dressy dresses

Madero paints a surreal scene representing the protective power of a village's patron saint. He shows the saint as a large figure dressed in a colorful robe that towers over the village's homes against a fantastical night sky.

The Mexican artist is a self-taught painter. His work draws inspiration from literature, music, and his own dreams.

Skeletal in appearance, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli appears with a spear and a shield. The Aztec deity of dawn and of Venus, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is dressed as a warrior and wears an ornate feathered headdress. Artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association masterfully interpret an image depicted in the Codex Cospi from the late Post Classic period in this signed ceramic sculpture.

Wearing only a belt, necklace, and bracelets, this Mayan goddess is realized with striking detail in cedar wood. Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explores Guatemala's Mayan roots, working with local artisans to hand-carve this sculpture. According to Sojuel, this sculpture reflects the story of the God of Maize's resurrection. According to the story, there exist nude goddesses in the Mayan underworld, Xibalbá, who tend to the god and dress him in preparation for his resurrection. One of these goddesses is portrayed in this sculpture.

A Maya woman sits with legs crossed as she works on a backstrap loom. Rocking back and forth she controls the tension as she creates an expanse of cloth. "This movement represented the human heartbeat, thus weaving was a sacred act for the ancient Maya, and weavers were considered the 'mothers of creation,'" Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explains. He works in fragrant cedar wood to depict his subject as realistically as did the pre-Hispanic ceramists of Jaina Island more than a thousand years ago in their "Female Figure with Loom." Deftly carving intricate details with superb realism, the Guatemalan artisan dresses the woman in a necklace of pinewood beads.