Day 381: Puna Tienda Galeria featuring: Jorge Flores

You know what’s awesome? Walking into a new city, or making a new friend, or visiting a creative space and being completely swept off your feet inspired. Which is a little like being swept off your feet in love for the creative types. At least, for me it is. Anyway, I was certainly swept off my feet when we stepped into Puna one night on our way home this week. Not only was I immediately nostalgic for all of my art supplies, sewing machines (I have two. I think. In my sister’s room and/or somewhere in my mother’s house…) and a permanent space to be creative, but I also wanted to stay in Puna forever. Or buy everything I loved so I could at least take it with me. Instead, I asked the two wonderfully sweet girls working if I could return the next afternoon to photograph the space and perhaps learn more about what fueled something so creative and contemporary in a city that seemed to (rightfully so) embrace it’s traditional culture(s). Fortunately, Berenice and Stephanie excitedly agreed and when I returned the next afternoon, I was not only lucky enough to have the store mostly to myself, but to meet local artist, Jorge Flores as well! In the end I wanted to take the store and all three of them with me. Instead, I settled on some pictures, a “day in a minute” and in the end a print that I simply couldn’t live without.

When I returned to Puna, Berenice Diaz, the manager (below on the right) explained the objective of the gallery while Stephanie Guerra (below on the left) patiently helped translate when I didn’t understand. With only a few days of formal Spanish lessons under my belt, I was surprised I could follow along as well as I could, but there were some gaps that I was grateful to Stephanie for filling in the blanks for me. (Muchas gracias, Berenice y Stephanie!)

Practically everywhere else in Cusco (and from what I noticed in Peru) embraces traditional arts, especially the beautiful weaving so much so that it was almost a surprise to see a place with such modern and contemporary art on display. Berenice explained that Puna’s objective was to be a gallery and a store. While some stores (especially of this kind of variety- in my own opinion) look down on visitors wandering through simply to look, and not buy… Puna welcomes the chance to simply inform others- especially visitors to Peru of Peruvian art. I can’t emphasize enough how warm and friendly both Berenice and Stephanie were, and how grateful they seemed at my interest in Puna! I’m not the only one who thinks so highly if this little burst of contemporary culture in Cusco either. Trip Advisor has nothing but wonderful things to say, and to rate a “store” so highly has to say something, right? Right. I will say that most items fall outside of the typical backpacker budget, but if you can’t live without a piece, then the price doesn’t really matter. At least, that’s what I tell myself when I linger in front of an editioned prints with a price tag over $100.

Puna is modern art (and style) that meets traditional Peruvian culture. Currently 150-200 Peruvian artists have work on display and for sale in Puna. Traditional woven styles have been integrated into purses and even little clutches that I wanted so badly it hurt. Instead of wool llama ornaments, chic leather llama keychains were for sale. And the artwork, oh, the artwork. Where does one even begin? I’ll let the pictures -of beautiful pictures- speak for themselves.

Before I had met Jorge, I fell in love with another Peruvian artist’s work, Fito Espinosa. You can see some of his illustrations in the picture directly above. One print (not above) in particular plagued my mind for the next few days. I would have purchased it immediately had it not been for my backpacker budget. Andrew kept trying to talk me into getting it, and of course, the night I make up my mind to get it, we arrived to the store after it had closed. Good thing Andrew loves me so much because during our break from class the next (and our last) day, he ran across town to pick up the print for me! No easy feat in a city that is 11,200 ft above sea level.

Who is this Jorge (above) you might be wondering? Just another fantastic Peruvian artist who happened to stop by Puna to drop of some new work. It’s his work Berenice and I are talking about in the “day in a minute” above. And just like Berenice and Stephanie, he was so sweet and so talented that I felt so torn not taking some of his art home with me. (To make up for it, I’ve promised myself as soon as I’m gainfully employed again, I’ll be messaging Puna for several pieces of art, jewelry, a clutch or two…) Jorge is such a perfect example of a Peruvian contemporary artist who is absolutely unafraid of tapping into his cultural heritage yet making a statement with modern issues. He was dropping off some framed pieces of TEN, an installation of a grid of old Peruvian bank notes with different words painted over them. The individual pieces were striking, but seeing the photo of the installation on his website makes me want several pieces to have a small grid of my own!

You might hear him say “It’s my lucky day!” at the end of the “day in a minute” but I couldn’t express enough to him, Berenice, or Stephanie that it was my lucky day to be able to meet and talk to them all!

Day 380: San Blas Artisans

The San Blas Artisans surround the Church of San Blas, creating a neighborhood that is also known as the District of the Artists. These artists, and the families of these artists are Olave, Merida, Aguayo, Aguilar, Alvarez, Segovia, Saloma, and I’m sure there are a few more. We were told if a door was open, or in some cases unlocked, we were free to walk in and look at the art. We checked out Merida’s work by simply wandering in what felt like a private courtyard. Later, we were able to check out Mendivil’s long-neck pieces by sneaking down a long covered corridor leading to a couple of courtyards, some artisans working, a museum, and even a shop to take a few pieces home if you were interested.

