The Shaman's Mirror

by Hope MacLean

  The booming market for beads has attracted a different group of Huichol artists than yarn painting has. Teenage boys have become some of the fastest and most daring beadworkers. Since the market rewards bravado in design, it stimulates these young men to constant innovation. It is also common to see women doing beadwork, and even children as young as seven or eight. In contrast, it is rare for women or teenage boys to do yarn painting, and I have never seen children do yarn painting.

  Recruiting Younger Yarn Painters

  A third development is a considerable increase in the number of young yarn painters. In 1993–1994, I found few young yarn painters. Most painters at the time were men who had started yarn painting during the 1960s and 1970s and who had already been painting for up to thirty years. While some older artists had trained family members and apprentices, few young artists were doing yarn painting. Instead, most younger Huichol were doing beadwork, which was experiencing an explosive growth in popularity. Beadwork was faster to make, more profitable, easier to learn, and highly salable. As a result, I speculated that unless yarn painting became more attractive economically, it might become a dwindling specialty.

  The situation changed during the 1990s when a group of younger artists emerged in Tepic, especially in Zitacua. The artist José Benĺtez Sánchez was appointed governor of the colonia, and he employed a number of family members and apprentices to help him complete paintings. The apprenticeships led to the formation of a group of new yarn painters who are centered in Zitacua and who tend to paint in the style of José Benĺtez. Since Benĺtez’s style is popular and salable, it is advantageous for other artists to copy him. Some of these younger artists directly copy Benĺtez’s color combinations. Most draw figures in his style, such as a pointed human face. Some copy his very intricate, intertwined figures, while others are using more widely spaced figures.

  The economics of living in a city puts pressure on the Huichol to produce art. The urban Huichol have many expenses, such as rent, water, electricity, gas for cooking, school fees, bus fares, and purchased food; these expenses may be considerably less for Huichol living in the country, especially those who can still grow their own food and collect firewood. One of the few ways that urban Huichol can earn enough cash is by making art. This pressure increases the volume of art produced in cities and may increase the number of artists working on yarn painting. Thus, by encouraging the Huichol to settle in Zitacua, the government may also have stimulated the production of art.

  Cooperatives

  I have been told about attempts to set up cooperatives to market Huichol art over the years. In 1993–1994, the Nayarit government worked with artists in Tepic to set up a cooperative based in the Museo de Cuatro Pueblos. The state was involved in constructing the new tourist-hotel district of Nuevo Vallarta, and was planning to market Huichol art in the hotels. When I returned several years later, I asked about the cooperative. I was told that it had collapsed amid accusations of misappropriation of funds. I heard tales of another cooperative, based in the Sierra, which folded amid similar accusations. As a result, the Huichol remain relentless free enterprisers, personally selling their art to their own lists of clients and producing whatever art they think the market will buy.

  Cooperatives have both advantages and disadvantages. At best, cooperatives may help artists receive a fair price for their work. For example, Sna Jolobil, a cooperative organized by an American, has allowed Maya women to control production and maintain high prices for the finest and most time-consuming weaving and embroidery (Eber and Rosenbaum 1993, 166–167; Morris 1987). Among the Inuit of Canada, cooperatives controlled the output of lithographed prints and maintained high prices for the limited output of numbered editions. In contrast, the market for Inuit soapstone carving was less controlled. Inuit could sell to any buyers they could find, and so prices fluctuated more (Myers 1984). On the other hand, cooperatives are vulnerable to the personal failings and political agendas of participants and may act as barriers to innovation. The difficulty of controlling corruption seems to have limited the value of cooperatives among the Huichol.

  The Effect of the Internet

  I am somewhat dismayed by the effect the Internet is having on the sale of Huichol art. I have informally tracked e-commerce in Huichol art since the mid-1990s, when it began. My conclusion is that the Internet is significantly depressing the prices of Huichol art, has probably driven many dealers out of business, and may be harming the ability of the Huichol to make a living from their art.

  It has taken a few years to achieve these results. For example, when I did my fieldwork in 1993–1994, the retail price of a good-quality 24” x 24” (60 x 60 cm) yarn painting was about $600–$800 in a Mexican gallery and about $1,000–$1,200 in a good gallery in the United States. When dealers first began to sell on the Internet, around 1996–1998, the price structure was maintained. The first Internet sellers tended to be relatively sophisticated independent dealers or good galleries in the United States.

  Then some dealers in Mexico began to sell at the Mexican retail price, which was about half the U.S. retail price. Since the dealers were living in cities such as Tepic or Puerto Vallarta, they did not have to pay travel costs to find or transport the art, and since they operated on the Internet, they did not have to pay the cost of maintaining a gallery; as a result, they could afford to discount prices significantly. These Mexican dealers began to flood the market with poorer-quality yarn paintings and Tepehuane art. For a while, much of what was claimed to be Huichol on the Internet was actually Tepehuane. After a few years, some dealers began to identify the Tepehuane work correctly, perhaps in response to the U.S. legislation requiring the accurate identification of tribal origins. By about 2000, the retail price of a 24” x 24” (60 x 60 cm) painting sold from Mexico on the Internet had dropped to about $400.

