Arbol de la Vida (Tree of Life)
by Oscar Soteno
Metepec, State of Mexico, Mexico
clay, pigment
44” high x 32” wide x 12 inches
*High resolution images coming
The original Tree of Life sculptures were figurative statuettes used by Catholic missionaries to tell the story of the Bible. Soon, the indigenous artisans developed their own style, a colorful mixing of indigenous and christian beliefs.
This incredible Arbol de La Vida depicts the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Everywhere you look throughout the sculpture you will find highly detailed and colorful figures including God creating the Garden, Adam and Eve before and after temptation, the flora and fauna including elephants, lions, butterflies, sunflowers and of course, the snake in two different forms!
Oscar Soteno (b. 1971) learned to work clay as a child. In 1988, he began to specialize in the Arbols de la Vida (Trees of Life). Today, he runs his own shop with his wife Maria and three other family members. The Oscar Soteno Elías family workshop is just outside of Metepec, in the State of Mexico, on the highway that leads to Ixtapan de la Sal. The workshop is dominated by a large courtyard which is in turn dominated by two large brick and adobe kilns where the pieces are fired. Just off the courtyard is the small gallery where pieces are exhibited and sold.
The Sotenos are one of the families of ceramic artisans that have made Metepec an important artistic center in Mexico. Metepec is known for sun decorations for walls, guitar-strumming mermaids, skeletal figures, animals of Noah's Ark along with other items, which attract buyers from Mexico City and Toluca.
The making of pottery in the Valley of Toluca goes back at least 1000 years due to rich clay deposits. In the colonial period, Metepec become a ceramics center, blending European and indigenous traditions, mostly specializing in black and green tableware, toys, religious figures and candlestick holders. Diego Rivera is credited with introducing new color schemes to a pottery making family in the 1940s with other workshops following suit.
Around the same time, Metepec potters began to transform candleholders into tree sculptures which have become the town’s best known exports. The original trees were relatively plain with limited motifs. Over time, they became more elaborate, more colorful and larger.
Oscar has his own niche. He makes the traditional Trees of Life with the traditional theme of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, but he also makes trees with other themes such as the life of Christ, the love story of couples, and trees covered with monarch butterflies.
Oscar has exhibited extensively in national and international museums. His pieces stand out for the quality of the finish and their variety of rich colors. He has won a number of acknowledgments and awards at exhibitions, competitions and art fairs, including the Galardón Nacional in Jalisco in 1995 and the Premio Fomento Cultural Banamex in 1996. He was selected by the Fomento Cultural Banamex to participate in the organization’s program to promote Mexican handcrafts and folk art as one of Mexico’s 150 Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art.
