Rosaura González Sebastián, now in her 80s, lives in the small Purápecha town of Turicuaro, Michoacán and has been weaving and embroidering since she was 12 years old.

She weaves with a back-strap (waist-held) loom and learned her techniques from her mother. Rosaura has taught her daughters and granddaughters to continue the tradition. She has five children, more grandchildren than she can count (she says she thinks there are more than twenty) and seven great-grandchildren.

Rosaura states that she made sure to teach her two daughters at a young age to sew and weave so that they would always be able to have an income. She is fortunate to still have her elderly husband with her, but she stated that a woman never knows what her future holds.

In order to weave, Rosaura goes through a variety of washing, starching and winding steps to prepare the thread for weaving. She will bring prepared thread to the Feria and one of her smaller back-strap looms to demonstrate her weaving.

Rosaura is a lovely and unassuming Purápecha woman who speaks both Spanish and Purápecha . She is known for her ability to make very tightly woven cotton rebozos, table runners, napkins, etc of different sizes. Her designs are typical of the Turicuaro region. The rebozos tend to be a variety of solid colors as well as striped designs. The cotton is soft and comfortable to wear.

She sometimes makes intricate designs such as deer and other figures on the fringe of her finer rebozos. Rosaura also does deshilado (taking out threads), embroiders and does crossstitch.

Although Rosaura has not entered a lot of concursos, or contests, she has won first and second place awards in Uruapan for Semana Santa (Easter), Pátzcuaro Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and in her home town of Turicuaro.

When Rosaura was young, she would sell her work locally and in nearby towns. When the government started holding concursos in Pátzcuaro and Uruapan, she ventured out of her small pueblo and began to see a bit more of her native state of Michoacán. The Feria will be her first trip to Jalisco. She is very appreciative of having been invited. In the photo to the right, Rosaura is pictured with Tere Baumgart, the Feria's Michoacán Artist Coordinator.

451 183 3335, 452 518 1227, 452 500 7374

Turicuaro, Michoacán