ARTIST BIO

BACKGROUND

Since I was very young, 7 years old living in a country side Sativanorte, Boyaca Colombia with my grandfathers and indigenous family, I START MY WEAVE with them weaving ponchos and blankets. But in my brain I started the idea to mix leaves and sticks,and started to dye with leaves, roots and fruits.

At 13 years old I moved to the capital Bogota and started to visit museums galleries and artists’ studios learn more about other techniques, designs, color combinations etc.  Constantly visiting indigenous families, I was entering more into the indigenous thought, and learned how important weaving was constantly to find inner PEACE and to enter in HARMONY WITH THE PLANET

I started to mix fibers and colors to create tapestries and faces of my indigenous people in three-dimensional using natural fibers from plants.

MY CONTEXT.  Mixing Indigenous and Spanish techniques is my first memories about my blood. Reflecting about the weavers who handmade your cloths in the past, still in the present, and I have contact with the technology, made me happy for have the two routes.

MY OBJETIVES. To teach the children about the culture so do they not forget the rich tradition specially in my family .

MY THEMES. From my memories of younger days.

MY MORE IMPORTANT INSPIRATION . My mother, INDIA JOVITA.

MY FORMATS.  From 10 Inches to 100 inches.

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ADDITION DETAILS

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Since I was very young living in a country side called Sativa Norte, Boyacá, Colombia, South America my grands, uncles aunts and indigenous friends who were 60/98 years old taught me to weave in indigenous looms. We wove blankets and ruanas (ponchos).

Some times when they were working in their looms, I tried to mix leaves, sticks and other materials from farms in the weave. They would say, don’t damage my weave that is not a good idea. I have continued the idea of mixing other materials until I was 13 years old. Then, I moved to the big city Bogota. There I continued weaving with other family members and friend from other towns in my free times from school. When I was 20 years old, I meet art students from National University and Los Andes University. They helped me to learn more about Art and start to visit galleries, museums and craft schools, I become more curious.

I found indigenous looms from other families, other states and other countries. I started to weave and try out other ideas on mixing techniques that I learned from my relatives and friends from Jupa, Estancia, Tequita, Ocavita, Baracuta, Batan, Topachoque, Tuazague, Tequita and other neighboring from my little town Sativa Norte.

TECHNIQUES.

These techniques were used to weave baskets, mochilas (snapback), manares, cedazos, armeros,tamas (utensils used in the preparation process for cooking beans, barleys, wheat and potatoes) cinchas, gualdrapas (Hoses bag rugs), costales (sacks for save beans, peas, potatoes etc.).

MY WEAVING.

My intention are to keep the tradition and culture of the weavers from my country and other countries.

I love weave tapestries because they help me to preserve my identity with my grandparents and indigenous roots and preserve my family traditions.

In my early artwork, I used natural fibers from animals (wools and horse hair),

Plants (sisal, yute, cotton, esparto, bejuco and palms etc.). I was dyeing with fruit juice, leaves, roots, carrot, rock beard, leaves of onion, beets, etc.

I used horizontal looms to weave fabrics, flat weave and vertical looms for tapestries ad rugs. The vertical loom gives me the opportunity to weave in the third dimension.

MY OBJETIVES.

One of my objectives in this document about indigenous weavers from my country and other countries is to teach the children about the roots and cultures so do they not forget the rich traditions.

The other objective is to help develop me as a better human being and be happy,

Specifically, weaving for me is one form of relaxing and meditation helping me to communicate with other cultures.

My approach in weaving in different looms uses indigenous techniques of the world.

MY THEMES.

I use themes from my memories of my younger days in my country side to give

Harvest colors, faces, forms and textures from the MOTHER NATURE.

FORMATS.

I used different forms depending of the ideas, themes and size from 10 inches to big 10, 20, 30 feet.

Normally, I usually start to weave different formats as relaxation therapy, using colors, fibers or elements that come to me naturally.

HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT.

I rely on mixing Indigenous and Spanish techniques from my early memories about the history of my origin. In addition, I also use today’s technology and practice. I’m to have these two routes. When people see the faces, textures, colors, forms of my work they comment, thank you for showing and telling us about the interesting indigenous people. That makes me happy because they appreciate my grands teachers and my work.