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In San Sebastián del Oeste - El Porvenir Art and Silver |
By Jesus de Avila – September 2007.
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Strolling around the streets of San Sebastian del Oeste and attracted by a sign that reads: “Arte y Platería El Porvenir”, I discovered a very Mexican house in a corner, its façade painted in the typical typical white and terracotta, with a white wooden fence and a door that when opened announced every arrival with a most peculiar sound.
I was trying to imagine how that house would turn out converted into jewelry, so, full of curiosity, I crossed the threshold to face a part of the history that unravels daily in this town.
Jesús Buendía Castellanos “the jeweler”, from behind his worktable, kindly greeted me asking me what he could do for me. After listening about my curiosity about his place and his town, he left what he was doing, got up and warmly readied himself to respond to any and all of my Questions.
Question: Tell me, Jesús; Why did you decide to name your business El Porvenir?
Answer: Me, my wife Imelda Gutiérrez Mercado and my two sons José Moisés and Alejandro Isaac, have been living in San Sebastián for the past four years, out of which I have been working one and half years in this workshop. From our arrival we knew about the mine “El Porvenir”, nestled among the mountains with a carved stone dated 1910 and we found it quite interesting that it generated electric power with a dynamo, we were awed just thinking of the titanic effort it must have been to carry such a generator up the sierra back in those days. In honor of the mine, what it represented and still represents to San Sebastián del Oeste, we decided to give its name to our workshop.
Question: What is made in this silver workshop?
Answer: The whole process of creating various pieces of jewelry like rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets and more. Here we do the “embutido” which is a process of laminating silver after comes the casting by a lost-wax process and then a profiling very much used in “visuntería”, a cannon-like tube where silver wire is wrapped and cut as required in order to make necklaces.
“Visuntería” is a process in which items are put together piece by piece, very much like a puzzle.
The time it takes us to make one item depends on the process we follow for its creatin and the amount of silver to cast and laminate. Mi wife efficiently helps me with the “visuntería” process, you can easily identify it if you observe the design of the items because they are very beautiful and feminine. Me, on my part, I make rougher items.
Question: Where does the silver you use come from?
Answer: Our silver comes from Zacatecas, but I think they still extract some from the “Los Reyes” mine which belongs to this zone – at a rate of 200 tons a month – to be later cleaned in labs in Guadalajara, where it mixes to that from Zacatecas and Monterrey.
Question: Do the local townspeople buy your work?
Answer: Of course, but they also bring me lots to repair, something the locals call “pegar” (to stick).” Pegar” is to them what to me is: repair, solder, cut rings to size, embed precious stones and/or manufacture a special piece. Sometimes they bring me gold that I must refine and cast in order to create the pieces the y ask of me.
Question: What else is made and offered in your jewelry?
Answer: Additional to jewelry, which is my area, my wife manufactures pinewood boxes and frames, then she paints them with mementos, landscapes and scenes from our town and surroundings with oil colors. We also have arts and crafts from Teocaltiche, from the región of “Los Altos”, among them wodden “baleros” and gyroscope-type “trompos”, also human figures made from corn leaves, many of these are very authentic Mexican toys. We also have the traditional Sarapes (poncho-like garment with a hole to stick your head through) from Saltillo, also “ponches” (fruit drinks with low alcohol content) and jams of the different fruits of the region. For the most adventuresome we rent bikes so they can tour the mountains and surroundings.
Question: What changes have you seen the town go through since your arrival?
Answer: Most definitely the enlargement of the two-lane road connecting us to Guadalajara to the north and to Puerto Vallarta to the west, as well as the refurbishing of the part of the road coming from “La Estancia” which was very dangerous for its narrowness.
This has translated into a higher frequency of visits from national and international tourists lured by the quietness and uniqueness of our town.
Question: Pleasedescribe for us a day in the life of San Sebastian del Oeste
 Answer: Well, life here is rather quiet, although the road has provided a greater aperture for more and more tourism to come visit and the town may look somewhat more vivid, the truth is, after three p.m. the place looks more like a ghost town. The streets of San Sebastian are very quiet except for some where tourists may be taking a stroll. During the high season an average of one hundred to one hundred and fifty people come to visit us daily, among them groups of French, Canadians and Americans from whom we make most of our living.
El hecho de que el pueblo sea tranquilo no es sinónimo de que no haya que hacer. San Sebastián y sus alrededores ofrecen diversos sitios históricos para visitar, así como lugares naturales y espectaculares para conocer y disfrutar, entre otras actividades que se pueden realizar.
San Sebastian is a town where you can do a great deal of hiking, taking us to various historical and natural places – like “La Bufa” – and we can do some bird watching enroute. In La Bufa there are mine flues.
La bufa is a natural lookout point, this is very interesting because it is said that every mining town has its “bufa”. The one here lets you see a great deal of our Pacific littoral to the west – mainly the Bahía de Banderas – and to the other side you can see all the way to the “Ceboruco” volcano. One man from the neighboring town of Real Alto recounts that from “La Bufa” you can see the train heading to the north of Mexico during the night. Another story says that seafarers on their way to Acapulco took “La Bufa” as a reference! For a long time I laughed at this story until one time near Bucerías (coastal town in the State of Nayarit) looking to the east I asked my wife and son: let’s see… ¿where is La Bufa?, they turned versus the sierra and responded: There it is!... you must observe well to distinguish it. Then I saw it and was able to confirm that indeed “La Bufa” is a landmark when navigating to the south.
One or two days are not enough to get to know, visit and enjoy San Sebastian and its people.
Question: Are you happy in San Sebastián?
Answer: San Sebastian is a place where you can live verypleasantly. I am a grade school teacher and although I am not presently teaching, destiny brought me here and I am not going anywhere. 
I was here in 1998 for the first time and it took us some ten hours to get here. We had to get off our car at every brook crossing and push and do whatever to make our wagon get past. When we arrived and I observed San Sebastian I was simply fascinated. I saw the clouds come down and in through the houses’ windows, it was then that I told my parents that if I had my way I would gladly come here and teach and set up my silversmith’s workshop. Time has gone by since that occasion and now I live in San Sebastian with my wife and kids, thank God.
To know how the get to San Sebastian del Oeste please click here
Thanks Jesus for your time… until next time
Jesús de Avila
E-mail: editor@pvmirror.com
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