page_title: Handcrafts and folk art in Michoacán
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Handcrafts and folk art in Michoacán / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Bronze tools and bells on display at the site museum of Tzintzuntzan
context_page_description: Michoacán handcrafts and folk art is a Mexican regional tradition centered in the state of Michoacán, in central/western Mexico. Its origins traced back to the Purépecha Empire, and later to the efforts to organize and promote trades and crafts by Vasco de Quiroga in what is now the north and northeast of the state. The state has a wide variety of over thirty crafts, with the most important being the working of wood, ceramics, and textiles. A number are more particular to the state, such as the creation of religious images from corn stalk paste, and a type of mosaic made from dyed wheat straw on a waxed board. Though there is support for artisans in the way of contests, fairs, and collective trademarks for certain wares, Michoacán handcrafts lack access to markets, especially those catering to tourists.
context_section_description: Evidence of pre Hispanic craftsmanship, especially in ceramics, can be found in all parts of the state, but the most developed crafts traditions date from the Purépecha Empire, which centered on Lake Pátzcuaro and extended east to what is now the Michoacán border with the State of Mexico. Pre Hispanic centers of production included Cojumatlán, Zinapécuaro, Apatzingán, Tepalcatepec, Huetamo, Morelia and Cuitzeo as well as the coast and along the Balsas River .
  The artisans with the highest social status were those who worked with metals and feathers, as well as those who worked with semi precious stones. The reason for this was that these artisan produced goods used by the ruling classes as well as offerings to the gods. Michoacán was one of Mesoamerica's major metal working centers, mastering hammering, metal coating and metal casting by the time the Spanish arrived. Most metal work was in gold, but the Purépecha had developed some copper work. Most of the products were ornaments for the ruling classes but some utilitarian items such as needles, fishhooks and hole punches were made. Luxury goods made with fine feathers was a particularly appreciated by Purépecha society. Goods such as caps, blankets, clothing, headdresses and ornamental staffs adorned with feathers were used only by priests and rulers as symbols of power and dignity. Artisans who made these objects had their own designation, “izquarecucha.” Purépecha stone work includes the working of turquoise and other semi precious stones along with obsidian. Most were used in adornments and offerings but obsidian was also used for agricultural tools of high economic value, weapons and sacrificial knives. Stoneworkers’ graves can be identified by their goods, which included their tools and raw materials.
  Two other very important pre Hispanic handcrafts are textiles and ceramics, whose artisans could also be full-time and enjoy fairly high status. Purépecha weavers worked with white and brown cotton, as well as a rougher fiber from the maguey plant called ixtle. According to the Relación de Michoacán, an early colonial period document that describes Purépecha life before the Conquest, textile work was the purview of women, with skills passed down from generation to generation. The richest fabric had feathers or rabbit fur woven into the cotton, and pure white cloth was an easily traded commodity, used as a form of currency. Dyes were from natural sources such as insects and plants, and common colors included blue, black and red. Finished textile goods included shirts, caps, dresses, threads for tying headdresses and doublets worn by warriors.
  Ceramics of the area are distinguished by technique, size, shape and decoration. Purépecha pottery is characterized by being polychromatic, in negative decoration using principally black, red and white. The best examples of this work come from the Lake Patzcuaro area. The quality and variety of the ware suggests that there was a class of full-time potters. Artifacts include bowls, pots and more including miniature versions of these as well as whistles, flutes and figures. Other important pre Hispanic ceramic areas include Zamora, Cojumatlán, Zanapécuaro, Apatzingán, Tecalpatepec, along the Balsas River, Huetamo, Morelia and Cuitzeo.
  After the Spanish conquest, new techniques and some new products were introduced to indigenous artisans. However, it was the efforts of Vasco de Quiroga, the first bishop of Michoacán that are responsible for most of the state's modern artisan practices.
  When Quiroga arrived to the area, the political and economic situation was chaotic. His priorities were to revive the economy and evangelization. He based much of this effort in the former empire's long artistic tradition, after studying the needs and traditions of the people and the area's natural resources. He worked to improve the techniques of those that already existed such as pottery and weaving, and introduced a few new ones. Quiroga assigned certain crafts to certain towns such as the making of cotton goods to Ahuirán, wool and wood crafts to A
caption: Copper and bronze implements on display at the site museum of Tzintzuntzan
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