July 9, 1990 - El Paso Herald-Post

Store creates a place for lovers of folk art

Handcrafted, one-of-a-kind things intrigue me - and I think that most people also feel a deep appreciation for them. There is a sense of the exotic in those folkloric crafts. Perhaps it is a feeling of kinship that harks back to a time when originality was a benchmark of creativity.

Maybe it is a linkage to our spiritual humanity, to that sensibility which was honed by practice and discipline so that our dextrous hands could create beauty from rough-hewn wood and bits of rocks in need of polishing.

Finding such intricate pieces of handiwork is a joy, and I feel great about venturing into places where folk arts from such diverse continents as the Americas, Africa, Asia and India can be seen and bought.

A wonderful small shop exists in El Paso with a home sense to it.

Visions: International Gift Shop, at 2019 Montana Ave., is more than a place to buy goods - it is also an idea about reaching out to artisans from the Third World and giving them a space where their works can be marketed.

Charles Haddox, manager of Visions, speaks with much excitement about the idea behind Visions.

It is a dream, according to him, which is linked to a national non-profit organization - Friends of the Third World - with similar shops in such cities as Tucson, Ariz.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Orange County, Calif.; Buena Vista, Colo.; and Normal, Ill.

Each is locally run, and the managers make contact with artesans for stock. In fact, Haddox wants to reach out to local artisans who work in pottery, ceramics, jewelry, wood, etc., and provide a space.

"We are always looking for local artisans," Haddox said, "primarily those artists and artisans who come from low-income circumstances so that we might help them develop markets for their works."

A stroll through Visions gives one a glimpse of Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Calcutta, Guatemala and the Sierra Tarahumara, along with U.S. Native America.

Traditional baskets, carvings, weavings, wall hangings and dolls beckon one to explore other cultures. Delicate earrings, bracelets, rings and belts seem tintinnabular as one picks them up, creating in one's mind a vision of other lands, exotic lands, where artisans practice crafts much more ancient than the tickytacky, machine-made bits of plastic which proliferate in our modern society.

There is also a practical side to the things one buys there, as function plays as major a role as beauty in those handmade objects and artifacts.

Haddox speaks about the "dying out of folk arts" with an urgent sense of saving such beautiful cultural traditions. I hear his words; the passion is humanizing as he tells me about the history and nuances, the uses of different things and their meanings.

Then he speaks lovingly about his newborn son, Roy Carlos, and I understand that the new father wants to ensure that those traditional old ways of doing things and seeing the world do not.die, that they continue so that his progeny and future generations will have original, handcrafted objects of beauty and human value in their lives.

Visions is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Its prices are very reasonable - read that highly affordable - and it provides a market for artisans who might not otherwise have one. It's a loving attempt at cultural ecology, of ensuring the survival of individual talent and craft.

It's also a place where one can browse and enjoy a tour through cultural differences while Charles Haddox shares a bit of history about folk arts and traditional values.