Curanderas & Herbolarias
Amaranta Ibarra-Sandys
These series of paintings depict divine women and objects showing strength, wisdom, and beauty, each paintings have golden or silver glitter element, where in many cultures, like the Aztec, Mayan and Inca gold is a symbol of power, divinity, and immortality.
As I grow older into my artistic journey, acknowledging indigenous practices, reclaiming history, and passing tradition into new generations is very important as mother and educator. Women through history, had inherit herbal knowledge, plant identification to cure coughs, fevers andhelp other women with childbirth.
Often, a ritual was performed to free the spirit from evil by spitting water, brewing herbs, and chanting around the possessed body. To connect with spirit, I regularly participate in Temazcal ceremonies.
A Temazcal is an ancient Indigenous Mexican and Mesoamerican steam bath or sweat lodge ritual, used for physical, mental, and spiritual purification and healing. Participants enter a dome-shaped structure, often representing the mother's womb, and experience intense heat from volcanic rocks heated by a fire. The ceremony, guided by chanting and prayers, is a powerful process of releasing emotions, detoxing the body, and achieving a symbolic death and rebirth experience.
Amaranta Ibarra-Sandys
Amaranta is a South Seattle based Artist and Teaching Artist. She grew up in Mexico City and after living 2 decades in the PNW, she calls it my home. I am a Ceramist graduate from Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
Amaranta’s artistic work intertwines as a Teaching Artist as the founder of ArtMaranth School. As a performer and Artistic Director of Frida Kahlo live installation for Dia de Muertos in Burien and Yakima. All these different components of my artistic practice, go hand and hand, connecting PNW Nature, bold colors and textures and celebrating my Mexican heritage, sharing community experiences and creating aesthetic forms .
As a Teaching Artist for over 15 years, her work has been dedicated to make art accessible to underrepresented communities, offering bilingual Arts Integrated lessons while adapting new technology such a video tutorials and hybrid school models and library zoom programs.
Her Youth & Community Mural Apprenticeship had helped facilitate this from intro to materials and techniques, applying 21 century skills: critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity that responds to each site, beautifying open spaces.
My studio practice weaves through multidisciplinary mediums clay, glass mosaics, acrylics, paper sculptures etc. Her paintings had gloomy background landscapes, whimsical goddesses , paper sculptures.
Learn more
www.artmaranth.com