New Book on Gerard Fortune

January 22, 2015

Gerard Fortune outside his home in Petionville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince

About 2 years ago, while in Haiti on a metal sculpture buying trip, Casey became aquainted with the folk art paintings of Gerard Fortune. Following quickly on the heels of her acquaintance were unbridled enthusiasm and acquisition. She purchased a piece for her personal collection and then set about to meet the artist himself with the idea of carrying his work at It’s Cactus.

“Fox Couple with Pet by Gerard Fortune

Gerard Fortune has long been on the Haitian naif painting radar, and is considered to be one of the greatest living folk art painters in Haiti today. Having said that, however, doesn’t mean that finding his atelier was any small task. It required asking alot of questions in several places around the outdoor art markets of suburban Port-au-Prince and finally offering $20 to a kid on a motorcycle to lead her there. Done and done! The connection was made and now, several wonderful pieces of his work are available on our website.
But that’s not all! A friend, Tony Fisher, who has a wonderful folk art shop in Philadelphia, has sourced a newly published book of Gerard’s work. It is the first and only in-depth study of his life and art and it is BEAUTIFUL! You can order it from him.

The book, “Gerard” does a superb job of tracing his 37-year career, with dozens of full-color photograhs that capture his broad, visionary character of his art. In addition, it tells in words and photographs, the story of Gerard himself, inasmuch as the story of an enigma can be told. What is clear is richness of expression in the life’s work of a talented, gentle soul.

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Dog Lover? How Interesting…

December 20, 2014

The newest member of the family!

A while back, some friends and my husband and I were at dinner with another couple of people whom we didn’t know well at all. It was late in the evening, cocktails had been flowing and someone asked the question, “What’s the most interesting thing about you?” We went around the table; the first person to respond was a fighter pilot, the second was a special forces operative, the third was an Olympic gymnast, and then it was my turn. My heart filled with dread, and my expression must have given me away because my friend, Laura offered helpfully, “Why don’t you tell them about your dog!”

My dog. MY DOG! My very close, very dear friend, Laura clearly thought that the most interesting thing about me was my dog. Ouch. What’s worse is that a few short months after that dinner, our beloved basset hound died. Through my grief, I worried: Where does that leave me??? The answer was too uninteresting to contemplate.

Doesn’t this remind you of “Go Dog, Go!” See this colorful canine and more wonderful Ortega ceramics here.

Fast-forward 10 months and we get a text message with accompanying photo from a co-worker of my husband’s that read, “This two-year old basset hound is looking for a good home. Want to meet him?” Well, to make a long story short, we did more than meet him. We adopted him forthwith and Jaeger has quickly become a treasured member of the family.

He has also become very busy. After a slow – and it is tempting to call it serene – start he got to work eating the lower branches of our Christmas tree, along with four of the choicest ornaments. In successive days, he pulled an entire roasted chicken off the counter, helped himself to a bowl full of guacamole, gulped down whole stick of butter including the wrapper, and was narrowly folied in his attempt to make off with a half-pound Mr. Goodbar. At this point, I feel compelled to assert that we do feed him well and on a regular basis. Being a dog, though, I guess he feels that its always good to hedge the bet.

Erika Carter’s painting illustrates the dawning of a doggone great idea. More of her work can be viewed with a click.

My favorite escapade, however, was an invigorating sprint up the hill by our house early last Sunday morning. Oh what a merry chase through the neighborhood in my bathrobe and bare feet in mid-December! Who could fail to be cheered? Having neglected to grab the leash on my mad dash out the door, I got to carry all fifty pounds of basset back home. Great exercise, I’ll tell you.

In spite of all, however, I thank my lucky stars that Jaeger has come into my life. At least I am interesting again

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Creativity is the best part of Holiday Decorating

December 5, 2014

If you are like me, the minute the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared, you shift into heavy holiday mode.  I take inventory of items to be given as gifts that for months have been stashed in the “gift closet,” I have grocery lists for cookie baking in process, while wrapping and packing gifts to be mailed are on the “to do” list for next week, as is deconflicting the family schedule to shop for the holiday tree. This week, it is ALL ABOUT decorating.

