Cultural Red Exhibit Santa Fe

Quest For Red © Sabrina Zarco

Cochineal dye was used by the Aztec and Maya peoples of Central and North America for everything from coloring clothing, healing ailments, and for personal adornment. The cochineal is found on the nopal or prickly pear cactus pads inside match head-sized white fuzz balls. By the 14th century, the Incas and Aztecs both had whole agricultural systems based on cochineal and apparently valued the dye as much as gold. The insects were harvested and traded. The insects were collected, dried and crushed releasing the intense red color dye.

This is one of three works of mine that have been accepted into the exhibit at the Santa fe Capitol Rotunda Gallery. The gallery opening for those in New Mexico or visiting will be on Friday, April 17, 2015 from 5-7pm. The exhibit will be up from April to August 2015.

I created a large Cochineal bug and added the white fuzz balls with paint and beads on the nopal pads. String needles on the pads hurt less when handling the work. As always it wouldn't be my work without buttons hand painted and lots of hand stitches. I will share the other two works and their stories later. 

Detail Quest For Red.

Website, book cover, and a new community oh my!

Finally the website is live and I am adding new work often. Please take a minute to check it out and share with others. I also welcome any suggestions or ideas of what to add.
http://www.sabrinazarco.com

 It is beloved community that make things move forward. This adventure continues and I am honored by those who have crossed my path. I am happy to announce that my artwork on Bayard Rustin (pictured below) will be the cover of a new book by Dr. Nicole Hirschfelder in Germany. Published by Universitaetsverlad Winter Heidelberg and will be available in hardcover and ebook this winter. Thank you Nicole for selecting my work now in the collection of Mandy Carter. We look forward to seeing the publication soon.

I am also feeling thankful for finding the most amazing, eclectic, creative, intelligent, diverse, interesting, and fun women in New Mexico. I have been welcomed into their community and I am thankful to begin this new journey with all of you. I look forward to sharing and learning as we exchange experiences and creative energy. 

Having a community is so important, and one that accepts all of who you are is even more essential for the spirit. I spend a lot of time alone and in studio and I am thankful for that time.  However community feeds the spirit in ways nothing else can do. Seek out community that accepts and respects you, all of you. Its good medicine.

Zozobra Art exhibit and festival - Zozofest 2013

Lets go burn away our worries! Please join us for Zozfest 2013 and check out the Zozobra art in Santa Fe. All this leads up to the burning of all your worries for a new start. Check out the details here:  http://burnzozobra.com/zozofest/

Here is my fourth piece for the Zozofest Art exhibit. This mixed media art quilt features the guest of honor Zozobra, embroidery fireworks, and the raw appliqué of the Gloomies that dance before the burning.

Zozbra Night in Santa Fe
(c) Sabrina Zarco 2013

Detail of Zozobra Night in Santa Fe Sabrina Zarco 2013

Detail of Zozobra Night in Santa Fe Sabrina Zarco 2013

Detail of Zozobra Night in Santa Fe Sabrina Zarco 2013

Zozobra the legend continues

Will Shuster and Zozobra

This is the artist who first created Zozobra and the legend for the city of Santa Fe,           

Will Shuster and the head of the giant marionette. To read more about Zozobra and the legend go here http://zozobra-sf2.nm-unlimited.net

Every artist their interpretation of what Zozobra looks like so here are two more of the four entires I will be exhibiting at the Zozofest Art Show in Santa Fe.

I had the itch to stich so I embroidered a portrait of Zozobra. Its a 17" x 12" piece and I added my signature bead and button border.

I havent made time to create in awhile so busy with the move and getting settled in New Mexico. As I explored the legend of Zozobra I had to get my hand into all the media I love to create with and so the collage on a big wooden Z was born.

Burning of all our worries away! Zozobra 2013

I am happy to share with you that I have several works that will be part of the Zozofest Art exhibit in Santa Fe. I will be sharing the various mediums I worked in to get ready for the exhibit. Read below for a Wikipedia definition of Zozobra the legend and the Fiesta.

Zozobra ("Old Man Gloom") is a giant marionette effigy that is built and burned every autumn during Fiestas de Santa Fe in Santa Fe, New Mexico, usually during the second week of September. As his name suggests, he embodies gloom; by burning him, people destroy the worries and troubles of the previous year in the flames. Anyone with gloom that they need to get rid of can come by the offices of the Santa Fe Reporter in the weeks leading up to the burn to drop off slips of paper with personal gloom written on them. Many people put legal papers in the gloom box as well. At the festival the papers from the gloom box are placed at Zozobra's feet to be burned alongside him.

Fiestas de Santa Fe has been held since 1712 to celebrate the Spanish retaking of the city in 1692 by Don Diego de Vargas from the Pueblo tribes who had occupied the city since the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. The burning of Zozobra dates from 1924. William Howard Shuster, Jr. came up with the idea of creating the effigy, also called Old Man Gloom, and ritual burning. Zozobra means "anxiety" in Spanish. Shuster's idea was probably influenced by Mexican cartonería (papier-mâché sculpture), especially the effigies exploded during the burning of Judas that takes place on Holy Saturday or New Year's Eve, as a way of ridding oneself or one's community of evil.
Today in Santa Fe more than 50,000 people go to watch Zozobra, who stands fifty feet tall. His burning marks the start of three days of celebration that includes traditional mass at St. Francis Cathedral; a reenactment of the Entrada, when Don Diego de Vargas returned to the city; a Children's Pet Parade; and the Historical/Hysterical Parade. The Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe builds Zozobra and burns the effigy at Fort Marcy Park. The Zozobra that was burned on September 7, 2007, was certified by Guinness World Records as the largest marionet the in the world, measuring 15.21 m (49.11 feet) in height. 

Today I share my version of Zozobra. I used found objects to create him. A trip to the thrift store provided me with the basics. First a happy smiling worn out Troll doll was the base. I covered it with clay and began the transformation from happy to worn with worry. 

Then the base was created out of an old lamp shade, wooden mug tree and can. Once assembled they were spray painted white for the base. Then I went to my sewing machine and made some clothes for the affair. For the skirt I gathered worries from several folks and hand stitched them into what was once a pair of sheer curtains. Once the "worries" covered the base of the skirt I added symbolic embroidery flames. 

Zozobra wearing his "worry" garment.
Hand sculpted doll with embroidery and hand stitched "worries" into the skirt.
(c) Sabrina Zarco 2013

Detail of skirt with embedded "worries"
(c) Sabrina Zarco 2013

Detail Zozobra doll (c) Sabrina Zarco 2013

Over the next few days as we lead up to the event I will share the art quilts and paper collage on wood. Hope you enjoy and get ready to release all your worries!