Painting Workshop in Oaxaca
Instructor: Larry Robinson

Paint in Southern Mexico -- experience the artistic culture of colonial Oaxaca

Explore your creativity while discovering the rich cultural history and vibrant artistic community of Oaxaca, Mexico. Daily excursions in Oaxaca City and throughout the Oaxaca Valley provide the inspiration and preliminary drawings for creative development during afternoon painting sessions in the courtyard at Casa Colonial. We will visit the ancient ruins at Monte Alban and Mitla, attend lively arts and crafts markets in the small villages around Oaxaca Valley, and explore the local culture and colonial architecture of Oaxaca City.

Dates: Mon. August 17th 2009 - to - Wed. August 26th 2009   (10 days/9 nights)

Where: Casa Colonial, Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico 

Cost: $1995 includes tuition, room & board, museums/sites, and airport transfers (based on double occupancy, does not include airfare)

To Enroll: email paint@larryrobinson.net or call 415.572.6110

Casa Colonial

Casa Colonial, once an elegant private home, offers charming guest rooms, dining room, library/ living room and spacious covered verandas surrounding a lush, tropical garden.

(Walkway at Casa Colonial)

Oaxaca City

Oaxaca City is located in Mexicos southern region in the middle of a zone surrounded by four valleys. Behind the valleys lie three important mountain ranges, which keep the climate mild with an average temperature of 18º C (64º F), and summer temperatures in the mid to upper 80's F. In this city, the capital of the state of Oaxaca, you can admire the beautiful architecture of the buildings in the Centro Historico (Historic Center), which was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.

Cooking at the Casa

Historic buildings include la Catedral (The Cathedral), el Templo y ex Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzman (The Temple and Ex-Convent of Saint Domingo de Guzman), la Basilica de la Soledad (TheBasilica of Solitude) and el Teatro Macedonio Alcala (The Macedonio Alcala Theater), among other magnificent colonial and 19th-century constructions. As you visit the main plaza, the numerous establishments surrounding the Historic Center, and the traditional markets, such as Benito Juarez and 20 de Noviembre, you'll find all kinds of crafts that come from various regions of Oaxaca. Among the most popular crafts are the colorful alebrijes, swords, wool garments and beautiful black pottery. At some of the more traditional places you can try local fare, such as tamales, mole dishes and Oaxacan cheese, or Oaxacas famous mezcal, a regional alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant.

Oaxaca City

Excursions

In the city's surrounding areas, you can visit archaeological zones Monte Alban and Mitla, pre-Hispanic capitals of the Zapotec and Mixtec people.

Monte Alban

Monte Alban was the most important pre-Hispanic capital in the Oaxaca Valley region during the classical period (400—800 AD), when it was inhabited by the Zapotecs. The area was abandoned in 800 AD and later became occupied by the Mixtecs during the postclassical period (1,300—1521 AD). The Mixtecs used some of the existing constructions as tombs for their rulers. Among the most important constructions at this site are: la Gran Plaza, which is surrounded by various structures that have been identified as rooms, burial sites and tombs; el Juego de la Pelota; el Edificio de los Danzantes; and el Palacio, as well as several buildings where astronomy was studied. Many ancient treasures discovered at Monte Alban are displayed at the Oaxaca Museum of Culture. Because of its important cultural development and its monumental architecture, the UNESCO declared this archaeological zone a World Heritage Site in 1987.