Another lovely example – clearly this is sculptural, painterly and references lace through the hand painted carving in each part of the gown of this saint. Lacemaking is a craft medium though – so is this art or craft?
This biggie question was behind the private comments of another fellow quilter and lacemaker regarding the work of some accepted makers in the art world whose work references the lacemaking medium and yet is taken as ‘art’. We were musing over where the line goes in such cases; she was puzzled because a reply from a grant organisation clearly put (down, she felt) her own beautiful modern lacework into the craft realm.
Our guide on our trip to this museum and the Jesuit mission commented that the Indians in these missions were in effect slaves on the plantation – does that diminish or add to what they achieved here? 
Is the gown carved or lace? It’s a very interesting photo either way…
Hi Alison – I’ve been enjoying your postings about your travels to Paraguay. It’s brought back happy memories of a trip that I made to Hohenau in 1993 to visit an American friend that was teaching there. The nearby Jesuit ruins were fascinating and I loved the colour and vibe of Encarnacion. Especially the smoke-oozing train barging through the main street! (By the way, I had a miserable time in Montevideo but that’s another story…)
Elle – the whole thing is caqrved wood – hence my admiration, since the final effect is really silky, expensive type fabric.
This and previous photos and some others I will put up in time are fascinating to me because something hard like wood has bee nused to create something so lovely and soft LOOKING – textile. And all this from people whom the european world had considered to be primitive savages not much higher up the ladder than animals. After200 years of tuition by the missionaries their achievements invluded examples like this…. blew me away. and it’s behing the word I devised for it – fabricarving