Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration

9/4/202 1 — 12/4/2021
CRAFT IN AMERICA CENTER

This exhibiton took place at the Craft in America Center in Los Angeles
from September 4 - December 4, 2021.
Text by Emily Zaiden
Photos by Madison Metro
Designed by Joan Mace
Support was provided by a
grant from the City of Los
Angeles Department of
Cultural Affairs.
Additional support for
the Craft in America
Center is provided by the
Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors
through the Los Angeles
County Department of
Arts and Culture.
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Artists
Diana Benavidez
Roberto Benavidez
Sita Bhaumik
Mari Carson
Amorette Crespo/Party Girl Piñatas
Dignicraft
Justin Favela
Francisco Palomares
Yesenia Prieto/Piñata Design Studio
Josué Ramírez
Lorena Robletto/Amazing Piñatas
Isaías D. Rodríguez
Ana Serrano
Giovanni Valderas
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Piñatas: The High Art of
Celebration
Images of the Piñata District, 2021
Piñatas, ubiquitous and often the focal point of parties and festive occasions
across the U.S., are handcrafted and ephemeral objects that signify happiness,
joy, release, and celebration. This exhibition touches on the role that they play
in modern material culture and how they are made to embody social
commentary, along with the ways that artists address piñatas as conceptual
and technical launching points for their vision.
The work of traditional piñata artisans is presented alongside the creations of
artists who reinvent and reinterpret the piñata through engaging sculptural
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Images of Lorena Robletto’s Studio, 2021
practices. The contemporary artists featured in this exhibition reconsider the
techniques, materials, form, function, and notion of the piñata, forming a new
language for expression.
Piñatas are a deeply rooted Mexican tradition that has become widespread
and beloved across cultures. Piñatas are accessible by nature and made from
relatively humble materials. They are shapeshifters that can be created to take
any form, be that of a creature, shape, figure, or idea. Considering their
popularity in our lives and how many memories are made around piñata play,
this contemporary form of cultural craft has been relatively unexamined.
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Installation Image of Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration, 2021
As creators of material culture, craft makers design and build the relics of our
everyday, modern world. This exhibition touches on the ephemeral and
performative nature of certain forms of craft. Craft today plays a part in our
traditions, our celebrations, our relationships, and it deepens how we experience
life, even when it is destroyed or discarded after use.
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Installation Image of Piñatas: the High Art of Celebration, 2021
Piñatas are intertwined with childhood experiences, gatherings of family and
friends, and celebratory turning points in life—all of which have become much
more precious to us in this era of COVID. As markers of these events, piñatas have
new resonance and meaning today. They continue to be shaped to reflect
changing times. This exhibition spotlights makers who creatively generate these
objects in response to our shifting world. This contemporary form of cultural craft
has been relatively unexamined.
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Piñata Origins
Prior to becoming deeply rooted in Mexican
culture, many theorize that piñatas may have
their earliest origins in China. Although the
history of dissemination remains to be
examined, it is possible that Marco Polo and
early trade explorers saw a Chinese spring
festival tradition in which a clay oxen, filled
with seed, was shattered to celebrate the
beginning of the harvest season. This tradition
may have been imported to Northern Italy
and then to Spain, where ceramic vessels filled
with treats were broken around the time of
Lent. From Spain, Catholic missionaries
carried this tradition to the New World, where
they continued making breakable, treat-filled
vessels that were used for religious
celebrations that were part of the
indoctrination process of Indigenous peoples.
The classic seven-pointed star piñata reflects
this colonial history in that the points are said
to signify the seven deadly sins, while the act
of smashing the piñata represents the triumph
of good over evil.
Lorena Robletto’s Studio, 2021.
Piñata District
Los Angeles’s dedicated, multi-block stretch
of piñata shops is a hub for piñata importing
and wholesale distribution for the entire U.S.
Shops in this unique, dedicated corridor, sell
candy and various party supplies in addition
to piñatas made in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Piñata of a Burro (Donkey) from the Piñata District,
2021
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Piñatas as Fantasy
Roberto Benevidez, Installation Image, 2021
Roberto Benavidez
Benavidez is a figurative sculptor originally from South Texas, now based in
Los Angeles. After studying bronze casting at Pasadena City College,
Benavidez later switched to paper because it was a more accessible
medium. This material shift led him to focus on the piñata technique, a
familiar form from childhood.
Benavidez plays with underlying themes of ephemerality, race, and sin in his
impeccably crafted works. He explores medieval illuminated manuscripts for
inspiration to envision his magical beasts and creatures.
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Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Piñata No. 2, 2017
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
Roberto Benavidez
Javelina Girl (Illuminated Piñata No. 14), 2019
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
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Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Piñata No. 5, 2017
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Piñata No. 1, 2017
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper

Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Hybrid No. 2, 2019
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Hybrid No. 3, 2019
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
Roberto Benavidez
Illuminated Hybrid No. 1, 2019
Paper, paperboard, glue, wire, crepe paper
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Roberto Benavidez
Piñathkos (left to right) No. 25, 20, 30, 26, 19, 16, 25, 18, 17, 2,
24, 22, 2015
Newspaper, cereal box, wheat paste, party streamers, glue, wire

Piñatas in 2D
Beyond the piñata as a three-dimensional object, piñatas have become
conceptual and political subject matter for contemporary artists who depict
them in their painting practices. Other artists adopt their textural qualities
and surface techniques to create two-dimensional artworks.
Left: Francisco Palomares, Chulo and Guapo, 2021
Cardboard, newspaper, tissue paper
Right: Francisco Palomares, Agarrate Papa, 2020
Oil on canvas
Francisco Palomares
Palomares is a first-generation Boyle Heights native who is inspired by the
Spanish master painters and the way that brush strokes can convey visual
narratives. He reframes present-day social struggles through the lens of art
historical precedent.
Palomares highlights the beauty of the mundane and ordinary by taking his
subjects out of context, making them worthy of a more thoughtful look.
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Detail: Francisco Palomares
Agarrate Papa, 2020
Oil on canvas
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Detail: Francisco Palomares
Piñata y Dulces, 2016
Oil on canvas

Piñatas as Landscape
Justin Favela
Baño de los Pescaditos (after José María Velasco), 2019
Tissue paper and glue
Justin Favela
Favela is a Las Vegas artist best known for large-scale installations and sculptures
that manifest his interactions with American pop culture and the Latinx experience.
His painting series pays homage to the legacy of Spanish masterworks.
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Roberto Benavidez
Moonrise Over Skunk Point, 2021
Paper, foam board, glue, wire, crepe paper
For his landscape piñatas, in this
case one of the pristine beaches
on Santa Rosa in the Channel
Islands, Benavidez uses the
feathery qualities of his paper
medium and crisp cuts to create
reflectivity, depth, perspective, and
variations of color and light.
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Political Piñatas
Various artists use the medium of piñatas to express critical socio-political global
issues including, border policy, racism, and violence. Tapping into the physical and
cultural qualities of this medium informs their messages.
Diana Benavidez
La Guayina (from Vehículos Transfronterizos series), 2019
Poster board and tissue paper structure attached to a radio controlled motorized device
Diana Benavidez
Benavidez is a binational artist who explores piñata-making as a method of
expression and storytelling. Her piñatas reflect her experiences growing up along
the San Diego/Tijuana border, her identity, and culture. Her work is known for
introducing materials not commonly found in traditional piñatas including media
and technology.
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Diana Benavidez
Border Crosser and La Pinche Migra (from Vehículos Transfronterizos series), 2019
Poster board and tissue paper structure attached to a radio controlled motorized device

