In love with our mountains, our valleys in one of our trips to the Calchaquies Valleys hundreds of kms away from our city of San Miguel de Tucuman, it was that our dream of creating an enterprise started. An enterprise which aim was to make possible that these artists could go on with this marvellous task of transmmiting the millenarian Pre-Columbian Art from generation to generation. We sadly saw that it is extremely difficult for the artisan to get economic stability. It was neccessary then to group them and open a door to the world through an inaccessible tool for them as it is the use of the web.
We started travelling in search of the artisan who still modelled his pieces by hand, who used clay that he himself obtained from the mountains. We looked for the artisan who used the “a pala” loom and who dyed his threads with natural tints. We rode lots of kms. watching, searching for the artisan and his handicrafts and in this way we entered the fantastic world of the Pre-Columbian art.
Our artisans are characterized by living in an extreme climate area where they suffer from very low temperatures in Winter and a very intense sun in Summer. Their life and work are influenced by this conditions. They have to go long distances to buy what is neccessary for their lives. Thus, to sell their products is very difficult.
DECORATED CERAMICS WORKSHOP
Among the mountains in a landscape that invites to reflexion we met Alvaro who showed us his house and workshop, a special place where the creations are the protagonists. There we found some cooked pots in their first step and also already finished ones. We knew his tools and he told us about his work technique. We knew the ovens that he uses for the cooking of his pieces. In this way we could go into this interesting world where Nature, the climate and History take part directly in his creations and where the distance makes this place absolutely remote for many of us. Far from the big cities, on the slope of the valley lies "Alvaro’s handicraft workshop” a place to visit.
BLACK CERAMICS WORKSHOP
Ariel makes a very interesting work on black ceramic pieces, taking natural elements for their creation. The iconography is impregnated in pre-Columbian manufacture. This artisan allows himself to create freely, marking his personal and exquisite impronta.He introduced us to his family who helps with his work. His wife showed us each piece of handicraft while he explained to us his method to make them We met his little daughter, immersed in this world of art and creation,who was taking the masks and playing with them. This is her world where games and art are melted.
We understood the importance of Runakamaq for all his family,where each member has a role for these products be finely made and distributed.
CARVED CERAMICS WORKSHOP
Very near Ariel´s workshop,surrounded by mountains, we met Rosario who also chose black for his pieces. As well as his children and wife, Marta, he knows the hand modelling technique for his pieces. His eldest child tells us that due to the economic situation they were going through he had to look for another job but that in his free time he helps his father. But, above all, he does what is his passion since he was a child. “What I like best is carving” he says full of enthusiasm Rosario is a man who likes laughing and tells us proudly that he does not use molds for his creations. In his house we can breath art, we can see pieces everywhere, some ready to be cooked, others ready to be carved. In this workshop we learnt that it is the “camelido guano” that gives the pieces its black colour.
LOOM WORKSHOP
Going on with our peregrination along the valleys we found, far in the mountains in a non-easily reached place, Claudia´s cosy home, a woman who bears the brunt of her long experience in weaving. She is a widow who transfers strength and devotion to her work. She is the head of a big family and in charge of encouraging and supporting her daughters and sisters who make up an active and solidary group. She told us about the wool manufacturing process, the natural tints they use and how the weather sometimes delays ther work.
TAPESTRY WORKSHOP
Wandering around some narrow streets we found workshops where tapestries are made.We found Sergio´s house with a background landscape where mountains, looms and wool intermingle. He showed us to his workshop where these creative and artisanal tapestries of high value are created. It is large and there are several looms there.Besides , in his spacious patio, we can follow the process of the wool. This wool is brought from the mountains,where it has been just sheared and has to be washed and dried in the sun. A lot of people work there, several families meet to do their jobs every day.
