Artisans

Last Updated on Saturday, 19 June 2010 15:50 Written by Webmaster Wednesday, 10 February 2010 08:25

Mario

Mario was born in the city of Lima. He is very active in a Christian Catholic group called the Movimiento de Vida Cristiana. In this group he met the woman who is now his wife and mother to his three children.

An avid musician as a youth, Mario played the zampona and the quena with a group of boys from his church group. Mario left the music group and went to work restoring religious statues. Now, as an adult, Mario has a small business of his own.

Mario's hand carved statues are created with childlike expressions and have always given him personal satisfaction. His nativity set has been used to decorate Nativity cards for Peruvian charity organizations.

Maria Canchamune

Most of today's artisans learned their craft from their ancestors, and Maria is no exception. Maria was born and raised in the central part of the Peruvian Highlands, near the city of Huancayo. Maria, her brothers, and sisters learned the art of gourd carving from their parents who learned from Maria's Grandfather.

The entire family makes their living from carving gourds. They work all week and on Sunday they travel to Huancayo to sell their products. The family also trades their carved gourds for other goods such as food. A "trueque" is an ancient Indian way of trading one thing for another.

Maria, her husband, and her four grown children now live in Lima and continue the family business. Her husband and her oldest son travel from town to town, collecting gourds to work with. Maria sharpens her gourd carving knife by passing it over her hair. She says this is an Indian secret.

Don Moises

Moises Urbano (or Don Moises) is one of the first and most important artisans who have worked creating Retablos. The Retablos are wooden boxes containing statues representing the scenes of daily life. These statues are made as in ancient times with smashed potato mixed with lime.

Don Moises has made his hometown of Ayachuco, Peru, synonymous with Retablo. Don Moises has not only taught his family the art of creating Retablos but has also taught other poor townspeople so that they can also work to make a living. He has traveled all over the world to exhibit his Retablos and has received recognition in France and, of course, Peru.

Don Moises grandsons, Ivan and Moises, work now work in the family business. Ivan is now the main artist. His family helps him create the Retablos that his brother, Moises, sells all over the country.