SACRAMENTO, California — Art has the ability to evoke emotion, inspire action and transform. For Sacramento artist Ramona García, art also has the power to heal.
García's first use of art was to transcend language barriers when she and her family migrated to Sacramento from the state of Guanajuato, México.
"I began utilizing art as a way to have a voice to speak because I didn't speak the language and so it kind of became my first language after Spanish," said García.
She recalled not having much when she came to California except a box of cherished Barbie dolls handed down from her cousin. While playing with the dolls she became fixated on their unrealistic body proportions, which would shape her unattainable beauty standards.
"I realized what an impact they had on me, primarily because I looked nothing like a Barbie doll or my Barbie dolls were all blonde," said García.
It wasn't until she turned to the beauty of the traditional Mexican paper mache doll — something she always noticed around her grandmother's house or aunt's house but largely ignored — that she found herself on a journey of healing from a developed eating disorder.
During her last year of college, García took a class that required her to look for an object meaningful to her. The paper mache doll became somewhat of a "talisman" to mark the struggles she was going through at the time.
"The way the paper mache doll is made and constructed, it comes in pieces, so in the process of making one, you're actually putting the doll together and that had so much meaning to me," said García.
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Paper mache sculptures can be traced back to the Spanish colonial days of the 1600s when the crafts were first used for various ceremonies of the Catholic church. Families in cities like México City and Celaya took up the trade and adapted paper mache for new uses throughout the generations.
Paper mache consists of just a few key ingredients: paper, flour, salt and water. Torn strips of paper are soaked in a paste made of flour, water and salt (also known as engrudo), almost to the consistency of pancake batter. Artists then press the saturated strips onto a ceramic mold in multiple layers, packing them and drying. The paper mache mask is then removed from the mold and ready to paint.
García said she came to understand that paper mache dolls, also known as "Lupita" dolls, grew in popularity during the Mexican Revolution.
"Families did not have a lot of means to buy toys for their children, especially the more expensive ceramic or plastic toys, so the artisans of the time came up with an idea to just sort of reproduce some of these toys in a cheaper way," said García.
One summer García traveled back to México, yearning to learn more about the paper mache doll. She realized how few artisans were still committed to the craft when she went from museum to museum, unsuccessfully trying to learn more about the dolls. That is, until she came upon a house with dolls drying on the sidewalk.
"I was like, 'Oh my goodness' and so I knocked on the door. Sure enough, the artisan came out. Her name was Doña Juanita and she actually became my maestra, my teacher, and taught me about the paper mache dolls and how they are made," said García.
She spent the whole summer working with her maestra, absorbing all the information she could.
"She was just so beautiful in the way that she wanted to share this information... because she wanted it to kind of get passed on and so I think she understood the value of teaching younger generations," said García.
Today, García carries on her maestra's legacy by preserving the lost art form and supporting the artisans that still exist today through doll-making workshops. Most recently, she wrapped up a series of doll-making workshops as part of the Seeding Creativity Grant she received from the Sacramento Office of Art and Culture. The free workshops culminated with an exhibit of the dolls created by the participants.
"There's not a lot of push to support this art, so in teaching paper mache doll workshops in the community, we can support some of the work those few artists are still doing so they can continue to keep the tradition alive," said García.
Doña Juanita has since passed away, but García still remains connected to her maestra's daughters, who provide the paper mache dolls used in her workshops.
Garcia's goal is to share the history and beauty of the art form while also integrating art therapy through a focus on mental health. She said she has just one rule in her workshops: there's no right or wrong way to art.
"I love the fact that it's paper because paper is not perfect, it has all these crevices. When working with a doll, I remind folks that it does not have to look like the dolls that you've seen. It doesn't have to be perfect," said García.
Just like the paper mache doll provided healing for her, García hopes by engaging participants to make their own dolls, they can process things going on in their personal lives.
"We engage participants to think about some of these harder things that are sometimes in our mind — stories we may be working through — and reminding ourselves that we are stronger than we think we are," said García. "We can persevere and we are resilient."
If you want to learn more about Ramona or you're interested in hosting a workshop, you can reach her through her website.
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