Oaxaca is one of the richest states in Mexico in terms of popular art. The expressions of its artistic traditions and of its artistic inventiveness are pervasive and extend over the whole state. There is practically no primary material (cloth, wood, clay, iron, precious metals, leather, etc.) that does not find singular artistic usage in Oaxaca. These materials, enhanced through the artistic talent and the imagination of artisans (with due regard given to traditional methods and techniques) characterizes Oaxacan craftwork, and has given it international fame. One of the most striking examples results when Oaxacan imagination joins with the traditional craft of manufacturing textiles.

Cotton and wool fabrics are woven for clothing as they were centuries ago, with the help of waist looms, distaffs, spindles, and natural coloring. The work is exemplified by the richness of the indigenous attire: the astonishing blouses, skirts, and scarves of the Oaxacan Coast and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, (where influences can still be found of the long ago trade with the Orient), in the huipiles of the Sierra, and in the serapes of the Central Valleys. Oaxaca is one of the rare areas that produces coyuchi cotton, whose natural colors vary from beige to red. The cotton ball of this variety is so small that it is impossible to spin it using industrial methods.