Filigree Drawing (Abundance)1962–1968Sheet: 28 1/8 x 22 " (71.4 x 55.9 cm)Ballpoint pen and oil paint on paperboardBlanchard-Hill Collection, gift of M. Anne Hill and Edward V. Blanchard, Jr.1998.10.101539062489Consuelo (Chelo) González AmézcuaDrawingsCopyright for this work is under review. lower center: 'FiLigrEE / Art'
verso upper center: 'In the World / This is the only filigree drawings / unico de eta categoria en el mundo'verso upper left: 'McNay 18'lower center: 'OriginaL of / Consuelo González Amézcua'Del RioDel RioUnited StatesTexasWorks on PaperDel Rioreviewed for the IMLS Neurodiversity Project by Art Bridges Fellow Austin Losada 2026.I have a world in my thinkingFull of joy and full of artFor Del Rio I am always singingSchool of arts I couldn’t affordAnd for that I thank the LordFor what he has given me is the truth of his great loveFor him I writeAnd carve a stoneAnd make a drawingAnd sing a song—Chelo
In addition to creating drawings, Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua made stone carvings and held poetry readings that included dancing and singing. Born in Mexico, she and her family moved northwest across the border to Del Rio, Texas, when she was ten years old. Her enthusiasm for mythology, music, and art was nurtured by her schoolteacher parents, who were also talented musicians and storytellers. Her condensed and fluid ballpoint pen drawings, which she called filigranas, evoke Mexican filigree jewelry and its arabesque patterns. This style also recalls the technique of paperolles (quilling)—crowning achievements of patience created by nuns in monastic communities and used in modest churches to imitate the gold and silver watermarks of smiths. Chelo embraced an almost mediumistic process she described as “mental recordatorio,” or memory drawing, and did not make any preliminary sketches. After outlining the primary figures, she embellished her drawings with patterns often derived from pre-Hispanic architecture, Mexican embroidery, and Islamic, Egyptian, and classical motifs.
Valérie Rousseau, “In the World,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org19621968 1998 10 1 reviewed for the IMLS Neurodiversity Project by Art Bridges Fellow Austin Losada 2026.I have a world in my thinkingFull of joy and full of artFor Del Rio I am always singingSchool of arts I couldn’t affordAnd for that I thank the LordFor what he has given me is the truth of his great loveFor him I writeAnd carve a stoneAnd make a drawingAnd sing a song—Chelo
In addition to creating drawings, Consuelo (Chelo) González Amézcua made stone carvings and held poetry readings that included dancing and singing. Born in Mexico, she and her family moved northwest across the border to Del Rio, Texas, when she was ten years old. Her enthusiasm for mythology, music, and art was nurtured by her schoolteacher parents, who were also talented musicians and storytellers. Her condensed and fluid ballpoint pen drawings, which she called filigranas, evoke Mexican filigree jewelry and its arabesque patterns. This style also recalls the technique of paperolles (quilling)—crowning achievements of patience created by nuns in monastic communities and used in modest churches to imitate the gold and silver watermarks of smiths. Chelo embraced an almost mediumistic process she described as “mental recordatorio,” or memory drawing, and did not make any preliminary sketches. After outlining the primary figures, she embellished her drawings with patterns often derived from pre-Hispanic architecture, Mexican embroidery, and Islamic, Egyptian, and classical motifs.
Valérie Rousseau, “In the World,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org