Yucatecan artisans on display at this year’s edition of “Arte a Mano”

The event will be held December 8-10 at the National Chamber of Commerce of Yucatan (CANACO), near the Clínica de Mérida…

MERIDA — In an interview with TYT, Viridiana Lagunas, the organizer of the event and head of the organization “Amigos de los Artistas/Artesanos Nuevos de Yucatán” (AANY), revealed more information about AANY and this year’s edition of their most important event, “Arte a Mano”.

TYT: – How was AANY created?

Viridiana: – “Amigos de los Artistas/Artesanos Nuevos de Yucatán” (Friends of the Yucatan’s New Artists/Artisans) was created in 2008 as an initiative to reinforce the production of high quality art pieces by the Yucatecan artisans. The founder, Joan Farrell, is an American expat from Washington D.C. that during 25 years in the USA, has administrated multiple Art Galleries. Thanks to all her experience in the area, today AANY has successfully managed to create a network of more than 80 artisans from the whole peninsula.

TYT: – How does AANY provide support to the local artists and artisans?

Viridiana: – Joan founded AANY with the aim of creating a working network that allows the artisans to contact directly with potential buyers, which will increase the fair trade by reducing the intermediaries that increase the art pieces’ price and don’t give credit to the creators.

By now Joan has already turned over AANY’s direction to three of her closest collaborators, Viridiana Lagunas, Arturo Novelo and Crisitna R. de Leon, who now are making efforts to give AANY more presence in the state economic life, by giving art workshops to the public in general directly from the artists and also giving administration advice to the artisans to improve their own personal finances.

TYT: – What do you expect of this year’s “Arte a Mano” event?

Viridiana: – This year we are including in the event 16 new artists. It should be mentioned that to be included in the event, now it is necessary to apply in the call that we made in summer and after that Joan personally select the artists that will be included. It is absolutely necessary receiving an invitation from AANY to participate in the event.

We also are seeking to obtain particular affiliates to give them benefits when buying art pieces from the artisan members of AANY. It is also worth to mention the particular case of Omar Catzín, one of our artisans that has already closed deals with Xcaret Group to sell them stone art to decorate the whole complex.

The event will start Friday December 8 at 5:00 pm and close at 9:00 pm; the other two days the fair will be open from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. CANACO is located on Calle 31 between Av. Itzaes and Calle 34.

By Jorge Andrés Barrera Rojas for TYT