It’s nearly complete now, taste a sample…
In this fine city piñata artists can be found creating their sculptures in the most unlikely studios.
Along the southwest side of San Antonio off of highway 90 on Cupples Rd such a strip thrives. Entering into the neighborhood there is no shortage of small taco shops and mechanics. Businesses are housed in meager structures, and walking into the stores one is more likely to hear conversations in Spanish than English. The modest single story homes in the neighborhood encompass most of the lot they are built on, and some look untouched since they were first built after WWII.
I venture to rename this area the Piñata District. Within two blocks one can find five individually owned piñata shops. Each store front utilizes an awning to proudly display the sculptures that turn the landscape bright and alive. Becky’s Piñatas can be found amongst these treasures. Walking into the vivid yellow and blue building, one is surrounded by all things brilliant and beautiful. Hundreds of piñatas take up nearly every inch of space. Becky and her coworker, Ana, have created a workspace near the front of the store were custom piñatas can be created as they watch telenovelas on their small television.
It is necessary to recognize the piñatas place in the modern art world.
To contemporary artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz piñatas represent the disregarded Latino arts that are prevalent every day in communities. He desired to express that “Contemporary art and especially pop art was all around us in San Antonio. In the poorest districts of San Antonio streets are lined with shops selling piñatas, or as I see it, pop sculptures, to an enthusiastic working class populace. I challenge you to find streets in other U.S. or European cities lined with contemporary sculpture shops being enthusiastically supported by the working class” (15).
