The snotty high-brow attitude can't last forever. Sometimes, the most authentic and inspirational pieces of Mexican art are not art at all; not sold in a gallery or on display at a museum or sitting at an expensive trade shop. Sometimes, they're piled under a wad of sweat shirts and bicycle parts.

The crafts and decorations at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, at 820 S. Sixth Ave., are proof that it doesn't need to cost a hundred bucks to visually embrace a culture.

The St. Vincent organization has a rich history. It began as a Catholic charity in 1833 when Frédéric Ozanam, a law student at the Sorbonne, in Paris, was challenged during a debate to show what he and his peers were doing to help people in need.

Within weeks, the 20-year-old created the "Conference of Charity", which began as a door-to-door charity service that gave out foods and necessities, with the student and his friends paying for everything out of their own pockets. Soon after, the charity organization grew 600-strong. Now, the operation has expanded to thrift stores, shelters, outreach programs, employment services and more.

This particular Vincent de Paul store is located on the edge of Downtown, where the small shops and local flavor of the Southside begin. The store is one of the biggest Tucson has to offer, with separate rooms for clothing, art, stitching materials, bicycles and patio faire, plates and furniture. St. Vincent even has a room where the shelterless and jobless can shop basically for free.

When you search around, you can find countless examples of Mexican arts and crafts. For example, some old Mexican puppets, their tangled strings, dusty faces and chipped color giving them a certain charm, or life-like dioramas of miniature saints, often used as religious shrines for many Mexican Catholics.

St. Vincent has a plethora of bizarre, beautiful and original objects. If you just take the time to dig, you might be surprised, and rewarded, by what you find.