Sita Bhaumik
Bhaumik uses art as a strategy to connect memory and history with the urgent
social issues of our time. Estamos Contra el Muro / We Are Against the Wall
was a collaborative project she led that was installed at Southern Exposure
gallery in San Francisco. In response to the 2016 election, a wall built of
hand-crafted piñatas in the form of cinder blocks was installed and ultimately,
at the close of the exhibition, community members gathered to destroy the
proxy wall as one would a piñata, in an act of defiance against the proposed
wall at the border of the US and Mexico.
Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik in collaboration with Cece Carpio, La Pelanga, Norma Listman,
People’s Kitchen Collective, Piñatas Las Morenitas Martínez, and Little Piñata Maker
Estamos contra el muro | We are against the wall, 2016
Paper mache and paint
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Isaías D. Rodríguez
Isaías Rodríguez, Installation of resilience, 2021.
Originally from Boyle Heights, CA, Rodríguez is a multimedia artist known as
Little Piñata Maker. Several years ago, he made his first piñata to hang from
his car’s rear view mirror and he now creates limited edition series and custom
orders, each piñata no larger than about 4 inches tall and wide.
Isaías Rodríguez
resilience, 2021
Tissue paper, acrylic paint, cardstock
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Piñatas and Pop Culture
Piñatas are a form of modern craft that continues to adapt fluidly and respond
instantaneously to culture at any given moment in time. Piñateros are able to use
paper and adhesive to build ephemeral tributes to our heroes, most-loved
characters, and favorite foods and just as easily, to form likenesses of the most
controversial figures and factors in popular culture, politics and society.
Ana Serrano, Installation Image, 2021
Ana Serrano
Serrano is a first-generation Mexican American artist originally from Los Angeles and
now based in Portland. Inspired by the intersection of her dual cultural identities, she
is best known for using brightly-colored cardboard and paper to highlight elements of
Latinx culture.
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Ana Serrano
Piñatitas (left to right) Jesus Malverde, Juan Gabriel, Irma Serrano, María del Barrio,
Walter Mercado, 2012
Cardboard, tissue paper, acrylic, graphite, wire
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Ana Serrano
Piñatitas (left to right) Julio César Chávez, Gloria Trevi, Cantínflas, El Chapulín Colorado,
2012
Cardboard, tissue paper, acrylic, graphite, wire

Piñatas and Permanence
Piñatas are ephemeral by nature. What happens when an artist or maker
creates a piñata that is not intended to be destroyed? How does that change
how we perceive and value this medium and its meaning in our world today?
Yesenia Prieto, Mia Baez, and Andrew Munguia
All the Glitters, 2021
Cardboard base, metallic red mylar, foil, resin crystals, plastic wire
Yesenia Prieto/Piñata Design Studio
Founded by Yesenia Prieto and co-owned with Mia Baez, La Piñata Design
Studio is led by third generation Los Angeles piñata makers and designers
reinventing the traditional craft of piñata making through their custom piñatas,
sculptures, masks, and installations. They create larger than life installation
projects for companies and museums such as LACMA, Microsoft, Google, and
celebrities such as Rihanna.
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Yesenia Prieto, Mia Baez, and Andrew Munguia
In God We Trust, 2021
Cardboard strips, papier mache, satin wrap tissue, acrylic paint, repurposed clock, metallic
mylar, LED lights

Piñatas as Commentary
Installation Image of Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration, 2021
Giovanni Valderas
Dallas native mixed media artist Giovanni Valderas incorporates and
deconstructs elements of the traditional piñata in order to transform the piñata’s
original identity as one of gratuitous celebration, into one of cultural construct.
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Giovanni Valderas
Casita Triste (Sad Little House), 2017
Tissue paper, cardboard, glue
The Casita Triste series is a guerrilla site-specific project tha draws
inspiration from the brightly painted homes found in predominantly Latinx
communities, which are quickly disappearing due to displacement and
gentrification. Through the inclusion of cartoonish anthropomorphic
elements, each piñata house speaks to the fragility, history, and
experiences of the marginalized community.
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Giovanni Valderas Casita Triste workshop with highschool students at the Craft
in America Center.

