more-in Attending a Mexican art workshop on the first weekend of the year seemed like the best idea to me. My close to little knowledge about Mexican art comes from whatever I had read and seen of and about Mexican folk artist Frieda Kahlo. Considered one of the world’s greatest artistes Kahlo took to painting after she sustained injuries in a bus accident. She was known for her political and intellectual activism. With this in my mind when I met Ruchi Bagrecha, city-based artiste and fashion designer, she showed me a sample of the painting we would be doing over the next few hours. Most of the sample resembled the Mexican paintings by Kahlo I had seen, except Ruchi had added a bit of Popotillo Art into it. “Popotillo art finds its origins in Mexico, Jalisco and Michoacan. It is basically the use of straws to show a particular pattern. Dyed or plain straws are pasted over the canvas or any other surface to form a landscape, church, house or anything,” Ruchi explains. Then talking a bit about Mexican art and the use of tissues to make flowers, Ruchi says. “Paper flowers are a part of Mexcian folk art. These paper flowers are easily distinguishable from other paper flowers because of their intricate design and vibrant colours,” she says. Ruchi says that she chose to hold a workshop on Mexican art this time because she wanted to show to people that they can be innovative too. “I have tried to help people understand the loose, expressive abstract techniques today,” she says. The workshop was attended by 14 people including four children, five working ladies, three students, a local artiste and a retired school teacher. In the workshop I noticed how the participants were reluctant on using straw and tissue in their paintings. Ruchi attended to each one of them, explaining to them how these two are the very elements of Mexican folk art. “It does not look very convincing to me. I thought we would paste the straws and then a pattern would emerge and that would be it,” said one of the participants. Ruchi explained to them that they can exercise the option of not using the straws too, but that would beat the purpose of the workshop. I certainly liked the idea of pasting straws to create a pattern and I also understood why it was difficult for a few others to come to terms with them. “It is an old, oblique and rather unknown form of painting and people are not accustomed to seeing straws on canvas. So while they will like the final painting, it is difficult for them to come to terms with the painting just as it is,” says Ruchi. The participants, uncomfortably happy by the end of the workshop vowed to return home and try doing a Mexican style painting on their own. “I am just really happy that I now know a little more about Mexican art form. Maybe I won’t ever paint again, given my schedule, but the fact that I could do it today and create something like this – that in itself is an achievement for a non-creative person like me,” said one of the participants.

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