Agustín Cruz Tinoco

Cruz Tinoco learned to carve as a child from his father, also a noted artisan, in his hometown of San Juan Otzolotepec in the Sierra Mixe region of Oaxaca, where his family grew coffee and corn.

[1][2][3] When he was older, he moved to San Agustín de las Juntas, a town near the Oaxacan state capital, and sent for his wife, Cleotilde Prudencio Martínez, and four children a year later.

He has also made whimsical works such as nativity scenes mounted on a tortoise, boxes in a jaguar shape, skeletal figures and animals doing human activities and even a chess set pitting the Spanish conquistadors against the Mexican indigenous people.

[1][3] He works in pine, cedar, Mahogany and a soft local wood called copal, popular among Oaxacan craftsmen.

[1][2][3] Originally Cruz Tinoco left the works unpainted until his older daughter Edilma became interested in painting them.