Jacobo and Maria Angeles

In the town of San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca there are many wood carving shops but there is one unlike any other where you can find the most magical and unique wood animal carvings. The workshop of Jacobo and Maria Angeles produces beautiful and intricate painted pieces known as Alebrijes since 1994 operating from this small town. Jacobo and Maria are one of the many artists here who helped put these intricate pieces on the map as more than just a pretty souvenir. These carvings have been featured outside prominent buildings and in museums like Rockefeller center and the UN.

This colorful little town has even gone on to inspire the look for a well-known Disney animated movie. This community keeps their Zapotec traditions alive and well through this art form and now the Angeles workshop is home to over 260 artists that have taken to wood carving as well. The animals, colors and designs all have a meaning within their culture, and they have taught these techniques and traditions to the other artists, which includes their own children.

Jacobo and his brothers all learned wood carving from their father and even created a workshop of their own in 1985 before Jacobo met his wife. Maria also grew up in Tilcajete but instead worked with the other women in her family on embroidery for tablecloths, napkins, clothes and many more. Both Jacobo and Maria have artistic talents, but they truly homed in on their skills once they got together. Maria showed Jacobo how to incorporate their Zapotec designs and linework into the pieces that he expertly carved. Once they incorporated this technique more into their pieces the business improved, and visitors started to see that these figurines are an art form to be appreciated. However, it took them close to 20 years to get the popularity they do have now.

The Angeles workshop and other artists in town use Copal wood to create these beautiful figures. Woodworking is one of the oldest, best known and most appreciated forms of crafts. Copal wood is easy to work with to make these figures. The artists also like copal because it has been associated with their culture for centuries. The resin from the Copal tree was used in fragrances and as incense in the Zapotec culture.

If you have seen the movie Coco you may remember seeing some beautiful, unique and colorful animals roaming across the screen. Those are Alebrijes in Zapotec culture, “Nahual”. The colorful and unconventional combination of animals is what Jacobo and Maria create and bring to life in this form. Alebrijes are often thought of as your guardian through life that follows you into death. According to the indigenous communities of Oaxaca the animals used for these figurines are derived from the Zapotec Calendar while the main colors used to create them represent earth, wind, fire and water.

These artisan workshops and communities in Tilcajete are fascinating. They use what is available to them to create these wonderful pieces of art. The community has come together to make sure that the resources they take they can give back, so they started planting copal trees by the hundreds so that the generations after them can still partake in this amazing and fun tradition.