STU

STU This´STU likes to create. Here I shows the ideas that have landed as shapes made of . At SMA

Background tracks from the studio while sculpting Abbott. Acid jazz, turntablism, and deconstructed funk.Spotify link in...
25/08/2026

Background tracks from the studio while sculpting Abbott. Acid jazz, turntablism, and deconstructed funk.

Spotify link in bio.

Abbott survived the kiln. Fired, painted, custom-mounted, packed, and photographed—he is officially complete.If you’ve b...
25/08/2026

Abbott survived the kiln. Fired, painted, custom-mounted, packed, and photographed—he is officially complete.

If you’ve been following the process, you know how this started. Costello came first—my largest piece to date, built at San Cayetano Studio. His name came from the film Arrival (2016). When he was acquired, the collector asked if it was a nod to the comedy duo Abbott & Costello. I told him it was from the movie, but he explained that the director had actually named his aliens after that exact duo. That planted the seed. I had to build the straight man to complete the pair.

I envisioned Abbott as a grumpy, world-weary senior alien trying—and failing—to blend in on Earth. Costello suggested a cat-ear hat as a disguise. Abbott hated the idea, but wore it anyway; you can see the absolute annoyance in his face. The formal bowtie was added to maximize the contrast against the absurd hat. Unlike Costello, the Simpsons reference this time was 100% intentional: Blinky, the three-eyed fish, is baked right into his DNA. His eyes were quick to paint once the technique was set, but they carry his entire personality.

What actually ate the timeline wasn't the clay—it was the final 10%. Engineering the internal hardware so Abbott floats inside his glass helmet, researching non-firing glass paints, and testing sealants took almost as much time as building the initial 90%.

The sketch reunites the duo. Costello lives with his collector in the US; Abbott stays in my studio, making a real photo impossible. It looks just like a page from my sketchbook—pencil and green marker. Except no pencil or marker was touched: they were words in a prompt. I wrote; Gemini drew. It even signed its work. No deception intended.

Hand-sculpted, fired, mounted, and ready in his case. The pair is complete.

Kiln firing: Altofuego Pottery Studio

From San Miguel to Querétaro by car, Querétaro to Cancún by plane, Cancún to Puerto Juárez by taxi, ferry to Isla Mujere...
28/07/2026

From San Miguel to Querétaro by car, Querétaro to Cancún by plane, Cancún to Puerto Juárez by taxi, ferry to Isla Mujeres. That was the route. The mission: drop off an EstupidaBolsa (Isla version) at NALU.

If you caught the first post, you saw this bag mid-construction: coil-built, engobe-painted, still at the leather-hard state, waiting for a firing I wouldn't see. Express residency. Almost three weeks. I knew from the start I'd fly home without seeing the final result. In ceramics, nothing is finished until it comes out of the final firing.

It survived the bisque firing. A few small cracks appeared. Then Virginia arrived from Argentina for her own residency and picked up where I had left off: small repairs, a correction to the text, a clear glaze, and preparation for the final firing.

Friday afternoon, a message from Rikki: “Dany, we’re firing today. Your piece is going in.”

Excitement. A little anxiety.

Saturday morning: “It survived.”

Photos. Videos. End of story.

The piece carries the year 1965. That was the year Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin developed the modern one-piece plastic shopping bag. His intention was simple: create a durable bag people would reuse, reducing the need for paper bags and helping save trees. Someone with good intentions and dreams. Decades later, those same dreams became part of a global environmental crisis. The front simply reads: "There Were Dreams Here."

Another EstupidaBolsa finished, this time through many hands and over a long distance. A new souvenir for the end of the world, now waiting for whoever decides to take it home.

This piece only reached the finish line thanks to many people. My wife, for the company and support throughout the trip. Rikki, for the invitation, hospitality, and trust. Estefanía, for making the connection. And Virginia, for closing the loop.

Note. I never touched the finished piece. The first time I saw it completed was through photos and videos sent from the island.

**Credits & Logistics:**
Production host: Nalu Art
Hospitality & kiln: Rikki McFadden
Connection: Estefanía Loera
Glazing & repair: Flux Cerámica

While EstupidaBolsa was debuting at as "Souvenir para el fin del mundo" in San Miguel, a new one was already "growing"...
26/05/2026

While EstupidaBolsa was debuting at as "Souvenir para el fin del mundo" in San Miguel, a new one was already "growing" during my mini-residency at in Isla Mujeres 🏝️ .

I stayed at their villas, a short 5-minute walk from the workshop. You could take the fast route, or the cliffside path right by the sea—which always made my arrival time completely unpredictable because I'd get hopelessly distracted watching the ocean and the iguanas sunbathing on the rocks.

I foolishly thought repeating the project would be easy. Nope. The first attempt completely collapsed (just as the first bag, it collapsed on the first try too! Apparently, a first-try catastrophe is just part of the ritual). Still, between the tropical climate and a clay body that wasn't quite flexible enough for my usual technique, the original method was a no-go.

For round two, I used the pinch technique for the base and coils to gain height. The bag just kept growing and growing, much like the pothos here that are easily double the size of the ones in my studio! The texture started strictly as a way to give the piece structural support, but it brought a raw, tropical look that felt so right for the island, so it stayed. I only left a smooth band in the center for the text.
It was my first time decorating with engobe (slip), and even my first watercolor class with the talented !

Conceptually, if the first ones were a critique of consumerism, this one takes a more reflective turn. I kept thinking about the original plastic bag designer back in 1965. They had great intentions to make life easier, never anticipating an ecological disaster: There were dreams here.

