Artesanía Exhibit

¡Bienvenidos!   

The following 5 blog entries contain the contact information for each of the exhibit's featured artisans, voice recordings, and supplemental photos from their studios and neighborhoods.

    For those visiting this website remotely, Artesanía is a multimedia exhibit of Chilean craftwork located in Yost, the Spanish language theme dorm at Stanford University.  Each section of the exhibit focuses on a different medium: weavings, silver jewelry, ceramics, woodwork, and crin/horsehair.  By focusing on five individuals, the exhibit aims to humanize products and foster empathy for artisans.  The artisans’ works are presented alongside photographs, written vignettes, and audio recordings that relay a holistic view of their cultural context.  Pairing of artifacts I created with these artisans strives to connect the Stanford community with the lives of these Chilean artisans.

Call to Action:

Artesanía is a two-way portal.  As artisans openly shared their day-in, day-out realities for this exhibit, they voiced their own desire to learn more about our realities here in the United States.  If you like what you see, they would be thrilled to hear from you, by simply posting on their Facebook wall, sending them an e-mail, purchasing a product, or meeting them in person if you happen to visit Chile.

The Artisans:

   The artisans I collaborated with for this exhibit all share a refreshingly genuine passion for the handmade.  They love expressing themselves creatively and describe the tranquilidad, or peacefulness, of working with their hands as their oxygen, both vital and priceless.  They do not choose a career in craftwork for money, nor because someone else wants them to.  In fact, many depend on family members to get by.  In addition, many of their family members know nothing about craftwork: they generally have city day-jobs, ranging from grocers and taxi drivers to bankers and salespeople.

    The artisans featured in Artesanía also find a sense of peace in knowing that their work builds upon a cultural heritage and, despite long-standing traditions, is dynamically evolving in actuality.  Innovation is inherent to their creative process. 

To illustrate:

·      Marta’s beanies employ techniques her grandmother taught her to make wall-hangings

·      Jaime’s Aros Uñun are an abstracted version of the Mapuche Trapelacucha (displayed) from the 1800’s

·      Macka’s plates and leather buttons move away from the typical pirograbado, or pyro-engraved wooden planks

·      Sara and Maestra Madre’s crin mice and lizard patterns expand upon the classic women and butterflies

·      Sandra’s replications make ancient Mapuche ceramics accessible to the modern customers

   As reflected by the Artesanía exhibit, the lives and neighborhoods of these artisans are not that different from those in the United States.  This fact reflects a contemporary global phenomenon.  While widespread access to cell phones and the Internet break down previous barriers, mulitnational corporations, familiar brands, and cookie-cutter shopping malls are quickly homogenizing the worldwide market, subsequently rendering handmade products an economically uncompetitive novelty.  That said, these artisans are the outliers and they know it. They are not accustomed to seeing others value their work and each mentioned how they truly appreciate when others take the time to understand all the dedication, patience, and skilled work that goes into creating high-quality products by hand.  Such interest generally comes from European and North American foreigners, who account for the majority of their clientele.  A Californian myself, I was genuinely touched by the warmth, generosity, and sincerity of the artisans when working on this project.  Whether welcoming me into their studios and homes, introducing me to their family members, openly sharing personal histories, or inviting me to meals, they went above and beyond to get their stories out and make this project a success with the hopes of garnering international support for their craftwork.

Inspiration:

    Artesanía builds off of 8-months I spent in Chile last year, working with an ethical fashion start-up called VOZ that seeks to empower marginalized, indigenous Mapuche women in rural Southern Chile. I was stunned by the refreshing beauty of these artisans’ rich craftwork. They are true masters at their work, which is largely local, all-natural, sustainable, and passed down from one generation to the next. Artisans create weavings that feature culturally significant symbolism, for example, using hand-spun yarn from wool from sheep in their backyards, which they dye a rainbow of colors using everyday plant matter. Unfortunately, the precarious future of their practices alarmed me. The pressures of globalization now especially endanger these practices. Despite the tremendous value of specialized knowledge to local communities, rapid social homogenization makes it less economically sustainable to rely on artisan craftwork as a sole means of income.

    Until relatively recently, these skills were fundamental to human existence. I am concerned that unforeseen risks will surface if these basic skill sets are not preserved. In this exhibit, I intentionally place these artifacts in dialogue with the more anonymous, industrial, and mass-produced technology characteristic of the Silicon Valley. Similarly, this project’s connection between Chilean artisans and Stanford students is particularly fitting. A research and entrepreneurial institution like Stanford is filled with innovative students who challenge the status quo on a global scale. By exposing Stanford students to Chilean craftwork and celebrating these culturally significant artisan practices, this effort attempts to increase awareness of the continued importance of traditional, sustainable, and ethically produced artifacts in positively shaping student endeavors in the future.

    As a Product Design junior, I am learning how to use cutting-edge technology but have next to no experience with these fundamental artisan product design methods. This gap in my education reflects a scary truth about our first-world culture as a whole. We have become so caught up in efficiency and technology that we have lost connection with basic forms of technology. We have almost no idea where things actually come from and how they are made. While one could argue that the time-honored way of doing things is documented, there is a huge difference between craftwork when it is passively recorded in books versus a living art that is regularly practiced. The very name “craft”-work implies a need for skill that develops with serious practice and patience over time; it must be actively passed on from mentor to student.

    That said, I felt a social responsibility to return to Chile, connect with artisans, and share their valuable craftwork with the Stanford community to garner awareness, appreciation, and support for what they do.

Thank You,

Karen Ladenheim

kladenheim@stanford.edu

Many thanks to the following individuals and organizations for their generous support and funding.  This project would not have been possible without your help!

Jasmine Aarons
Akwasi Abrefah
Zubair Ahmed
Bill Burnett
Holly Gore

Sylvia & Jay Ladenheim
Alejandra & Gaby Langenegger

Christian Javier Vergara Mayorga

José Miguel Mora
Ellen & Arcadio Morales
Gabrielle Moyer
Raviraj Pare
Keith Santiago
Leslie Strong
Barbara Thompson