Adan Avalos and his Truck of Burlap

The first event of the Tomas Rivera 22nd Annual Conference 2009 was the construction of a life-sized burlap truck by Adan Avalos.

The burlap truck itself was a kind of dedication to the earlier life of Tomas Rivera. As the son of migrant field workers, he himself worked in the fields while attending school, until his higher education at college began.

Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Adan Avalos takes out all his materials from black bags.

Adan Avalos and Alpha Phi Omega volunteers arrived bright and early at 7 am in the morning, in order to construct the faux-vehicle. The burlap truck, ostensibly a recreation of a 1961 Ford Ranchero, started off with a wooden frame. The frame itself consisted of many individual pieces of wood, painstakingly numbered in order to dictate where they needed to be placed.


Photo by Michael J. Elderman
It's hard to see, but every piece of wood had meticulously numbers indicating their placement in the frame.


The actual burlap was treated with a solution of water and sugar. This idea came to him earlier on in his life, when he used it to create smaller models of things. I'm paraphrasing here, but he said something to the effect of, "if it can work so well on a smaller scale, why can't it be applied to something bigger?"

After constructing the frame, he and the volunteers went to work, applying different parts of the burlap shell, such as the trunk, the doors, windows, wheels, and even the bumper.
















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Applying the burlap wheels to the frame.
















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Even the interior components of a truck, such as this steering wheel, were included.

I was especially impressed that Mr. Avalos had the idea to actually create an interior - a piece like this would usually just have an outer shell. He actually put a steering wheel, along with interior seats to make the truck as realistic as possible.



















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Using a large screwdriver to put in one last screw.

Mr. Avalos later told me, while we were doing the arduous task of taking it all down, that putting the entire truck together was something he could only do so often, as it was a very exhausting task.

















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Adan Avalos and Alpha Phi Omega volunteer Melissa Banez place the hood on the truck.

















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
In the back of the truck were a variety of tools, also made up of burlap, intended to emulate the tools that field workers would use.

















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Professor Juan Felipe Herrera dropping on to see the progress of the truck and conversing with MFA Dance candidate Hannah Schwadron.

















Photo by Michael J. Elderman
Later in the evening during the reception, Adan Avalos shows off the finished burlap truck.


One last anecdote:

When Adan Avalos and I were taking down the truck, a strange man approached us, proclaiming to be a professor - he talked to us about the end of the world and blamed a variety of different ethnic groups for it. As a testament to Mr. Avalos, he was extremely patient with the man, even though we were rushing to get everything back into his truck.

Next up: The screenwriting workshop with Ligiah Villalobos.

Soon: Student responses to the conference!

Later ideas: Getting students more involved in next year's conference.