Inspired by the works of artist Roberto Benavidez, we created piñatas of hybrid mythical creatures over the span of semester 2, showcasing them in the Illumniate Festival. Starting from scratch, we brainstormed an original design referencing mythical animals, creating a hybrid. We then crafted our piñatas using laser-cut cardboard sides, metallic and coloured paper, acrylic paint, pom-poms, and fairy lights. Throughout the process, we collaborated in pairs and applied and improved our ASC capabilities such as inquisitiveness, problem solving, organisation, and creativity.
Introducing our inspiration
Roberto Benavidez, born 1973, is a contemporary artist that specialises in the piñata artform, crafting hybrid mythical creatures. He was inspired by ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymus Bosch, and recreates the beasts pictured in 3D form.
Research, Brainstorming, and Ideation
With reference to Benavidez, we researched traditional piñatas and their original symbolism, along with hybrid and mythical creatures. I applied inquisitiveness in curiousity in Benavidez’s creations to try and reflect that in my own work. We collected our individual findings complete with reference images on a document (mine is shown below).
After narrowing down our reference images to the ones we wanted to pursue, we started sketching ideas for our final design using creativity. I aimed for a cute, fluffy, small mythical creature. I experimented with hybrids such as a cat with wings or a levitating sheep with antlers. I was most happy with my cat-like hybrid design, I decided to flesh out its design by brainstorming its colour schemes. I stuck to pastel colours with emphasis on pink and blue to highlight the ‘soft’ vibe I aimed for. I named her ‘Luna the Cat’!
With our partners, we showed each other our sketches and agreed upon a final colour scheme. We exercised collaboration and effective communication to develop our project using teamwork.
Putting it all together
After agreeing on finalizing our colour scheme and outline with my partner, we started crafting the model. We used the laser cutter to cut our outline of our designs efficiently and accurately. We then joined the two sides using rolled cardboard and masking tape to create the 3D body of our creature.
Materials used (below)
We used gesso as a base coat of white on our entire model. Then, we used cut out pieces of metallic paper in various shapes (such as small hearts, circles, squares, etc.) and glued layers to start building up our piñata design from the bottom up. We used collaboration skills throughout to assign each other different roles in production (for example, my partner cut the paper while I glued them onto the pinata) in order to work efficiently.
Using problem solving, I decided that I wanted to change one of the sides of my piñata to be more aesthetically pleasing rather than to follow the design accurately (if you see my final piñata design, the sides are different from each other), which solves the problem of the unpolished design. Using golden acrylic paint (I wanted the design to have a bright feeling to go with the vibrant paper), we painted the sides of the piñata. Finally, we glued the rainbow pompom strings around the outline, along with the rainbow fairy lights. Our piñata was ready and I’m quite happy with our design!
We were organised and managed our time effectively in order to finish our design in the most quality by the allocated time – we came during lunch and recesses to work on our project and finished exactly by the due date. The whole process was quite smooth and lacked problems.
The Illuminate Festival
The Illuminate Festival marked the end of transition for Year 8 students, celebrating an opening to a new chapter of our school lives. Students showcased their creations and performances over the semester of Project X. My role for the festival was to showcase our piñatas. We opened the festival with the piñata procession, organising ourselves onto the stage to showcase our creations.
Our team then lead parents around the CPA, towards the drama section, to Wanju for music, back to the CPA for media, and finally all the way to the common to hang up the piñatas for a final dance performance.
The smoothness of our transitions and our professionalism while interacting with the parents went really well, as we exercised collaboration. We knew our way around the school and appeared collected and welcoming. Additionally, I feel like our final design was vibrant and pleasing to the eye, and I’m proud of me and my partner’s work. Next time, I feel like it would’ve been better to have both of the sides of the piñata to be the same – with focus on the aesthetics rather than on representing our final sketch perfectly.
Throughout the production process, I felt determined to get our project done on time, and I enjoyed creating the piñata as I enjoy art and craft. During the festival, I felt very proud to showcase our hard work and I had lots of fun with my friends and parents.
My friends parents enjoyed the event greatly and thought our piñatas looked great! I’m very thankful for this opportunity, an amazing way to mark the end of transition.