Alebrije-esque sculpture

Alebrijes are a type of Mexican Folk Art. They are brightly colored sculptures of fantastical creatures. Pedro Linares is credited with the use of the term and the first alebrijes in the 1930; after he dreamed of crazy creatures while sick, he created what he saw with cardboard and papier mache. Oaxaca already had a history of caving animal scupltures from copal wood, and they began to incorporate Linares' designs, pioneered by  Mauel Jimenez.  The art is still practiced and popular today.

We decided to do our own spin on Linares and Jimenez's creations...by creating Oaxaca Alebrije inspired sculptures out of Model Magic. Our creations are different, because we are not Mexican Folk Artists, nor were we carving ours out of wood, however, we aimed to create brightly colored creatures filled with patterns and designs. We weren't aiming to copy designs already created, but to simply be inspired by the artwork of others to create something of our own. The students created their animals by rolling, pinching, and manipulating the soft foam into shapes of animals. Once hardened, they added patterns with paint.  So here are some examples of the our Alebije-esque Animals.