Máscara-Oveja latxa

Since I started researching wool in my immediate environment, I have been astonished to see how the numbers of latxa and carranzana sheep have been decreasing year after year.

Are the native Latxa and Carranzana sheep beginning to be in danger of extinction?

The figures are clear in the official census register, and the Carranzana sheep in particular are at a great disadvantage.

There are numerous threats, perhaps the most important of which is that the good maintenance of the herd exceeds in effort and cost the yield obtained in meat, milk, cheese and wool. 

There are not enough generational replacements of shepherds who want to take care of these tasks and the maintenance costs are not helping either, so many herds are diminished or even eliminated because they can no longer be maintained or cared for.

Some time ago I contacted an artistic project in which it was proposed to work with wool to create a campaign to visualise animals that are in danger of extinction due to the bad practices we are doing with the animals, their habitat and environment. I have had the opportunity to learn and share this problematic for our sheep and our wool in an artist residency with the artist Gladys Paulus.

Shearing:

At the beginning of July 2022, I was taking part in shearing. One part I did at the Gomiztegi shepherds' school in Arantzazu-Gipuzkoa and another at a small organic livestock farm in Bizkaia. I obtained black and white wool from Latxa sheep.

Despite the current situation, there are "shepherd schools" where young people learn how to handle livestock, shearing and what is necessary to run a flock. The experience was great and the motivation of the instructors was commendable, it was the first time that I had crossed the barrier from spectator to activist hairdresser and it was not easy at all. I was terrified of making the sheep uncomfortable or cutting it. The New Zealand practice of shearing is a dance ritual in which you have to engage with the sheep and set the pace, pace and movement, while your hands are positioned at key points, one helping to pull or pull away and the other to shear machine in hand. There is no need to tie the animal's limbs and the speed provides less stress to the animal and a full fleece, with greater fibre length.

The wool:

The wool was washed and dried at the Altzaga municipal laundry in Tartanga-Erandio. With the wool clean and dry, I carried out the conditioning work in my studio: scouring and carding, preparing all the material necessary to attend the artistic residency.

For consistency with the raw material I made a three-dimensional mask of a latxa sheep with a black face. 

The work:

The work has been considerable. The hand modelling with the wet felting technique has taken some time, as the work of making three-dimensional felt with latxa wool is complex when it comes to compacting it, due to its 36/39 micron fibre size. The head does not have any kind of internal structure, nor have any products been applied to stiffen the felt. Water, soap and a lot of kneading to get the piece.

It has been an intense but rewarding learning process.

Now this beauty is part of the FACES OF EXTINCTION project of the artist Gladys Paulus. It is a privilege to be there and to have shared learning with her and to have contributed to making our wool and problems known on an international level.

The project of making an animal mask (sheep) gives me the opportunity to develop a theme that I have had in mind for some time: anthropomorphs.

And the challenge of making a Carranza sheep mask remains open.

Materials: latxa wool, eyes (print on paper and glass cabochon)

Techniques: hand wet felting, details applied with felting needle

Artist: Yolanda Sánchez Pérez

Model: Miren del Castillo 

Photographer: Gaizka Medina

Work presented and exhibited in:

BESTIARIUM, Centro Santo Domingo Exhibition Hall, Pedraza, Segovia, 12-15 May 2023

Ovis orientalis aries. Autochthonous breed. 

It is the most primitive of the Spanish sheep breeds.

Adapted to hilly terrain with high rainfall.

There are two varieties: Black faced Latxa and Blond faced Latxa.

The difference lies in the colouring of the face and limbs.

The black-faced latxa sheep has its particularities in the different provinces of the Basque Country, Navarre and in Iparralde (South of France) where we can find these specimens.

My thanks to the photographer José Barea for the photographs used to document the work and which have served as a study and model for the creation of the black-faced latxa sheep mask.

Your BESTIARIUM project is a source of inspiration for my project and a delight to be able to see animals portrayed with love and respect.

Los lavaderos públicos se crean con la existencia cercana de una corriente de agua procedente a veces de un río, acequia, arroyo, una fuente natural la cual se canaliza para alimentar continuamente a las piletas para el lavado de la ropa.

La función de estos lavaderos además de lavar ropa, era la de reunir a las mujeres para hablar y comentar noticias o acontecimientos que ocurrían en su pueblo o en los alrededores. Algunos niños confiesan haber aprendido a nadar en este espacio.

El propósito del trabajo realizado en el lavadero de Altzaga en Tartanga es poner en valor y recuperar una parte de nuestro patrimonio público testigo de la historia local.  Invitar y alentar su uso para que no desaparezca en nuestra memoria ni como singular espacio.  

The public washing places were created with the nearby existence of a stream of water, sometimes from a river, ditch, stream, or natural spring, which was channelled to continuously feed the basins for washing clothes.

The function of these washing places, apart from washing clothes, was to gather the women to talk and comment on news or events that were happening in their village or in the surrounding area. Some children confess to having learned to swim in this space.

The purpose of the work carried out in the Altzaga washing place in Tartanga is to enhance and recover a part of our public heritage that bears witness to local history.  To invite and encourage its use so that it does not disappear in our memory or as a unique space.