21 June 2021
Kirkham Grammar School Languages teacher, Mr Gonzalez has set a competition for our First Year and Second Year Spanish pupils. They have been asked to create their own Alebrijes.
Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantasy/mythical creatures. The first alebrijes, along with invention of the term, originated with Mexico City cartonero Pedro Linares. Linares often told that in 1936, he fell very ill, and while he was in bed, unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, animals, rocks, clouds that suddenly turned into something strange, some kind of animals, but, unknown animals. He saw a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, a lion with an eagle head, and all of them were shouting one word, "Alebrijes! Alebrijesǃ Alebrijes!" Before this happened, he was already a cartonero artisan. Upon recovery, he began recreating the creatures he saw in Cartonería, the making of three-dimensional sculptures with different types of papers, strips of papers and engrudo (glue made out of wheat flour and water)
The Alebrijes are imaginary creatures that have elements from different animals such as dragon bodies, bat wings, wolf teeth and dog eyes. Colorfully painted, they were originally made with papier mache but nowadays they are also wood carved.
Alebrijes are not actually something Mexicans believe in. Them being spiritual guides in the afterlife was just Pixar taking creative liberties with a very popular type of folk art in Mexico, but they are still nothing more than art
As winged Alebrijes have the ability of flight, while Alebrijes with a strong scene of smell can track down who and what they want to find with it's sent.
Upon completion of the Alebrijes, Mr Gonzalez is going to create a display in the French Café, we are looking forward to seeing the final creations and will share photographs of them!
