It Began With Family Traditions
Weaving by Cosme Martinez, Wence’s Father
Wence Martinez: Life at the Loom
Master Weaver Wence Martinez with his weaving, Alas Indigo
Wenceslao (Wence) Martinez was born in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, a small Zapotec village famous for its weaving traditions that date back at least 500 BC. He was born into a long lineage of weavers who still practice the traditional Zapotec craft. Thus, at age nine, Martinez began apprenticing under his father and grandfather. He wove under their guidance until age fourteen when he left the village to study at the famous Taller Nacional de Tapiz in Mexico City with a full scholarship. This opportunity arose when Edmundo Aquino, a renowned Mexico City painter of Zapotec origin, searched for weavers to incorporate painters’ designs into tapestry. He found young Wence Martinez and awarded him the scholarship.
Mexico City
Exhibition poster for Edmundo Aquino: Drawing, Lithography, Tapestries
Pedro Preux, L’espoir, tapestry in cotton and wool. #1/6, 1968, 65” x 47″
At the Taller Nacional de Tapiz, Martinez studied advanced dying and weaving techniques under Pedro Preux, who had been part of a movement to revive textile craft as an art form in his native France under mentor Jean Luçart. Preux immigrated to Mexico in 1942 and was instrumental in promoting the concept of craft as fine art in Mexico in the 1960s and 1970s. It was here, at the Taller Nacional de Tapiz, that Preux and Aquino’s mentorship had a profound impact on Wence Martinez’s career as he embraced weaving as fine art. Additionally, Martinez was able to refine and master his technical craft as he studied Gobelins techniques and technical wool dyeing and won a commission from the school to aid in weaving a large Gobelins tapestry for Carlos Merida.
Return to Oaxaca
Hand dyed yarns drying on the balcony at Martinez Studio, view of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca
After his studies, Martinez received an offer to join the National Tapestry Workshop in Mexico City as a weaver, but the experience with Preux and Aquino inspired him to pursue his own artistic vision. He returned to his village in Oaxaca and set up his own weaving studio. Despite its small size, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, has long been a destination for visitors from around the world looking to purchase or commission local weavings. Thus, in 1987, Martinez received a commission to weave a design by American artist and Wisconsin native Sandra Jo Hackbarth- a chance to practice his mentors’ idea of incorporating painters’ designs into tapestries. The two met in person the following year and began an artistic and personal collaboration that lasted more than thirty years.
New Frontiers
Martinez Studio in Jacksonport, Door County, WI
Wence Martinez immigrated to the United States in 1990, when he found the opportunity to share his unique blend of traditional Zapotec textile craft and contemporary art with a broader audience. 1994, he opened Martinez Studio in Jacksonport, Door County, Wisconsin. In the three decades after the gallery’s opening, Martinez focused on developing his own body of weaving work, creating collaborative pieces with Hackbarth (Martinez), and mentoring the next generations of Martinez family weavers in Teotitlán del Valle. He found this artistic balance by sharing his time between studios in Oaxaca and Wisconsin.
Wence Martinez Studio in Door County, WI, celebrates 30 years in 2024
In 2024, Martinez Studio celebrated its 30th anniversary in Door County, Wisconsin. Today the studio continues as Wence Martinez Studio, highlighting Wence Martinez’s vision of elevating basic materials and ancient processes to create contemporary tapestries using traditional looms. His unique woven designs draw inspiration from Zapotec tradition and the beauty of the natural world. Each piece is brought to life through the eyes and the hands of a master weaver. Wence Martinez Studio is also proud to showcase works from the Martinez family's multi-generational lineage of weavers.
Artworks by Master Weaver Wence Martinez are held in collections at the Smithsonianton in D.C., the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL, and the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington. And the Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend, WI. Martinez has appeared multiple times in articles in American Craft Magazine and video interviews with the American Craft Council and PBS/Wisconsin Public Television.
Martinez Studio received the 2018 United States Artists Fellowship for Collaborative Craft.
Please see CV for a complete list of experiences, exhibits, awards, and press.