Otomí Paper Cut Figures

Lesson Plan

PHOTO: Girard Collection, Museum of International Folk Art (DCA) Santa Fe, NM. Photo by Paul Smutko.

Museum of International Folk Art
P.O. Box 2087
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2087
(505) 476-1200 · FAX (505) 476-1300
www.internationalfolkart.org

The Otomí Indians live in the mountainous region of the state of Puebla, Mexico. The tradition of creating figurative paper cut outs is a very old one. Otomí women have created paper from the bark of fig and mulberry trees for hundreds of years. This heavy, textured paper also know as amate paper from the Nahuatl amatl has also been used as papel picado, cut paper and in codices, pre-Columbian books in which the history of indigenous peoples have been recorded.

Otomí figures are used ceremonially, to invoke agricultural fertility, rain and the presence of beneficial forces. Negative beings are created to be banished. Often the figures incorporate human, animal and plants forms. Sometimes they depict forces of nature in human forms, such as the god of Thunder. The figures are created by folding the paper in half and cutting out a form that is symmetrical when it is unfolded. Often the dolls are adhered to another, larger piece of amate paper, creating a strong, symmetrical image. The range of figures the Otomí people make describe the powerful forces of the universe and illustrate their view of the world and the cosmos.

To Make an Otomí Figure

Materials:
4" x 6" paper, multiple colors
(amate paper is available from Blick Art Materials, www.dickblick.com
or 1 800 447 8192. You can also use banana paper or brown paper bags, or construction paper)
pencils, eraser,
scissors, glue stick,
string (optional).

Motivation: Show the students images of Otomí figures (see resources). Discuss the ways they were created and that they are used ceremonially to insure good crops, promote healing and banish negative forces. What are the forces that are important in the lives of the students? What do they want to bring towards them for assistance? What do they want to banish? Do they want to imagine super hero types of characters? What would they look like? How would they combine human and animal and plant forms to indicate the powers of the universe?

Procedure:

1. Select two colors of paper. One will be the background and the other will be the figure.
2. Fold the figure paper in half.
3. Draw one half of the figure on paper. Remember that the paper will be unfolded, creating a mirror image. It is really easy to make a two headed figure this way!
4. Cut out the shape and open it up.
5. Apply glue stick to the back of the figure, using newspaper or scrap paper behind it, and adhere it to the background paper.
6. Attach the background paper to a piece of string (optional) by folding the paper a short distance from top. Apply glue stick to the crease and then place the string in the fold. Press to secure. You can add multiple figures on one line and hang them up. Some people like to wear their Otomí figures as well!

Evaluation

Students can name their figures and make labels to use to display their work.
Create a group of Otomí figures by using a long piece of string to attach the figures to and hang them in the classroom or on the hallway. Have students discuss the similarities and differences in the figures.

Have students sort Otomí figures into different group by function, style, color or other characteristic.

Resources

http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/otomi/intro.shtml»

Francis, Doris, ed. Faith and Transformation: Votive Offerings and Amulets from the Alexander Girard Collection Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2007

Sayer, Chloë. Arts and Crafts of Mexico. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1990.

Trenchard, Kathleen. Mexican Papercutting: simple Techniques for Creating Colorful Cut-Paper Projects. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 1998.

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