dancer sculpture

Higinio Hernández prepares for Day of the Dead celebrations with this spectacular Huichol skull. Werika, the double-headed eagle spreads her bright yellow wings on the forehead, while jicurí blossoms on the crown as white marra (deer) dance around the peyote flower, sacred to the Huichol people. Hernández affixes each tiny chakira bead on a lightweight synthetic base covered with beeswax as an adhesive. "This skull is about the spiritual dance of the deer according to our Wixarika (Huichol) traditions," explains the talented artisan.

Adorned in dazzling colors, a plump blue hen bears bright Huichol symbols. Tiny seed beads cover the voluptuous bird, depicting icons of their belief. Resembling a flower with six petals, peyote buds, or jicuri form the centerpiece of Huichol ritualism. Rrurabe are the guardian stars that accompany the shaman, and deer dance around the base of the figurine by Higinio Hernandez Carrillo. Brother of the Huichol people, Kawuyomaire is a blue deer who travels the heavens as a guide and guardian. He can be heard by the shaman. The artisan creates these elegant images by patiently using a needle to place each tiny seed bead with precision.

Do not expose this piece to direct heat or light, as it could soften the wax adhesive and thus loosen the beads.

A myriad shades of blue conjure a cool and soothing universe in this elegant nierika, or votive beadwork painting by Kupihaute. Scorpions scuttle purposefully around the center of the composition, which takes the shape of a flower with five wide petals.

The artist, who writes fluently in the Huichol, Nahuatl and English languages, talks about this work in his own words. "From the focal center of the nierika, the precious flower arises in spiral movement as the culminating expression of the deepest roots. The blossom is keeping in its entrails the seed that will disseminate the power of creative energy. This is symbolized by the scorpions that, in their wonderful body symmetry, show the essence of the power itself, since any imbalance in its mating dance, any missing the target, will cause its own poisoning and thus its own death. Therefore the symbol of cosmos, of order is shown in their mouths and the tails."

The intricate images are formed with tiny seed beads. Kupihuate patiently places them one at a time with a needle made of abalone shell onto a huanacaxtle wood backing. Beeswax is used instead of glue.

The process is totally spontaneous, with no previous sketch or design. It is guided by the artist's unconscious to tell the stories that remain in our collective ancestral memory. He signs his work with the symbol of a butterfly on the reverse side of the nierika.