Arte Américas extends ‘Alebrijes y Nahuales’ exhibition through January. It’s a wonderful show.
By Rachel Yepremian-Owens
Arte Américas made an impression in October when it opened the exhibition “Alebrijes y Nahuales: Fantastic Animals from Mexico.”
More than 50,000 people have enjoyed the exotic, nearly 20-foot tall sculptures installed at the Arte Américas Plaza Paz and on the Fresno State and Fresno City College campuses. Now the show is being extended, the cultural center reports. The intricately crafted fiber-glass works, which are based on original pieces from celebrated artists and artesanos from Oaxaca and Central Mexico, will remain in Fresno through January .
The works were created and hand-painted in Iztapalapa, Mexico. The exhibition is on a nationwide tour.
Oaxaca is widely known for its indigenous woodcarving traditions, the nahuales. These woodcarving traditions are based on combinations of two or more natural creatures to create one and they thrive throughout the state’s central valleys. Alebrijes, which are a Mexico City tradition, are both natural and mythological creatures formed out of papier-mâché by artisans. These pieces are attributed to artist Pedro Linares.
The presence of the sculptures making their way not only throughout the Valley, but throughout the country, has unified communities. It has brought different types of people of various backgrounds together to be able to enjoy and connect over these historic pieces, a recent visit shows.
“I think it’s a really cool resource for all the families that kind of don’t have that connection to their culture, even like for my child…,” said Carmen Calleres, a visitor and school counselor from the Central Valley. “It’s something so removed from her time so it’s a nice piece to connect us back together. Instead of giving her stories, it’s nice to have something tangible for her to see and experience.”
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Heribertl Campos-Melchor is a Fresno State student in the Smittcamp Family Honors College and has been working with the Arte Américas team for a little over a year. He began as a volunteer for the first portion and became an official employee for the second portion.
“To me the exhibit really represents our individualities as Mexican individuals,” Campos-Melchor said. “When looking at the different alebrijes y nahuales, they really do represent how different we are in culture, but how we do have the same narrative and evolve from one another.”
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While I was speaking with Campos-Melchor, a man approached our conversation. It turned out that he had played a prominent role in the establishment of Arte Américas in the valley.
While working as the public relations manager for beer companies Anheuser-Busch and Tecate, Alex Contreras served as a longtime sponsor for Arte Américas. Through all of the events Arte Américas put on, Contreras was there to support it with the teams he was a part of.
He appreciates the exhibit so much that he was there celebrating his birthday.
The sculptures themselves are over 1,000 pounds, excluding their also 1,000 pound base. However, these sculptures are simply enlarged creations of eight original works crafted together by eight Oaxacan artists:
• Carlo Magno Pedro – Curator
• Efraín Fuentes – The Coyote
• Leonardo Linares – Lionbull & Catbird
• Adrián Xuana – The Dog
• Angélico Jiménez – The Cat Nahual
• Constantino Blas – The Happy Alien
• Margarito Melchor – The Armidillo
• María Jiménez – The Rabbit
Everyone can find appreciation for the historical significance and work put into the colorful works. Art is art, and history is shared.
“We can see where we’ve come from, but also evolving and accepting and sharing with everybody what our culture means, how diverse it can be and all the things it can be,” Calleres said.
