With just over a dozen Avilanian artists and artisans, the collective exhibition Motivos Infantiles (Children’s Motifs) was inaugurated on the morning of Saturday 19th July in the Raúl Martínez Gallery of the Provincial Council of Plastic Arts. This event pays tribute to Children’s Day in a city joyfully anticipating the 72nd anniversary celebration of the Moncada assault.
It has become a tradition each year for curators and artists to be inspired to create utilitarian works and transcendent pieces of beauty with children’s themes. Examples include the projects PECI, Papiro, and Justo a la moda (Just in Fashion), among others. One can find appropriations of Cuban characters already embedded in popular imagery, such as the cat Vinagrito on fabric; Captain Plin as a wooden puzzle; and depictions of more universal characters embossed on leathers and bags.
The commendable aspect of this collective is its use of various craft techniques: wood carving; ornamental and utilitarian textiles and garments; as well as miscellany and that multiplicity of techniques which bring a work to a happy conclusion.
The ever-active Mailín Cabrales Veliz, herself an artisan, actress with the Teatro Primero company, and member of the Uneac (Cuban Union of Writers and Artists), attended the exhibition opening. She animated the visual event with organicity and elegance while encouraging children to explore the path of craft creation and to be happy.
The Avilanian association of the ACAA (Cuban Association of Artisan Artists) and the Provincial Council of Plastic Arts persist in maintaining exhibitions like this one, where the artist-artisan showcases their mastery of handicrafts as well as their desire to delight children.
In this endeavour, the textile project Manos Mágicas (Magic Hands) is also a pillar of self-denial, sense of belonging, and dedication to the genuine art of adornment, utility, and continuing a millennia-old tradition filled with stitches, threads, and fabrics.
Amid the ornamentation, arrangements, and restructuring of a city striving to improve, Avilanian artists strive to dignify through art those who are «the hope of the world».
Written by Vasily MP
