AUGUSTA -- Pablo Paredes carefully presses the clay into a handmade mold.

A man of few words, Paredes only takes a few moments to answer a question before turning his attention back to the dark, stone-colored clay in front of him.

Paredes, and his wife, Enriqueta Rosales, were brought up in artistic families. Both of them skilled clay molders, the couple, who hail from Tlaquepaque, Mexico, have traveled the United States and Spain to exhibit their ceramic figurines, and to teach their craft to schoolchildren though an outreach program sponsored by Margarita's restaurants.

Paredes and Rosales are touring schools and other Margarita's restaurants in New England for the next several weeks.

"We're visiting 10 Margarita's restaurants and 14 schools," said Pat Picciano, a coordinator for Margarita's Educational Outreach Program. "This is a great opportunity for kids to meet someone from a different culture and have this connection."

The group visited Chelsea School in Chelsea and Helen Thomson Elementary School in West Gardiner this past week.

The couple does not speak English, so they are accompanied by Picciano.

Despite a language barrier, Paredes said he enjoys working with school children.

"I speak to them," he said, with a laugh. "I like to show and teach this art to them."

Using Picciano as an interpreter, Paredes said the figurines he and his wife create "are an artistic expression of the place we come from."

The figurines, delicate and exquisitely made, represent someone the couple know back in Tlaquepaque.

The angel statuettes represent children.

A devil with a bag of money mockingly sticks his tongue out.

Mary and Joseph look down lovingly at a baby Jesus.

All of them are handmade by Paredes and Rosales, who said the average figurine takes four hours to make from the time it's cast till it's painted.

Working with ceramics is in Paredes' blood, truly.

"My father did it, and his father before him, and his father before him," Paredes, a professional artist of 35 years, said. "It's a family tradition."

The couple come from a city of 300,000 in south-central Mexico where 1,200 families make livelihoods as artisans.

Meghan V. Malloy -- 623-3811 Ext. 431

mmalloy@centralmaine.com