Contemporary Maya cultures in Guatemala produce elaborate textiles using traditional methods for spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering cloth that have been passed down by the women of their cultures for centuries. Each Maya region is known for its own version of colorful traditional clothing outfits, called trajes. While women in more rural areas continue to wear the traje … [Read more...] about Traditional Maya 20th-century Clothing: Researched by Vinita Williams
This small textile is a sample of traditional Maya weaving, possibly serving as a napkin or just as a sampler. Maya textiles are more typically created as large pieces of fabric, intended to be made into traditional clothing, that are hand-woven on a backstrap loom. This piece is striped in different colors of traditionally hand-dyed cotton, but because of global trade, today … [Read more...] about Maya Hand-Woven Textiles: Researched by Abigail Morrow
The indigenous cultures of ancient Mesoamerica created a variety of highly sophisticated sculptures in different styles and materials, both as reliefs and as sculptures in-the-round. Many of these sculptures represent their religious beliefs, embodying the Mesoamerican pantheon of gods, while others depict the elite members of the nobility. Later Mestizo (mixed Hispanic and … [Read more...] about Images of Mesoamerican Elites and Deities in Reproduction: Researched by Whitney Mosley
Cultures throughout Mesoamerica produced ceramic figurines from the earliest periods through the time of contact with Europeans. These figurines depicted people of all levels of status, from common people to rulers, and the figurines also depicted deities. The study of ceramic figurines also illustrates how depictions of deities changed and developed through time. The … [Read more...] about Mesoamerican Sculptures in Reproduction: Researched by Jordan Seyer
In the 20th century, tourists began visiting traditional towns and villages of Guatemala, spurring the revival of certain artforms such as traditional pottery, but also encouraging the development of new crafts and artforms that would provide a stable income for local artisans. Among these new artforms were small figures made of paper and straw, clothed in scraps of … [Read more...] about Guatemala Maya Tourist-Trade Figures: Researched by Elizabeth Ferguson and Ngozi Ekeke