Artist, Teaching Artist
Visual
Contact: Fredy Huamán Mallqui
Phone: (814) 825-1323
Address:
Erie, PA
Email Website Back to Directory
Art is the kinetic energy of life that is inextricably tied to my everyday experience. It runs through the veins of the tree that become the wood, through my hands that reach for my carving tools. I interpret and translate the nuances of organic forms and experiences through the act of sculpting. In constant exploration of forms, textures, planes, and meanings, I bring to life sculptures that reconnect me with my lived experiences.
I listen to and transform the wood, guided by traditions of shaping and the merging of functionality with fine art. Carving in wood grounds me in the city of my birth, Ayacucho, Peru, where the wood carving heritage is millennia old. Extending across original and forthcoming cultures, local craftspeople have carved ornamental, functional, and ceremonial objects.
My designs are influenced and nourished by stories, rituals, experiences, and the use of iconography of ancestral and contemporary cultures. As an artist I am enriched through dialogue with the community, sensing and aligning with emotions, moments, and places. My creations are connected to and nurtured by in my environment. Nourishing myself through the exchange of ideas and perspectives, I aspire that my sculptures connect the diverse realities that people experience in their daily lives. Intended to be tactile, my work engages people to physically interact with sculpture while exploring issues relating to identity.
Fredy moved to the United States from Ayacucho, Peru in Spring 2012 carrying his wood carving tools that served as extensions of his own hands and his design philosophy. Fredy also brought with him the most precious tools: sensibility, creativity, skills, and expertise that he has accumulated since he started his woodcarving profession at the age of nine. His carving pieces are not just merely decorative pieces, they are intricate pieces of art. Exquisitely detailed and of the highest quality of craftsmanship. Fredy’s work demonstrates his learning throughout the years from several master carvers, as well as the development and mastery of his own techniques of designing and hand carving unique pieces of art. Trained by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture in the conservation of diverse objects of art, Fredy worked conserving historical art pieces, dating from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in Peru.
Fredy excels in both classical carving as well in sculpting contemporary pieces. In 2021 Fredy was selected to create an ambitious sculptural series of public art in Pittsburgh, PA. Engaged in this multi-year project, he seeks to stimulate dialogue between sculpture and community. In 2021 Fredy’s sculpture titled Together is part of the Downtown Erie Sculpture Walk project, which also will feature various sculptural works by artists at the national level, Erie Arts and Culture and the Erie Downtown Development Corporation are partnering to make this project possible. In 2020 Fredy created two public art pieces in Erie, and also became a rostered teaching artist through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). In 2020 Fredy was awarded the Established Artist Fellowship by Erie Arts and Culture, and in the same year was awarded the Artist of Distinction prize in the Erie Art Museum 97th Spring Show. In March 2019, Fredy participated in the World Wood Day Celebration in Graz, Austria. This event is a recognition of woodcarvers from around the globe, highlighting their artistic work and the sustainability of the wood material. Fredy’s most prestigious restoration project 2018-2019 was at Fair Lane, the former home of Henry and Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan. In 2017, he earned the Professional Level Scholarship at The Marc Adams School of Woodworking, located in Franklin, Indiana.
Maintaining a high level of experience, Fredy teaches classical and wooden sculptural carving classes in prestigious institutions including the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship (ME), Anderson Ranch Arts Center (CO), and Fredy will be teaching in 2023 at Shakerag Workshops (TN).
Fredy’s work has been shown individually and collectively in Austria, Germany, Peru, and the United States. These exhibits include the Northwest Pennsylvania Art Association 2021 Biennial exhibition, the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, NC. Juried painting exhibition LatinXhibit 2021, the Erie Art Museum Spring Show (2020); the International Woodcarving Show in Stefanielsaan-Congress, Graz, Austria (2019); Wawa Pampay Wenn ein Kind in den Anden stirbt. ̈When a child dies in the Andes, ̈ a solo photography exhibition in Lippisches Landesmuseum, Detmold, Germany (2015).
WOODCARVING & SCULPTURE TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023 Shakerag Workshops, Classical woodcarving class, June 11-17 Sewanee, Tennessee
2022 Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, woodcarving class, September 26-30 Rockport, Maine
2022 Back Channel School of Woodworking, Introduction to woodcarving workshop July 8-10 Pittsburgh, PA
2022 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Relief and Detail: A Journey Through Sculptural Wood Carving, June 20-24, Colorado
2022 Contemporary Craft, The art of sculpting in wood, March 12 and 19 Pittsburgh, PA.
2021 Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Ornamental woodcarving class August 9-13 Rockport, Maine
2020 Erie Center for Arts & Technology (ECAT) spring Woodcarving class, Grounded Printshop, Erie, PA.
2020 Erie Blasco Library, a demonstration woodcarving class offered to members of the community.
2020 Classical Woodcarving Class, at the Back Channel School of Woodworking, Pittsburgh.
2019-2020 Classical Woodcarving Classes, held at Grounded Printshop, Erie, PA.
2018 Traditional woodcarving class at Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH.
2017 Woodcarving class, Woodworking and Furniture Designing, Edinboro University, Edinboro, PA.
Learn More About Fredy
April - July 2022 | Woodcarving with Fredy Mallqui | Event: Grounded Printshop
May 17, 2022 | Prism Episode 3: In Pennsylvania, an infusion of international talent | Keystone Edge
November 30, 2021 | Erie gains new public art: Introducing Seeding Community | Erie Arts & Culture
2019 | 2019 WWD International Woodcarving Show: Water Celebration | Video: Wood Culture
February 25, 2018 | Carousel Works woodcarver hails from Peru's city of artisans | Richland Source
July 24, 2017 | Fredy Huamán Mallqui. "Un ayacuchano de exportación" | El Heraldo Literario
Woodcarving Public Art, Erie PA
Seeding Community
Fredy Mallqui Detailed Leg
Fredy Mallqui Detailed
Fredy Mallqui Full Size
Fredy Mallqui Horse Carousel
