Lucy Flor Garcia

Peru-005

Lucy Flor Garcia

Alessandra Bravo

January 17, 2008

A Friend of the Quilt Alliance

Lima, Peru

Alessandra Bravo

**This transcript was created by QSOS volunteers and was reviewed and, in some cases, edited by the interviewee. It may not exactly match the audio recording. For citations and interview quotations, please refer to the audio-recorded interview.** Lucy Flor Garcia (LFG): Thank you for this interview you are giving me.

Alessandra Bravo (AB): Today is January 17th, 2008 and it is 7:10 pm in the evening, and here we are interviewing you in Lima, Peru. Thanks again for coming. Tell me, Lucy, what works have you brought us today?

LFG: I have brought an orchard, African, and an Ark [Noah's Ark.].

AB: Which one of these do you like most?

LFG: I like everything with animals, the Africa and the Ark.

AB: Why don't you describe us one, the Africa for example. What does it have? What inspiration did you have for making it? Why you think it's pretty?

LFG: Well, I had never made an Africa before. One day Mrs. Paola Bravo came wanting an Africa and ordered one, but no one was brave enough to try it so I dared to make the Africa the way she wanted it. I liked it, so I continue making this theme.

AB: Well, explain us for those who are not seeing it as you are, and please be the eyes of those who are listening, describe us your landscape.

LFG: Well, I have included trees like the ones that exist in the African desert with the animals that are found there. Those are the hyenas, the giraffes, rhinos, the zebra, the lion, the elephant, the hippos.

AB: All of them, as if they were together!

LFG: Yes, the animals that are pretty, I like all animal related.

AB: Yes it is pretty. Did you enjoy developing this theme?

LFG: Yes, and that is what I liked the best because I like to try things that others can't and be the first to try it. I have faith and I have to do it!

AB: Tell me, how long have you been making arpilleras?

LFG: I have been working on arpilleras for 12 years now.

AB: When did you start? How old were you?

LFG: I was 15 years old. My sister took me. She was also working with Esther in a group that was just starting. She liked it, so she asked me to join them also. Before that, I used to make backpacks, so I agreed as we definitely needed the money. At the beginning, I didn't think I would last but I liked it. So until now I continue making arpilleras. That is how I got started, thanks to my sister. Then she retired after her second child, as her husband didn't want her to work, so I continue with this work.

AB: How long where you with that group?

LFG: In that group, I worked for 11 years. I have only recently left the group and now I am working with Silvia while continue working for Lucuma. So she welcomed me into her group. There are several groups in Pamplona [suburb of Lima.] that do not give you trust or maybe don't pay as well. A person works, because one needs to and the money that you bring home is used for different things, and there are groups that do not pay. Because of that, through doña Paola, I met Silvia and she took me into her group and until today I work with her.

AB: And what aspirations do you have for the future?

LFG: I want to improve myself, especially in making animals. I know that in the future it will be even prettier than what we see now, much better.

AB: Do you have an idea on how you would achieve that?

LFG: Well, it will be by improving the different animal poses to make them look more real.

AB: What do you think in regards to the materials, maybe in the use of the fabrics?

LFG: That can also help, as when you find the right color for an animal then you can cut the animal and it looks real with almost the same color. The color of the fabric helps as you can see the little animal in the fabric.

AB: How do you find your fabrics? Where do you get them?

LFG: We search for scraps, and we also buy some by the meter. Right now the fabric is a little scarce, especially the colors I need most that are hard to find.

AB: How do you think it would help you to stock up on fabrics?

LFG: Sure it would be good to stock up with fabrics. Buying them as a group as sometimes you want to buy and merchants don't want to sell us. They say it is too little, they want to sell more. For example, right now, we are considering with the other arpillera ladies to go and buy together. That will help and we are all in agreement now so we should coordinate.

AB: With respect to the themes, you mentioned that you like making animals the most. Besides that, what other theme you like or would like to make?

LFG: Well, one time, in the workshop where I was working, I made one of Pampa Galeras [natural reserve near Ayacucho, Peru where wild vicuñas are protected.]. As I am from Ayacucho, from Puquio, I used to go to my mom's village and on the way I cross through Pampa Galera. I liked it a lot so one time I made an arpillera of it, though it didn't turn out that good. It is similar to the puna [high Andean plateau.]. Well, it didn't turned out that good, as I couldn't see it.

