You will need
- Thick paper to sew on (use needlepoint material if necessary)
- Thread and yarn of different thicknesses and colours
- Sewing needles
- Scissors
Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín
Explore the artwork
Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín
Kukulkan (2017)
Tate
Your students don’t need to know anything about an artwork or artist to start exploring it.
Use these quick group activities to build their confidence in sharing their first responses to the artwork. Discovering art can be new, exciting and sometimes confusing. There are no right or wrong ways to respond!
In pairs, take it in turns to imagine the artworks answering these questions and telling their story
- What are you made from?
- When were you made?
- What has happened here?
- Do you want me to feel sad or joyful, or something else?
- What else would you like to say?
In pairs or as a group, use your body to respond to the artwork
- Mirror movements or shapes in the artwork
- Imagine sounds the artwork might make
- Trace the artwork in the air with your hands
- Move like the artwork
- What else could you do?
About the artwork
"My closeness to my mother has allowed me to be close to the threads"
Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín
Kukulkan 2017 is a woven textile artwork by Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín. A piece of multi-coloured woven fabric is folded in a vertical zig-zag form across the middle of the artwork, overlaid on the yellow background, which is dotted with broken black stripes. The abstract pattern of these stripes is a reference to the design of the traditional white cloth trousers with black stripes worn by Mayan Tz’utujil senior men in the artists’ birthplace, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala.
Pichillá Quiacaín is of Tz’utujil descent, one of the Indigenous Maya ethnic groups in present-day Guatemala; ‘I start from this context’, he says, exploring the art practices and everyday lives of people in his community through his own artwork. In particular, he honours the work of women weavers, including his mother, who have ‘maintained and preserved the tradition’ of Maya Tz’utujil textile art. He often uses four main colours in his artwork: yellow, red, black and white. These are colours that can be found in corn crops grown by Maya communities in Guatemala and beyond. By using these references in his artworks, Pichillá Quiacaín invites us into his world, sharing the histories and struggles of his people by celebrating the knowledges that have been passed down to him.
Make
Pichillá Quiacaín prompts us to think about histories and community through textile art. In this activity, explore the world around you by using sewing as an art-making technique.
- Take a length of string or yarn in a colour that you like and tie a knot at one end.
- Put the other end of the string through the hole in your needle, also known as the eye, to thread it.
- Poke the needle through your sheet of paper and pull the thread all the way through. You can choose anywhere to start. The knot you made will secure the string in place – now you’re ready to make your artwork.
ADAPT
You can spread glue onto the paper and create shapes and patterns by sticking the thread down. Remember to swap around and choose different coloured threads!
Play with making your shapes onto different materials – different kinds of paper, fabrics, maybe something completely unexpected. How does the material change your embroidery?
4. Use the needle to poke up and down through the paper, pulling the string through to create stitches. As you make more stitches, they will become like marks on the page.
Be inventive, go freestyle or be inspired by what you can see around you, or by things that are important to you!
What images can you see in your sewing?
Can you create shapes, patterns or drawings with the thread?
5. Repeat the process with new colours and types of thread or yarn.
How does your artwork change as you add them onto your page?
6. With a partner, look together at the shapes and colours you have explored.
What similarities and differences can you spot in each other’s artwork?
7. At the end of your lesson, bring all of your pieces to the front of your classroom and look at them together. Find each other’s artwork and celebrate everything you’ve just made!
What have you learned by experimenting with sewing and mark-making?
What do the images you made represent to you?
Extend
Kukulkan is made of two fabrics layered over each other and sewn together. Each fabric tells a different story from Pichillá Quiacaín’s life. Find some fabrics at home that you can use and sew them together, adding embroidery to make new patterns. How does your artwork tell your story? Share this with a partner or as a group.
How to use art makes
Making art is a powerful way to learn new skills, explore ideas and express ourselves creatively. Encourage your students to discover new materials, techniques and methods inspired by great artists at Tate.
- Prepare
- Project the artwork in your classroom and/or print off copies for your students to have in front of them
2. Explore (10 minutes)
- Invite your students to respond to the artwork through the group activity
- Read the background information on the artwork and the artist
3. Make (30 minutes)
- Follow the step-by-step instructions
- Use the Adapt section for accessible alternatives to this activity
- Use the Extend activity within the same lesson or in a future session
You might like:
Close