  I began to see fewer and fewer high-end dealers offering good Huichol art on the Internet. When I interviewed gallery owners in the American Southwest between 2000 and 2002, they told me that their buyers were complaining that the prices charged in U.S. stores were higher than those on the Internet. Customers wanted the stores to sell for less, but were still buying.

  Then came eBay. In the last few years, the price of Huichol art has fallen dramatically on eBay. In 2005–2006, the price was about $300–$400 for a reasonably good 24” x 24” (60 x 60 cm) painting; in 2008, prices were falling so much that paintings offered for $125 were not selling. Many of the paintings on eBay are of low to medium quality, but sometimes very good paintings from excellent artists appear and are sold at fire-sale prices. I have seen paintings sold for much less than the artist charges as a wholesale price to a dealer. (The saddest thing on eBay is to watch very high prices paid for art that is clearly not Huichol at all; I once saw a painting of Navajo women that was falsely attributed to Ramón Medina Silva create a ferocious bidding frenzy and sell for considerably more than a genuine Huichol painting.)

  One consequence of this may be to drive the U.S. galleries away from Huichol art. When I returned to the same southwestern galleries in 2007, most no longer carried Huichol art. Dealers said it was no longer profitable for them. In the 1990s, Huichol art was new and exciting, and so it commanded high prices; now it is no longer seen as exclusive, and so collectors and high-end buyers have moved on.

  I fear that the long-term result will be to severely depress the Huichol economy. When retail prices are very low and many stores no longer want to carry Huichol art, Huichol artists are relegated to the few remaining outlets. Many Huichol began to rely on the sale of art for their livelihoods during the boom market of the 1990s and early 2000s. Now those same artists are competing for the few remaining buyers. Increased poverty among the Huichol may be the result, especially among the new generation of young urban Huichol who rely on making art for their livings.

  There may still be some room at the top for the best yarn painters. Their work is seldom seen on the Internet, except on the websites of a few good galleries. When
they appear on eBay, it seems to be by accident, and often the sellers do not seem aware of who the artists are or what their work is worth. For example, I once saw a small but fine painting by Santos Daniel Carrillo Jiménez sell for $10 on eBay; the same painting might command $150–$200 in a good gallery.

  Can the Huichol counter this trend by using the Internet themselves? So far, I have seen little evidence of this alternative. I have seen several websites that are attributed to Huichol artists, but that appear to be maintained by American supporters; the artists do not seem to do much business directly on these sites. Nor have I met any Huichol artists in Mexico who are able to use the Internet. I tried to introduce Santos Daniel, a well-educated artist, to the Internet, but he has not been able to follow it up. Eligio Carrillo has a daughter who is studying accounting at the postsecondary level, including how to use a computer; she may eventually be able to help her family conduct e-commerce.

  There are formidable barriers to be overcome before the Huichol can use the Internet. Right now there are few, if any, computer-literate Huichol with the financial backing to access the Internet. Public Internet access is widely available in Mexico in small storefronts that sell time-use by the minute, but the cost is comparatively high for those earning Mexican wages. Carrying out e-commerce requires having access to electricity, a personal computer, a telephone line, an Internet service provider, and someone to design a website. Many Huichol are still illiterate or semiliterate; many still do not have access to electricity, running water, or a land-based telephone line. The cost of buying and maintaining a computer would be completely impossible for people who may struggle to earn enough each day to buy tortillas and beans for their families. I do not foresee any quick solution to the effect of e-commerce on Huichol artists.

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  the influence of the market

  One of my first interests was to find out what we can learn from yarn paintings about Huichol shamanism and visionary experience. Some authors have maintained that yarn paintings are simply commercial products, turned out in volume by artists distant from the culture. The artists may use symbols drawn from Huichol culture, but lack any deeper personal or philosophical understanding of shamanism. The artists’ aesthetic choices may be driven purely by commercial factors.

  Therefore, I explored how the art is influenced by the marketplace. Cross-cultural influence can go both ways. Western buyers may influence what sort of paintings the painters make, and the Huichol may try to modify what they do in order to communicate certain ideas to their buyers.

  Buyers’ choices can affect what sort of paintings artists make. The principal buyers affecting the marketing of yarn paintings are retail and wholesale dealers who interact directly with the Huichol. While tourists and the general public are the end consumers, their influence is mainly passed on through intermediaries, since relatively few Huichol sell directly to the public.

  Nevertheless, when I watched artists and dealers interacting, few dealers told the artists directly what to make. Instead, artists made what they wanted to and brought their paintings to dealers for sale. Dealers purchased the paintings according to their own criteria of salability. For example, one dealer told me that paintings of goddesses sold well to her female clients. The dealers usually did not explain much to the artists about the reasons for their choices.

  One Mexican dealer was more active than others in asking artists to use particular themes and materials. Several artists told me that they had begun using certain materials or painting innovative themes at his request. He asked Santos Daniel Carrillo Jiménez to make a painting based on the nierika symbols used in face painting, and suggested to Modesto Rivera Lemus that he make a painting about the solar eclipse.

