A U.S. folk art group has authorized a US$6,500-dollar grant to help fund bus transportation for Mexican artisans to attend the 2015 Feria Maestros del Arte, scheduled November 13-15.
Members of Los Amigos del Arte Popular attend the lakeside fair each year and offer financial incentives to do all they can to keep this country’s artisans producing beautiful products.
Their grant for this year means that some of the country’s most talented artists will be able to make the trip from distant corners of Mexico, and in particular the state of Oaxaca, says Marianne Carlson, founder of the popular annual event.
The Feria each year invites the best of Mexico’s indigenous folk artists to lakeside to show and sell their wares. Although the artisans produce work of museum quality, most had never shown their work beyond their home villages prior to their first trip to Lake Chapala.
In fact, Carlson says, few had ever traveled more than 30 miles from home.
The Feria was primarily founded to give the artists a place to sell their work for a fair price. Artisans are not charged a participation fee or percentage of sales and are housed and fed – along with their families – by Feria volunteers. The cost of transportation from their villages to lakeside, however, makes the trip economically impossible for some.