Article by Harold Blumer appeared in "Wood Carving Illustrated" (Issue No. 18, Spring 2002)
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Alebrije Carving: An imaginative Art Form from Oaxaca, Mexico. Alebrije is a Spanish word meaning "imaginary" or "fantasy". It is used to describe a style of fanciful and surreal animal carvings with near psychedilic paint schemes that has developed during the last 20 years in three small villages in the State of Oaxaca 200 miles south of Mexico City. Alebrije carvings have become the center of a marketing phenomenon that has spread not only to the United States and Canada, but also to several European countries.

The carvers are Zapotec Indians who are descendants of the Pre-Columbian Zapotec civilization that reached the height of its development between 200 and 500 AD. This culture, plus the earlier Olmec and Mixtec cultures that flourished as early as 1200 BC, and the influence of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, have all contributed to this rich art form that exists today in southern Mexico.

Out of this artistic heritage, an impoverished subsistence farmer named Manuel Jimenez began to carve imaginary creatures in the early 1980's. fortunately, the outside world discovered and encouraged Jimenez to pursue his art work. The style was quickly adopted by others, and in response to a growing market demand, these woodcarvings have become a family production enterprise with members collaborating and using their combined talents to create these delightful creatures. Soon, dozens of families were producing them. Jimenez never dreamed his creations would generate a market that would bring buyers from all over the world to his little village, nor would anyone have anticipated that the demand would continue to grow for almost 20 years.

Alebrije carvers are continually striving to improve their product and further develop their skills. This evolution is particularly noticeable when comparing the carvings pictured in a book written in 1992 with the ones now being produced. Continued improvement has brought recognition in the art world to many of the carvers.

Jacobo Angeles Ojeda is one such artist, having been honored twice in the United States.

I met Jacobo and his wife Maria while attending an Elderhostel in Oaxaca, Mexico. As a fellow carver with many questions, I was invited to visit their home, meet their extended family, take photographs, and observe how they create these unusual and beautiful carvings.

In the Ojeda family, the men are the carvers. The women do most of the detail painting by hand, but many of the carvers paint aswell. Children work by sanding, filling voids in the wood, and putting base coats of paint on the wood. The more skilled family members collaborate to produce the detailed and intricate artwork. Typically, it is a family business in which everyone participates, but regardless of the hierarchy of work, each carving is unique.

The wood used to produce the Alebrije carvings comes from the copal tree, as it is commonly called. Unfortunately, the trees near the villages have been over-harvested and the wood must now be transported from mountain forests miles away. Burros bring it out of the mountains in 3 to 4-ft. lengths that have diameters of 6 in. or more. No one expected the carving boom to last this long, and only recently have attempts been made to replant the trees in the local area.

The copal tree has small leaves and is a hardwood. Its wood is similar to Basswood in color, has a very fine grain, and there is almost no discernable difference between heartwood and sapwood. It exudes pitch that is sticky and smells like pine, but the tree definatley has leaves and not needles. When dry, the wood sands to a porcelain-like finish.

Carvers are very careful not to use wood with insect holes since it may contain eggs from the wood-eating powder post beetle. As a preventative measure, the carvings are soaked overnight in gasoline before they are dried and painted. Collectors might add an additional element of protection by freezing their carvings for a week. If the carvings are going to be stored for any length of time, a mothball or two included in the box might be advisable.

Alebrije carvers are extremely resourceful and innovative with their design components. They will use rawhide to make fins for reptiles, cactus spines for teeth, and animal hair for the mains and tails of their creatures. Some carvers even make their own detail paint brushes using animal or human hair. Today, most painting is done with modern acrylic paints, since the aniline dyes originally used faded too quickly.

Jacobo and his two brothers graciously took half a day off their work to give me a tour of their family carving operation. They knew i wanted to see and take photos of the copal tree and to examine firsthand the wood used for carving. They decided to take me up the mountain to where a few of the trees were growing. When we got to a large copal tree, Jacobo cut off a branch and trimmed it with his machete. It soon began to take shape as a 10-in.-tall coyote with its head up, howling at the moon. All of the roughing was done with rapid strokes, the machete bearly missing his fingers and never once hitting the stone that he used as a workbench.

