The first Hollander beater was set up in 1997 at I.A.G.O., the Institute of Graphic Arts of Oaxaca (founded in 1988), facing the magnificent, recently restored baroque church of Santo Domingo. Adjacent to the church is the new Ethno-botanical Garden, which has examples of indigenous plants and trees grown in Oaxaca’s diverse ecological zones. Ongoing research by the Garden and the Oaxaca Institute of Technology reinforces the choice to make paper in Oaxaca from native fibers, in contrast to workshops in Guadalajara and Colima that use recycled paper. Although, in retrospect, Toledo’s various projects (including restoring the church and founding the garden) seem to have been planned as part of a larger whole, many of them developed independently as efforts to rescue sites from either developers or deterioration. In 1998 the townspeople of San Augustin Etla, a village in the verdant hills just north of the city, agreed to donate a former hydroelectric plant to house the Taller Arte Papel Oaxaca. Here was an opportunity to restore an airy, brick and stucco building and take advantage of an abundant water supply. With the move, the papermaking workshop expanded its activities: hiring and training local craftsmen, contracting farmers throughout the state to supply materials, planting an experimental garden, and developing an inventory of sheet sizes and other handmade paper items. Aware of its unique rural setting, the taller attempts to avoid any harm to the environment, by combining contemporary production methods with native traditions. For example, water is collected in a series of cement holding tanks and recycled through an ingenious system of aqueducts. In particular, the fibers are traditional, the equipment modern. Cotton and ixtle (maguey cactus, one of about six species of agave) are the main fibers used for papermaking at the taller. Aztec rulers prized Oaxacan cotton. Etla was once famous for its natural brown cotton, called coyuche, which varies in color from a soft cocoa to a pale green. According to Mexican paper authority Hans Lentz, pre-Conquest scribes drew picture books (codices) on paper made from ixtle. Spiky agave leaves line the Oaxaca valley, where the cactus is cultivated for distillation into mezcal, an alcoholic liquor, and has traditionally been used to make rope, net bags, animal bridles, and pot scrubbers.  The taller also uses other fibers for papermaking. Chichicastle is a thorny shrub of the nettle family, unique to Oaxaca. The inner bark yields a silky fiber that makes distinctive paper. Only the top shoots are harvested; the base is left intact to keep the plant alive. Until the 1960s chichicastle was woven into ponchos in San Juan Guivini. The taller has helped revive its cultivation. Typically the taller works with growers in different parts of the state to determine the best climate and soil conditions, thereby establishing a relationship and fixed market for specific fiber crops. They also experiment with fibers like kapok (pochote), mulberry (mora), and a bromeliad called pita. Last year the taller grew five kilos of flax, from Danish seeds, and tested samples of kenaf from India for possible future use. After the fibers are macerated, stripped, and sliced or boiled, they are converted to pulp, either in the original Hollander beater or in a new David Reina beater now at the site. Chopped green nopal cactus paddles (popular throughout Mexico pickled in salad or scrambled with eggs) are soaked in tubs of water to collect their gooey ooze, which is used as a formation aid. Three young men, trained at the taller, form sheets of paper using wooden, Western-style molds. A fourth man scurries back and forth between the posts, alternately inserting between the sheets either a felt or a large piece of aluminum with a thin blotter adhered to either side. Amid laughter and lively music, the production is tightly choreographed. Each vatman produces between 250 and 300 sheets per day. The posts are pressed in a huge hydraulic press. A fifth worker carefully removes the felts, leaving the aluminum supports with the damp sheets couched front and back. This system works well because the aluminum is readily available, lightweight, and does not rust. Each panel can be hung by two loops of cord on sturdy metal drying racks, which stand in long rows outside. The paper dries quickly in the hot sun, swaying rhythmically in the breeze. The same man who tends the racks also peels and stacks the dried paper. Unless sizing is requested, the sheets are left as waterleaf. These are inspected and stored a few yards away in a roofed shed, where three young women score, tear, fold, and stitch paper into notebooks and journals. The workshop makes white sheets from cotton and ixtle in four standard sizes, for drawing, painting, and printmaking. Among