This year, I undertook my decorating with a determination to be creative and group things together in ways I hadn’t tried before.  It turned out to be a fun experiment, with which, I will say with very little modesty, I got good results. Starting with the mantle, I arranged the Ortega Wise Men I collected years ago with my more recently acquired Aguilar market women. (See our wonderful selection of Aguilar figures here. https://www.itscactus.com/catalog/Aguilar_Family-35-1.html ) Who said the Wise Men travelled alone?! They now process splendidly together following yonder star. Then I had a brainstorm regarding Guatemalan belts.  How terrific they look as bows on a wreath trimmed with Oaxacan tin ornaments!  In truth, I have the wreath hanging in my window, but the backlighting was so horrible,  I opted to photograph it on the door instead. Good either way, says I! (Yes!  We have Guatelmalan belts here: https://www.itscactus.com/catalog/Traditional_Belts_and_Hair_Ties-58-1.html  and Oaxacan tin ornaments here: https://www.itscactus.com/catalog/TIn_Art-70-1.html  Call the shop at 831-998-8993 for an even greater selection.)

My greatest decorating inspiration, however, came when I spotted our new Haitian metal signs that say “Peace on Earth.”  Oh!  I though, “that might look pretty great attached to a wreath.”  See what you think.  And by all means, do some experimenting on your own. The best part of holiday decorating is the creative part.  If it wasn’t for the creative aspect, decorating would just be work.  Bah-HUMBUG!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Haitian Visit A GREAT Success!

November 25, 2014

Last week, as you may know, It’s Cactus sponsored two Haitian artists, Cineus Louime and Wiseton Brutus, for a week of demonstrations at three events in the local Salinas area.  Read their biographies here: https://www.itscactus.com/the-artists/haiti.php

With all due modesty it was a great success!  There were many purposes to the visit, among them promoting the art and the artists who produce it.  In addition, we wanted to give these men the opportunity to see what happens to their art when it reaches this country, to help them understand how the art is organized, marketed and distributed, and also for them to meet the people who love and appreciate their work. Finally, we wanted them to have the opportunity to sell their own work and return home to share their financial and experiential rewards  with their families, their businesses, and their community,

To accomplish these goals, we first took them to the shop and to the warehouse.  At the warehouse, they saw how their work is received, packaged, and distributed.  They noted the critical importance of maintaining high quality in their product and also the necessity for consistent levels of inventory to meet demand.  At the shop, they saw how their work is displayed, and how critical sharing knowledge and pleasing presentation is to the act of selling.  Cineus and Wiseton will use these insights and information to great advantage upon returning to their own workshops in Haiti.

From there, it was on to the markets! We participated in two local farmer’s markets in Monterey and a holiday bazaar, called “Flair on the Farm” outside Salinas.  In each case, the response was overwhelming.  All events were well attended and the artists were often surrounded with curious passersby who quickly became patrons of the art. To be completely honest, it didn’t hurt that producing metal sculpture creates a noticeable  racket. BANG, CLANG, CLANG, BANG! They would have been rather hard to miss. Nevertheless, their work was warmly and enthusiastically received, as evidenced by briskly turned transactions at the coffer. We are so pleased to report that at the end of those three sales events, Cineus and Wiseton earned over $3500 apiece.  In a country where the average daily wages is $2,  such a cash infusion will have a tremendous positive impact on their lives.   A huge and heartfelt “Thank you” to all who watched, visited, and shopped with us.  Your dollars make a difference!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

The Haitians are coming!

November 14, 2014

Cineus Louime, with one of his beautiful tree of life designs.

After more than a year of trying, all of the stars have aligned and the arrival of Cineus Louime

and Wiseton Brutus from Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti is imminent.  They will be staying in Salinas and demonstrating their work at several locations in the area next week to include farmer’s markets in downtown Monterey (on Alvarado St. Nov. 18th 4-7pm and at Monterey Peninsula College (Nov. 21st 10am – 2pm),  as well as at “Flair at the Farm Holiday Boutique” on Old Stage Road south of Salinas. (At The Barn 10am – 5pm.)

Cineus Louime and Wiseton Brutus have both been involved in metal sculpture for most of their adult lives.  Each has his own shop in the village and each has been producing beautiful folk art pieces for it’s Cactus for over a dozen years.  (To see Cineus’ work, click here: https://www.itscactus.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_artist=5 To see Wiseton’s work, click here:  https://www.itscactus.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_artist=107  )

We are so pleased to bring them to California, to broaden their experience base, to inspire their art, and to give them the opportunity to meet the people who purchase their work.

If past experience is any indication, this visit will be an impactful one for all involved.  The

Brutus Wiseton, with his wife in the doorway of their home.

artists will be able to sell a great deal of their work in a short amount of time and bring the proceeds back to their homes and their community.   For our part, the value of working alongside them and sharing in their success in such a personal way is tremendous.  We hope that you will be able to support our efforts by attending one of these events.  We are CERTAIN you will have fun doing so!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

It’s Never Over

November 8, 2014

All Souls Procession in Tucson 2013

According to the calendar, the Day of the Dead has come and gone for 2014.  But just because the calendar says so, doesn’t mean it IS so.  In Tucson, AZ, it ain’t over ’til it’s over.  The largest Day of the Dead celebration in the country will occur in the form of the “All Soul’s Processional” this Sunday at nightfall.

