Chile Con Karen: Pirograbado, Heat Engravings in Wood & Leather

Macarena Rebolledo Cortés, Temuco, Chile

Website: www.artesaniamandragora.jimdo.com & http://www.facebook.com/artesania.mandragora
E-mail: faceartesaniamandragora@gmail.com

Phone: (56)(9) 82054232

Audio Interview:

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65165954/Macarena.mp3)

Bio:

Macka’s rosy face is beaming, accompanied by a warm smile. After greeting me with a tight hug and kiss on the cheek, she dives into an overview of her thoughts for the Exhibición de Artesanía Chilena. Though I originally contacted Macka because her striking leather wallets caught my attention, ideas race from wooden stools and salmon-skin purses to paintings and silver jewelry. Lost in excitement, she chuckles when she realizes we have accidentally taken a few wrong turns on the way to a café.

Macka stumbled upon her passion for artesanía after several years of exploring other career paths. Macka’s love of nature originally inspired her to take up ingenería forestal, or forest engineering, at a private university. Unfortunately, 2 years into her studies, the university declared bankruptcy, forcing Macka to transfer to another institution and start from scratch. Upon graduating 4 years later, Macka faced another harsh blow. Rather than use her education to work on nature preserves as she had planned, Macka could only find work related to chopping down forests in Chile’s growing wood export industry.

Disillusioned and unsure of what steps to take next, Macka first learned about pirograbando, or heat engravings, when her long-term boyfriend lent her a machine lying around the house. Macka quickly took to pirograbando, and over the past 5 years, the relaxing hobby slowly evolved into her full-time career. Although Macka specializes in pirograbado, she has a hand in everything: when visiting her home and rummaging through the variety side-projects she is working on, she clearly embodies one of her favorite sayings “Uno nunca deja de aprender” or “You never stop learning.” To further illustrate, this past year Macka excitedly took silversmithing courses at the Universidad Cátolica de Temuco and spent several months as an apprentice at a local studio.

Macka Working at Her Apartment in Padre Las Casas, 30 min. outside Temuco

The lifestyle presents economical challenges, however. Her voice tinged with regret, Macka wishes she had discovered artesanía much earlier so she could be better off financially now, at 34 years of age. It takes years to build up expertise and a reputation. Macka continues, The general public does not value the handmade. Either that, or they cannot afford artesanía. When Macka displays her jewelry at fairs, for example, most Chileans opt for cheaper, mass-produced options. Macka’s work as a silversmithing apprentice also demonstrates her how money is hard to come by: she only earned 100,000 CLP or about $200 USD a month working for her professor 35 hours a week. Though she spent extra time in the workshop to create her own pieces, bringing in another $400 monthly, she eventually quit so she could focus full-time on her own woodwork.

One dominant theme in Macka’s work is an integration of cultural themes, including Indian mandelas, the Mapuche kultrún, and Chile’s native Araucaría Tree. She also enjoys adapting traditional pieces, such as the Mapuche tupo, or brooch for heavy woolen sweaters to contemporary smaller versions for modern fashions. Macka is inspired by other cultures and would love to spend time teaching and learning craftwork abroad. Currently, she lives in a family-owned apartment about 30 minutes away from her parents’ farm and hopes to buy her own house and studio space soon.

Named "Moon," this contemporary piece is integrates traditional Mapuche looms and silversmithing. Macka won a national prize called X for its design and it was exhibited for a year in Santiago

Process:

Tracing the Design

Burning the Design

Filling Lathe Hole in Back of Plate

Macka places special orders for plates made from native woods like Rauli from contacts in Temuco

Book-Binding with Needle & Thread

Adding Leather Binding & Pressing with Weight

Cutting Leather Buttons

Applying Varnish

Other Typical Woodwork:

Hand-Made Guitars in Valdivia

Luthería Naty Guitar Workshop

by Juan Carlos Moraga Alvarez Luthier, Founder

Chiseled Bowls & Utensils from Villarica

Víctor Manuel Ruiz B. recently traveled to NY to showcase his family's award-winning work

Lake Villarica

borders Pucón, a major tourist destination

Traditional Pirograbado Landscape on Wood Planks

Around Macka's Apartment & Family Farm:

Stray Dog

Meandering stray dogs are ubiquitous in Chile

Araucaría Tree

This tree produces large pine-nuts called piñones, whose meat can be boiled and eaten, ground into flour, or fermented. Due to these varied uses, the Araucaría is considered sacred in Mapuche culture and inspires Macka.

Volcán Llaima