Francisco Flores
Master Folk Artist

Francisco Flores and his wife are continuing the tradition of making brightly painted and joyously decorated 'Trees of Life' candelabras and incense burners. These objects were traditionally used for religious and ceremonial purposes in Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla. Since Don Flores is elderly now, we are sad to say it is an endangered folk art since none of his children, including his son, are currently interested in making the pottery.

Don Francisco learned the art from his father Aurelio Flores and his grandfather, and he is proud to have some of the same molds that were handed down from his grandfather's trees. The work is a combination of hand-formed and pressed mold-made clay. It is single fired and brush painted with a mixture of tempera and aniline dyes dissolved in water over a whitewash background mixture called engobe, a mixture of zinc oxide and calcium carbonate. The paint is brushed on and then covered with a natural varnish made by Francisco from the resin of the "oyamel" tree and the nopal, or prickly pear cactus juice. This gives the pieces a brilliant glaze that eventually over time turns the base coat a warm creamy tone.

The style in which he works and paints best represents traditional decoration--it is not an innovative art form for him, but instead a continuation of a very long standing village and family tradition, probably pre-Hispanic. According to Francisco, when a couple decided to be married, their "padrinos" (or godparents) would commission a tree of life to made for the wedding ceremony altar and then it was given to the the newlyweds to be used on their home altar.

*Sources: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection of Mexican Folk Art and Folk Treasures of Mexico and Marcia Lucas' field notes

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