Carlos Salvador Ojeda specializes in hand-painting detailed and colorful scenes of typical Aztec-Náhua traditions. Carlos has painted beautiful crosses, tea trays, doves, and Christmas tree ornaments. To view a catalogue of hand-painted items by Carlos Salvador Ojeda, click on the link at the bottom of the page. Carlos Salvador Ojeda is 34 years old and has seven children ranging in age from 4 to 16. Carlos is of the Náhua 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 Aztec-Náhua Indians, who speak the ancient Aztec derived language of Náhuatl, 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. Carlos Salvador Ojeda learned his painting techniques from his older brother, Francisco, who began teaching Carlos when he was just 8 years old. Carlos began his artistic career traveling from his Aztec-Náhua village of San Agustin Oapan into the city of Cuernavaca where he tried to sell enough of his artwork to help support his family. Each day Carlos carried all of his artworks and his supplies on his back from his home to the streets of Cuernavaca hoping to sell his paintings to the local tourists. Often, Carlos spent his nights sleeping underneath the local Church. By the grace of God, Carlos was discovered by the priests of the Church who found Carlos to be a very talented artist. These Catholic priests helped Carlos to develop his artistic skills and provided him with shelter as well as the supplies Carlos needed to do his paintings. Before long Carlos had developed his own artistic style, based in his Náhuat roots and the village from which he had ventured. Watch this video of artist Carlos Salvador Ojeda describing where he gets the inspiration to paint his art of traditional scenes of Mexican village life. Carlos was the first of the Aztec-Náhua indian artisans to begin working with Casa Romero. Casa Romero is a cooperative that helps these Náhuat artisans get the supplies they need as well as locate markets for their artistic goods. Carlos is the single-most person who has inspired Casa Romero to establish the organization that exists today. Carlos has become a very accomplished painter of traditional Náhua village sceneries. His favorite items to paint are the tea trays because these are a new method that is more challenging and allows him extra space to tell stories of traditional Náhua village life in his paintings. Carlos also illustrates his artistic talents in the form of wooden crosses, molded doves, jewelry boxes, as well as Christmas ornaments. To view a catalogue of hand-painted items from the Aztec-Náhua indigenous culture of Mexico by Carlos Salvador Ojeda, click on the link below. Catalogue of Hand-Painted Náhuat Items by Carlos Salvador Ojeda