  Fig. 15.1. Unknown artist, yarn painting of the spiritual power of shamans, 2005. 12” x 12” (30 x 30 cm). The image is painted in the style of José Benĺtez Sánchez. Photo credit: Adrienne Herron.

  Most artists I spoke to had at least a general idea of what types of paintings sold well, who the buyers are, and where they might get the best prices. A few artists knew that there was an international art market. However, most artists did not really seem to understand the business of art well, even though they may have toured other countries.

  One sign of the artists’ unfamiliarity with market concepts was their lack of understanding of the difference between wholesale and retail prices. For example, Lupe’s family travelled a good deal in the United States, selling their work directly to the public. They became accustomed to receiving North American retail prices. Since the wholesale dealers in Mexico seem to pay, at best, about a quarter to a third of the North American retail price—a fairly standard markup in the arts-and-crafts industry—this family’s expectations had become grossly inflated.1 When they were unable to find anyone in Mexico who would pay them the prices they were used to, they felt cheated and became unwilling to sell their work. I heard similar complaints from other Huichol artists, who felt put upon because dealers mark up their paintings or take a commission rather than paying the full retail price to the artists. On the other hand, I met one artist who is knowledgeable enough to adjust his prices according to fluctuations of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar.

  Huichol artists are businesspeople who must make a living for themselves and their families. Stark poverty and harsh working conditions are the norm for most of their compatriots. Thus, yarn painters exercise common sense when trying to learn how to satisfy their market.

  One way they satisfy buyers is by painting popular designs or subjects. Fabian González Rĺos described to me the designs that sell best for him. He said his most popular subjects were religious themes, such as depictions of the peyote pilgrimage and of fiestas such as the Bull Ceremony or the Drum Ceremony; in addition, paintings of a woman giving birth sell especially well in shops in Tepic. The last design is the mythological theme introduced by Guadalupe de la Cruz Rĺos.

  The yarn painters also try to accommodate demands for the older types of yarn painting, which use fewer figures with less detail, as well as the more recent types, which use more detail. Eligio Carrillo said that these preferences affected the types of designs he made and their intricacy.

  ELIGIO: Some of my friends want the paintings complicated. Because the paintings are for sale, after all [that is, he makes the paintings so that they will please buyers]. Some want them with lots of designs. Others don’t; they want the paintings to have just one design, but a big one.

  Eligio adjusted his painting style accordingly. He illustrated this point by showing how he could eliminate the ring of figures around the outside and then enlarge the central figures (see, for example, fig. 9.4). A large but simple design appeals to some buyers. Others want a more complex design so that they can learn more about the details of the Huichol beliefs illustrated in the painting. Accordingly, he tries to meet both needs with different types of paintings.

  ELIGIO: When I do it with a lot of designs, [they say,] “I don’t understand it. What does it mean?” For that reason, many times I do it [simply, like this]. When other people ask me, “Make me just one large design. Just with the necessary parts, the most important,” that’s how I do it. But so that it is a little bit more spread out, like this, and so it looks good also. Not very complicated. [On the other hand,] many people want it complicated. Because they want to understand [the meaning of the painting]. I don’t know how they know this [namely, that the painting has meaning].

  HOPE: Do they want many designs because they want to ask and learn what does this mean? What does that mean?

  ELIGIO: Yes.

  I asked Eligio what his own aesthetic criteria were—that is, which type of painting he preferred. Although he liked both types, he preferred paintings that illustrated more, rather than less, of the powers of the gods.

  HOPE: And you yourself, what do you like?

  ELIGIO: Well, to me both kinds look good. Well, for example, I say to you . . . I am taking away this, then this gets larger [indicat
es removing the ring of peyote spirits, the ring of green faces around the outside]. It is the same. Well, the only thing is that I am going to take away this, this power that I told you about, or the power that it contains. That the tiny gods, then, these ones are representing, when that shaman is translating. That’s [how we see] where they carry the gods, which are words, or which gather together in this place, right. And even if we take away this, in every way it is the same.

  HOPE: Then a person sees more of where the powers come from when there are more designs?

  ELIGIO: Yes, exactly.

  The artists also try to respond to the desires of their buyers in the colors they use. Santos Daniel Carrillo Jiménez echoed Eligio’s comments on how he chooses to use simple or complex color combinations. Santos felt that the choice was up to the client. Some buyers like color combinations that are simple, as in the old style of making yarn paintings, and some like complex color combinations.

  Artists’ Views on Future Trends in Yarn Painting

  I asked the artists how yarn paintings might change in the future. I hoped that this question might bring out what the artists’ own aesthetic goals were. However, the artists answered very specifically, interpreting it as a question of what the market might demand of them.

  Most yarn painters had lived through considerable change in the techniques of doing paintings. They had seen the transition from thicker to thinner yarns. They thought there was a good likelihood that the materials might change again. However, they stressed that though materials and techniques of manufacture might change, the concepts underlying the paintings should not. The concepts should remain the same because the paintings depict ideas that are central to Huichol culture, as Fabian González explained: