Alejandro Flores Rodriguez, a native of the ejido of San Jeronimo, Guadalupe, is an artist of plant fibers called lechuguilla ixtle. His father, Don Julian Flores Martinez, who was also a craftsman and a great connoisseur of the natural elements of his town, taught him the techniques of saddlery and how to make cardenche crosses. This is how he began his artisan work, which he has been doing formally since he was 16 years old.

Alejandro uses the traditional techniques of vegetable fibers, such as “trabado”, which he has practiced since he used to apply it to the covers of machetes and knives in his father's workshop. He knows perfectly the process of harvesting and drying cardenche cactus. He knows how to crochet, unravel and embroider. He has also ventured into the branches of cardboard and ceramics. Alejandro has innovated in the handling of ixtle, using the technique of ixtle modeling, which consists of making figures or sculptures by “kneading”
the ixtle into the desired shape.

The process begins with washing the ixtle with soap and water, in order to break up the fiber and be able to handle it better. The figure is formed from a wire structure with the help of thread; and more fiber is added. Then it is hardened with white glue. This modeling process takes place once the fiber has been dyed, for which Alejandro collects natural materials found in his immediate surroundings: black beans, cardona prickly pear, mesquite and cempasúchil flowers. He also uses oregano, turmeric, Brazil wood and walnut shells. These materials are subjected to a mordanting process (to prepare fiberts to absorb color) based on boiling water and alum stone; and the dye is extracted by leaving the plant in this solution, either for 15, 20 or 30 minutes, or in some cases, for hours or several days, depending on the desired shade.

AWARDS

·       2018: Piezas escaramuzas para el
Congreso Nacional Charro

·      
2019 Second place with decorative pieces in the
IX Edition of the State Contest of Vegetal Fibers "Arte de la madera,
Zacatecas Artesanal"

·      
2019: Exhibition of the piece
"Tenamaxtle" in the collective exhibition "Grandes Maestros del
Arte Popular "Memorias de un mexicano", from November 23 to December
7, at the Casa de las Artesanías de Guanajuato.

·      
Honorable mention in the State Contest of
Popular Art for the elaboration of a "Matlachin" woven in ixtle,

·      
Participation in the exhibition "Lazos que
unen un árbol de Navidad" at the Papalote Museo del Niño, representing the state of Zacatecas, with the elaboration and assembly of the pieces of the tree as well as a traditional nativity scene.

·      
2020: Second place in the category of Vegetable Fibers in the IX State Folk Art Grand Prize Contest.

·      
2021: First place in the category of vegetable fibers in the X State Folk Art Grand Prize Contest.

·      
2022: Third place in the category of Great Masters in the XI State Folk Art Grand Prix Competition.

·      
2022: First place in the category of Vegetable Fibers in the XXVI Edition of the National Mexican Nativity Contest 2022.

ARTIST
INFORMATION

Calle Miguel Hidalgo #103,
Guadalupe, Zacatecas 98650 

cel 492 224 9090   tel 492 925 9045 

afloresrodriguez1985@gmail.com           

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