Ceremony and ritual: folk art of Latin America.

SINCE PRE-COLUMBIAN times, folk art in Latin American has been the primary vehicle through which people have expressed their dreams and fears, courted their lovers, amused their children, worshipped their gods, and honored their ancestors. Today, as in the past, it is found in every part of Latin American Life, adorning the family's alter in the home or adding color and decoration to the furnishings. Also incorporated into architecture, local advertising, culinary habits, religious ritual, and politics, folk art is at the very core of Latin American culture and society.

Folk artists are found all over Latin America--in noisy, cities, busy regional market towns, sleepy coastal fishing villages, and small farming communities. They are men and women who provide the vital link between the past and the present, the caretakers of traditional life, usually held in high esteem by their communities. Some are full-time specialists who create as a means of earning a living. More often, though, they are farmers, masons, fishermen, barbers, and others who produce art in their spare time in order to supplement their incomes. Many of these artisans donate their skills, time, and artworks to an event--a religious festival, for example--as their contribution to the well-being of the community.

Most learn their craft through apprenticeships with other, more experienced artists. Frequently, this tradition is passed from father to son or mother to daughter, but non-kin also serve as mentors. Although traditional folk artists in Latin America seldom sign the objects they make, their works are not anonymous to other folk artists or those who buy and use them.

Reputations are developed that depend upon the standards established by the traditions of the community in which they work and live. While a degree of individuality is allowed, the folk artist understands the elements that are necessary to satisfy the purpose of the piece he or she is fashioning. Local values and perspectives are reflected through materials taken from the immediate environment. Many figural ceramists, for instance, are from communities producing pottery from local clay, fired with fuel from that area. Other folk artists depend on cast-off materials they recycle into useful objects.

The most visible and dramatic form of folk expression in Latin America is associated with ceremony, both secular and religious. Using traditional objects imbued with symbolic meaning, people commune with their saints, maintain continuity between the living and dead, acknowledge the passage from one stage of life to another, and strengthen ties with family, community, and nation. Ceremonial folk art provides viewers with an opportunity to experience the very soul of Latin America through the fundamental beliefs of those who use it in their lives.

The important role played by dance dramas in pre-Columbian Latin America quickly was recognized during the colonial period. Christian/Moor dance dramas took place as early as 1524 in Mexico and rapidly spread throughout the region, teaching the history of Christianity to the Indians through folk forms with which they already were familiar. Masks played central roles in these dance dramas.

Occasions recalling significant secular events--historical, patriotic, and/or military--yield colorful parades and reenactments. Masks, costumes, and related paraphernalia are part of the folk dramas staged to recreate pivotal moments in a villages or nation's history. Such annual performances strengthen the sense of community and bind the people to a larger image of nationhood.

Most Latin American ceremonial folk art, however, is religious. At its heart is the concept of La Promesa, a vow between a believer and members of the spiritual world who hold sway over individual, familial, and communal destiny. This contract is based on reciprocity. For example, milagros--small votive objects that are testaments to a saint's effectiveness---are found throughout Latin America and placed on altars in fulfillment of a promesa or vow. Life-size wooden arms and legs, small silver eyes, breasts, or ears testify to a saint's healing powers.

In Latin America, as elsewhere, folk objects represent cultural responses to the physical environment, each uniquely fashioned to meet the specific demands imposed by purpose, climate, sex of user, space, and other factors. Most are utilitarian, made to satisfy the daily practical needs of those who produce and use it. Carefully hand-made clothing, household furnishings, work implements, cooking utensils, and other utilitarian objects still are found in great abundance, in spite of their rapid replacement by mass-produced objects that are divorced from local tradition.

While utilitarian considerations are at the heart of most Latin American folk art, few artists are content to let their imaginations and skills rest there, seeking instead to satisfy creatively the dual roles of pragmatism and decoration. Inanimate objects often are transformed into human and animal shapes. Stirrups become ferocious faces of dogs; wooden stools assume the semblance of armadillos or horses; sturdy walking sticks are entwined with alternating serpents and vines; pots and jars to carry water may be shaped as goats. Special signs are commissioned to advertise a store or service. While some may use widely available stencils, others are custom designed to meet the needs of individual merchants and the local communities they are appealing to for business.

Recreational folk art is comprised of objects whose primary function is to entertain and amuse. Consisting mainly of toys, dolls, games, and miniatures, it allows the maker and user to escape the world of the mundane and enter the domain of dreams and fantasy.

Many toys and other forms of recreational folk art operate on several levels of significance, not always immediately apparent. They seem to be lighthearted and whimsical objects of play, devoid of deeper meaning. Yet, beneath the surface, they frequently tell another, equally important story. Toys, especially miniatures, often serve as key agents of socialization. Boys and girls are given toy farm tools and dolls, respectively, to encourage play that prepares them for the adult tasks which lie ahead. Games, such as loteria (Bingo), often are more than mere entertainment and may provide a chance, however slim, for people to win some extra cash.

Ceramic genre figures emphasize regional dress, occupations, local legends, scenes, and ceremonies. Because they so accurately mirror cultural reality, these pieces become valuable sources of information.

Although a strong chronicler of local tastes, the primary function of decorative folk art is to adorn the body, home, or some other place. The forms of these objects do not necessarily follow their function, although they remain grounded in and bound by traditions of the artist's culture. Decorative folk art often has secondary meanings that may represent important aspects of social and religious life. Other objects are made as recuerdos, souvenirs that provide proof of a visit or call up images of an important event.

"Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America" may be seen at the San Antonio Museum of Art from March 13 to May 2. It then will travel to the Mexican Museum, San Francisco (May 19-July 27); The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Aug. 14-Oct. 10); The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (Nov. 1-Jan. 5, 1994); The Museum of Florida International University, Miami (Jan. 24-March 20, 1994); and the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (April 23-June 19, 1994). The exhibition and its national tour are made possible by Ford Motor Co.