AB: What is the difference with the puna theme with llamas and alpacas?

LFG: Well, there is not that much difference, but there are houses there and cars and roads.

AB: Is it pretty?

LFG: Yes, it is pretty. Sometimes I have also made festivities form my village and right now I am also feeling like making a celebration from my village that is a tribute to the water, to the river.

AB: O yes, of course!

LFG: That fills me. I would like to make it.

AB: Tell me, from Ayacucho, which village are you from?

LFG: From Puquio. It's at the entrance of Ayacucho [Andean city in Peru.].

AB: How long ago did you come to Lima?

LFG: Me, from when I was a baby, I never lived in Ayacucho. I went there only when I was 10 years old and I liked it! I like to travel. I've been to Ancash, Huacho. It's nice, the port.

AB: A port would also be interesting to make.

LFG: Yes, that is what I was thinking.

AB: But do it. Create! Your mind must keep going on all the time!

LFG: You need tranquility to imagine. My four year old son is always around me so I don't have that concentration. In the evening, it's more relaxed, more calm then I can do it.

AB: How much time a day do you spend making arpilleras?

LFG: Practically 10 hours a day. My mom cooks and helps me but I need to care for my son and feed him. My family supports me; everyone support me. My younger sister also helps me. Everything is shared. Basically I work from home. My younger sister also stitches practically. She is my seamstress. She embroiders them and I do the finishing. My older sister, who left this work a while ago, is now re-taking it now. Practically, our whole family is working together, as my mom also makes backpacks with little llamas.

AB: Where do you get inspiration for your works?

LFG: From you. It is the help we get from you with the designs and by telling us how do you want the themes. It is helpful, as we now know what clients like. You show us how you want them.

AB: What would you like to tell one of your clients? Imagine that tomorrow this piece is in a store, and someone sees it and buys it, and you are right there at the store. What would you tell this person?

LFG: I would say, thank you for buying my work as I have made it with my own effort for them to like it and to appreciate it. And with all my good will, and if there is something they don't like about it, I hope they would tell me. One likes to be told when something is not quite right, for improving it. I like it when people help me.

AB: Tell me, who do you admire? Another artist?

LFG: I have known many people who do this type of work. Never had I met someone like Silvia, she is very good. Practically without knowing me, she supported me and taught me. I always try to exchange ideas, and she never says no. There are people who do not like to share or teach. She shares it all, has very good ideas and teaches you. She tries to enhance and incorporate all the ideas.

AB: Tell me about your use of technology in your work, the internet, do you use it?

LFG: No, I don't use it. The only thing I use are magazines. When someone brings magazines with animals, or find novelty things from books. But the internet does not attract me.

AB: From all the process of making an arpillera, which part excites you the most?

LFG: I get excited about the appliqué of my landscapes. The appliqué is when once I have the background ready, I fill it with all the details. You imagine how it is going to turn out, and that is what I like the most.

AB: And what can you tell me about the satisfaction of seeing it finished? How do you feel? How do you know when it is done?

LFG: I feel good because I like making it. It is something that now comes to me naturally. I never imagined working on this, but now I like it. I tell my older sister, how it is that before she dared to do anything and now it is me, the younger one who dares to do even more. And she tells me, it's because I am young, her ideas and mind are not in this anymore.

AB: You have to use your imagination, right? Lots of! Tell me, of all the pieces you have made through the years, I can imagine many, could you describe us one that you still remember, that impacted you?

LFG: To me, the piece where I said, this is something I can do when no one else despite of their experience could make it, was the Africa, as I mentioned.

AB: You mean this piece?

LFG: But it was larger, of 1.35 meters.

AB: Larger?

LFG: It was commissioned to be joined. It was an Africa, an Andean landscape and an under the sea.

AB: Oh, yes! Long time ago, yes, yes.

LFG: Then, Ms. Paola came and told us she wanted those themes.

AB: It was a gigantic as 7 feet tall!

LFG: Yes! So they asked, 'Who is going to make it?' Then no one answered. We thought, at least the most experience artists should do it so we could then make it.

