Juan Damaso Gaspar has been drawing on amate (handmade tree bark paper) for more than 30 years. He is very sensible and serious about his work.

When he was a child there was a cockfighter in Xalitla so he became fascinated with cockfighting and started drawing it when he was 10 years old. Juan is a self-taught artist who has become highly regarded for his highly creative and unique designs.

Xalitla is a town famous for its production of amate paintings. Traditional amate paper paintings merge two traditional crafts of Mexico. Some ancient pottery villages in the Balsas River basin in the state of Guerrero developed, possibly in the 19th century, two styles of pottery decoration and then focused on amate. Given the difficult economic situation in Mexico, in the late 1950s and early 1960s many artists began to explore cheaper ways to express their art, and that is how they found amate paper. This art form has maintained its appeal to collectors and tourists alike.

Amate paper is one of the most widely available indigenous crafts, which is sold in Mexico as well as abroad. The bark of the tree is clear when dry. It is then cooked in a saucepan with a little lime and ash. When the combination is soft enough the tree bark is strained and the fibers that come out are arranged on a table in lines so that a grid is formed. With a stone with a specific silhouette for this process, the fiber is flattened again and again until each fiber is fully integrated. Finally, the amate is laid out in the sun to be completely dried. The paper can have different shapes depending on the type of bark used.

Domicilio Conocido

Xalitla, Guerrero

733 676-3083 casa; 

Juan Jr.’s celular: 733 157-3536 WhatsApp

Cellphone reception is very bad.

Son Rafael: rafita_dm1980@outlook.com