Folk art doesn’t need to trace it roots back centuries to qualify as “folk art.” Take the case of a style Oaxacan artists call “alebrijes,” a type of woodcarving and painting using imagination and colors fancifully, which has only been on the folk art scene for about 30 years.

The “alebrijes” are mythical creatures with a mixture of human and animal features that goes back to Zapotec rituals and ancient Mexican religious beliefs.

Jacobo first attacks the raw copal wood with a machete, cutting a rough form and progressively working with smaller tools, including a pocketknife, to work out the final form.

The twists and turns found in the copal help provide him with fresh ideas in creating whimsical creatures. After laying down a base coat, Maria uses a variety of traditional vegetal and mineral pigments to apply a myriad of intricate brushstrokes and dots. Figures often include more than a thousand dots per piece giving the work its distinctive look.

Jacobo Angeles Ojeda, from San Martin Tilcajete village in Oaxaca, learned the craft from his father. After his father died, Jacobo and his wife, Maria Mendoza Mendez, carried on the tradition and have been working together for 25 years.