Botanical Illustration Workshop with Ludmila Centurion

Latin America Arts & Culture Community UK (LA-ACC) supported by Exeter Community Together (ECT) invites you to our first Arts project with Lumi Centurión from Paraguay as part of our six-week botanical illustration workshop. Dates: Saturdays, 22nd January to 26th February 2023 Time: 10AM-12PM Price: £30 for the 6 Weeks Limited spaces available, most book your space in advance.

Here’s testimony from the artist Ludmila Centurion: 

"I come from Paraguay, the heart of South America, here, the heritage we receive from native Indigenous people is quite rich. The Guaraní language is one of those, since our country is the only one in all of South America which has two official languages, this native Indigenous language I mentioned previously and Spanish. As a migrant, being away from home for me implied looking back many times to remember which medicinal herbs I grew up consuming in Paraguay, to see if I could find some of them here too. I brought along with me several herbs im the form of infusions that we are taught to take just like people take medicine, such as for stomach aches, for nasal congestion, and I even tried emulating mom's famous "magic drink" to beat a strong flu, made with ginger, cinnamon, star annise, cloves and honey, or chamomille to sleep well. Maybe even herbs to cook the meals I cooked at home and see if it could still taste the same.

My grandfather Victor is a great connoisseur of #pohañana (medicinal herbs in Guaraní) and until now we all ask him, grandfather, "che akarasy ha che py'a jere (I have a headache and a stomach ache), what can I take?" and he happily still goes to his backyard to take some leaves out of his trees or plants to prepare a tea or put them in our terere or mate (cold or hot beverages consummed in Paraguay, and some parts of Argentina and Brasil). These popular knowledges shared from family to family, stay with you forever.

Here, in the UK, I was pleasantly surprised when I found many of the herbs I consume in Paraguay, at international food stores. This brought to me a wonderful feeling of well-being and contention.

Today I am very pleased to announce that from Saturday, January 22nd to February 26th, I will be returning to one of my passions, teaching art workshops.

This time it will be in Exeter, my city in England, with a proposal that I thought of along with the Latin American Arts & Culture Community UK Members Of Latin America Devon, UK.

It is a botanical illustration workshop, something that I've always been passionate about and will finally have the opportunity to develop, considering specifically the similarities that exist between medicinal herbs that are commonly used and grown in Paraguay, along with the wise legacy of the Guaraní indigenous peoples, and those that grow and are consumed in the UK, as infusions or others.

In the workshop we will learn about:

-Botanical illustration in the history of art. - Observation - Line - Proportion - Volume - Light and shadow - Colour - Composition

Working on techniques like graphite pencil, sanguine pencil and watercolor.

Sería hermoso contar con la presencia de mis amigos de Exeter, whenever you come from, I'd love to know more about the herbs you use and consume in your culture too!

Very happy that the workshop will be developed in a great cultural space in the city @maketankexeter : thank you so much for the space to make this workshop a reality.

Thank you dearly, Exeter Communities Together @ect.exeter for supporting cultural diversity.

#artworkshop #exeter #UK #latinamericanculture #Paraguay #pohañana