While Jacobo worked, i showed him and his brothers a small Scandinavian-style Santa i had carved during my trip and offered it as a gift. I showed him the four little gouges i had used for the work. Jacobo made a few cuts with each gouge and showed little interest in them. Then he saw the short-bladed carving knife i brought, and his eyes lit up. Alebrije carvers often use kitchen knives that are modified in length and width on a grinding wheel. He used my knife and finished the coyote right there.

When we returned to the village, it was obvious that the rest of the family had been working all morning. Even six-year-old Ricardo, Jacobos' son, was sanding carvings.

I suspect that the carving progresses much faster than the painting since many unpainted carvings were drying in the sun. A small project must dry for a week before it is ready to paint. A larger one could take as long as six weeks to dry. Small cracks do appear in the wood and are filled with a mixture of glue and sawdust.

Ninety percent of the carvings are made in the villages of San Martin Tilcajete, Arrazola and La Union Tejalapan, near the city of Oaxaca. The many carving families share very little of their designs and methods with their neighbours. As a result, the carvings vary dramatically from home to home. Simple and common designs are evident in all the family showrooms, but outstanding carvings will be found as well in any studio.

HALF MOON BAY REVIEW
October 13, 2004
"Carving a culture, building a bridge"
By Stacy Trevenon

Toward the back of Nuestra Tierra, on half Moon Bay's Main Street, you find a wooden, hand-carved virtual menagerie. There are birds, coyotes, raccoons, anteaters and more. The work of different artisans, the animals all seem captured in motion, with tails aloft and expressive eyes wide, decorated in bright colors and textured with tiny white dots and lined with intricate and ancient motifs.

Coastsiders can see how these carvings are planned, created and painted when Nuestra Tierra hosts renowned wood-carver Jacobo Angeles from Oaxaca, who will give demonstrations this weekend and next.
"I think he's one of two finest woodcarvers of his generation," said Charles Nelson, co-owner of Nuestra Tierra with wife Nidia, both of whom will host Angeles on his 11-day Coastside visit.

Angeles hails from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, not far from the community of Santiago del Pozo, Oaxaca, which is home to many migrant workers who travel to Half Moon Bay to work. Angeles, a 32-year-old Zapotec Indian, has consistently received prizes and honors for his art. he is something of a prodigy, having carved since he was in his teens, but Nelson describes him as "a newcomer to it."

Woodcarving as a craft, has existed among the Zapotec Indians for generations. But it is only in the last 40 to 50 years that it has achieved status as an art, highly sought after by collectors.

Some of Angeles' awards have included a paid trip to the Smithsonian Institution to exhibit and demonstrate his work, and a first place in the prestigious, statewide FONART contest in Oaxaca. He has come away with many awards from trips to the United States to participate in folk art competitions.

This is his second visit to Nuestra Tierra, where he will work from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 16 and 17, and again on Oct. 22-24. The store is located at 421 Main St. in Half Moon Bay.

"I'm thrilled he's making a second visit here," said Nelson, recalling how, on his first trip, Angeles stopped by Hatch Elementary, Cunha Intermediate and Half Moon Bay high schools to visit with the Zapotec students and share their mutual culture.

Angeles will be in Half Moon Bay two weekends "for people who want to see him but don't want to deal with (Pumpkin Festival) crowds." Said Nelson.

What visitors will see, when he goes to work, is an amalgam of creativity and culture. Angeles uses copal wood he cuts himself on travels far from his village (and will bring from home for his Coastside visit). He starts by drying the wood and then taking a long, hard look at each piece to see what sort of animal it lends itself to. "He gets creative ideas of what figure he can turn the piece into," said Nelson, adding only half-jockingly, "The wood tells him what animal it wants to be." Then, Angeles reaches for a machete and hews out the general shape of the animal he has chosen. Then he refines the shape, using a knife for the detailed work.

