Twitter: http://twitter.com/vochol Contacto/Contact: amigosdelmap@gmail.com Vochol® es el primer arte-objeto huichol sobre ruedas del mundo. Es un hecho sin precedente e irrepetible en la historia del arte popular, que enaltece de manera espectacular la riqueza cultural y artística de México. Vochol ® is the first objet d´art of Huichol art on wheels in the world . It is an unprecedented and unique in the history of popular art, which dramatically enhances the cultural and artistic wealth of Mexico. Asociacion de Amigos del MAP, A.C.www.amigosmap.org.mx/ Museo de Arte Popular http://www.map.df.gob.mx/ VOCHOL http://www.vochol.org.mx/

lunes, 28 de febrero de 2011

Fifth Anniversary / V Aniversario


Congratulations Museum of Popular Art on it Fifth Anniversary / Felicidades al Museo de Arte Popuar en su V Aniversario

En  el marco de la celebración del V Aniversario del Museo de Arte Popular CONACULTA, a través de su Sala de Prensa, emitió el siguiente boletín:
http://amigosmap.blogspot.com/2011/02/map-cinco-anos-de-ser-un-referente.html

lunes, 21 de febrero de 2011

VOCHOL® PRESS RELEASE



                                                                                                                                                                        
Unique glass seed bead design

  h u i c h o l   A R T   O N   W H E E L S

  • Captivating in its beauty, Vochol® offers the opportunity to connect to a culture of rites, dexterity and sensitivity

  • Some 2 million 277 thousand glass seed beads were used in its design, in addition to 16 kilograms of special resin, paint, yarn and other materials

  • This highly original and colorful work will be on display at the Museum of Popular Art through April 2011

Vochol® also embodies an unprecedented event in the history of popular art in Mexico and, indeed, in the world: two families of Huichol artisans from the states of Nayarit and Jalisco in Mexico took as their canvas the real chassis of an automobile and produced an exclusive design using glass seed beads as their medium.

The Asociación de Amigos del Museo de Arte Popular or AAMAP (The Association of Friends of the Museum of Popular Art), together with the support of the Governments of the States of Nayarit and Jalisco, as well as various public and private institutions, made this project – more than one year in the making – a reality.

The Huichol artisans began the Vochol® intervention in May of 2010 at the Cabañas Hospice in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and continued their work at the State Center for Popular and Indigenous Cultures in the state of Nayarit.

Following 9 thousand 408 hours of work over a seven-month period, and the use of 2 million glass seed beads –equal to 90 kilograms–, 16 kilograms of special resin, fabric, paint and yarn, as well as the creative inspiration of the Wixarikas (Huicholes from the Central West of Mexico), the car arrived at the Museum of Popular Art (MAP), where the finishing touches were added.

This is truly an unprecedented work, one that embodies the ethos of a culture that sees the world through a polychromatic glass, a culture that knows how to fuse that which is real and that which is imaginary. It bespeaks the spectacular wonders of popular art in Mexico.

The convergence of design and color offer the ideal opportunity to become tightly intertwined with a culture of rites, dexterity and sensitivity, resulting in a veritable explosion of originality and colorful beauty.

Following its exhibit period at the MAP, Vochol® will leave on a promotional tour, to ultimately be auctioned internationally. All proceeds will be donated to the AAMAP, allowing the Association to continue upholding its objective of promoting the work of some eight million persons involved in the creation of popular art in Mexico.

These actions exemplify what can be achieved through joining efforts and willpower, and thus benefit the men and women artisans of Mexico.

Interested viewers may visit the official website www.vochol.org.mx, as well as AAMAP’s popular blog http://amigosmap.blogspot.com  

Huichol culture

Surviving annihilation and spiritual conquest, the Huichol people are the remnant of the purest of indigenous races. They have become the repository for the tradition and origin that they have carefully preserved over the centuries.

The Huichol continue to worship their ancestral gods, their sacred and powerful peyote, the sun god, the deer god, and the corn god, the father and lord of all signs, hallucinations and the begetter of life and death.

They have now settled in the Western Sierra Madre, primarily in the region comprising the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, as well as part of the states of Durango, Colima and Zacatecas.

The Huichol have for many generations been outstanding embroiderers, and great shamans and tellers of myths and tales. They retain strong links and connections to their natural environment – the means to establishing contact with their ancestral deities.

Perhaps they are the greatest pilgrims the world has ever seen. They feel the need to reconstruct the creative deeds of their gods at the sites where these took place, traveling for four or five months at a time to distant places such as the Chapala Lake, the sea and the magical land of the Wirikuta people, home to peyote.

Enigmatic in its beauty, Huichol art hides unexpected symbols in its designs, techniques and materials, transporting us to a universe in which every creation takes on cosmogonic qualities.

The Huichol people have gained international renown, thanks to their fine embroidery work and woven textiles, to their ritual objects, and especially their stone sculptures, votive arrows and calabashes decorated with glass seed beads.
AAMAP/VA/EO

Oh Huichol, you who are renowned in the domains of your tribe,
proud of the freedom and limpidness of your race…
a man who has stopped time in his surroundings
as his reed flute echoes
under the eaves of his hut.

ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM OF POPULAR ART

miércoles, 9 de febrero de 2011

SIMBOLOGIA HUICHOL / HUICHOL SYMBOLISM

Mara’akame o Shaman
This section represents a maize offering ceremony. It displays a drum, fire, squash and maize.



Deer (Maxa)
The deer is one of the most important animals in Huichol culture.  The deer is the older brother, the wiser brother, and one who knows all and understands all.  Because of these attributes, the deer can be found at points all over the car.




Two-headed Eagle
The double-headed eagle can be found at the four cardinal points of the car.  It symbolizes the communication bridge between God and man.  The eagle’s two heads allow it to have double vision over the world.  In addition, the eagle is accompanied by the talismanic Ojo de Dios immediately above it.





Lizard
It is said that in many years ago, the Gods were searching for someone to represent the opposite of night.  A child with a good heart was chosen.  He was thrown into the fire and converted into the day, into the sun.  The lizard is the animal that takes care of Grandfather Fire.  The Huichol also believe that lizards, together with scorpions, protect humans from evil.  However, they only protect when humans have been good to them.



The Offering
This scene represents an offering to the flood.  According to Huichol tradition, there was a flood many years ago in Lake Chapala, Jalisco.  The boat depicted in this scene is full of seeds -- maize seeds, bean seeds and more.  A Huichol woman at one of the cardinal points caries a gourd to collect these seeds.



Eagle
The eagle is a symbol of the communication link between God and man.





The Snake
The snake guides water.  The clouds that surround her symbolize that it is she, the snake, who brings water to the earth.



The Nakawe Canoe
The canoe and the scene around it represent, once again, the flood that occurred at Lake Chapala.  The image of a dog in this scene reminds us that in ancient times, the woman did not exist.  She is created out of a dog.  She is a descendant of the dog.



VERSION EN ESPAÑOL: http://amigosmap.blogspot.com/2011/01/simbologia-huichol.html