Marta Turok
Quick facts for kids
Marta Turok
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Turok at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City
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Marta Turok Wallace
1952 (age 72–73) Mexico City
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| Occupation | anthropologist |
| Years active | 1974 - present |
| Known for | promotion of Mexican handcrafts and folk art |
Marta Turok (born in 1952) is a Mexican expert in anthropology. She studies how people and societies develop. Marta Turok is also a leading expert on Mexican folk art. She has worked hard to make Mexican handcrafts and folk art more respected. She also helps artists improve their lives and earn more money. Many groups have given her awards for her important work.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Marta Turok was born in Mexico City in 1952. Her parents were from the Boston area in the United States. After World War II, her parents and older brother moved to Mexico City. There, they started a business selling postcards. Marta grew up speaking both English and Spanish. She also learned about both American and Mexican cultures. She went to the American School in Mexico City.
College Studies in the U.S.
Marta went to Tufts University in the United States for her college degree. Her father had studied chemistry there. At Tufts, students could create their own study plans. Marta chose to design her own program because the university did not yet have an anthropology department.
For her final project, she traveled to Chiapas, Mexico. She researched handcrafts there. She worked with an anthropologist named Walter Morris, Jr. They studied the history and meanings of designs in traditional Mayan woven cloth. This idea was new at the time. Later research showed that these designs did have meanings, though many have been forgotten. During this time, Marta learned to speak Tzotzil. She also learned to weave on a backstrap loom. She graduated in 1974 with a degree in anthropology and socioeconomics.
Further Education
Later, Marta studied ethnology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She graduated in 1978. In 1996, she earned a certificate in marketing. This was from the University of California Berkeley.
Marta Turok's Career
Instead of becoming a professor, Marta chose a different path. She wanted to help artists directly. She worked to improve their economic situation. She also promoted the cultural value of handcrafts and folk art. She taught artists about marketing. She also worked with art collectors, museum curators, and the public.
Working with the Mexican Government
Marta Turok started her career working for government groups. She also taught classes on traditional Mexican textile design. Her government work focused on creating rules to make handcrafts more important. She worked with the National Indigenous Institute. She also worked for the Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanías (FONART). At FONART, she helped create rules to identify handcrafts with artistic and cultural value.
In 1988, she became the executive director of the Popular Cultures Bureau. She was the youngest woman to hold such a high position in the Ministry of Education. During her time there, the bureau grew a lot. It went from 300 to 800 employees. It also opened 17 regional offices. She helped make the Mexican Sport Confederation a national group. This group helps keep old Mexican sports and games alive. The bureau also published books about folk art and popular culture. These books covered topics like a purple dye from sea snails, organ grinders, and charro music. She also started a project to save weaving and sewing traditions. This project gave fabric, thread, and needles to many indigenous communities.
Work in Non-Profit Organizations
In the late 1980s, Marta decided to leave government work. She moved to the non-profit sector. In 1989, she started the Asociacíon Mexicana de Arte y Cultura Popular (AMACUP). This group focuses on making new products using old techniques. It also works to make sure handcraft production is good for the economy and the environment. AMACUP helped bring Mexican goods to new markets. These included international specialty stores and museum gift catalogs. They also reached major Mexican tourist places like Cancún and Puerto Vallarta. Marta was the president of AMACUP from its start until 2012.
Museum and Research Work
In the 2010s, Marta Turok led CENIDEART. This is the Research Center at the School of Handcrafts. It is part of the National Institute of Fine Arts. Today, she is the curator for the Ruth D. Lechuga folk art collection. This collection is at the Franz Mayer Museum.
With the School of Handcrafts, she helped approve handcraft traditions for the Ministry of Education. She also did research. At the Franz Mayer Museum, she has organized many art shows. Some of these include Traditions, Mexican Popular Arts (1992) and Mexican Lacquerware (1997). She also curated The Toy in Mexico (1998) and The Saltillo Sarape (2003). More recently, she curated 1001 Faces of Mexico: Masks from the Ruth D. Lechuga Collection (2010).
Marta also helped organize other exhibitions. She worked on a show for the Living Earth Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian, 2011). She also helped form the Totonac Museographers group. This group works with the Indigenous Arts Center of El Tajín.
In addition, Marta has trained artists in marketing and environmental care. For 40 years, she has been a judge in Mexican craft contests. These include contests sponsored by the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art in New York. She is still active in academics. She gives talks on Mexican handcrafts and folk art. She has also taught seminars and courses. In 2016, Marta Turok and Margarita de Orellana became the managers of a huge collection. This collection has over 20,000 items, books, and personal things. It was given by Ruth D. Lechuga to the Franz Mayer Museum.
Awards and Recognition
Marta Turok's work has earned her many awards. These include:
- First Place in Marketable Products from a National Contest.
- First Place Mexico City Export Prize for Crafts Export Enterprises.
- An honorary mention from the National Institute of Anthropology and History Prize.
- The Miguel Covarrubias Prize.
- The Música por la Tierra Prize.
- The AMACUP Marketable Crafts Award.
- The UNESCO De Facto Award for Innovation in Crafts for Mexico and Latin America.
- The Van Deren Coke Award from Los Amigos del Arte Popular.
See also
In Spanish: Marta Turok para niños
