Community spaces for art with kids.

I was recently honored to participate in a wonderful and inspiring event for children focused on sharing various different types of art.

I shared the art of making a Tzicuri- also known as Ojo de Dios.

Mary- a teacher, dance instructor, photographer and painter ~ in my opinion the true definition of an artist ~ was one of the organizers of this event. She said in her speech and I am paraphrasing on this part - “Art is a severely underfunded area within our school system. We realized it was a need within our community to have spaces to teach kids to express themselves freely and safely through art.” She guided the kids on the creation of gorgeous acrylic paintings of turtles in the sea.

Aracely- a marketing wizard up here in NorCal was also one of the main organizers of this event. Aracely and Mary found sponsors for this event and worked on the marketing together.

Very grateful for both of their efforts for it was a complete success!

I am honored to have been invited and to have been one of the small businesses participating. Sharing the art of making a Tzicuri was so much fun and watching the kids focus and then be so proud of their creations was the best thing ever.

The attentiveness that they had when listening to me speak about the cutural meaning behind a Tzicuri how it connects us to the elemtents, our humanity, the cardinal points, the heavens and divine - and about the great Wixarika peoples of central Mexico/ Anahuac that kept this art and cosmology alive through the harshest of timelines. The seed of curiosity ever-present about relatives throughout the world and their arts filled my heart with hope for the future.

I hope to continue to be able to experience magical moments such as this, spreading seeds of wisdom and learning so much from our youth as they learn from us.