Giovanni Valderas
No Hay Pedo (Canary), 2016
Newsprint, acrylic paint, Tyvek, mulberry paper on wood
Giovanni Valderas
A Marginal Universe, 2019
Cardstock, cardboard, glue, wood, latex paint
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Piñatas as Performance
Piñatas are intended to be interactive, crafted objects. They are traditionally meant
to be suspended and smashed as the highlight activity of a party. All party-goers
have the chance to participate in that performative act. How can the piñata
become a more broadly performative medium for art?
Josué Ramírez
Piñata People (Orange), 2021
Found object and tissue paper
Josué Ramírez
Josué Ramírez AKA Rawmirez is a multidisciplinary artist working in installation,
craft, video, and performance. Rawmirez works in the Rio Grande Valley, along
the Texas/Mexico border, and his current work investigates relationships
between personal identity and location.
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Piñatas and Cultural Tradition
Lorena Robletto (Amazing Piñatas)
Seven Point Star, 2021
Cardboard, newspaper, tissue paper, staples, flour paste
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Lorena Robletto/Amazing Piñatas
Amazing Piñatas was formed by owner Lorena Robletto nearly a decade ago.
After consulting for immigrant-owned businesses and serving as a social worker
for immigrant families, Robletto turned her focus towards the artistry of piñatas
and set up a shop in the Los Angeles Piñata District. Her studio and storefront
is now located in Mid-City, where her team creates custom piñatas of any scale
along with ready-made piñatas and various signature designs. She frequently
makes props and commissions for the entertainment industry and other branded
events.
Lorena Robletto (Amazing Piñatas)
Covid Piñata, 2021
Cardstock, tissue paper, cardboard
Lorena Robletto (Amazing Piñatas)
Alebrije, 2021
Paper, paint, paste
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Dignicraft
The Collaborative Piñata is a long-term project to establish a dialogue between
Purepecha crafts people and cultural agents from the region of Baja California,
Mexico and Southern California, U.S.A. The border city of Rosarito, Baja
California, is home to a community of up to 250 families who migrated north
more than 1,500 miles from their ancestral homeland located in the island of
Janitzio, Michoacan, and adopted the making of piñatas as their craft and main
source of living.
Dignicraft in collaboration with María Rosa Guzmán Soto, Eduviges Solorio Morales,
José Raúl Guzmán Soto, Nadia Iliana Guzmán Solorio, Bryan Guzmán Solorio, Evelyn
Guzmán Solorio, María Amparo Guzmán Soto, Guadalupe Solorio Vargas, José Vivaldo
Jacobo Guzmán, María De la Luz Solorio Morales, Javier González Cortez, Edith
González Solorio, Eréndira Pineda Campos and Leonel Solorio Morales
Cheremati (fisherman on canoe) and Nanachi (woman), 2015
Cardboard, newspaper, tissue paper, staples, flour paste
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Piñatas for This Day and Age
Amorette Crespo (Party Girl Piñatas)
Folklorico Dancer, 2021
Cardboard, tissue paper, cardstock
Amorette Crespo/Party Girl Piñatas
Amorette Crespo began making piñatas in 2017, when her daughter requested
a Selena themed piñata for her 10th birthday. Crespo taught herself through
practice, trial and error, and has been making custom piñatas ever since. From
concept, to design, to prototype, to shopping for supplies to the finished
product, Crespo is a one-woman operation. Crespo makes all of the piñatas in
her home in El Sereno, in Los Angeles, CA, but she has customers all over the
country.
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Amorette Crespo (Party Girl Piñatas)
Hot Cheetos, 2021
Cardboard, tissue paper, cardstock, twine
Amorette Crespo (Party Girl Piñatas)
Selena, 2021
Cardboard, tissue paper, cardstock, twine
Amorette Crespo (Party Girl Piñatas)
Zoom Laptop, 2021
Cardboard, tissue paper, cardstock, twine
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Installation Image of Piñatas: The High Art of Celebration, 2021

Mari Carson
Carson is a costume and sound designer based in the Sacramento area. She
began making piñatas in 2014:
Seven years ago I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and the treatment was a
radical hysterectomy. As a response, my friends threw a farewell party for my
uterus. I made a piñata in the shape of a uterus, filled it with glitter, condoms,
lube and the tampons I would never need again and destroyed it with a baseball
bat.
Since then, I wanted to share this awesome piñata with the world. This piñata is
made to order to celebrate your uterus or the uterus of someone you love.
Mari Carson (Plaid Hamster Knits)
Uterus Piñata, 2021
Papier mache, newsprint, wire,
craft paper, glue, crepe paper,
cardboard, coat hanger
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Lisbeth Palacios
Palacios’s All Party Art is a party supply business that specializes in piñatas.
Palacios began her business in Venezuela and is now based in Tampa, Florida.
Lisbeth Palacios (All Party Art)
COVID Vaccine, 2021
Cardboard, crepe paper, silicone glue
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Images of the Piñata District, 2021
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Lorena Robletto’s Studio, 2021

CRAFT IN AMERICA is a Los Angeles-based non-profit with a
mission to promote and advance original craft through
educational programs and resources in all media–accessible to
all via a PBS documentary series that has aired since 2007, an
archival website, as well as in-person at the Craft in America
Center (the Center) in Los Angeles. We are dedicated to the
exploration and celebration of craft, the work of the hand, and
craft’s impact on our nation’s evolving cultural heritage and
economy.
The Center is a micro-museum, library, and programmatic
space where visitors engage directly with art, artists, and
ideas. We give voice to traditional and contemporary craft,
ranging from functional to purely conceptual, through personal
engagement. We organize exhibitions, artist talks, scholarly
lectures, a reading group, book signings, hands-on workshops,
demonstrations, student field trips, concerts, and
publications.
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