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Hand-quilting an Arpillera (ar-pee-er-a) takes
skill, patience and lots of imagination. To make each individual art quilt or
story telling collage, the artist begins by cutting scraps of material and hand stitching
them layer by layer to create the a unique landscape. Next, cut outs of animals, trees, houses…
are stuffed with a technique called “trapunto.” Dolls are made with colored fabrics, while flowers
and other fine details are hand-stitched and embroidered to complete each
3-D artwork.
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The
Arpillera folk art tradition began in the early 1970’s, when social
upheaval in Peru pushed entire Andean communities to migrate
to the city. People abandoned their land, home, crops,
and animals for settlements in the outskirts of Lima.
In search of safety and economic stability, they found
something far from that, and families were forced to start
from scratch. Thanks to their skilled hands, a sense of
tradition and creativity, many women from these new communities
learned a new skill with the help of German missionaries.
Working from home, they could now use this marketable
craft to generate income for their
families while tending their children.
Today, the tradition is more alive than ever. The second-generation have elevated
this arpillera tradition into an art form. The
Lucuma Designs team has been nurturing a select group of 25 arpillera artists since 1998.
Providing them with new ideas, we encourage them to expand their creativity. They have now
raised the quality of work to new standards for a growing market of world collectors. |
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