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2001 TRIP REPORT Report
on My Visit to Guatemala ~ January-February 2001 The Maya Arts and Crafts of Guatemala/ Artes y Artesanías Mayas de Guatemala coloring book for children in Guatemala is now printed and has captions in eight Mayan languages and Spanish as well as a new layout so that a page of the Mayan captions will face each drawing. During my month long stay in Guatemala, I worked with Consejo Maya colleagues, Virginia Ajxup and Juan Zapil to put the teachers’s guide in still more finished form and developed a questionnaire to give teachers before they use the coloring book. Together we traveled to four bilingual schools which form part of the Consejo Maya network. The morning after my arrival, ( but a year after beginning the pre press production of the new nine language coloring book,) we who had worked hard to make it a reality, Virginia Ajxup, Juan Zapil, Fernando Peñalosa (Yax Te’ Foundation) and myself, were thrilled to be together and hold the books in our hands.
Presentation of coloring books to children in Consejo Maya school, San Luis Jilotepeque. Photos from Consejo Maya Jun Apju Ixb’alamke schools. We all have realized, since the beginning of our effort, that we were providing Maya children with unique educational material. Our impetus to bring our project to its present stage came from the energy that concern and love for something-- whether it is Maya traditional crafts or languages or perhaps any wonderful thing that is in danger of being lost--gives to those trying to prevent that loss. Fortunately, that devotion was shared by Fernando Peñalosa of the Yax Te’ Foundation, who provided vital help in pre-press preparation, the Daniele Agostino Foundation and the Puffin Foundation who gave primary funding for the printing of the coloring books, translations of the captions into Mayan languages as well as the teachers guides. “No publication [for children] is presently available which shows images of artisans or that deals with the issues of the value of traditional crafts as they relate to Maya communal work, to the environment and the fragile balance that allows their continuation.” (Words from the proposal to the Agostino Foundation and Puffin Foundation.) This realization
that we were providing what did not exist before, and something that was
needed, was reinforced over and over as we began to share our new coloring
books with individuals from different organizations. Sample copies were
distributed to people from the Ministry of Culture to representatives
from weaving coops. We were gratified with every ones’ enthusiasm
for the book.
Presentation of Artes y Artesanías Mayas de Guatemala Coloring Book in Consejo Maya school, Momostenango. Photos from Consejo Maya Jun Apju Ixb’alamke schools “Are there are opportunities to discuss the arts and crafts of the Maya in the teaching curriculum that you teach?”, “Yes,” a teacher in Rabinal responded. Answering the question which followed , ”To what purpose do you talk about them?” she replied “ to promote and value them and and to save those crafts that are being lost, so that they will not disappear.” These words from a teacher’s reply to our questionnaire, made us realize that the those who would be using the coloring book already shared our love of Mayan craft traditions and our concern about their future. We believe that this kind of shared commitment will help them to present the coloring book effectively to their students Since Consejo Maya schools are located in different parts of the country using different Maya languages, our trip in itself was a lesson in multiculturalism among Maya groups. The geography and climates, too, differed in the various towns, from the warm relatively lowland San Luis Jilotepeque, to the cold country highland Momostenango (7283 ft.), Rabinal (3000 ft.), and Palín (3695 ft.). The traditional dress as well as the crafts done in each town illustrated the influence of their environmental differences. Taking advantage of being in each of these places, Juan Zapil and I sought out artisans and spent many hours talking with, observing and photographing the local crafts which included several kinds of weaving, basket making with “carizo”, brooms made with palm leaf strips, mats also made with palm strips, hand built low fire pottery, grinding stone carving, gourd engraving, hammock making, and roof tile making. Some of this documentation will be used as sources for drawings in future coloring books and other art work.
Consjo Maya school, Palín. Photos from Consejo Maya Jun Apju Ixb’alamke schools During this time in Guatemala,with Virginia Ajxup and Juan Zapil, I met with Flavia Robinson of the Agostino Foundation, a major donor for the Crafts Education project, along with our fiscal sponsor, Rights Action. That gave us the chance to tell them about our trips to Consejo Maya Schools and the responses we had received to the coloring book.And it allowed us to personally express our thanks and to convey to them our hope for continued support. Since my return home to Rochester in February 2001, wider Guatemala distribution of the coloring books has begun. Several additional schools will participate in the pilot project. We want to make the Maya Arts and Crafts Education pilot project, in the present limited number of schools, as effective as possible and proceed to make the project larger by involving still more schools. Always, I am aware that, as a North American, most of the impetus and energy to do this work must come from devoted individuals in Guatemala such as Virginia Ajxup Juan Zapil of the Consejo Maya while my job is to work on book production and facilitate fund raising. Always, we keep in mind our goals to help children to become the “craft keepers” of the future and thus continue these fragile yet resilient traditions that somehow have survived during the past millennia to the present but still have a role to play in twenty first century Maya culture. View Marilyn's Artisan Photos About Marilyn ~ Pro Arte Maya ~ Art & Books ~ What's New ~ Links ~ Order Marilyn
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