I am old enough to say it: I adore the wood and the stone, all of them from the tiniest pebble to the biggest boulder of Chaco Canyon, the humble pine to the mighty redwoods. I am just an instrument like the chisel in my hands, I give thanks.
My vision is directly connected to the sacred observation practices with the material at hand. Always starting with a rough sketch that will continue the established communication, I am guided by certain marks and symbols found on the wood or stone bringing awareness of dreams I had as a child in Valparaiso, Chile.
The first image I carved while studying at the Corcoran School of Art was Pachamama. Mother Earth or Divine Mother out of Black Sherry Wood, I touched the wood and I was thankfully captive. Pachamama, Earth Mother, nourishes us all from her breasts. Her whole body is the cosmos. All things manifested share in her life through an eternal cycle of birth and rebirth.
About PIA
Art is healing, I believe, the process
as well as the final sculpture.
The healing power of Art is a belief that goes back to ancient times, when there wasn't a concept of creating art per se,
but instead creating artifacts to worship, to ensure fertility
and protection.
In my work I am guided by the wood and the stone, by dreams from my youth and the images I find on small pebbles.
They all help me bring the figures out into the light. The sculpture is connected to the mythology of the Sirens, and the entire
Pre-Columbian world, including my beloved, Rapa Nui, native name of Easter Island; they are all part of my life.
Wood and stone are my main elements of expression, I am humbled by their beauty and wisdom, and their open marks and symbols are powerful enough to pry out my deepest s secrets. The amazing experience of direct carving creates a dialogue that wouldn't happen otherwise.
My heart is Mayan, the tree is at the center of their whole creation plans, everything came from the Tree of Life, the Ceiba. The tree is sacred, it sustains us all, we are their relatives, so are the stones, they have many things to teach us all.
Through working with different types of wood, my lifetime series of the Sirens was developed, starting with the sculpture Transformation, a female magi carrying on her back the mysterious walls of Sacsahuaman, Peru. I realized many years later that she also had a vestige of a Siren’s talon, the tool with which the Siren tears the male apart. She posesses a woman-bird body and lures the male to follow into the Underworld. Their wings enable them to carry the dead. The Siren symbolizes a connection between Earth and the Heavens.
Just a symbol of spiritual transformation, as any female mythologicial figure, for example Kali in India or Coatlicue, Aztec Mother of the Gods in Mexico, they have the power of creating as well as destroying in order to keep us advancing spiritually.
The paintings from recent years are introducing the male character, necessary balance to create the PreColumbian world brought out by the Chilean Siren “La Pincoya”. Doing research on her name, I was suprised by the translation from Quechua, “the wife of the King”. It’s empire had reached to the South of Chile.
I find it fascinating to keep learning from the work, and that the passion and obsession behind it, to bring it to light, appears normal.
I love living in Carrizozo, New Mexico, and give Thanks to the support from this special and generous community of Artists and Collectors of Art.
Geologically speaking, in the Quaternary Period, most of New Mexico was covered in ocean 70-90mya. I have found many fossilized shells on hikes and after living here for 17 years it makes perfect sense to create the rest of the Siren Series in Carrizozo, the heart of New Mexico.
I’ll keep on searching for the mystery that underlies all forms …