ceramic art

Arlen Estrada has a knack for combining traditional themes with modern design. Her work focuses on the history and traditional life of her native Nicaragua, such as this ceramic portrait of a woman headed to market. She wears a colorful geometric-patterned skirt and carries a vessel on her head.

Arlen Estrada's entrepreneurial spirit emerged early, but only later did she realize her life would be in handcrafts, after discovering her talent for the visual arts. Her work focuses on the history and traditional life of her native Nicaragua such as this ceramic portrait of a woman headed for market. She wears a colorful geometric patterned skirt and carries a bowl on her head.

Designed by Arlen Estrada, this sculpture from Nicaragua will add a historic touch to your home. Estrada handcrafts the sculpture of earth-tone ceramic to depict a man holding on to a pipe. On his back, he wears a jar.

A man sits quietly as he speaks, his elaborate jewelry indicating an elevated rank in the community. Handcrafted of ceramic, this handsome sculpture by Arlen Estrada pays tribute to Nicaragua's pre-Hispanic past.

A Maya woman sits with legs crossed as she works on a backstrap loom. Rocking back and forth she controls the tension as she creates an expanse of cloth. "This movement represented the human heartbeat, thus weaving was a sacred act for the ancient Maya, and weavers were considered the 'mothers of creation,'" Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explains. He works in fragrant cedar wood to depict his subject as realistically as did the pre-Hispanic ceramists of Jaina Island more than a thousand years ago in their "Female Figure with Loom." Deftly carving intricate details with superb realism, the Guatemalan artisan dresses the woman in a necklace of pinewood beads.