I left it built & drying, and in ceramics, nothing is finished until it’s finished. So, from San Miguel, I'm sending good vibes for its final firings and clear glaze.

A huge thank you to for providing a place to sleep, a space to create, tools, materials, and invaluable guidance throughout this intense process ✨.

Note. In my videos you can see pieces from other artists, such as:



.fabre


So, the world is ending… but hey, at least we got some merch out of it!Back on May 1st, the "Souvenirs para el fin del M...
23/05/2026

So, the world is ending… but hey, at least we got some merch out of it!

Back on May 1st, the "Souvenirs para el fin del Mundo" expo opened, and my EstupidaBolsa series made its debut to the apocalypse party. The irony? The plastic bags made it to the gallery, but I couldn't even show up to my own end-of-the-world event.

Since I couldn't be there, I want to send a big thank you to the team who put everything together and made it happen: Yadira from , Fabricio from , and Ricardo from .

And a special shout-out to Ricardo again, because literally all the photos and videos you’re seeing here are his. Having a proper record of the show on my feed was really important to me despite missing it, and he completely covered for me.

We started this journey with the original bags as a critique of consumerism. Then they went on to survive the apocalypse in May. What happens to a stupid plastic bag when society collapses? Apparently, it catches a flight to a tropical paradise next.

Stay tuned for the final chapter 🌴.

EstupidaBolsaIn high school (1997), our World History teacher, Panchin, posed a theory: once human civilization was wipe...
23/05/2026

EstupidaBolsa

In high school (1997), our World History teacher, Panchin, posed a theory: once human civilization was wiped out, aliens exploring Earth's ruins would find mountains of intact plastic grocery bags from Soriana—a massive supermarket chain in northern Mexico. "SORIANA," they’d conclude, "must have been their god." Back then, those cheap bags were an environmental plague; today they no longer pollute, but the myth stuck.

Years later, that memory resurfaced when dropped a line: "Imagine it’s the end of the world... what would you want as a souvenir?" His enthusiasm was contagious; just like that, I was hooked. I went looking for Souvenirs for the End of the World.

The yellow implies a cheap, generic bag. The red lines and star nod to a flag—the place with the underground infrastructure to survive, yet fiercely clinging to its destructive consumerism until the end. The phrase "Recuerdo de la extinción masiva 2026" started as filler text but stayed. Then I noticed the yellow and red matched McDonald's. Now I can't unsee it: the god SORIANA and the temple of the Big Mac, together at the end of days.
The Chinese characters (末日 — Mòrì: End of Days) add contrast—the apocalypse happens in other alphabets too.

This piece parodies tourist souvenirs, treating the end of the world as a packaged, collectible commodity. Yet, the emerging plants insist on life persisting amidst the debris. An everyday object turned into a showcase relic: a fossil of consumption and an anticipated memory of an ongoing extinction. Or maybe, it’s just a stupid bag.

P.S. Mixed into the photos is the EstupidaBolsa2D series: a limited edition of 10 unique, numbered ceramic refrigerator magnets. I created these flat, smaller versions at an accessible price so nobody faces the end of days without a souvenir.

🛠️ Gratitude & Flashback: Thanks to for the space to bring this to life, and to for enduring the heat with me.

Up next... a look back at the exhibition. I missed the May 1st opening since I was in Isla Mujeres growing—because why not?—another EstúpidaBolsa, Caribbean version 🌴.

Abbott (Bone Dry Phase)After finishing Costello, it was only a matter of time before his "straight man" arrived to compl...
27/02/2026

Abbott (Bone Dry Phase)

After finishing Costello, it was only a matter of time before his "straight man" arrived to complete the duo. While they share names with the aliens in Arrival (2016), the resemblance ends there—Abbott is here to be the exasperated voice of reason.

​The Vibe: Think grumpy Victorian clerk meets zero-gravity alien. I wanted a "world-weary" fish with three eyes, a formal bowtie, and a cat-ear hat—a terrible disguise suggested by Costello to "blend in" on Earth. An absurd masterpiece.

​The References:
​Style: A nod to the Gorillaz aesthetic (love them).
​DNA: A mix of The Umbrella Academy’s Carmichael and The Simpsons’ Blinky.

​Hand-sculpted and currently in the bone-dry stage. No cracks, no drama.
Next stop: the first kiln firing. ​Stay tuned!

10/02/2026

Bush people do exist! My pawns in live-action!!

Maybe I’m forcing the connection just to see them on the big stage—if I’m being honest, they don’t actually look that much alike—but I’ll take the creative coincidence.

My ceramic chess set inspired by Where the Wild Things Are is currently on exhibition at TORRENTE Galería, inside Fábrica La Aurora.

Super Bowl LX, 2026
Halftime Show
Bad Bunny


The soundtrack of the studio during the chess set process. These are the songs that played while the clay was wet and th...
12/01/2026

The soundtrack of the studio during the chess set process. These are the songs that played while the clay was wet and the ideas were wild. Put on your headphones and join me in the place where the wild things are.

🎧 Complete Playlist at Bio

Dirección

San Miguel De Allende

Página web

Notificaciones

Sé el primero en enterarse y déjanos enviarle un correo electrónico cuando STU publique noticias y promociones. Su dirección de correo electrónico no se utilizará para ningún otro fin, y puede darse de baja en cualquier momento.

Atajos

Compartir

Categoría