The Last Supper - from Miguel Becerra and team in Mexico

[jim_mex]

Hi - I'm posting a photo of the latest work produced by Miguel Becerra and his team who are based in the state of Michoacan in Central Mexico. Some of you may have already seen this on Miguel's Facebook page or on the Intarsia Nut's Facebook page.

A few years back Miguel set up a workshop in a redundant woodyard owned by his family for a group of mentally and /or physically disadvantaged individuals who live in and around his home town of Zacapu. He trained these individuals in basic scrollsaw skills and they work as a team to produce some amazing pieces of work which once sold have the proceeds shared between them. Miguel is an accomplished freehand and computer based artist and produces all of the patterns for his team. Some of you may remember a few years back of getting together to donate blades for his team, which was organized by Jim McDonald and myself, after I became aware of the workshop and the financial problems Miguel was having to get it off the ground.

Since its inception Miguel has struggled financially to keep this workshop going but I'm glad to say that after weathering some very rough times he has finally received some recognition in the form of some local government assistance to help him continue the challenge he took on when embarking on this worthy project.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that without assistance from the workshop some of his team would have found themselves living in extremely dire circumstances without any form of financial support. To say this guy is inspirational is an understatement!

I spoke with Miguel a couple of weeks back when he was assembling this piece. He told me that it includes 26 different woods sourced from in and around his locality,

Once we get through this Covid situation my plan is to visit Miguel and video document his work and that of his team and upload it to Youtube to show their work to a wider audience,

Miguel has a very limited understanding of English, hence my writing on his behalf, but if anyone has any questions for him please let me have them and I will get an answer back from him.

Thanks

last supper.jpg

[IntarsiaGuy]

Absolutely beautiful and inspiring. I wish them well with what they do. Things like this encourage me to get more involved here and spend more time creating. I'll try to post some pics of my ongoing work as I can. Thanks Jim

Steve

[blondewood]

Wow! Breath takingly beautiful.

[Hobbyhorse]

A stunning piece of work.

[will8989]

No words to describe the beauty.

[theframer]

OUTSTANDING

Design and assembly are remarkable. Miguel and his family will be blessed many times over for helping his team.

Thanks for sharing.

Rick

[scrollerpete]

There are still some beautiful people who care in this world, great introduction and the finished piece is a work of art. It should be on display somewhere to show the goid work being done and it should generate more funds. Thanks for the posting.

[vgraf]

Absolutely beautiful
We ought to be able do do something as a group to help them. Anyone have an idea?

[jim_mex]

We ought to be able do do something as a group to help them. Anyone have an idea?

I spoke with Miguel this morning and I'm investigating the possibility of putting up a web site for him showcasing his team's work and importantly focusing on the assistance he provides to the community by helping these individuals not only in providing them some financial assistance but giving them a skill that they probably would not have otherwise had the opportunity to gain. My thought is to post something like a donation link to a Paypal account or similar on the site to help Miguel and the team out.

At the moment Miguel and I are hampered by the Covid situation. A number of his team have been forced to self-isolate to avoid the risk of contracting this virus and I also can't easily travel to visit him for the same reason but rest assured I am laying the groundwork for this idea. Once I have something setup for Miguel I'll post an update on the forum so that members can not only visit his page and see more of the team's work but also help with a small donation should they wish to do so.

THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR APPRECIATION OF THE TEAM'S WORK!

[cwmagee]

Amazing! It is great to see the finished project.

Thanks for sharing with us.

[Misouri Wayne]

Very impressive work of art. Please keep us updated as things go along.

[Linda In Phoenix]

Very nicely done and definitely inspirational.

[Rolf]

I don't know how big this piece is normally, but to see this at this scale is absolutely stunning. I saw it on facebook and didn't realize that he is the one that we contributed blades to. It is hard enough to cut and fit Intarsia pieces when it is done by an individual having multiple people cut pieces takes another level of skill entirely. Our club has made several fretwork clocks to be raffled at our annual show. Putting them together was a real challenge.
Please keep us posted.

[NC Scroller]

Absolutely beautiful
We ought to be able do do something as a group to help them. Anyone have an idea?

Maybe a "go fund me" page.

[jim_mex]

Maybe a "go fund me" page

Thanks for that idea Scott. I don't know much about how to set up such an option up but I'm pretty sure that I can investigate and find out.

It is hard enough to cut and fit Intarsia pieces when it is done by an individual having multiple people cut pieces takes another level of skill entirely.

Too true Rolf! I don't know if Miguel has changed the working methods of his team but one thing that impressed when I visited several years back is that there was one team member who was not allowed to use any form of machinery, not even getting near moving scrollsaw blades, because he suffered from shaking spasms which could occur at any time and he could easily injure himself. He took great pride in telling me that his contribution was to hand sand all of the pieces that the team cut and shaped of all projects before the final assembly. That alone blew my mind!