2008 Featured Artists

Sunday, June 01, 2008

> Download the full stories and photos for these featured artists: (in PDF format)

Beads For Life -
Agnes Papatit: Beads for Education, Kenya

Born and raised in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, Agnes Papatit has led a traditional Maasai life.

Her family’s home was made of mud and dung, clustered with similar huts belonging to other villagers, all of them ringed with thorn bushes to protect the valuable cattle from predators.

Pottery as Lifeline and Legacy -
Thembi Nala: Zulu Potters, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

For Thembi, pottery making is both a legacy and a lifeline. Her mother, Nesta Nala, was one of the first potters to popularize Zulu pottery and her pots are in museums and prestigious private collections worldwide.

Embroidery Supports a Community -
Zenobia Paricela and the Cooperative of Chijnaya:  Artisian Committee of Chijnaya, Peru

The story of the village, Chijnaya, is one of loss, restoration, and of how necessity can be the foundation of great folk art. In 1963, Lake Titicaca flooded a vast portion of Peru’s high country, where hardscrabble farmers, most of them Quechuan Indians, had raised llama, sheep, and subsistence crops.

Keeping Tradition Alive -
Magdalena Pedro Martinez: Oaxacan Ceramics, Oaxaca, Mexico

A practicing physician by profession and a ceramacist by training and inclination, Dr. Magdalena Martinez creates ceramic figurines of female figures, most dressed in the traditional costumes of Oaxaca.

> Download the full stories and photos for these featured artists (in PDF format)