Helping hand

Jul. 12—Every year, Cándida Fernández de Calderón makes the trek from Mexico to the International Folk Art Market and brings with her a group of artisans hoping to make the leap to the next level.

Fernández de Calderón is the general director of Fomento Cultural Banamex, a nonprofit created by Banco Nacional de Mexico; her mission is to not just preserve the artistic legacy of her country but also to advance the careers of Mexican artisans.

"Every year, we usually change the artisans we present there," she says. "We usually get between three or four artists to Santa Fe, but we present the pieces of eight or 10 different artisans. With this marvelous organization, with all the friends and voluntary things the market has, our artisans make some friends and maybe next year, one of them invites them to their home and they start to go by themselves."

Fomento Cultural Banamex was created in 1971 to provide research for exhibitions and publications, as a support program for folk art, and most dauntingly, as a program for restoration and conservation of national heritage. The organization formed close relationships with a range of academic institutions in Mexico, Spain, and the U.S., and it has strived to find Mexico's greatest artisans working in a variety of materials, from clay and textiles to amber and leather.

Financially, Fomento Cultural Banamex supports about 150 artisans per year with grants of about $3,000 each, and it also directly supports about 30 different programs and workshops annually.

The organization assists the workshops by repairing infrastructure or gallery spaces. But most importantly, it's helping the artists help themselves.

"We review with them the samples of their work and try to help them to increase the number of pieces and the variety," Fernández de Calderón says. "And sometimes with the same design and the same technique, we change the piece; maybe we change to a place-mat or another kind of piece we can sell in the market [that can be used in] people's daily life."

There are two particular shows — Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art and Iberio American Folk Art — that Fomento Cultural Banamex turned into critical events for folk artists.

"In total, we've had more than 125 exhibits in 85 different venues and 15 different countries," Fernández de Calderón says. "At least 80 artists have had more than 500 square meters [of space] in the exhibits; and more or less 250 different artisans have been part of the exhibits."

Fomento Cultural Banamex also started a collection in parallel with its exhibits and publications, and it's acquired more than 30,000 individual pieces and 12,000 sets of pieces. Some of those pieces are part of a donor program with private institutions in Mexico, which allows the artisans to display their wares in museums and galleries across their country.

Fomento Cultural Banamex also directly sells art in four Mexico venues and works with the artisans to market their work beyond their borders.

"That's why we go to Santa Fe Folk Art Market," Fernández de Calderón, a 19-time attendee, says. "It's the most successful folk art market in the world."

This year, Fomento Cultural Banamex will bring three artisans to Santa Fe. Remigio Mestas is the head of an association of embroiderers in Oaxaca and works with about 300 different women in all kinds of materials. The other two are Alma Sánchez Tapia, a silver jewelry maker from San Felipe Santiago, Estado de México, and óscar Daniel Soteno, a 22-year-old clay art scion of a famous artisan family from Metepec, Estado de México.

Fernández de Calderón says about 70% of the artists that Fomento Cultural Banamex works with have never been outside Mexico. Of the rest, she says, maybe they've been to the U.S. once or twice but not to sell their art. Even the small things — like getting a passport or visa — are new to some of the artisans. And that's where Fernández de Calderón and her organization come in with support.

"That's the success we have in the folk art market; they learn a lot, and they grow in the commercial area a lot," she says. "They have the capacity to arrange their pieces, get their own car or get a company to bring the pieces to Santa Fe, get a stand, and sell by themselves. For a lot of them, the sales of the market is equal to the sales of no less than four months."

Learn more about the artists of Fomento Cultural Banamex at sfnm.co/Banamex.