October 2021 Monthly Muse - Week1 - Mexican Folk Art and Folklore

Discussion in 'Art Journaling' started by ArmyGrl, Oct 5, 2021.

  1. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

    Messages:
    5,125
    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2012
    Welcome to the October Monthly Muse!


    Don’t worry – the entire month is not Halloween themed. Nope.

    The month of October is brought to you by
    Folk Art and Folklore.

    What got me thinking about Folk Art and Folklore as an October topic is the Dia de los Muertos celebration in San Antonio, Texas. All the sugar skulls and Catrina dolls that pop up throughout the city got me thinking about Mexican folklore and folk art. What’s the story behind Catrina? And when I see skulls, I can’t help but think of Halloween and Jack Skellington. Welcome to my brain!


    1 Pic.png

    Week one: Mexican Folk Art and Folk Lore

    Folk Art: a visual expression of a community’s cultural identity through the artistry and craftsmanship of local made items that tend to have some practical, utilitarian, or ceremonial purpose (as opposed to being purely decorative or “fine art”).

    Folklore: leaning towards oral traditions of a community or culture including tall tales and proverbs.

    Idea Sparks:

    • Decorate your own skull in the Dia de los Muertos sugar skull style
    • Fashion a doll after Catrina
    • Use the vibrant colors of Huichol yarn art in your layout
    • Like the Huichol, include symbols that have special meaning to you in your art—or—
    • Use Huichol symbols like the sun, deer, maize, peyote, eagle, and snake in your work
    • Inspired by Curiot’s First Symptom and Rebirth, use botanical elements to develop your own mythical creature

    2 Pic.jpg
    Source: Unsplash

    Huichol Yarn Art

    Jose Ben’tez Sanchez - Untitled
    3 Untitled_JoseBen'tezSanchez2005.jpg




    Curiot - Street Artist
    First Symptom

    [​IMG]

    Rebirth
    [​IMG]

    To see more of Curiot's artwork visit here.

    Challenge Requirements:

    1. For the Monthly Muse, create any style layout (ie. clean and simple, artsy, pocket style etc.), with or without a photo. Create any size page you wish. The Art Muse is for everyone; have FUN!

    2. You can use any products in The Lily Pad store or retired products from current Lily Pad designers, (just make sure you follow our gallery guidelines).

    3. Please post your layout to the Art Journaling Gallery HERE by Midnight EST, 02 November 2021; and post your layout in this thread by copying the "Share BB Code" to the right of your gallery image.

    Each post, regardless of the week posted in the month of October earns you one chance to win a $5 coupon to the TLP store. Thus,


    1 Muse = 1 chance to win
    2 Muses = 2 chances to win
    3 Muses = 3 chances to win
    4 Muses = 4 chances to win

    As always, this week’s muse is up for interpretation. I hope you find the bold, fun colors of Mexican Folk Art as inspirational as I do!


    Visiting with Catrina and the ancient Aztecs - folk art blended with folklore

    Today, La Catrina is the “face” of Dia de los Muertos – a Mexican holiday that combines the Aztec celebration of leaving temporary altars or “ofrendas” to help the recently deceased in their journey beyond death. The original Catrina was Mictēcacihuātl – the queen of the Aztec underworld and guide to the recently passed. Today’s ofrenda tradition is blended with the Catholic traditions of All Saints Day.

    The popular Catrina dolls, however, began as political satire. La Calavera Catrina was first illustrated in 1910 by Jose Guadalupe Posada. A ‘catrin’ was a well dressed woman or man, who favored French or European styles and customs over traditional Mexican styles and culture. Posada’s point was that no matter what we wear, we all end as bones.


    Catrina.jpg
     
  2. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

    Messages:
    5,125
    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2012
    Oh, I do hope time is on my side this week and I have the opportunity to make a piece stylized after Curiot. Until then, I made a sugar skull.

    [​IMG]

    On another note, I think Allison Pennington's Fable Kit is perfect for this week theme too!
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

    Messages:
    22,456
    Joined:
    May 6, 2011
    I love Catrinas!!!! I just sketched one the other day!
     
  4. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

    Messages:
    5,125
    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2012
    I hope you share her with us!
     
    Dalis likes this.
  5. Pachimac

    Pachimac Give me all the cliché Christmas movies

    Messages:
    3,839
    Joined:
    Apr 12, 2016
    Wow. This one will be difficult!
     
  6. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

    Messages:
    22,456
    Joined:
    May 6, 2011
    I think I might use her to scrap this challenge. I need to download her to my computer, the picture is still on my phone.
     
  7. bestcee

    bestcee In love with places I've never been to

    Messages:
    19,369
    Joined:
    Dec 18, 2013
  8. garrynkim

    garrynkim I'm not messy, I'm just really creative!

    Messages:
    3,647
    Joined:
    Jan 1, 2017
  9. JenEm

    JenEm Pollywog

    Messages:
    5,984
    Joined:
    Mar 6, 2012
  10. DigiGrace

    DigiGrace Make mine a purple passion

    Messages:
    2,706
    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2016
  11. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

    Messages:
    22,456
    Joined:
    May 6, 2011
    Lots of kissing!
     
  12. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

    Messages:
    8,810
    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2015
    I created a sugar skull as a remembrance of my sweet little Jack who passed away in 2016. I'm also sharing a photo of him. I think you'll see the resemblance??? :-)

    [​IMG]

    20040520 Jack_small.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2021
    AJK and wvsandy like this.
  13. Janisn

    Janisn Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    2,665
    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2017
    I'm loving this month's topic.
    [​IMG]
     
    mcurtt and Dady like this.
  14. wombat146

    wombat146 Check out my kilt! And my turret!

    Messages:
    5,658
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2011
    What a great challenge Lisa and loving all the layouts so far!! off to think about my layout!!! :)
     
  15. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

    Messages:
    5,125
    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2012
    Uh-oh...remember, if you'd like to play along, you are welcome to do a very loose interpretation. While I'd love to see character creation, this is an inspiration challenge. Thus something simple like a purple/gold color scheme picked up from the yarn art or the chevron or diamond pattern from First Symptom's neck piece satisfy the challenge requirements.
     
  16. Dady

    Dady Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    3,624
    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2017
  17. Cherylndesigns

    Cherylndesigns All glasses should be bigger than 1.5 oz

    Messages:
    8,986
    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2017
    I love Dia De Muerto so I used papers and elements to represent The Day of The Dead.

    [​IMG]
     
    weaselwatchr, wvsandy and mcurtt like this.
  18. AJK

    AJK I plead the 5th ...

    Messages:
    3,494
    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2012
    @Armygirl Great work on this post, inspiration, and explanation. The street artist's work looks like alebrijes!
    [​IMG]
     
  19. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

    Messages:
    5,125
    Joined:
    Sep 1, 2012
    You are so right! Now I wish I had thought to include some in the original post.
     
  20. wvsandy

    wvsandy Grinning Granny

    Messages:
    4,799
    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2011
    Wonderful inspiration! Thanks for the challenge!
    [​IMG]
     
    weaselwatchr likes this.

Share This Page