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Art from the hand, heart

A St. Petersburg shop seeks to empower indigenous Latin American artists through fair trade.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published June 28, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG -- A young man gathering firewood happens upon shards of pottery. Fascinated, he tries to duplicate the pots they came from. Determined, he teaches himself how to re-create these intricately painted hand-pinched pots. In so doing he revives a craft lost in time and turns his impoverished Mexican mountain village into an international center of indigenous arts.

Such is the story of the town of Maya Ortiz and its potters, the founding tale that inspired Adriana Luna and husband, James Orth, to create Lunarte, a shop that sells hand-made Latin American goods but gives away the stories that enrich the crafts.

"It's the stories behind the products that gives them value," said Luna, whose shop is at 2006 Fourth St. N. "We try to let people know how these pieces were made, where, to open their eyes and share the culture."

The pottery, sculpture, paintings and even clothing are art in their own right, but Luna likes to emphasize their origins because they are also her own.

Born in Acapulco, raised and educated in the arts in Mexico City, she is a self-fashioned ambassador for culture from her home country and that of the rest of Latin America.

Lunarte carries furniture from Costa Rica and Peru, jewelry from Argentina, clothing from Guatemala, and more. The work is all done by indigenous artists in their ancient traditions, for which Luna makes sure she pays a fair price.

"People say, 'I can get this somewhere else for 50 cents,' " said Luna, 34. "I say, so can I, but we need to protect this art.

"We want the customer to work with us as a partner instead of just exploiting."

Luna lives in Shore Acres, but was working for Club Med in Cancun just six years ago when she met her first husband, an American. She didn't want to leave Mexico, but came to the United States anyway. The relationship didn't last and Luna had to apply her skills as necessary, working as a screen printer before meeting Orth.

But her own emigration demonstrates another aspect of her shop. She could not afford to pursue her own art in Mexico but now finds herself championing that of others so they don't have to move.

"We are supporting people so they don't have to immigrate," she said. "They can stay there and keep their families and culture and language."

Luna carries paintings from her father, who works for American film studios seeking shooting locations and then paints the scenes that result. She beams when she tells of his work and that of others in the collection.

"We as Latin American people, we have so much power but we don't know that," she said.

Among her wares are elaborate, colorful beaded animals made by the Huichol, a group indigenous to Mesoamerica that refused to assimilate when the Spanish conquered the region, Luna said. Retreating to the mountains, the population is all shamans and artists. Luna says their culture is dying, but so are the people.

"Pretty much all artists starve to death," she said.

Luna is working to help some artists survive, as well as herself and her business. She said she is considering an offer to move into retail space beneath downtown condos but wants to make sure she can make it work. This is her first attempt at retail, and she said she's learned some difficult lessons.

She is also taking the cultural aspect a step further online. She sells some goods through eBay, but also has a finely crafted Web site for which the creator, her brother in Mexico City, has won awards. But www.lunarte.com.mx is too intense for most visitors, so she said she will revamp that to become a news portal containing information about Latin America written by its residents.

"I don't want the stories from the press or the politicians," she said. "I want the news from us, the people who are living with the problems."

[Last modified June 28, 2006, 08:08:10]