The Visual Feast: A peek into the workshop of Gerard Fortune

October 21, 2014

Where did the time go? Already it’s been a month since our return from Haiti – and such a great trip it was! Of course we spent a good deal of time in Croix-des-Bouquets visiting the metal artists, but we also took a trip up the hill beyond Petionville to Montagne Noire to pay a call on one of the pre-eminent naiive painters in the country, Gerard Fortune, It is nearly impossible to resist the charm and innocence of his paintings, so why try? We came back with an armload!

Gerard himself is a bit of enigma. In three tries to determine even the year of his birth, I came up with three different answers. In fact, I found out that a friend of ours asked him directly once and the reply was, “Well, I don’t really know.” The closest I can pinpoint is somewhere between 1925 and 1935. Working most of his adult life as a pastry chef, and also being a practicing hougan, Gerard began to teach himself to paint in the early 1980s.
In 1988, Selden Rodman published his masterful book on Haitian art, Where Art Is Joy, he included several of Gerard’s paintings – most in full-color plates. At once, Gerard’s place in the art world was established. Today, his work is part of permanent museum collections in the United States and in Europe, and is avidly sought by private collectors as well.

That having been said, he is a man of modest means. He lives and works in a two-room dwelling of cinderblock, mortar, and corrugated tin in the space between two towering mansions. Without running water or electricity, he and his older brother and younger sister, each in similar shanties nearby, share the chores of fetching water, laundry, and cooking. I use
the term “shanties” with a bit of reluctance. The word seems accurate, but it doesn’t convey the cheer of the brightly painted walls or the grace of the banana trees shading the windows, or the laughter of children playing outside. Theirs are the humble homes of the working poor, but they
are far from dreary.

Inside, paintings are everywhere. In stacks, hanging layer upon layer on the walls, and those in process on the table. A visual feast, to say the least. The hard part, as always,was choosing which ones to bring home.  Look here: https://www.itscactus.com/catalog/Haiti_Folk_Paintings-126-2.html  Now don’t you feel the same?

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

Shigra shopping in Ecuador

September 2, 2014

Bargaining hard in Quito.

Oh, I am so sorry. I just got back from a trip to Ecuador and now you’re going to have to hear all about it and look at my pictures and EVERYTHING! But mostly, you’re going to have to hear about shopping for shigras and how they just don’t make them like they used to – because they don’t!

 
Let me backtrack a bit and confess to you that I am a bit of a shigra junkie. I don’t have piles and piles of them, though I do have three very nice ones. I do love them, however, and when my husband and I decided to go to Ecuador, I knew that I would be doing some serious shigra shopping. There is something about the labor intensity of removing the fibers from an agave-like plant, dyeing them in fantastic colors, and the delecacy of weaving them all together with a blunt-ended needle to create remarkable figures and geometric patterns as the bags take shape. I feel like they’re on trend and timeless all at once. Off to Ecuador and off to market!

 
The first market of opportunity was Quito’s El Mercado Artesenal La Mariscal. Stalls and stalls of booths with handcrafted items from Ecuador and beyond. I saw flutes. I saw embroidered blouses. I saw handwoven belts and table runners and hair ties. I saw knitted sweaters and scarves and ponchos and mittens. I did not go away empty-handed, but I saw no shigras.

 
On to Otavalo, home of the largest indigenous market in all of South America. But it was Wednesday

Hidden waterfall near Lagunas de Mojanda.

when we arrived and though the market runs every day, THE market day is Saturday so we waited it out, hiking beautiful mountain lakes and waterfalls in the meantime. (A wonderful diversion, incidently!) We also toured a few local artesan workshops, among them Artesania El Gran Condor in Peguche, where we watched wonderful weaving demonstrations as well as how wool is carded and dyed. (See a video from the shop here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQErDubP4ho )There were piles and stacks and oodles and boodles of textiles of every Andean kind and in a small stack in a remote corner of the third floor I found three shigras. Just three! They were fine. They were nice. They were not extraordinary, but they would make good gifts to bring home so I bought them all. When we got to the market on Saturday, we saw more shigras, but more of the same. Nice enough, but not extraordinary.

