small wall hangings

J. Blas proffers a great Mexican welcome with hummingbirds and a bouquet of colorful flowers. Blas works with iron, masterfully creating a three dimensional plaque featuring "Welcome" in wood over fiberglass.

"The spiral symbolizes the passing of time, or the duration of natural life," says Marco Florindez as he explains his work. "Life never stops developing through time and space. I was inspired by a symbol on a textile piece from the Chavin culture. It was the abstraction of a serpent coiled into a spiral with a central point of origin and infinite continuity." Florindez starts sculpting the piece with a steel base adding cotton textures in black featuring a soft burgundy light.

Since the piece hangs from the steel frame, it can be placed in any direction, as desired.

Titled "Evolution" in Spanish.

For a lovely and inspiring addition to your home decor, this wall cross is created by Balinese artisan Sarwaedi. He works in natural suar wood, diligently carving the cross by hand. It features lotus flower motifs and elegant openwork that is achieved with great attention to detail. The cross receives a distressed black finish for the look of a treasured antique.

Showing off her finery, Catrina is on display in this unique folk art wall accent from Rocio Pindter in Mexico. The small artwork is crafted from tin with a glass pane, and hand painted with a beautiful Catrina wearing a bodacious feathered hat. The blue metal frame is lavishly decorated with colorful flowers, fish and birds.

The original "La Calavera Catrina" was a zinc etching created by the artist José Guadalupe Posada in Mexico around 1910. Posada created the character, a female skeleton with an elegant hat, as a satirical portrait of Mexican natives who aspired to European style and denied their own heritage. The catrina has since become an emblem of Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration and a popular folk art subject.

Artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association recreate the elaborate stone sculpture known as the "Aztec Calendar" or "Sun Stone." Discovered in Mexico City, the original massive stone is on display in the National Museum of Anthropology and History. The Aztecs (or Mexica, as they called themselves) believed that the sun struggled daily against the forces of darkness. They aided the sun through human sacrifices. This beautiful replica is sculpted in clay and given a crackled antique effect. Features a loop for hanging.