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Presence of the Spirit of the Jaguar
4′ x 6′ approx.
100% Alpaca
Greater Spirit VII
4′ x 4′ approx.
100% Alpaca
Eclipse of the Sun and the Moon
4′ x 4′ approx.
100% Alpaca
The Look of the Jaguar
48" x 31" approx.
100% Alpaca
About the Artist
Maximo Laura paints without painting, dominating codes that blend into a composition of fibers magically entwined by the incantation of his forms.
Weaver-painter through his creative style, he designs with innate skill both forms and colors. The conjunction of pre-Columbian cultures becomes entwined, finally turning into a sort of opera omnia.
Máximo Laura is what we could call "the weaver of rupture," seeing beyond the selfsame conception of textiles. His tapestries become pieces of art in the same as paintings. His codes will not repeat themselves; nor will they have geometric order. Instead, they will appeal to the dynamics of their won subjects. Just like a painting. Finally, his own fingers become his brushes, threads and cords his post of colors and his loom his comfortable easel.
Máximo has many stories to reveal. War cries, brave felines and birds and mountain songs live in his mind ever since his questions unraveled in history books and in the myths and tales in his grandparents’ voices.
He has his own gods, his own ghosts and an unruly mob of ineffable warriors. Clarion calls, voices in the wind, fiery sunsets and horizons made of a thousand colored fibers; shapes and colors in the warp that seem to obey their creator’s strength. A true brushstroke on tapestry, breaking the crossbar’s rule and discovering a magical conjunction.
Color undoubtedly prevails in his pieces finish. Each fiber will have a rigorous chromatic value. The dyes, their gamut of colors, have a special history, a scientific work revaluating thousands of years.
Maximo Laura ©
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The Artist of the Andes / Nicario Jimenez
Retablos are sophisticated folk art in the form of portable boxes filled with brightly colored figurines arranged into intricate narrative scenes. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Retablos were carried through the mountains by Spanish priests as portable religious shrines for Catholic saints. Later, they were adapted by indigenous people to include their own deities and mythologies. Nicario’s compositions depict religious, historical and everyday events. His hands move quickly and with confidence to fashion people, animals, and mythical figurines as he creates poignant scenes from a doughy mixture of boiled potato and gypsum powder. For his sculpting process, Nicario’s only tool is a small piece of wood resembling an enlarged toothpick.
Born in a peasant community in the high Peruvian Andes, Nicario Jimenez studied sculpture at the Centro de Capacitacion Artesanal de Huamanga and attended the Universidad Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga in Ayacucho, Peru. His one person exhibitions include the San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Museum of Man in San Diego, California, the North Dakota Museum of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design.
His work was selected by the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. for its "Seeds of Change" Exhibit and was subsequently purchased by the Smithsonian for its permanent collection. Nicario has taught and lectured at the University of Miami, the University of California, San Diego, Whittier College and American University. Jimenez’s work is included in numerous prestigious public, corporate, and private collections. The artist now lives in Naples, Florida.
Nicario Jimenez ©
Wall hangings made of hand-sewn cloth fragments
The Arpilleras or Patchworks
The arpilleras are hand-sewn three-dimensional fabric collages with scenes that illustrate the lives and experiences of women who settled in the shantytowns (pueblos jóvenes) that ring Lima. The term arpilleras means a “rough, course fabric,” the equivalent of jute in Peru. It derives from an old Chilean tradition of using old remnants of fabric to make hand-sewn appliqué ornaments on women’s handbags and market baskets.
The art of the arpilleras originated in Chile , in the years after military overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in 1973. In Perú, the artwork started in the late 1970s by the migrant women who live in Pamplona Alta, “Virgen del Buen Paso”, and Villa el Salvador districts. Inspired by a German artist who brought the idea from Chile , the Women of these districts began to make arpilleras for sale and provide essential income for their families.
Originally, the themes of the arpilleras were testimonials; to account for the events of the women’s own lives, their everyday experiences in the pueblos jóvenes, the challenges the women faced to organize their lives, and their numerous struggles to survive in the new urban settings. In contrast to the early arpilleras, the contemporary Peruvian arpilleras depict diverse themes that reveal the cultural traditions of Peruvian peoples. The arpilleras tell stories of life: stories about the Andean landscape, stories of planting and harvesting potatoes, corn; stories of spinning and weaving wool; stories of everyday life in the countryside, tending llamas, sheep and goats; stories about customs and fiestas, and religious stories like the procession of “el Señor de los Milagros” (Christ of the Miracles).
Copyright © 2004Artist of the Andes .
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Vase: Lady with earrings
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Vase: Lady with earrings (red) 
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Custom: Bringing the food
Chulucana pottery is made only in the small village of that name. The village is located on the slopes of Mount Vicus, which, in turn, is located in the far Northern portion of Peru. This magical and mysterious mountain was once the center of an ancient Indian race, after which it has been named. The Vicus, which flourished until about 400 B.C., created one of the richest cultures of the Pre-Colombian world. To them, the making of pottery was not simply forming clay into a desired shape. Pottery making was considered a way to communicate with the secrets of the earth and it was a means to give praise to the creative gods of the universe.
ALPACA FIBER
Alpaca´s hair comes naturally in more than 40 different tones from ivory to black travelling through all shades of grays and browns and is magnificent to dye in the most beautiful colors.
The first shear called baby alpaca produces such a delicate fiber that is highly appreciated in the textile market. Alpaca fiber is softer, warmer and lighter than the finest wools, yet three times more resistant.
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