Guadalupe (Lupita) Vega Velázquez was born on the north shore of Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. She is an exceptional and unique artist who began to embroider when she was seven-years old. First learning her skill at school, Lupita was only in the second grade when chosen to display her work in an exhibition. She soon began embroidering for her mother's shop.

At that time, most stores in the area copied each other and carried the same designs. At eight years of age, Lupita began to develop her own designs, inspired by the flowers and birds in a neighbor's large garden. Her traditional Mexican designs became progressively more individual and sophisticated, while never deserting her Mexican roots.

Arte en Bordados Ajijic's designs include flowers, birds, butterflies, and various animals, and are for adults and children. The birds are often embroidered in silk to show their iridescence, each father individually stitched. The flowers are frequently so complicated and detailed that eight different colors may be discovered in one petal. Ttechniques are of their own creation — totally unique, one-of-a-kind, not to be seen anyplace else.

As a child of six, Neil James, a patroness of many artists around Lake Chapala, encouraged Lupita to abandon the more traditional Mexican designs and branch out to create her own. She has passed on her love of embroidery to other women in Ajijic and who formed Arte en Bordados Ajijic. They use both silk and cotton thread, often both in the same piece.

Lupita comes from a family of artists. Jalisco's Jesus López Vega, Antonio López Vega, and Margarito López Vega, her first cousins, are well-known painters. Her brother, Jaime Vega and her cousin, Fernando López Vega, are also well-known painters and now live and work in the U.S.

Ramon Corona #5B
Ajijic, Jalisco
Maria Lupita 33.1075.9443
376 766.5752 casa; 662 111.0234 celular Karl Homann
lakemonk41@outlook.com Karl Homann