La Loba

La Loba is a character from Mexican legend. Also known as La Huesera or La Trapera, she is described as an old, fat, hermit woman who lives in the desert. She wanders the desert alone in search of bones, especially wolf bones. When she has gathered a complete skeleton, she lays the bones out on the ground and begins to sing. As she sings, the bones begin to flesh out and become furred again. She sings life back into the bones, and the animal begins to breathe. It becomes strong and finally leaps up to run away into the desert, born again. I loved the idea of the portly old hermit lady dressed in rags and wandering the desert with a big bag of bones over her shoulder, so I created this sculpture of La Loba to bring that image to life. She stands in the desert, smiling as she has just discovered a wolf's skull and other assorted bones. La Loba has a cloth body over a wrapped wire armature. Her head, hands, feet, and various accessories have been sculpted from polymer and/or epoxy clay. Her clothing is made from fabric, leather, and rabbit fur and she is adorned with various beads, turquoise chips, feathers and bones (some of which are real, and some of which are sculpted from epoxy clay). She is pegged to a wooden base and stands 15" tall.

Art Doll, 15" tall, 2004