Workshop on creating paper animal puppets and masks led by Maria Fernanda Ordoñez
Through a workshop on making paper puppets and masks, children are invited to imagine a bestiary filled with birds, frogs, snakes, and fantastical creatures. Using materials such as Caran d’Ache’s Neocolor II and Fibralo watercolor markers, the workshop becomes a space for experimentation with colors, textures, and the transformations that water can bring about. Intense pigments, unexpected blends, color gradients, and textural effects open up a sensitive and creative playground. Children can then enhance their creatures by personalizing them with feathers, glitter, and various materials to bring hybrid characters to life and work together to create a small theater inhabited by fantastical animals.
Since 2022, Maria Fernanda Ordoñez has been collaborating with Caran d’Ache as a facilitator of creative workshops for children and adults. Her approach places special emphasis on experimentation, collaborative work, and accessible teaching methods, where everyone can freely explore materials, colors, and their imagination in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. In her artistic practice, Maria Fernanda enjoys working with puppets and imaginary creatures, which allow her to invent stories, play with humor, and bring different characters to life. She is particularly interested in forms of puppet theater and will soon be conducting research on the Opera dei Pupi during a residency at the Istituto Svizzero in Palermo, Italy.
In collaboration with Caran d’Ache!
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Maria Fernanda Ordoñez is a visual and performing artist whose relationship with cooking is rooted in family, community, and work experiences. Born into a large family in Colombia, she grew up in an environment where food played a central role in gatherings and celebrations. Her grandparents ran a family restaurant, and her aunt organized meals for events—contexts in which she became involved in food preparation at a very young age. Cooking and selling food subsequently became an activity that accompanied her through various stages of her life, including after her arrival in Switzerland, where cooking served as both a means of livelihood and a space for exploration—particularly through the preparation of communal meals for art openings, festivals, and independent venues. She is interested in the kitchen as a space for transmission, community, and the circulation of knowledge.
Food allows her to explore the connections between diet, territory, memory, migration, and their ecological and human dimensions. She sees it as a space where urgent questions converge, stemming from an act as fundamental as eating. This workshop was held at the espace eeeh! in Nyon, at the FAR—Festival des arts vivants in Nyon, and at the VoQueer association in Lausanne.
