Art Traditionally, the Quichua people of the highlands decorated drums and masks for festivals and fiestas. Painting on a flat surface is a relatively recent development. This art form began in the early 1970's when Julio Toaquiza, encouraged by a Quito art dealer, began painting pictures of daily life using sheephide stretched over a wood frame and a brush made from chicken feathers. Over the years, Julio has encouraged his children Alfredo, Gustavo, and Alfonso as well as many others in Tigua to paint. Despite their lack of formal training, the artists of Tigua, have gained renown throughout Ecuador and beyond for the vitality of their paintings and detailed rendering of nature and traditional life in the remote highlands.
Many paintings have decorative frames that also are painted by the artists.
Originally, all of the artists used enamel paints because they are more readily available and relatively inexpensive. Now, however, some of the more successful artists use using oils or acrylic paint. Most Tigua paintings are relatively small, mainly because they are limited by the size of the sheep skin. Shamanic rituals also are depicted in Tigua art as well as historical and political themes. The more sophisticated artists increasingly depict political themes such as the celebrations following the election of Ecuador's first indigenous representative to the national congress, marches protesting indigenous rights and scenes of environmental destruction resulting from oil development in the Amazon basin.