Horse head made of wood on pedestal handmade in Mexico.

Mexico is also known for its folk art tradition, which stems from a combination of native and Spanish tradition. Well-known are pottery from Oaxaca, handicraft figures from Tomala and sarapes from Saltillo. Between the Spanish conquest and the early 20th century, Mexican art was often an imitation of European traditions. After the Mexican Revolution, a new generation of artists initiated a new national art movement, incorporating political, historical and folk themes. Wood carving is wood that has been worked with a piece of cutting tool, which gives it a certain shape. Wood carvings can exist as an independent work of art (a wooden statue or sculpture) or to embellish, for example, clocks or furniture. Woodcarving used to be the craft of the woodcarver and the sculptor, but nowadays woodcarving is often done mechanically with a milling machine. The woodcarver usually uses a set of cutting tools of different shapes. A basic set soon consists of ten pieces, with cutting tools with a rectangular section being called a chisel and a curved chisel often a gouge. An extensive set can consist of more than a hundred pieces. Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish: Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is a country in North America bordering the United States, Belize and Guatemala, the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. Some islands also belong to Mexico.