Blue Deer Center: The Huichol Art Project

The Huichol Art Project

Huichol Art by Cristobal Gonzales

Huichol Art at Blue Deer Center

The Huichol Indians have lived for countless generations in remote hamlets, high in the Sierra Madre Mountains of western Mexico. They are a people that have never been conquered by outsiders. Their sacred traditions and connection to the Gods have remained intact. They are one of only a handful of existing indigenous cultures with such a continuous heritage. Their lives are centered around sacred rituals and tradition. Everything from planting corn to embroidering clothes is done in a sacred way. Their artwork is alive with their experience of the Divine.

The Blue Deer Center actively supports the Huichols by creating markets in this country for their sacred artwork. We do this to help them maintain their traditions and to strengthen sources of income that help them stay connected to their hamlets. We hope to reduce the need for the Huichols to migrate to find work in the tobacco fields or in factories in the cities. The Huichol Art Project is administered at no profit to the staff or the Blue Deer Center.

If you would like to more information about the Huichol Art Project, or wish to obtain art for sale in your area, please email Meike Cyr the HAP Coordinator: huicholartproject@bluedeer.org. To see Huichol Art available for sale, go to www.huicholartproject.org.

Why are we connected to the Huichols?
There is a blaze in the human heart that illumines who we are, where we came from, and why we are here. In the warmth of this blaze we feel our belonging to this world, for it burns not just in us, but also in every human, plant, animal, mineral, and situation. In the rugged Sierra Madre of Mexico, the Huichol people are living as they have for thousands of generations: in communion with this sacred fire. Meanwhile, the lives of our people have moved in another direction – into coldness, doubt, fear and alienation. Amidst our impressive possessions, as we congratulate ourselves on our “evolution”, there is a disturbing emptiness, a yearning for something long forgotten. We no longer remember the fire our distant ancestors knew so well, and the Huichol people still know.

Some of the Huichol elders recognize our plight and open to us their tradition of connection to Sacred Fire. Sacred Fire gives us:

Our own shamans initiated in the Huichol tradition
The Blue Deer Center (named for the Huichol creational deity)
The Sacred Fire Community
The Temple of Sacred Fire Healing
Direct teachings

As a small repayment of our debt of gratitude to the Huichol people, we founded the Huichol Art Project to create U.S. markets for their artwork. This non-profit enterprise enables many Huichol families to remain in their homeland maintaining their lifeways, rather than migrating to the lowlands to be exploited in factories and tobacco plantations.

For more information about our Huichol Art Project, please contact huicholartproject@bluedeer.org.