 Even in the rising summer temperatures, artists celebrate colorful Diá de los Muertos’ traditions at art expo
By Kendra Tuthill
Two women walk up to a booth at an art expo. Something has caught their
attention. Dienna Genther’s wine-rack coffins are on display. One
flicks her wrist and then points. “I’d like to get that for my
husband,” she says.
The pinewood coffin features a painted Day of the Dead theme and has several racks for holding wine bottles.
“Get him cremated,” the other says. “You’d miss the coffin.”
For a soul who has passed Diá de Los Muertos, customarily celebrated in
early November on All Souls’ Day, has to be the best day of the year.
Your family prays for you, and the veil between worlds is supposed to
lift to allow you to participate in life again. Maybe you partake of
your favorite food or drink left by relatives, or you wander around the
graveyard checking out altars placed by families of your fellow
departed. Perhaps you sit peacefully with your living kin in the glow
of candles. But much like your birthday in your former life,
celebrating your death day only comes once a year — that is, until now.
This summer, Hank Estrada, event director of Arte de Muertos Productions (ADM), brings his second Day of the Dead folk art expo to the Albuquerque area, expanding the long observed tradition of celebrating the dead only once a year. (One art expo was held in April; another is scheduled for November.) Southwestern artists, including Genther the coffin-maker, will display and sell their work as well as offer demonstrations on traditional folk arts such as cottonwood carvings and punched tin.
Genther holds the Day of the Dead close to her heart. She and her family create celebratory coffins and don’t believe death and funerals need to be so “heavy.” Their coffins are affordable, attractive and functional, Genther said, and are made for those who want to go out in style. The coffins of pinewood or cedar can double as wine racks, bookshelves and chests until put to their final use.
John and Stacey Maldonado, Santa Fe artists known for their collaborative tin and paint works, will also be showing large and small originals along with prints of all their works. The couple began working together seven years ago when John made a frame of punched tin and Stacey painted happy calaveras, or skulls, directly on it. John, a New Mexico native, grew up working on large iron and steel projects with his family. “I didn’t really learn with tin metal,” John said. “But I know how metal works; my father owned a welding shop.”
John and Stacey’s media meshed perfectly into an artistic product that is both traditional in its cultural theme while strikingly modern in its design. Their Day of the Dead paintings now hang in such places as the Santa Fe Baking Company and Cafe and the National Hispanic Cultural Center shop.
“I used to think art had to be profound and had to make a full statement to be noticed,” said Stacey, an art major who migrated to the Southwest [from?]. “All of the work I do is simply based on our life, places we’ll go, trips, neighbors, members of our family ... We love the Day of the Dead’s meaning. There’s no discrimination. Anybody from any culture can relate to it on their own.”
November 2 is set aside for those who’ve passed over and those who mourn them in Mexico and many parts of the world. The tradition of honoring the dead likely began as long as 3,000 years ago and has continued in Latin American cultures for the past five centuries. When the Spanish began their conquest of Mexico in the early 1500s, they believed the indigenous customs were too pagan, and they maintained the tradition by moving the formal summer festivities to November as All Souls’ Day. They rolled the traditions and symbolism of the Catholic Church into the native practices and from then on, traditional Day of the Dead art has carried a Catholic flair with skulls hanging next to crosses.
The holiday remains a time to remember and honor the dead. Family and friends gather around the graves of the deceased, clean and decorate them, and bestow offerings. They might leave liquor and cigarettes, candied pumpkin and sugar skulls, and they have likely prepared a plate of the meal their honored dead most enjoyed while alive.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Mexican illustrator Jose Guadalupe Posada drew a series of calaveras depicting animated skeletons, the most famous being “Calavera de la Catrina,” the image of a female skeleton grinning under a big, floppy hat. That depiction has become an image closely associated with Diá de Los Muertos. Artists continue to create their own renditions of the dead by painting, carving and sculpting images of youthful skeletons on skateboards, expired bankers in suits and dead dentists in white coats.
The message is simple but profound.
“No matter your wealth or power, we all end up looking just like that,” Estrada said. Estrada participated in Day of the Dead observances as a child and went to Mexico every autumn with his family. When he grew up, he wanted to highlight this special day in Albuquerque and to show off the colorful folk art associated with it.
“Outside of Mexico, (the day) takes on a festive feeling. In Mexico, it’s more solemn — respectful calls to the memory of the (deceased) person. People assume it’s like Halloween, but it’s not,” Estrada said.
The two-day Arte de Muertos Expo will include live music and face-painting. The event is free, so is the parking, and many warm bodies are expected to show up.
Arte de Muertos Expo
9a-5p, Sat.-Sun., Jul. 18-19
Santa Ana Star Casino
505.867.0000
FREE
artedemuertos.com
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