Paint with yarn the Huichol way at the Museo de las Americas

As Museo de las Americas director Maruca Salazar told us when opening the show Wixaritari: Huichol Art of Mexico, color is more than a simple sensation for the Huichol people, who imbue it with spiritual characteristics and see themselves as vessels of its natural life force. There's something lovely and...

By Susan Froyd

January 5, 2012

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As Museo de las Americas director Maruca Salazar told us when opening the show Wixaritari: Huichol Art of Mexico, color is more than a simple sensation for the Huichol people, who imbue it with spiritual characteristics and see themselves as vessels of its natural life force. There's something lovely and moving about that way of thinking -- and after a walk-through of the brilliantly hued exhibition, it's not hard to believe. In fact, you might just want to throw in the towel and run off with the nearest Huichol sect, so that you can spend the rest of your life religiously adhering beads to beeswax in complex patterns and rainbow colors. Or...you could take a quick class in Huichol yarn painting, which will fulfill the desire to worship the colors of nature in considerably less time, and without giving you eyestrain. Learn the colorful craft from a Huichol master artist tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Museo. There's a $5 fee for materials and instruction, but you get a free look at the exhibit, which closes Sunday. The Museo is also hosting a sale of Huichol treasures that ends tomorrow, so you can pick up some of the real stuff.

Put some color in your life.

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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