ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Otoniel Polanco was born in Mixco, Guatemala, on May 25th, 1959.  At the early age of six, he began to learn the Marquetry technique from his father and grandfather who worked in a familiar Workshop at home.  After attending primary school classes in its natal village, little Otto invested most of his free time working on and learning by this familiar tradition, while classmates were playing ball in the surrounding fields.  He recalls the wind bringing on their shouts and smiles from far away, but he was determined to be a Marquetry master, not a soccer player.  At this early stage of learning the technique, Otto worked mainly with symmetrical figures.  Later on, by customer’s request, he began to arrange landscapes with human figures, faces, entire bodies with their daily or ceremonial folkloric suits.  Daily practice turned him in the master he is at present day.  His constantly developing skills, allow him to create from the wood pieces, all kind of birds and other animals, company’s logos, typical peasants and everything he is asked for.  His art pieces are sold to embassies, national and international organizations, banks and commercial companies.  Mr. Otoniel Polanco is the only person working on this technique in Guatemala.

 

In December, 1995, Otoniel Polanco was prized as “The Artist of the Year”, in the engraving category, during the III Festival for the Human Rights and Peace, organized by the Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric, in Guatemala City.

 

Otto is married and father of three children.  The whole family is still living in Mixco.  The ancient village borders were long ago erased by a spreading Guatemala City and the quiet town is nowadays a busy corner of the biggest Metropolis in Central America.

 

The Marquetry Technique:

 

Choosing the right kind of woods and combining them in a proper way is one of the main secrets of Marquetry masterpieces.  Cutting the wood with special instruments, smoothing it with sandpaper, shaping it, reducing it to the desired thickness, putting all the pieces together in the original design and finally, choosing the right of varnish is the corollary of the learning of an entire life.

 

Normally, Otto works with 21 different national wood types, whose original popular names describe a whole tropical rainforest:  Nogal, Palo Blanco, cedro, caoba clara, caoba oscura, conacaste, gravilea, chonte, guachipilín, Palo fuego, cedrillo, tapalcuite, volador, chichique, cypress, puntero, pine gray, laurel, jocote de fraile, canoj and rossul.  All chosen woods have a natural different color; none of the elaborated art pieces contains artificial color at all.

 

The measures of the art pieces vary from 35 cm. wide x 40 cm. long, to 45 cm. x 55 cm. and 40 cm. x 80 cm.  The final size varies depending on the design chosen by the customer.

 

For more information contact: Fredi Durán

3ª. Calle “B” 8-49 zona 10

Tel. (502) 55224415 y (502) 59186902, email : fduran@ufm.edu  y fnduranl@gmail.com