Cooperativa SalvatierraArte CampoTaller Bolivia Taller GuasaseRomanet Zarate

Claudia Mercado

Taller Bolivia is a cooperative of woodworkers located in the small town of San Miguel de Velasco. San Miguel is also the home to one of the most fascinating of the Jesuit mission churches in the Chiquitania region of Bolivia. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

Built in 1757, and restored in 1983, the church is a phenomenal example of the creative energy that the Jesuits unleashed among the Chiquitano people when they started the construction of the churches. Trained to carve and paint the ornamention of the altars, pillars, frescoes and niches, the indigenous artisans adapted the Baroque style to express their own vision and mythology. The result is an unusual mestizo aesthetic, almost unknown outside of Bolivia.

The artists of Taller Bolivia, "Workshop Bolivia" in English, have revived the original techniques from the 18th century. They carve in tropical hardwoods** such as mahogony and cedar and paint with natural ochre minerals that they find locally and mix by hand. All of their designs are replicas or inspired by the carvings and paintings from the church of San Miguel and other Jesuit churches in the Chiquitania.

One of the most famous is the mermaid that adorns the base of the priest's pulpit in San Miguel (at right).

** Taller Bolivia uses Forest Stewardship Council Certified tropical woods.