Cielo Ornelas MacFarlane

Amor Etero (1/3)

Amor Eterno, Rives BFK paper, Thai Kozo paper, and dyed embroidery floss, $67

This piece is a deconstruction of papel picado which is a traditional Mexican folk art; they are banners that are hung at parties and festivals. Each page of the book shows different aspects of the overall image of two skulls -two lovers who will be in love forever, amor eterno.

Amor Etero (2/3)

Amor Eterno, Rives BFK paper, Thai Kozo paper, and dyed embroidery floss, $67

Amor Etero (3/3)

British Museum Exhibit #35467898765523645 (Aztec Xōchipilli Devotee Garment and Headdress)

Children’s costume, felt, marker, $150

When I did study abroad in London I was horrified by the British Museum as a catalogue of the British Empire and their conquest and colonization.

British Museum Exhibit #35467898765523645 (Aztec Xōchipilli Devotee Garment and Headdress)

(2/3)

When I came upon this children’s costume of a British telephone box, I also found it horrifying as a representation of the fetishization of British culture today by Americans.

British Museum Exhibit #35467898765523645 (Aztec Xōchipilli Devotee Garment and Headdress)

(3/3)

By transforming this costume into a Lotería board, a traditional Mexican game of chance similar to Bingo, I have placed my stamp on the British Empire, instead of them placing it on me.

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (1/9)

Equating Aztec gods and goddesses with Catholic saints and manifestations of the Virgin Mary was fundamental to the Spanish colonization of Mexico.

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (2/9)

Today, this is almost done in the opposite; Mexican Americans will intentionally identify the Virgin Mary by Aztec names.

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (3/9)

For instance, Coatlaxopeuh Tonantzin, is used as title for the Virgin of Guadalupe by the popular Mexian American author Sandra Cisneros in her short story “Little Miracles, Kept Promises.”

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (4/9)

In this piece I combine the traditional Aztec book making style with the more modern Mexican folk art format of retablos, typically paintings on tin that are commissioned after a prayer has been answered.

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (5/9)

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (6/9)

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (7/9)

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (8/9)

Codex Ornelas MacFarlane (Una Historia Verdad de Milagros en el Nuevo Mundo)

Amatl paper, calcium carbonate, acrylic paint, marker, NFS (9/9)

Which Way USA?, Analog Collage, NFS

Which Way USA? features vistas of the southwest, mariachi trios and luchadors. American staples.

South of the Border Salads, Analog Collage, $50

To many Americans, all Latinos are Mexicans - we are South of the Border Salad to them.

Way out West, Analog Collage, NFS

The Betty Crocker Recipe card shows the romanticized Americanization of Mexican culture - you don’t need to talk to any Mexicans just eat this casserole!

Border Land, Analog Collage, $75

Border Land features the photography of Ali, a Somalian refugee in San Antonio, Texas. Part of his assimilation into American culture will include an assimilation to Mexican American culture, if he’s lucky!

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

On Día de los Muertos we create altars, or ofrendas, to honor our dead loved ones. The versions that I have made can exist digitally as permanent 21st century offerings and as prints they are portable, for the busy modern world. They are intimate and personal, as they are my dead relatives. If you buy a print, it creates an unusual sense of intimacy between myself, you, and my ancestors.

Pattie Ornelas Rodriguez

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Cielo Tamez Ornelas

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Manuel Ornelas

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Juan Toscano

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Maria Caseres de Toscano

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Cleotilde Martinez Tamez

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Adan Tamez

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Ruben y Anita Ornelas

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

Sereva Morua, Francisco Leon, y el resto de la familia Tamez

Ofrendas, Digital Collage, prints available at ~4.5” x 6.5” for $40

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

(1/6)

Juan Diego was an indiginous Mexican who saw the Virgin Mary. She identified herself as the Virgin of Guadalupe, had brown skin and she spoke to him in Nahuatl, his native language.

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

(2/6)

She is often seen as the patron saint of Mexico because her apparition heralded the creation of a new mestizo (mixed) culture and race.

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

(3/6)

By printing her image on paper made of an American flag, I am affirming that her reach extends beyond Mexico and I have simplified her message -

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

(4/6)

¡Viva México!

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

Paper made by Emma Lucille Percy

¡Viva México!, woodblock prints on handmade paper made from a recycled America flag, $30 each

(6/6)

About the Artist

Cielo Ornelas MacFarlane is the daughter of two dancers, who from an early age encouraged her to express herself in creative and artistic ways. She was raised all over the United States, spending time in New York, New Jersey, Texas, New Mexico, and Michigan. Her art frequently deals with the many facets of her identity as a queer Mexican American woman living in today’s world. She is a recent magna cum laude graduate of the Visual Arts and New Media department at SUNY Fredonia.

Artist Site: https://cielo-ornelas-macfarlane.weebly.com/

Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/monkeyfluffart/

Artist Statement

This work is concerned with contextualizing Mexican culture and my place in it. It expresses my identity and also creates a space for dialogue with others. I draw upon history, folk arts and traditions, pop culture and humor to create conceptual pieces that amuse and provoke. If I have an idea I pursue it regardless of medium, creating prints, books, analog and digital photos and collages, textile art, and sculptures.