The pandemic affects thousands of entrepreneurs in El Salvador and an example is the studio, Arte en Flor, (Art in Flowers) which closed its doors during the quarantine to tourists from France, Canada, Italy and the United States among other countries, says María Elena Flores, owner of the store.
The shop, Arte en Flor, is located just 30 minutes from San Salvador, and today it reopened its doors to tourists. “During the pandemic, we were dedicated to collecting materials such as eucalyptus leaves, hydrangea flowers, Isora, all kinds of bamboo flowers and leaves, and guarumo, which are large and small leaves,” said María Elena Flores.
This is a very fine art, and the process starts from the collection of flowers and leaves which are dried in books. Once the flowers are ready and dried, we start with our drawings and decorate them with the tiny flowers. “Nothing is painted, everything is designed through natural bright colors,” added Flores.
Arte en Flor makes large quantities of cards for all occasions, as well as artistic paintings for different occasions which are sold for up to 70 dollars depending on the size. The shop also designs small art forms utilizing the tiniest flowers, which are designed with young people in mind, especially those who are dating and my want to express love through detailed, handmade art pieces.
The shop is located in the very center of Comasagua, a very charming town full of many stories. Comasagua is part of the city of Santa Tecla, in the department of La Libertad. Visitors to the area will appreciate a very pleasant climate here, as well as the typical foods that can be enjoyed in the surroundings of the town.
The creator of this art, María Elena Flores, says that she learned the specialized trade of working with flowers from her grandmother. She then improved it to deliver a better product.
Today, they hope that everything will normalize to continue advancing in new drying and storage techniques since these flowers and leaves are kept in books with many pages where they spend many days to dry, without losing their color. Arte en Flor has decorative paintings and cards for the Christmas season.
The flowers used is this art form are common little flowers that grow anywhere in the fields. The leaves have fallen from the trees after completing their life cycle, but in this studio, the flowers and leaves are brought back to life and are transformed to add a meaningful value to a person’s home, through decorations or gifts for a loved one.
In El Salvador, the Ministry of Tourism is in the process of reactivating tourism, step by step, always abiding by the strict security measures so as not to spread COVID-19 and this has given the opportunity to entrepreneurs such as the art studio, Arte en Flor, to resurface and thus offer its products again to local and foreign tourists who appreciate this art.
Mauricio Alexander Cáceres García is a Correspondent for Latina Republic focused on El Salvador and Latin America. He is a renowned Photojournalist and Documentarian from El Salvador. Migration is personal to him. His father and family moved to the United States as migrants. His work showcases the power of human stories. Among his specializations, Cáceres has reported on “The migrant route” of the Guatemalan border, Mexico and the United States. He personally completed the migrant route to the US on four occasions. Cáceres has a degree in Migration from the Universidad de Centro América, UCA. Cáceres has served as an Editor of the newspaper Más, EDH and elsalvador.com. He has extensive experience in national and international news coverage, studied journalism has won several photography awards throughout Latin America, including second place on a photographic contest centered on the migrant woman, and earning the Santa Clara de Asís prize for his report on the migrant route.