AB: LFG! When you said before that you had never made an Africa, I was wondering, but how? If Lucy is the one of the Africa! Of this size you would say? Since you developed that big one of 20 inches wide by about 72 inches high?

LFG: Yes, then I said I would do it! And that was my biggest satisfaction and accomplishment as there were people much more experienced than I and they couldn't do it. That has been my biggest satisfaction.

AB: Yes, it turned out pretty, and I can tell you that our client was very satisfied as well. Yes, yes, I also recall that piece very well, and how it is that we don't have more orders like that! Jajaja.

LFG: Yes, indeed and the other ladies wouldn't dare making it. It was all, 'How would we make it?' I made the Africa and the under the sea.

AB: And the under the sea was nice as well.

LFG: And I made the under the sea with another lady, and for the Africa I did the appliqué on my own and everyone was asking, 'Where is the mold?' And that to me was not fair, as everyone was expecting one to make it first so they could copy you or make it the same, but it's not like that. Well, sometimes, they will give me, and other times no. I know there have been times when I made the mistake of making my arpilleras similar, but I learned my lesson of not making them the same.

AB: Besides, one gets bored of making the same.

AB: Have you ever kept one of your pieces?

LFG: Me, if I have kept it?

AB: Yes, something you may have done where you said, 'Wow, how pretty,' this one I am not going to sell.

LFG: No, even when people say, 'I don't like it,' at the end everything gets sold.

AB: At least you can always find someone who would like it, of course. But I am asking if you have liked a piece so much to say, 'I can't sell it, this is for myself.'

LFG: Well, if I had made it for myself, perhaps I could say I won't sell it. But, I have always made them on commission, something that is needed for a client who tells me, 'Look, I want this,' and that is the only way I have worked. And if I like it, I can't really keep it because it for filling an order, and worst if I tell them.

AB: That, 'I like it a lot and I won't give it to you?' Perhaps they will get mad. Who has influenced your work the most, besides from your sister who introduced you to this art? Someone else? A teacher or someone who has played that role?

LFG: I was used to making Andean landscapes, harvesting, and as time passed, I started doing other arpillera themes. Yes, there were few people who taught me. There are good people who teach and there are people who don't. And yes, I have found people who had helped me to finish my works. Now, I do my works on my own.

AB: And now, you are going to be a teacher! How many people do you have in your group?

LFG: Well, with me, we are five ladies. My other sister is there, who is now starting to make the little arpillera doll ornaments and I asked her to join us.

AB: On this expansion from the arpillera wall hanging work, do you like it or not? If you could have your say between making wall art quilts, or decorative ornaments, how do you see it? Or maybe tomorrow dolls?

LFG: Well, I do it all. I won't say no and from that side, for sure I will do anything.

AB: But which one you prefer? Which one you like the most?

LFG: I like making my arpillera landscapes the most. That is what I like.

AB: You mentioned you would like to represent the traditions from your mom's village. Could you explain more about that water celebration you told me about?

LFG: It's in November and it's called Cequia, which means water stream. It is celebrated with harps and violins and all the village gathers to dance in front of the stream while stamping their feet. During the day, the men who make the "payment" [offering.] to the water come out all dressed up.

AB: What do you mean with offering a payment to the water?

LFG: They offer a payment of worship to the water to ensure a good harvest in their fields. They go dressed as Llamichos and wear with masks. With their huaraca [sling.], they go through the fields and orchards pretending to steal the produce as they chase the water, and that is how they pay the water, and with that water they splash everyone. I liked it!

And that is how it is all the five days of festivities. And it is pretty, and at the end, the Llamichos [men dressed as llamas.] cry as they say goodbye to the village. It is very nice and sad, but I like it.

AB: What does "llamicho" mean?

LFG: Llamichos are people, young people.

AB: But what are they representing?

LFG: The llama and they say goodbye to the village while chanting poems as they do the despacho [offering.].

AB: It must be beautiful! Make it, and show us! And like that, any other tradition you can think of?

LFG: The one of the Virgen of Candelaria, with blacks, which is very colorful.

AB: It is now on February right? They also celebrate it in Ayacucho? It is also from Puno.

