Background
He was born in the village of Alcamenca in Ayacucho, Peru, high in the Andes mountain range.
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Nicario Jimenez Quispe
Edit ProfileEducation
He also studied sculpture at several universities in Peru.
Career
He makes traditional Andean altarpieces, small wooden boxes filled with figures, animals and other objects that tell a story. Spanish priests used them to teach about the Catholic saints. The main altarpieces represent religious, historical and everyday life events.
They can be humorous or political.
In 2012, he was the recipient of a Florida Folk Heritage Award. His altarpiece figurines are made by hand with a mix of boiled potato and gypsum powder.
His work has appeared in major museum exhibitions, including the Smithsonian Institution where they are part of the permanent collection. Nicario has taught at universities and international conferences, and his work is in many prestigious art collections.
Jimenez is now living in Naples, Florida, where he creates retablos that feature different stories of the struggles of Latino immigrants and scenes of Hispanic neighborhoods in South Florida.
