With discipline and long practice, artisans Jesus and Roxana Hernandez have mastered the unique folk art form known as alebrijes. Here they craft a magnificent hummingbird from copal wood and paint it in brilliant shades of lime green, fuchsia, red, and orange. Each feather and wing is meticulously detailed on this admirable sculpture. Small parts are separated for shipping to protect from breakage.
Alebrijes are a fairly recent Mexican art form, attributed to Pedro Linares. Unconscious due to illness in 1936, he was presumed near death and yet his dreams were extremely vivid. He tells of a place where all was peaceful and quiet until all of a sudden there appeared a lion with an eagle's head, a rooster with bull's horns and a donkey with butterfly wings. They kept screeching "alebrije, alebrije!" and Pedro began running away. He encountered a man who told him it was not yet his time to be there are and he should continue running towards the exit. In this dream Pedro climbed out of a window and regained consciousness.