Join the Sacramento Public Library’s 2021 Latino Heritage Series for a Piñata Sculpture Workshop with Patty Botello.

Watch a replay of this program.

We will be creating a mini piñata sculpture of a mango on a stick with “Tajin” seasoning as a way to celebrate and honor our region’s street vendors. These mangoes will be three dimensional in form, using various piñata making techniques. This workshop will also focus on using recyclable items like cardboard and newspaper and giving these ordinary objects a new purpose.

Click here to register for Zoom Meeting. 

Here is a list of materials needed for this workshop:

• 2 glue sticks 
• 1 large paperclip 
• 1 roll of yellow crepe paper / party streamers
• 1 wooden skewer (“8)
• 1 roll of masking tape
• 1 pair of scissors 
• Small piece of cardboard
• A sheet of Red crepe paper or tissue paper
• 2 full sheets of Newspaper 

Patty Botello is an artist, sculptor, and piñata maker born in Los Angeles, California. At the age of three she learned how Piñatas were created from her next door neighbor and nanny. She studied art at San José State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts, Concentration in Studio Practice. While being immersed in studio art classes she fell in love with the creation of three dimensional art. Before graduating, she began Fuzzy Lollipop, a small online business in 2009 where she sells her piñata sculptures.

“Growing up as a kid in Los Angeles there were fruit vendor carts at gas stations, freeway exits and at every corner in downtown LA. I remember the excitement of seeing the frutero and begging my dad to stop the car so we could get fruit. My sister and I would watch in awe as the fruit vendor sliced the fruit for our order like a fruit ninja. My dad would always chat with the vendor about how business was for them that day, ask them where they were born and how life as a vendor was for them. I think those questions came naturally to him as a fellow immigrant. My dad would thank the vendor by name after we received our fruit pouches and always overpay and tell them to keep the change. It’s that nostalgia that makes me want to help to tell the story of our local fruit vendors so that we might also get to know them by name and know their stories and struggles.”