Ancient Mexican Folkart: Amate Bark Paper
Tara A. Spears – Nayarit Editor, Sol Mexico News
Just strolling the outdoor Guayabitos market on a lovely Saturday morning was a perfect way to sample many authentic Mexican art styles. The smell of fresh candy being made mingled with the melodious Spanish and live music. Each vibrant display sparkled in the sunlight whether it was jewelry, blown glass, wood carvings, clothing, or hand-painted ceramics. What an enjoyable way to peruse Mexican art while learning about a different culture.
What is impressive is the deep respect Mexicans have for their ancestors and the ancient methods of self-expression. Certainly there are ‘improved’ dyes and paint and machines that could rapidly produce items-think China. But, by the Mexican artists choosing to continue hand methods that are passed down generation to generation, it adds history and respect to common objects. It is more than a means of making a living, it is more than art; it is the soul of a people and their culture.
One outstanding example of Mexican folk art is papel amate or bark paper. Amate was used by the Mayan to write their codas 3,000 years ago. The Otomi people in the central highlands of Mexico still use amate paper today for creating cutout figures for religious ceremonies while other village artisans use it for Mexican folk art depicting colorful village scenes, festivals and celebrations. The paper is created by using a centuries’ old process that uses the bark of the amate wild fig tree (xalama), the nettle tree (jonote), and mulberry (moral) tree.
Artisans in the Otomi village of San Pablito in northern Puebla, Mexico still engage in this folkart. San Pablito is one of the highland villages which make amate paper in the traditional way. The bark is first stripped from the tree, soaked, and then boiled for many hours until the fibers are soft enough to manipulate. The skeins of fibers are separated into thin strands and sorted into colors, which make the distinctive tonal browns of the paper artworks.
Designs for the artworks are carefully blocked out onto wooden boards and the fibers are laid down on the boards, pounded together and finger pinched, twisted and woven into the outlined design. When the whole work is finished, which sometimes takes two days to complete, they are hauled up to the sunniest part of the roof to dry. The whole process can take over two weeks to make one piece of art.
Increased demand for this art style led to overly intensive bark harvesting, which kills the tree. Due to a shortage of the amate tree, the papermakers in San Pablito have been forced to use “jonote”, a fast growing tree that can be culltivated, to make the bark paper. In essence, there is no longer any amate in papel amate. In fact, much of the jonote bark used to make paper in San Pablito is brought in by middlemen from the state of Veracruz. The blank sheets of bark paper are then sent to the state of Guerrero where they are painted with colorful ordinary scenes of Mexican life. In the 21st century a finished work of amate folk art most likely has bark that was stripped from Trema trees in Veracruz, the paper was made by Otomi communities in Puebla, and the final painting was done in Guerrero. No longer is it a simple village product.
Regardless of how many hands contribute to the end piece of folk art, each papel amate is unique to the central region and the families involved. Just think what a conversation piece a famed work will be at home-great for reminiscing about the good times in Mexico.