Tony mindling on thu 19 sep 02
Oaxacan Clay: Sunday, Day 1
You've traveled 3,000 miles. It's icy back home, there is a pile =
of
work nagging at you, the car needs fixing.
The Oaxacan airport is so small there is only one plane there,
yours. The air is warm, the sky is wonderously blue. In the city the =
stone
buildings are ancient, infused with sun. Magenta bougainvilleas, purple
jacaranda blossoms and pumpkin colored houses shock your eyes. On the =
corner
there is cold Corona, Sol and Tecate beer for sale.=20
The ice from back home begins to melt off your shoes. The =
theatre of
places, people and colors that is passing before your eyes distracts you
from that work you left behind. What the people are saying you may not
know, but they are smiling.=20
Our little group meets. We lunch on Zapotec curry, a.k.a. mole',
hibiscus water, hot corn tortillas, squash blossom soup and avocado ice =
cream.=20
"Hey, where are the cheeseburgers"? Someone asks. But they =
aren't
from our group.=20
I will tempt you with a slide show, with exotic images of a far =
away
place where potters with ribbons in their long braids dig their clay in =
corn
fields and fire their pots in smoky bonfires under a blazing blue sky. I
will show you images of a barren, high-country where oak bark is =
harvested
to make a dye that will decorate water jugs, and of sunken kilns that
produce jet black pots.=20
But by the end of this workshop you won't need my slides to see
these distant places. You will have visited them yourself, dug the =
clay,
smelled the smoke, seen the the oak bark sizzle on hot pots.=20
After lunch we'll stroll over to the Rufino Tamayo museum where
we'll take a peek at 2,000 year old gods, figures, dogs, skulls, =
warriors
and kings all made of clay, just so you have a sense of where you are, =
the
roots of clay that are in this land.
And then the sun will be dipping behind the western sierra- =
Now go
spend the evening on the lively town square listening to the mariachis =
and
marimbas with a rum in your hand. Tomorrow we've got clay to dig.
=20
For more information drop Eric a line- rayeric@RNET.com.mx, or =
take
a sneak preview at www.manos-de-oaxaca.com.
Session 1- Feb 2-10, 2003
Session 2-March 16-24,2003
Nine-day Workshop cost is $1,150 with 7-8 participants. Cost is
$1,380 with 5-6 participants.=20
This price includes workshop fee, museum entrance, all =
materials,
hotel Sun.-Mon night, most meals, Oaxacan transport in private van, =
maximum
group size of eight with two guides and two instructors.=20
Short Course-December 15-21, 2002
Six-day Workshop cost is $890 with 7-8 participants. Cost is =
$1,085
with 5-6 participants.=20
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -=20
Rachel Werling, botanist
and/or
Eric Mindling
www.manos-de-oaxaca.com
email: rayeric@rnet.com.mx
Apto Postal 1452
Oaxaca, Oax.
cp 68000
Mexico
phone 011 52 (951) 547-4534
fax 011 52 (951) 521-4186
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