Our e-newsletter is designed to keep you appraised of the work FOFA is doing to showcase, support and celebrate Oaxacan Artesanos, to announce our educational and fundraising events and to introduce you to the various members of our community who make this all possible. Below please find links to some of our past issues. We hope you too, will join our exciting community!
THE SOUND OF CLAY: A TRIBUTE TO THE ABUNDANCE OF THE MIXTECS (6/2/25)
Maricela Ortiz Cortés is the 8th generation of her family to craft clay pots (ollas) out of the richly hued earth that surrounds her Mixtec village, Santo Domingo Tonaltepec. Her "Singing Pot" (La olla que canta) was awarded an Honorable Mention at FOFA's 7th Young Oaxacan Folk Artists Competition (concurso), held this past February.
SIXTY-SIX TALENTED YOUNG FOLK ARTISTS ARE RECOGNIZED AT FOFA’S 7TH JURIED COMPETITION IN OAXACA (3/17/25)
FOFA just concluded the first phase of its 7th juried competition (concurso) for young folk artists, in partnership with MEAPO (Oaxaca’s state folk art museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec). Responding to FOFA’s call for entries, 115 artists submitted their works, reflecting a stunningly diverse range of genres, styles and techniques.
MEET THE ESTEEMED JUDGES FOR FOFA’S 2025 CONCURSO! (1/30/2025)
Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art (FOFA) proudly announces the judges for its 7th concurso (competition) for young folk artists from the state of Oaxaca. This year’s panel of judges features an esteemed group of five multi-talented professionals with deep roots in Oaxaca’s folk art traditions – as practicing artists, scholars, teachers and advocates.
CALLING ALL YOUNG OAXACAN FOLK ARTISTS! FOFA’S 7TH CONCURSO IS HAPPENING IN FEBRUARY 2025! (10/14/2024)
FOFA is announcing its seventh concurso (contest) for young folk artists who live and work in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This year’s concurso will take place February 7 - 22, 2025, and its theme is “My Story In My Hands” (Mi Historia Entre Mis Manos). There is NO entry fee, and it’s open to artisans 35 years of age and younger.
ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ MÉNDEZ: INSPIRING BLACK CLAY CERAMICIST (3/1/2024)
Alfonso grew up as a painter in San Juan Yaeé, a pueblo in the Sierra Norte some 5-6 hours from Oaxaca City. Currently 29 years old, he traveled alone at 15 to the Central Valleys surrounding Oaxaca City, feeling a “strong need to discover something new beyond the mountains…searching for other forms of expression.” Alfonso reflected, “I always wondered what would be beyond? Would there be something good for me?” Despite having moved far away from his pueblo of birth and not returned in many years, Alfonso maintains contact with his mother, sister and grandmother who occasionally visit him. Both his sister and mother attended the inauguration of the FOFA exhibition in February, 2023 in which Alfonso was honored.
TWO-WAY LEARNING FOFA’S ENGLISH TUTORING PROGRAM (8/24/2023)
This autumn FOFA will launch its fourth round of online English tutoring in which we pair an English-speaking volunteer with a Oaxacan folk artist. The program is now under the dynamic leadership of FOFA volunteer Alejandra Maudet, a Mexican-Argentine residing in Reno, Nevada. A former school director and English as a Second Language (ESL) professional, Alejandra is excited to expand FOFA’s project. She leads zoom meetings for tutors, assembles helpful curriculum materials, and is creating a vocabulary reference guide specific to folk art genres. Alejandra began her FOFA work as a pandemic-era tutor, and then participated in Oaxaca in August 2022 as a competition winner interviewer.
YOUNG OAXACAN ARTISTS GAIN INSIGHTS INTO THEIR CULTURAL ROOTS (7/19/2023)
A group of Oaxacan artesanos who recently won prizes and honorable mentions at FOFA’s 6th juried competition for young folk artists has just completed a course exploring the cultural history of Oaxaca. Titled “Elements of the Iconography of the Original Peoples of Oaxaca and their Symbolism,” the three-month course combined lectures that took place at MEAPO (The Oaxaca State Museum of Popular Art) and field trips to important archeological sites and arts institutions in and near Oaxaca city.
FOFA IS CELEBRATING 15 YEARS! (6/1/23)
Thank you for your dedication and time; for supporting us with workshops and courses; and for dignifying our work as craftspeople.
FOFA’s FOUNDER ARDEN AIBEL ROTHSTEIN STEPS DOWN AS PRESIDENT (3/24/23)
Arden Aibel Rothstein, the founder and 15-year President of FOFA, has stepped down from her central leadership position, but thankfully will remain on FOFA’s Board of Directors. Her decision was announced at the February 4th exhibition opening and catalog presentation at the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular Oaxaca (MEAPO) in Oaxaca featuring winners and their pieces from FOFA-MEAPO’s August, 2022 Sixth Young Artists’ competition. Amy Mulvihill, who has been FOFA’s Vice President, is President of the organization on an interim basis, working closely with Margee Rogers, who is Chair of the FOFA Board of Directors. Deborah Huntington will continue as Treasurer, and Karen Collins as Secretary.
FOFA INAUGURATES ITS SIXTH YOUNG ARTISTS’ EXHIBITION AT MUSEO ESTATAL DE ARTE POPULAR OAXACA (MEAPO) (2/23/2023)
On Saturday, February 4th FOFA and the Oaxacan folk art museum MEAPO inaugurated a lively exhibition, “Finding Hope Through Art/Encontrando esperanza a través del arte.” This was our sixth young artist exhibition, featuring 63 winning pieces from the competition that took place in August, 2022. This celebratory event included the presentation of a 100-page full-color exhibition catalog introducing each artist and their winning piece, as well as background information about the piece and contact information to help potential clients locate the artist.
FOFA IS OFF TO A GREAT START IN 2023 (1/21/2023)
We are enormously grateful for the ongoing support of our community of donors and volunteers. In 2022 nearly 100 donors underwrote FOFA’s work, 90% of whom gave $250 or less. Our donors are spread across the country, united by a shared love for the creativity and kindness they experienced in Oaxaca. About 30 people, almost all of them volunteers, donated their labor and time to make our August 2022 young artist competition a great success. FOFA’s work is making a distinct difference in the lives of the artists with whom we work, and this is made possible by your support. Thank you!
For archives dating back from 2022 and before, please click here.