Artisans

The artisans that make our hand painted and chandelier earring lines, live in the beautiful  Urubamba valley in and around the village of Pisac, Peru, famous for its Inca ruins, handicraft markets, and artisan community.

Our group consists of 8 painters, 8 assemblers, and several part time university students. Being an artist myself, I can say that the skill level of the painters is amazing. The final details are painted with handmade brushes having a tip of three cat hairs. As many skills, painting is an aquired one.The younger artisans start out on simpler designs and slowly over much time advance to more complicated ones. It takes years.The painters pictured below have all been working in this field for over ten years. I worked with them for two weeks while we put together our new lines from my drawings for the flowers, sea life and animal earrings. We all get really excited about it. Painting is just the first part. After we had the painted plaques, Jaime and I worked for another week  on bead color combos and what went where.

      Of our group all the painters are men and about half of the assemblers are women. Most of the artisans choose to work from home. I remember asking once why there weren't women painters, since I am a painter. Florentino told me "because unlike assembly work you can't just stop painting to take care of your children, cook or whatever." Very practical
 

There is always lots of discussion about which color of beads look best.   Sometimes we try and we try and we try and finally , That's It  Florentino and Soledad inside our brand new inventory room. We are super organized ! Florentino organizes everything! He was one of the first artisans in the area of  hand painted ceramic beads and jewelry, that started in Pisac. His expertise is invaluable. Soledad, his daughter is in charge of the inventory room and is attending university in Cusco.  Nestor painted some beautiful samples of  traditional Peruvian motifs with contemporary SW colors.  The earrings were so impressive that I thought we should have a whole line and name it after him.  Linea Nestor.	Fidel is one of the artisans who helped design our painted rectangle earrings.He often can paint more than fifty pairs a day. Dante paints the penguin earrings, while Urpi peeks in the room.	Daniel painting flowers Daniel has a great eye for color and detail. He also won our  "Who can paint the polar bear contest" We all tried, including myself and it became quite the joke. We had some dogs, mine looked like a pig and one hamster . Check out his bear in the Fancy Critters  line. La Senora Claudia Without Claudia the work would come to a grinding halt.  She is the wife of Florentino. Besides cooking for her family of ten, some days she has as many as a dozen artisans for lunch.We are all very grateful!  Jorge is an amazing painter. He paints most of our sea life earrings. When I gave him my drawings  for the girls' necklaces , he brought them to life. I was thrilled! Be sure and check them out in our Sea life section.
	Edgard works on the tulip earring.Edgard loves to paint florals or anything else. He is one of our most accomplished painters. I've worked closely with him on my trips to Peru for the last three years and it's a joy. Edgard and Jorge are brothers.
	Jaime or (Jaimito) as the younger artisans call him. Jaime is one of the best assemblers and has the infinite patience of a true artisan. He assembles all of our new prototypes and won't rest until everything is perfect.

PAINTING of PISAC
BY BRENDA  HART

THE ONION SELLER, PISAC PERU
ARTIST PRINT OF MARKET DAY ON THE PLAZA

SEE MORE PRINTS BY BRENDA AT
http://www.studiohart.net/