Alebrije Float
Colibri Mex dance + Walk the PlankMCR Day 2017
For Manchester Day 2017 I was paired with Colibri Mexican Folk Dance Group.
The theme of this years Manchester day was 'Abracadabra' so the group immediatly suggested making an Alebrije; which are brightly coloured majical creatures often depicted in the traditional folk art sculptures of Oaxaca.
For this piece I also made a Hummingbird to represent the groups name ‘Colibri’ which is humingbird in spanish and a garden. These elements were to add interest and dynamic movement to the piece, but also to confuse the scale of the work; given that Alibrije are traditionally often very tiny creatures.
For this make I sculpted designs in plastacine from which I then made a paper pattern. Using a projector I then blew the patterns up onto sheets of plastozote. These plastozote pattern pieces where then cut out and joined edge to edge to form the final structure.
The Alebrije been used in every manchester day since its creation.
Click here for more examples of my plastazote work.
