Alebrijes are animals that escaped the nightmares of an artist.
They appear as a variety of different species,
both real and fantastic.
They are traditionally carved from wood and painted with
tiny dots and repeated designs.
They are folk art from Oaxaca, Mexico.
We will be creating our fantastical animals out of carving foam and painting them in detailed repeated patterns with acrylic paints. The foam block are 6" x 3" x 2". Often we cut them in half to create 3" x 3" x 2" sculptures and add on tails, wings, long ears, spikes, and tongues carved from popsicle sticks or small pieces of foam.
You will first need to do a drawing of your Alebrijes Animal from two different views. Take of photo of your drawings and hand them into Schoology.
Fantasy Creatures Born of Fevered Dreams
Pedro Linares (1906-1992), a renowned indigenous Mexican artist, first created vividly colorful papier mâché sculptures called alebrijes. The inspiration for Linares' sculptures has an origin as outlandish and fanciful as the figures themselves. As the story goes, Linares became very ill when he was 30 years old. Not having access to medical attention, he laid in bed and lost consciousness. Linares dreamt of a bizarre, peaceful place that resembled a forest. He recounted seeing giant rocks, tall trees, and an expansive sky. The artist felt remarkably healthy again. His physical pain was gone and he felt happy as he walked along trails through the dense foliage of his dreamworld. Suddenly, the clouds, rocks, and trees began to transform. The land features around him shaped themselves into animals that were familiar and yet like nothing Linares had ever seen before. There were mules with dragonfly wings, roosters with antlers, creatures that resembled gryphons and dragons, just to name a few. They had unnatural colors and patterns swirling over their bodies. These creatures began repeatedly chanting a single word: alebrije...alebrije...alebrije! Linares became fearful of these strange, powerful creatures chanting this nonsense word. He couldn't tell if they were warning or threatening him. However, it was enough to startle him awake in time for his fever to subside.