Sarchí, Zarcero art field trip

On Wednesday, March 7, we took the sculpture class students on a day trip to see some handiwork and crafts that are done in the mountains not too far away from our campus.

About a 90 minute drive away, we arrived in Sarchí, and spent a couple hours in talleres, or workshops, around town, asking questions, learning the history, development, and now commercialism and tourism of the art of carreta (cart) making. Some images:

With Bean, in front of the acclaimed largest carreta (ox cart) in the world.

Workshop #1

Fire forging stations, in melding the iron strip to the circumference of the wooden wheel.

Rubber cementing a new strip of wood to protect/refurbish old wheels.

Upstairs in the workshop, more projects are in varying stages of production...

Small (tea?) carts, pre-paint.

Painting centers for souvenir wheels, tables, etc.

A large wooden wheel (approx. 9 feet in diameter)

Welding in the workshop.

This man showed us how he was cutting small pieces of wood...

...to form tables of various natural woods, such as this one on the right.
The board on the left is an example of what he was working on piecing together. 

More working.

Workshop #2

Our students talk to the painters in another workshop. 

Painting souvenir items.

Students interviewing workers in another workshop.

Car vs. oxcart. 

The church in Sarchí.

Further up the winding and curvy old road, we took the students further into the twisting hills, through gorgeous panoramas of agriculture and rural housing. Arriving in Zarcero, at the famous church (Iglesia San Rafael) and Parque Francisco Alvarado topiary gardens, the students sat and sketched for a while while I took some photos around the location where I have stopped at and driven by several times before, en route to other destinations.

The church in Zarcero... of a different style than in Sarchí.

Mural along one of the walls in the Park in front of the church.

The columns were painted in an interesting style.

(Both inside and out of the church.)

Inside the church, the tiling and ornate decor was something to take in.

Art Prof Katie and the students spread out in the topiary gardens
in front of the church to work on some sketching.

I took some time to putz around and photograph
various things in the gardens and around the church.

This was the ivy on the other side of the mural wall.

Looking up at the church and gardens from the front of the Parque plaza.

Topiary artistry in the bushes.

As we were leaving, a rainbow graced us as the mists rolled in over the hilly region.