Zapotec weaving tradition is alive in Sandy

By Eric Slade (OPB)

Sept. 28, 2020 10:21 p.m.

Francisco and Laura Bautista create hand dyed tapestries at their studio in Sandy. They draw upon generations of Zapotec weaving tradition from their home town of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca in Mexico, an area world renowned for its weaving. Now the Bautista’s 16-year-old daughter Cinthya and 12-year-old son David are quickly becoming master weavers themselves, each working on their own looms. It’s a development Francisco could only have dreamed of years ago. “Watching my two kids now weaving, I have no words to describe how happy I am, how I feel,” Francisco says. “My language, my culture, our traditions in Mexico. I'm teaching them all those details, everything that my dad and my grandpa taught me, I want to pass it to the next generation.”