La Cartonería Mexicana/ Mexican Cartonería: The Mexican Art of Aurelia Fernández Marure

Mexican cartonería is an artform that expresses human imagination, emotion, and tradition using the simple materials of paper and paste to create a diverse array of subjects such as piñatas, dolls, Day of the Dead skeletons, and fantastical animals called alebrijes.

Aurelia Fernández Marure, was born in Morelos, Mexico and raised in Cuernavaca, in Mexico’s Morelos State. Aurelia is the daughter of community leaders and the granddaughter of revolution leaders. In her youth, she learned traditional paper arts including piñatas, flower papermaking, paper mask, large puppet, and flowers. Aurelia emigrated with her family to the U.S., arriving in Yonkers in 1984.

She is an award-winning artist who was honored as a 2004 inductee in City Lore’s “Peoples Hall of Fame” for Preserving Mexican Culture as part of  Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture without Borders.  Most recently (May – Sept 2023), her work was featured as part of City Lore’ exhibit, “Parampara: Lines of Transmission in the Traditional Arts.”

Reconocimientos: 2018 Craftswoman of the Year the Mexican Music Awards 7th Yar. 2018 Proclamación, “Premio Madre Teresa de Calcuta”. Por la directiva del Desfile Mariano de Nueva York Inc. 2013 Women’s Internacional Day Recognition. Westchester Hispano periódico de N.Y.-Ct. 2009 “Presea Emiliano Zapata” por el Gobierno del Edo. de Morelos y la Comision de Migracion del Congreso del Estado. 2005 “Griffon Award Winner” for the Untermyer Performing Arts Council Inc. Yonkers, N.Y. 2004 “Peoples Hall of Fame” for Preserving Mexican Culture in Mano a Mano one project of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, New York City. 2003 “National Hispanic Heritage Month” The New York State Assembly Honors, Arts & Education Award. 2003 Catedral de San Patricio. forme parte del comite Guadalupano , donde la imagen de la virgen de Guadalupe fue instalada en esa importante catedral de la ciudad de New York. 200l “Folk Artist of the Year for The Southwest Yonkers Planning Association, Inc. Cultural Heritage and volunteer Award. l999 “Tradition Bearer Award” for Westchester Arts Council, In recognition of your mastery of traditional papers arts and you commitment to passing on the legacy of Mexican Cultural Heritage.