Oscar Armando Vázquez Lomeli, Tepatitlan de Morelos, Jalisco
Textiles

Oscar Armando Vázquez Lomeli, Tepatitlan de Morelos, Jalisco

From Tepatitlán de Morelos, Jalisco, Oscar Armando Vázquez Lomelí is an artist using ancestral yarns and dyes in his effort to rescue the
use of looms and fabrics in the Altos de Jalisco region. He became
interested in textiles when he was 14-years of age — first macramé weaving and later in regional embroidery. He learned how to spin cotton from his great-grandmother.

In 2015, he had his first contact with the back-strap loom. When he was 20-years old, he acquired his first such loom from another weaver, Jesús Arroyo, with whom he began to weave rugs. Due to the oral tradition of how to dye using natural plants that was preserved in his region, Armando learned how to use natural plants, such as añil silvestre (wild indigo), grana cochinilla (100% natural dye obtained from the dried bodies of the Dactylopius coccus insect), agallas de roble (abnormal
swellings of plant tissue called galls on oak trees), santa maría (species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae), gualda (flowering
garden plant) y palo de tinta (species of flowering tree in the legume family).

The designs and iconography Armando uses in his work have passed through five generations of his family, but he is the first one to use them on a loom rather than in embroidery. Today, he and his mother rescue the artisanal dyeing of textiles with natural dyes and preserve an ancient cultural tradition. Armando does the dyeing and weaving and his mother adds the finishing touches.

Even at his young age, Armando has made a significant impact on the restoration of the ancient techniques he uses through the workshops he teaches:

--2017 taught a back-strap loom workshop at the Museo de la Ciudad de Guadalajara.

--2018 he gave a workshop on Ancient Embroidery of the Altos de Jalisco, in Guadalajara as well as a workshop on how to use natural dyes on cornhusks in San Cristobal
Zapotitlan.

--2019 he taught a wool-dyeing workshop at the Escuela de Telares in Jocotepec.

--He worked as a teacher at the Casa del Artesano in Tepatitlán and Acatic from 2016 to 2021, where he taught a back-strap and colonial loom workshop.

--2020, his social commitment to craftsmanship, his determination and talent led him to win the Premio Especial para Jóvenes en el Concurso Estatal de Artesanías (Special Youth Award of the state of Jalisco judged art show).

--2020 he was a beneficiary of the Program to Support Municipal and Community Cultures with his project to Rescue the Cobija Prieta.

--2021 he won first place in the textile category with his mestizo backpack in the Concurso Estatal de Artesanías.

--Armando is committed to the rescue of the weaving techniques of cobijas prietas (dark colored blankets) and sarapes Tecoloteños in Tepatitlán de Morelos, because
these disappeared from use around 1980, the year in which the last weaver of Tepatitlán passed away. He works in his Casa Taller Tecuani Arte Textil, in Tepatitlán.

Armando is committed to the rescue of the weaving techniques of cobijas prietas (dark colored blankets) and sarapes Tecoloteños in Tepatitlán de Morelos, because
these disappeared from use around 1980, the year in which the last weaver of Tepatitlán passed away. He works in his Casa Taller Tecuani Arte Textil, in Tepatitlán. 

Colibri 556 Col Aguilillas

Tepatitlan de Morelos, JALISCO

3781194992 WhatsApp

vazquextil@gmail.com

Instagram: Tecuani_Arte_Textil

Facebook: ARMANDO VAZQUEZ

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