LFG: But the only village which celebrates it is my town. Not in Ayacucho city, my village is the only one celebrating the Virgen of Candelaria. There is another one also of father Saint Andres in my town. That one is simpler just with fireworks and music bands.

AB: How do you see this art in the future? We have talked about improving the quality but how do you see it? What have you seen in regards to other artists, how do you think you can encourage the new generation to dedicate themselves to this art, how can it be preserved?

LFG: Well, I can say that yes, the girls in the future, yes they are going to like it, they are going to continue doing it. And if they have a feel for the creativity that we all have, they are going to improve it even more from what we are doing now. I see the future as more beautiful, more vibrant.

AB: Do you think that we are, or you are encouraging the new generation to continue? Are there young artists making arpilleras?

LFG: Yes, there are girls that are just starting, and most of the learning comes from the stitching. And when you already know how to stitch, then if you have the desire to try more and if you have talent and good skills then they start asking to make a full landscape on their own. And that is how we give them the opportunity by encouraging and helping them trust they can do it. I have a small niece that likes to stitch.

AB: How old is she?

LFG: She is 12 years old and likes to stitch and my brother, who is a man, from little when we needed it, he also helped out stitching. Whoever dares to do it, can do it.

AB: That's good, it is good to know as one may think, look perhaps this kind of artwork, in 20 years from now, may not exist anymore as it is quite rare for it to be all handmade and with so much detail.

LFG: There are people who get bored. They may do a little and say, 'I can't.' This work is not for everyone, because you do need to have lots of patience.

AB: Patience and what else? How would you describe your qualities as an arpillera artist? Let's see, what is a requirement?

LFG: Patience, skill, and creativity. That is it. For me, that's what it takes, and to have even more patience, as from there, it starts to grow to be part of you, so you can do it.

AB: Do you dream with this work at night?

LFG: Sometimes. They may say that our client needs it, and sometimes I have dream as if I am been waken up with the rush of finishing a piece. And then, many times, I do wake up early morning thinking I have to finish a work to deliver it on time. Part of that is due to the pressure but it is also the necessity. When I am in need because maybe my son is sick or my husband didn't bring any money and also some of the pressure is the necessity itself, as I do need it.

AB: In your home, you live with your mom, your sisters, your son, it seems you are many. How do you work? How is your working space? Do you have a room where you can work? How is it?

LFG: My place is a small room where I have my bed and my small kitchen. I sit in my little table, in my bench and with my bag of fabrics. I feel good when my sister who stitches for me, and my brothers chat with me. Then, I stitch and stitch while chatting but when I am alone, I can't stitch! I need someone talking to me.

AB: You need people.

LFG: Yes.

AB: To amuse you, Ja,ja,ja. Have you considered getting together to work with your fellow artist partners?

LFG: Yes, I would like it. Who wouldn't like be told their stories because you can be working while chit chatting.

AB: Yes, and here is Maria Ester who can't keep it to herself any longer and is chatting and chatting in Lucy's interview! Jajaja. Well, Lucy, what else would you like to share that we haven't yet talked about?

LFG: What would I like to share? Well, I hope people would appreciate, at least those who will be listening, I would like them to appreciate that we make our artworks with lots of love for you because here in Peru, as my partner here says, they do not appreciate our work too much.

AB: Not yet.

LFG: Yes, maybe when they see how much work goes into it and that we make it with all of our effort, they may start to appreciate it. Tell them that this, we make with lots of care and good amount of effort, and thank them for buying our work as that encourages us, and it is great support and helps us a lot.

AB: And we should think, in order for people in Peru to pay attention and recognize this work, we should imagine how else it could be done? But luckily, it is well recognized overseas.

LFG: There are people here who say, 'How nice,' and ask how it is made and the kids as well. I have a niece that tells me, 'Aunt, I want my purse full of animals. Aunt I want...' She grabs my animals and pins them to her chest!

AB: Kids like it a lot. Yes, I have also noticed, and the Noah's Ark is always a favorite.

LFG: Yes, people like it a lot.

AB: Well Lucy, thank you very much. Many thanks Lucy for coming today to make this interview for the Quilters' Save Our Story [Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories.] project and we are finishing our interview at 7:45 p.m. Thanks.

LFG: Thank you, for this interview, and as well for the support you offer us. Thank you.

AB: You are welcome.