By: DIANA HERRERA
Staff Writer
In Spanish class, we are beginning to make Alebrijes and seeing what they are. I would like to explain to you what they are. The creatures came from the mind of Pedro Linares when he fell into a coma when he was very ill. He had claimed in his dream that he was in a place similar to a forest but he had seen unknown animals like for example a donkey with butterfly wings. Those kinds of creatures were shouting at him “Alebrijes”. Once he had recovered he began recreating them with cardboard and paper-mache and calling them Alebrijes. His work had caught the attention of a gallery owner, then later of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who began commissioning them. This tradition grew after a documentary was made on Pedro Linares in 1975.