 
Here’s what I’m talking about. These  vs. THIS. Casey got her shigras for It’s Cactus when she was travelling to the Andes regularly 15-ish years ago and luckily still has a number of great ones in stock.  Notice the fineness of this one; the tightness of the weave and  how even it is? Notice the bold, well-formed figural and geometric patterns? That’s what you don’t see anymore. You’ll see bags that are fun, colorful, and functional, but not great. Nope, they just don’t make ’em like they used to…

Now this is a fine shigra, with tight, even weaving and bold, complex design.

My nice new shigras. Nice, but not extraordinary.

The Enduring Mystique of La Sirene

August 7, 2014

“Mermaid Mysteries” one of a kind sculpture by Michee Remy

Mermaids are the among most ubiquitous of sea creatures, at least from a cultural point of view. They appear in ancient legends of the deep from Egypt and Greece, the Eskimos have them in their lore, as do the Western Europeans, Australian Aborigines and the tribes of Africa. Across boundaries of time and space, this half woman, half fish is at once powerful, beautiful, protective, hypnotic, and dangerous.

 
It was from the combined influences of West African spirit worship and Western European folklore that mermaids made their entrance into the New World. Mami Wata, as the sea spirit was known to West African tribes, was an integral part of the belief system that traveled with enslaved Africans to the Americas. Reestablished and revisualized across the Atlantic, Mami Wata emerged in new communities and under different guises, among them Yemanja, Santa Marta la Dominadora, and most commonly, La Sirene. African–based faiths honoring these manifestations of Mami Wata continue to flourish today throughout the Americas, including Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

 
From Europe, and beginning with Christopher Colombus, mermaid veneration and ideology was reinforced. During his explorations of Hispaniola Colombus wrote of seeing, “…three mermaids, though these were not as pretty as mermaids that had been previously described to me. In fact, somehow in the face, they appeared more as men.” Too bad for Colombus. Years later in 1614, Captain John Smith had a more pleasant experience, taking note of a lovely mermaid that had, “a fish-tail, round eyes, a finely-shaped nose, well-formed ears, and long green hair.” Though he could not have failed to notice her naked breasts, his impression of that was delicately omitted from the Captain’s log…(!)

One of a kind “Mermaids” sculpture by Julio Balan is clearly inspired by voodoo culture.

In the practice of Voodoo today, La Sirene is recognized as a strong female deity. She is capable of bestowing great fortune and even magical powers upon those who do her honor, and bringing catastrophy to those with whom she is displeased. Her beauty strenghens her powers of enchantment but also causes her to be vain. She is associated with lunar movements and also with dreams which she uses as tools of inspiration and creativity for endeavors such as writing, painting, and music. In reference to these characteristics, La Sirene is often depicted with a mirror, a comb, and a horn or other musical instrument. Of these items, the mirror is most significant. The glass itself is representative of the sea, while the back of the mirror is the dividing point between La Sirene’s underwater world and ours.

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus

It’s All Good at the Folk Art Market

July 17, 2014

The Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, held this past weekend on Museum Hill was another stellar achievement by the International Folk Art Alliance. The annual event, this one being the 11th, included 150 artists from 60 countries. Though sales records have not yet been released, I can tell you that enthusiasum was high. The Friday night gala and the Saturday Early Bird opportunities were both sold out and Saturday after general admission opened was packed. It is hard for me to imagine that the Market was anything less than a resounding success.
Of course, the Haitian art is near and dear to my heart and its representation did not disappoint. There were 15 artists in 8 booths, displaying metal sculpture, voodoo flags, paper mache masks, stone carvings, and paintings. It was great to see Georges Valris, a sequin artist, and Serge Jolimeau, a metal sculptor – both of whom are friends of It’s Cactus – doing well.
And there was so much more! This time, instead of ONLY power shopping, I also took some time to eat – a delicious African lentil curry, thank you very much – and watch some wonderful music and dance performances. Curiously, my favorite performance was off the main stage, featuring an ad hoc duo consisting of a Nigerian drummer and a Peruvian pan flutist. An odd pairing, perhaps, but it worked. I loved the combination, and I can tell you I had plenty of good company listening with me, nodding and tapping to the beat.
The great thing about the Market is the good that lasts beyond the weekend. Ninety percent of artists’ earnings go home with them. The money is spent in various ways, but many artists and cooperatives choose to share their good fortune with their communities. Funds have been distributed to provide such basic necessities as food, clothing, new health clinics and freshwater wells. In places where the people struggle with enormous social, political and environmental challenges, the impact is enormous. Forgive me for being trite, but it really is ALL GOOD.
See you there next year!

Contributed by Linda for It’s Cactus