On April 13th Denice and I spent the day at the Lynden Sculpture Garden in Brown Deer, WI, taking the workshop Quetzalcoatl: the Feathered Serpent Caroneria (Paper Mache) led by Ceci Tejeda.
Ceci Tejeda (photo from her Instagram)
Ceci is a Milwaukee-area artist who connects her Mexican culture to all by teaching the traditional way of doing paper mache from Mexico, caroneria. She also encourages painting in the style of the alebrijes.
Ceci's work brought as class samples
Ceci's sample for the Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl (Nahuatl: "Feathered Serpent") is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. (Wikipedia)
The base of the alebrijes was reeds and cardboard
We pasted newspaper on our forms with engrudo,
the traditional way of doing caroneria (paper mache)
This was a one-day workshop at Lynden so I never got to any painting. When I brought the Quetzalcoatl home I decided I would use techniques I was familiar with to keep working on the creature.
Rheostats for eyes
A tail made from a fan shape off a fireplace decor
A butterfly wall decoration adds wings
I used plaster cast as my paper mache
16 spoons were sliced up to make scales/feathers
Then it was time to paint.
Thus we have Within The Immortal Spirit Willing Always To Flower, a Quetzalcoatl made in the spirit of alebrijes and caroneria. The title for this piece is from The Sun, a poem by Charles Baudelaire with one word modified. It is 6"H X 9"W X 33"L. It consists of the alebrijes made in Ceci's class, Metal Fan, Spoons (16), Plastic Butterfly, Rheostats, Nails (10) and Roller Skate Wheels.
Thanks to Ceci Tejeda for the great class and the inspiration to create.
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