the most beautiful papers are thick sheets embossed with the textures of woven rush mats (petates), burlap sacks (costales), and pebble-like spirals (formed from pistachio shells glued to a plywood board), which are reminiscent of relief carving seen at the nearby archaeological sites of Mitla and Monte Alban. Under the supervision of Javier Santiago Ordaz, these are dyed a rich red-brown or chocolate, using jonote root or majahua bark as colorants. Papers tinted pastel shades are fashioned into folders and origami ornaments. The taller uses a range of natural colorants like achiote seeds, a condiment that imparts a salmon color. Pale blue and pink come from small amounts of indigo and cochineal powder. The papermakers also add flower petals, threads, graphite powder, and mica chips to create novelty papers for note cards, envelopes, and invitations. To help the taller become self-sustaining, a number of prominent artists has donated designs that Santiago faithfully translates into striking covers for journals, sketchbooks, and archival boxes, using a combination of stenciling and hand painting. Some thirty to forty additional designs by Toledo depict whimsical rabbits, crabs, fish, and frogs, signature motifs drawn from Zapotec mythology that appear animated by human longings. Last year the workshop also fabricated a special edition of fifty journals to benefit the local AIDS office, featuring Toledo’s pair of skeletons back-to-back “discussing the use of condoms.” All of these unique, highly collectable items are exclusive products of the taller. Shops on the premises and at I.A.G.O, as well as select museums, galleries, and bookstores in Oaxaca and Mexico City, sell an array of these paper goods. Oaxaca acts as a magnet for both tourists and a nomadic population of artists and writers, expatriates, and retirees—all attracted by the climate, cuisine, colonial architecture, crafts markets, and ruins. There is a steady local demand for handmade paper. Critics refer to a group of younger painters and sculptors loosely allied to Toledo as the “School of Oaxaca;” their work is exhibited in Mexico and abroad. Institutions like the Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca, the Manuel Alvarez Bravo Photography Center, and I.A.G.O. all offer programs taught by Mexican and international artists. In addition, the taller has hosted bookbinding classes with Barbara Selvidge, a three-week residency by Laurence Barker, and technical training by Finnish papermaker Vaiski Putkonen. Contact with the wider world of papermaking keeps information and ideas flowing in. Opportunities are being developed for individuals and small groups to work directly with the taller's papermakers or rent workshop time. The taller is also interested in fabricating custom sheets and collaborating with book and print publishers. The inevitable change and modernization affecting much of rural Mexico also makes the taller a model, like the enterprises set up by the nineteenth-century designer William Morris. Despite its limited staff and resources, the workshop is committed to idealistic goals that benefit the local community (such as employment, agricultural research, and cultural activities) and to quality production. Recently, biologist and artist Alberto Valenzuela, a former collaborator of Toledo’s, opened his own workshop, Paper Oaxaca, nearby. His research focuses on reducing soil erosion through reforestation projects, supported by a three-year grant from the Finnish company AVINA. Two years ago Toledo acquired a vacant textile mill a few blocks from the taller. He plans to convert the early 1900s complex into the Oaxaca School of Fine Arts, with studios for silkscreen, photography, and dance, and space for visiting artists. Visitors can take a twenty-minute ride from Oaxaca to San Augustin Etla (by collective taxi from the stand near Oaxaca’s central bus station). They will learn there about the papermaking process first hand and will enjoy views from the Barrio de Vista Hermosa of the gardens and valley below. But they will also be inspired by Francisco Toledo’s utopian vision and energy in helping to sustain Oaxacan heritage and craftsmen, through projects like the Taller Arte Papel Oaxaca.  Contact Information: Marisol MartinezInstituto de Artes Graficas de OaxacaM. Alcala #507, Centro68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, MX telephone: 011 52 951 51 669-80 or011 52 951 51 620-45web-site: www.iago.org.mxe-mail: iago@prodigy.net.mx Taller Arte Papel OaxacaEx-hidroelectrica La SoledadBarrio de Vista HermosaSan Augustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico telephone: 011 52 952 52 123-94 (in Spanish) Visiting hours, by appointment:Monday-Friday 9:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M.; Saturday 9:00-11:00 A.M.