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BY ELIZABETH WU |
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Local Non-Profit Group* Uses Creative Means To Preserve Traditions
Remember the good 'ol days when wholesome entertainment meant doing a jigsaw puzzle, flying a kite or sitting around the radio with the family? I sure don't. My generation was bred on Coke, MTV and Nintendo. My great ambition as a 10-year-old was to become a ninja, and to someday join the four teenage mutant ninja turtles. Now, at age 25, I'm an old-timer. I eat a healthy, balanced diet, never watch TV and only catch glimpses of the original Nintendo in antique shops next to the moth-ridden Atari systems.
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* Please support the Non-Profit Groups serving the communities in Oaxaca Area:
• Christian Children's Fund
• Doctors Without Borders
• Forest Trends
• Niños de México
• World Neighbors
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It may be too late for me, whose only experience of a kite was the plastic two-dollar job my dad bought at a gas station. It was shaped like the Great American Bald Eagle and programmed to nose-dive at an altitude of eight feet. There may be no saving the traditional American toy. (Indeed, what would that be? Tiddlywinks? Horse shoes?) However, there is hope for Mexican children everywhere, as well as toy-deprived adults; Juguetearte (Toy art), a project dedicated to preserving toy traditions (while cleverly disguising them as art - or is it the other way round?) is on the scene.
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Founded by Lucero Serrano Mojica, 27, Juguetearte combines the art of painting with the magic of toy-making to produce pieces meant to educate, delight and inspire people of all ages. The project celebrated its first anniversary April 25th, a year after its premiere exhibition opened in Santo Domingo Museum. The idea for the project came about when Mojica asked an artist friend why paintings were always square or rectangular in shape. The friend replied, “Well, that's what they teach us in school.” Mojica had been looking to launch an art project centered around painting, but wanted to do it “outside the box.” It occurred to her that they could combine the artwork with Mexican toys, both as a medium for painting and as a way to promote and preserve traditions.
Though Mojica is not herself a painter, she feels strongly about the value of art and tradition. “Art is a form of pure communication, an expression of our humanity. It is a way to express the real essence of a person,” she says. “And these traditional toys represent our roots. They speak of how we were and how we are.
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Like the pyramids, they are a reflection of ourselves. Most of our toys are a product of the mixing of cultures, like the yo-yo, which came from China, but has been incorporated into Mexican culture. In our work, the two things aren't disconnected, art and toy aren't isolated, but brought together so that one doesn't just look at an unusual work of art without being able to enjoy the toy itself.”
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At present Juguetearte consists of four core members. Mojica serves as coordinator, her husband Rafael Soto Vasconcelos does graphic design and photography, Adriana Bautista, a professional who has done installations for Santo Domingo, mounts the art work and Natalia Fresán Barquet, herself an artist, assists in the office and does translations. There are currently 30 artists who contribute work to the program, all of whom are native Oaxaqueños or local residents.
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The entire team geared up for a large exhibition in Puebla, in an interactive children's museum called Imagina. Along with the exhibition, which opened April 30th, classes in painting, mask-making and kite-making will be offered. “Toy-making isn't just fun”, explains Mojica, “It's educational, too. When we played with our first toys, we learned a lot from them. We learned how to get along with other kids, about following rules, about winning and losing. In the future, we will be looking into how to incorporate education into the artwork, such as making a jigsaw puzzle of the human body, or creating theatrical stories where the toys themselves are the characters.”
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Juguetearte began hosting classes in April in Oaxaca. Some of the courses offered include: basic painting techniques, souvenir-making workshops and the opportunity to learn about and play with traditional Mexican toys. There will also be an eight-hour intensive week-end course (max. six people) wherein one can make one's own toys from scratch. Their gallery space, which doubles as a jugueteria (toy shop) and a dulceria (sweet shop) is also an interesting place to visit or browse for an unusual gift. Among the many items on display and for sale are: tops, jigsaw puzzles, Jacob's ladders, masks, bingo and memory games, wooden horses, dice, dolls, trains, bags, flutes, sling shots, puppets and fighter dolls. Each item, is, of course, one-of-a-kind, constructed and painted by a local artist. They also have a section dedicated to hand-made old-fashioned candy. The idea behind this shop and the money generated by the classes is to recuperate some of the funds spent on materials and other expenses. At present, Juguetearte is not sponsored by any business or government agency, and is a purely out-of-pocket endeavor. In future, they hope to expand enough to be able to exhibit throughout Mexico as well as in other countries, to further develop more interactive projects and to generate recognition and support for traditional toy artisans.
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Mojica feels they have found an ideal and practical medium for painting, one that people can touch, share and play with. She also hopes their efforts will help keep traditional Mexican toys from sliding into oblivion. She says, “We aren't interested in replacing modern toys, such as video games –that would be impossible. What we want is to offer an alternative, a toy that can be adapted to modern times. Of course, these works of art aren't just for kids, but for everyone.” |
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For information on Juguetearte, please contact: luceromojica@yahoo.com, 5186309, Rufino Tamayo 820. Juguetearte also welcomes donations of: wood, hoja de totemoztle (corn husks), paint (oil, watercolor and acrylic), paintbrushes and paper.
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