Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro specializes in hand-painting detailed and colorful scenes of typical Náhuat traditions. Samuel has painted beautiful crosses, jewelry boxes, masks, doves, and Christmas tree ornaments. To view a catalogue of hand-painted items by Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro, click on the link at the bottom of the page. Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro is of the Náhuat indigenous culture of Mexico and from the village of San Agustin Oapan, which is a small village on the banks of the Rio Balsas in Guerrero, a province in central Mexico. The Náhuat Indians, who speak the ancient Aztec derived language of Nahuatl, have lived and farmed the land in villages along the Rio Balsas river since before the Spanish conquest. When it became difficult to support their families on the sales of agricultural products in the early 20th century, the villagers in these isolated villages turned to art. Paintings created by artists from San Agustin Oapan use bright colors and depict familiar village scenes like weddings, Christmas celebrations, planting crops and harvesting. Watch this video of artist Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro describing some of his hand painted artwork. Samuel is 27 years old, married and has a young daughter. His father first taught him to paint on clay when he was 13. Samuel, like his brother Raul, is also a Náhuat indian artisan that works with Casa Romero. Casa Romero is a cooperative organization that helps these Náhuat artisans get the supplies they need as well as locate markets for their artistic goods. Through the efforts of Casa Romero and Samuel's hard-work and artistic talents, Samuel has become a very accomplished painter of traditional Náhuat village scenaries. Although Samuel began his painting career by learning to paint on clay, today he prefers to paint on wood. Samuel illustrates his artistic talents in the form of hand-painted crosses, doves and rabbits, hearts, jewelry boxes, as well as Christmas ornaments. To view a catalogue of hand-painted items from the Náhuat indigenous culture of Mexico by Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro, click on the link below. Catalogue of Hand-Painted Items by Samuel Iturbide Ciciaro