Edilberto Mérida’s daughter actually greeted us when we peeked our heads into the courtyard wondering what there was to see. She warmly ushered us in and grabbed a set of keys to open up a museum/show room. The huge statue (above) in the courtyard, is a perfect example of his work. All of the ceramic pieces were incredibly expressive and included a lot of religious work- Jesus on the cross, and various nativity scenes seemed to be his favorites. I couldn’t get over how lovely his daughter was, although when she explained how easy it would be to ship any items home I became a little more understanding. Regardless, the museum/showroom entrance was (is) free with the minor exception of a small donation that we were told would go to a local charity. If you’re interested in visiting, Mérida’s work can be found at Carmen Alto 133, San Blas, Cusco (Phone: 084/221-714)

Hilario Mendívil is arguably the most famous of the San Blas Artisans. I found his long-neck sculptures really interesting especially given that the long-neck tribes (Kayan Lahwi) are typically from/in Thailand and Burma, not exactly close to Peru… I couldn’t figure out what inspired his long-neck sculptures until I researched it online and found a great description on Fodor’s here. According to the description, Legend has it that Mendívil saw llamas parading in the Corpus Christi procession as a child and later infused this image into his religious art, depicting all his figures with long, llama-like necks.

There’s a small gallery/museum and a shop selling Mendívil-style work- I’m guessing his descendants were the ones working in the adjacent studio.

If you’re interested in visiting, Mendívil’s work can be found at Plazoleta San Blas 634,San Blas, Cusco (Phone: 084/240-527)

Day 371: Back in Cusco

Momma’s last full day in Peru! We’ve been moving so fast through Peru, that we were content with wandering around the city of Cusco and seeing what we could find. We hadn’t heard very good things about the Inca Museum(s) so instead we headed towards one of the higher rated museums first, The Center for Traditional Textiles, walking past Quirikancha, once the most important temple in the Incan Empire, and then through the many squares of Cusco, ending up at the Chocolate Museum.

Quirikancha was once the most important temple and the center of the Inca Empire. Once upon a time it was covered in gold, as it was dedicated to the Sun God, Inti. That is, until the Spanish came along and demanded a ransom in place of the Inca Atahualpa, and the temple was stripped of all of its gold. Juan Pizarro, one of Francisco Pizarro’s brothers received Quirikancha and before he died, donated it to the Dominican Order of priests. Eventually, the church that you see behind (or rather, inside the walls of the former Temple of the Sun) the Incan foundation was built.

However, our first stop of the day was the Center for Traditional Textiles, a free museum with rather beautiful displays of the intricate weaving that is so common throughout Peru. I was a little hesitant, but Andrew assured us that it was one of the highest rated museums in Cusco… and Mom had just finished her first course in weaving, so we pretty much had to go. 

My favorite part of the museum were the live demonstrations and the half finished weavings that were tied off. After our visit, I noticed that these half woven pieces used as wall hangings instead of scarves or blankets or even wraps were quite popular around Cusco. Again, if I knew exactly how many walls I was returning to, I would have bought them all up! I thought they made such beautiful art pieces, especially knowing that they were preserving a traditional culture that is being quickly replaced by low cost imported string and machinery. The Center for Traditional Textiles is right down the street from Quirikancha, and the Convent of Santo Domingo.

What’s somewhat unbelievable is that the Incan walls were kept entirely intact and the church was built in between the walls of the Incan temple. Above you can see the courtyard, but throughout the building were different Incan rooms that were still free standing with dirt floors and nothing inside. Technically we weren’t supposed to take pictures, but I saw many people freely taking photographs out in the courtyard. I’m not sure why there was a no photo rule- maybe for the interior rooms that held loads and loads of religious art? Either way, it was interesting to walk through, but it made me feel a little uncomfortable wondering how the Incans must have felt back in the day when their most important temple was handed over to an entirely different religion, one that built a gigantic church and monastery around walls that once used to be covered in gold.

The above picture was to show how Quirikancha was at the center of the Incan universe. How other temples in the empire all led to Quirikancha. The picture below illustrates how the Incas looked at the stars. While we look at the stars, and the constellations by connecting the stars together, the Incans looked at the pictures made in the dark spots or shadows in between the stars.

Outside of not only Quirikancha, but throughout the streets of Cusco, women in traditional dress walked around tethered to a grown llama or holding a baby lamb. Often, they would put the lamb in your arms, encouraging you to take a photo, for which you would have to pay for after. I didn’t need a photo of myself with a baby lamb, so I would always get really excited and pet the lamb (simultaneously empathizing for it) until they would realize I wasn’t going to pose for a picture with it.

After The Choco Museo (which was an informative, albeit glorified shop) we wandered around, fed the birds, and coerced Mom into one last drink before her last day began in the morning.