Bertha Servín Barriga is known as one of the Tesoros Vivos de Michoacán (Living Treasures of Michoacán, 1st edition, 2015, pp. 76–83). While participating in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, the New Mexico governor marveled at the gorgeous dress Bertha was wearing and requested that it be gifted by the state for Michelle Obama. Bertha was included among the first year’s artists at the Chapala Feria, and now’s she back representing the work of her Vasco de Quiroga bordado (embroidery) cooperative.

Born in 1956 in the small rural village of Santa Cruz, Michoacán, one of the towns of the Lake Pátzcuaro region recognized primarily for one type of artisan work; Santa Cruz is famed for its detailed embroidery. Bertha can’t remember when she wasn’t studying the craft, starting with simple knotting, then cross-stitching, and eventually moving on to the fine, detailed, pure cotton embroidery for which she is renowned.

Bertha’s mother tongue, the language of the indigenous people of the Purhépecha empire that ruled much of Michoacán in the pre-Columbian period, doesn’t have a written script. Instead, it has a rich history of recording the past orally and through its arts. When the Spaniards conquered the area, the Purhépecha people managed to retain many of their ancient customs, which became enmeshed with the Spaniards’ Catholicism, the outcome of which has yielded a rich tapestry of folklore and cultural practices. These are the themes that Bertha considered as a young woman and which eventually transformed the artistry of the Santa Cruz embroiderers. Their work includes details of weddings, Day of the Dead, Easter, Corpus Christi, and the Dance of the Old Men, but it also chronicles everyday life in rural Purhépecha villages: women washing clothes and making tortillas and men harvesting maize and tending animals.

Now Bertha is passing along the embroidery needle to upcoming generations by running weekly classes for village children, including her granddaughters (Bertha’s daughters are now accomplished embroiderers in their own right). Most of the week, however, Bertha can be found embroidering and selling the cooperative’s work in the historic Casa de los Once Patios artists’ collective in Pátzcuaro.

ARTIST INFORMATION:

Bertha Servín Barriga – Bordado Santa Cruz

WhatsApp: 434 120 8195

Email: bordadostacruzestherb@gmail.com