Belizean art is going to reflect the Mayan cultures as well as the era when slaves brought to and worked in Belize. There are also plenty of art galleries throughout the country. You can find paintings, textiles, furniture, sculptures, wood, slate carvings, and basketry in locations such as gift shops, galleries, in homes, and even along the roadside.

Garcia Sisters

Art in Belize is made famous by the Garcia Sisters who live in the Cayo District. Belize is also famous for its Indigo arts. The word indigo means a hue of blue/violet and this color was used by the ancient Mayans by midwives to sooth pregnant women and pregnant women would wear the color to protect their child.

Tanah Art Museum

The Tanah Art Museum is a simple building located in the Yucateca Mayan Village of San Antonio. It is filled with slate stone carvings of an ancient Caracol ruler, Palenque elder, a Mayan ceremonial thanksgiving offering table, and other works from the ancient culture.

Mayan culture

But the slate art continues. The Garcia sisters set out to see that new carvings are constantly being created and the people here do not lose a part of the Mayan culture that at one time had stopped with the Caracol in 613 A.D. The five sisters revived the art of the Tucatec Maya as well as worked to maintain the culture, tradition, and language of the Belize Maya. These sisters live in Tanah which is Mayan for San Antonio.

In the region where the Garcia sisters live, artists will come to collect slate stone from among the river beds and lakes and brought back to the museum. The stones collected are locked in sheds and buried in the ground until it comes time to carve them. Then, when it is time, the young artists seek advice from the elders on how to properly carve and create new images that carry on the Mayan art tradition.

It is a really interesting way to carry on the Belize art tradition.