1. Traditional Mexican Art Forms Task 3 Exploring, designing and creating sculpture inspired by Mexican Oaxacan sculpture, and Huichol Yarn & Bead work. Criteria: A, B, and C.

2. Oaxacan Wood Carvings

3. Also known as Alebrijes are carved wooden figures created by Oaxacan artisans. Most Oaxacan artisans simply call them figuras "wooden figures", naming them after the animal which they carved, such as the deer, raccoon, leopard, etc.

4. Once the figure is completely smooth and any imperfections have been covered, a coat of color paint is applied over it to serve as the base coat of color. The decoration depends on the imagination, ability and dedication of each artisan. The amount of detail in a figure indicates the amount of time the artisan invested in the elaboration of that figure.

8. Huichol Yarn Paintings

9. The Huichol are an indigenous ethnic group living in western central Mexico.

10. They live in the mountains on ranches and they live off of the land.

11. Their living settlements of stuco/adobe homes with thatched roofs are very communal and contain family shrines called a xiriki, which is dedicated to the ancestors of the rancho. Their religion consists of four principal Gods: the Trinity of Corn, Blue Deer and Peyote, the eagle, and all are descended from the Sun God.

12. Huichols have traditionally believed that in their rituals they interact with the primal ancestor spirits of fire, deer, and other elements of the natural world.

13. For the Huichol yarn painting is not only an aesthetic or commercial art form. The symbols in these paintings spring out of Huichol culture and its shamanistic traditions. This art form is made using a mixture of beeswax and pine resin on wood into which threads of yarn are pressed.

14. Prayer bowls The beaded sculptures created by the Huichol are also connected to their shamanistic beliefs. Glass beads are used to sculptures that have been coated in resin and bee’s wax.