ornaments, and jewelry are from ancient
Mayan craftsmen
Ilobasco famous for its intricate ceramics and sorpresas,
tiny clay figures and nativity scenes hidden inside
walnut-sized oval shells
Nahuizalco specializes in basketry
San Sebastians known for colorful hammocks and other
woven textiles made on handmade wooden looms

Costa Rica
Remnants of Pre-Colombian artifacts are scarce
Carreta / Oxcart: best-known example of Costa Rican
folk art Colorful designs (geometric patterns, starburts
designs, black and white accents, intricate flowers,
leaves, vegetables, faces, landscapes) and brightly
painted wheels, originally used to transport coffee beans
over the mountain roads for export at the ports. The
journey took 10 to 15 days. During the rainy season
carts would get caught in the mud. People made a solid
wheel without spokes. A wife of a cartmaker in San
Ramon decorated the first carreta around the turn of the
century. The idea became a popular custom.

Honduras
Mayan artifacts
Common crafts:
Small wooden or claw hollow animals such as chickens,
pigs, dogs, macaws, and other birds that are brightly
painted and have intricate designs. Another version of it
is as a bank that has to be smashed to get the money
out of it.
Vases, handwoven grass bead baskets and laundry
baskets
Garifuna weave a special sleeping mat from a long,
slender grass called nea.
Woodcarving has been made into a fine art with
furniture such as coffee tables, mirror frames, and
trunks taking on deep-relief carvings of the village
streets, flowers, and marine life

Panama
Influences come from Spanish, African, North American,
and West Indies.
Much of the oldest and riches art might be buried at sea
when Columbus had four ships sink carrying treasures to
Spain.
Molas / Cloth Cuna Indians make beautiful intricately
appliqud panels. They have been making them for
hundreds of years. Today used for blouses, cushions,
and wall coverings. Layers of cloth are basted together.
They cut away some sections to reveal material
underneath and add pieces to it.
Buses Panamanians purchase yellow school buses from
the U.S. since WWII and turn them into wonderfully
decorated modes of transportation buried under layers
of paint. They paint long images such as a mermaid, a
panoramic scene, or a dragon on the side of the bus.
The rear door is where the artist devotes most of the