The finishing touches of painting are handled by both Angeles and his wife Maria, an accomplished painter in her own right. Using fine brushes, they paint the animal in colors that range from bright to more subdued, and then add the intricate, almost geometric designs. Those designs set Angeles' work apart from other artisans in the same genre, as he draws from pre-Columbian Zapotec culture, designs and ancient motifs. The Zapotec philosophy is closely aligned with nature and animals, and carries the view that every human has a spiritual animal counterpart. Angeles' animal is the coyote, an animal that, not surprisingly, he frequently carves. He is also known for his carvings of iguanas and dragons. He uses more natural materials that produce subdued colors. The pigments he uses come from minerals, plants and even a certain insect which is generally found infesting cactus. Once crushed, the bodies of those insects yield varying shades of red. Maria, using acrylic paint, routinely achieves brighter hues.

Family members help out, including their 9-year-old child. (A second child, 3 months old, will no doubt help in the future.)

Many of the Angeles family's pieces are regularly displayed at Nuestra Tierra, where they sell for between $18 to $950 depending on size, complexity and uniqueness of the piece.

HALF MOON BAY REVIEW
November 13, 2002
"Oaxacan woodcarver shows how it's done"
By Stacy Trevenon

Coastside schoolchildren and the general public will get a glimpse into the craft and secrets of a master woodcarver when Jacobo Angeles from Mexico spends a few days giving demonstrations on the coast this week.

Angeles, who is from San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the artist whose intricately painted, whimsical, arresting wooden figures of animals are on display and for sale at Nuestra Tierra in Half Moon Bay. The shop features fine Mexican art and crafts, and has carried his work for about a year.

The store has carried the work of other woodcarving artists, but this man's work is different, said Nuestra Tierra co-owner Charles Nelson.

"He's quite a bit more artistic, not as commercial," Nelson said. "He's creative, innovative, detail-oriented. He's one of our most popular artists."

The display of woodcarving as high art reflects the evolution of the craft from folk art to fine art, from work collected by children to work sought after by art collectors.

It began with simple figures of farm animals, carved for the amusement of rural Mexican children. Over time, the figures became more imaginative and elaborate. Now, the best figures combine an innovative pose, sometimes realistic and sometimes almost a caricature, with skillful carving and highly detailed painting by hand.

Though only 30, Angeles is a recognized master of this craft. He has received numerous prizes for his work, including first place in the prestigious FONART statewide contest in Oaxaca. He has also exhibited his work in Pennsylvania and San Diego. All of his many trips to the United States have brought him awards in folk art competitions.

The accolades are due in part to Angeles' meticulous approach to his work. He controls all aspects of his work himself, beginning with driving far from his home village to chop the copal wood that he uses in his figures. Selecting the right wood, he has said, is vital because the form inherent in the wood must be followed to create the figures he has in mind.

After drying the wood, he carves it using a machete to get the rough form. Then he turns to using a knife to refine the shape with detail work.

Once he finishes the carving, he sands the piece and then begins the painting phase, using paints he has created himself.

His wife, Maria, and his children often help with the sanding and the painting, although there are certain pieces that he alone paints.

These special pieces often incorporate pre-Columbian Zapotec designs. Angeles himself is a Zapotec Indian.

He will show viewers his technique in a series of demonstrations that will begin this Friday. Angeles and his wife, Maria, will give a lecture on the art of woodcarving for an assembly of Hatch Elementary School students.

On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16 and 17, both Sr. and Sra. Angeles will be at Nuestra Tierra from 1 to 4 p.m., to demonstrate both carving and painting techniques, and answer questions.

Nuestra Tierra is located at 421 Main St. in Half Moon Bay. It can be reached at 712-9135.

On Monday, Nov. 18, the Angeles pair will give a demonstration for Half Moon Bay High School students. They will supply the students with some carved animals and instruct them in painting techniques. Each student will paint, and then take home to keep, his or her animal.

The couple will then hold a private class at Nuestra Tierra, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 19. In this class, students will be given animals and instructed in their painting. The fee for the class is $25.