The Dancing Chickens
of Ventura Fabian

Brilliantly colored and strikingly designed, the wood carvings of Ventura Fabian form part of the folk arts revival taking place in the villages of Oaxaca (Wa-Ha-Ka), Mexico.

Oaxacans have worked in wood since pre-Hispanic times, carving masks for their many religious festivals and creating furniture, tools, home-made utensils and toys for their children.

Ventura Fabian is one of the most original and well-known carvers in San Martin Tilcajete, a small village outside the colonial city of Oaxaca. Like many other families in the region, the Fabians live a traditional rural life while also responding and adapting to changes in the modern world. Their story will serve as a portal through which children in both the United States and Mexico can develop an understanding and appreciation of worlds and ways of life very different from their own. The Dancing Chickens of Ventura Fabian is a multi-faceted media project designed to share and celebrate aspects of Mexican rural life and folk art with children in the United States, as well as to develop on-going links between children in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca and Cambridge, MA. The project has three parts:

Video Documentary – "The Dancing Chickens of Ventura Fabian" is a lively, 10 minute bilingual video with music and animation about master woodcarver Ventura Fabian and his family. In their rural village of farmers and woodcarvers, each member of the family works together to create some of the country's most colorful and creative folk art – the hand-carved, hand-painted wooden figures that have become one of Mexico's most popular contemporary crafts.

The video opens a window onto the daily life of this campesino/artesano family, revealing their unique world through a combination of documentary footage, interviews and animated musical segments of Don Ventura's colorful creations.

Video-Cartas de Amigos – a cultural exchange between the children from the small primary school in San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca and the Amigos School, a bilingual urban public elementary school in Cambridge, MA. This will be accomplished through the creation of "video-letters" (a "pen–pel"–like relationship via brief informal videos) by children in both schools and will culminate in an interactive video conference between the participating children. During the summer, a traditional, letter-based "pen–pal" relationship will be nurtured.

The Visiting Mexican Artists Program – A series of lecture – demonstrations with Oaxacan master woodcarver, Ventura Fabian and his son, Norberto, to schools and community art centers in the Boston / Cambridge metropolitan area. On the day of their visit, the artist will demonstrate the techniques used to create their whimsical, charming creatures. Throughout the day, as students watch the artisans at work, all phases of the process will be shown.

Ventura Fabian, who has been carving for over 30 years, is one of several carvers mentioned in the May 1991 edition of Smithsonian Magazine. His work is also featured in Oaxacan Woodcarving: The Magic In The Trees, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA. Author Shepard Barbash writes, "Ventura, who of all the carvers perhaps best fits the image of the eccentric folk artist, lives in a peculiarly private world where reality mixes with something less immediately verifiable. His carvings are the weirdest, most expressive of all."

Please click here if you would like to contribute a donation to this project. All donors of $250 or more will appear in the project credits. Your gift to the Dancing Chicken Project is tax deductible.

Contact Nina Hasin at ninah36@yahoo.com or (617) 522-4008 for more information

Bottom Left: Friend of filmmaker Nina Hasin with a display of Ventura Fabian's dancing chicken crafts.

Right: Cynthia Close (left), executive director of Documentary Educational Resources, and filmmaker Nina Hasin during the pre-screening of the video of The Dancing Chickens of Ventura Fabian.