In
Mexico, straw mosaics are known as "popotillo art," from the Spanish name for sacaton grass,
Sporobolus, or
popote de cambray. The art form has
Precolumbian roots. The popotillo may also be a fusion of Chinese straw art and the Royal Aztec Feather Art; the Chinese influence may have come from the Chinese immigrants who were brought to Mexico in the late 1800s to build the Mexican train system and contributed to the cultural fusion in some aspects of life such as folk art and cuisine. The grass grows in
states of Mexico,
Morelos,
Hidalgo, and
Puebla.
Mexico City is the center of popotillo art, and several award-winning artists have formed a workshop, "Popotillo y Color," there. The grass is first hand-dyed. Before European contact, exclusively
natural dyes were used and the straw was soaked in
aguamiel or
agave juice. Then the artist draws a design, which is then covered by a fine layer of "cera de Campeche," a special type of beeswax. The straw is then cut down to workable sizes, sometimes as fine as a single millimeter in length. The artist then carefully presses the pieces of straw into the beeswax. When the design is finished, a
fixative is applied to protect the finished work. ==See also==