Families work together to create more than 400 flowers!
Our goal was to merge the creativity of the young people in our programs with the experience of community members of all ages through a series of interactive community workshops—inspired by the tradition of Día de los Muertos.
Through these community workshops, ARTS provides a platform where families create art inspired by Día de Muertos themes such as: family, community, transition, and love. These pieces will be displayed at the National City Día de los Muertos Festival on Friday, November 4th at Kimball Park.
We kicked off the session of workshops with our traditional “Flores and Champurrado” workshop led by Kitchenista and community artist Susanna Cervantes, who guided the community in creating hundreds of tissue paper cempasúchil (marigold) flowers. These will be used to decorate the backdrop and fabrics that embrace the community altar. We listened to festive music and shared some champurrado and pan dulce. More than 400 cempasúchil flowers were created by kids, parents, abuelitos, tías, students, and friends!
A true intergenerational effort!
Paper flowers (Cempasúchil) created in the Flores and Champurrado workshop adorn the community altar centerpiece
The Nichos workshop headed by Yvette Roman and the “La Ofrenda” youth project team, invited families to bring photos of their loved ones who had passed away. Photocopies of those pictures were used to decorate small nichos or retablos — a type of altarpiece that has its origins in the small boxes and frames that families in Mexico and Latin America used to buy from artisans to decorate them with images of saints or virgins.
Each participant decorated a colorful wooden frame with vibrant elements of their choice. Colorful patterned paper, small gems, mini calaveras, figurines of food plates and small drinks, embossing paper, cut-outs of cempasúchil and butterflies were all available for participants to create a miniature altar for a loved one they remember with joy.
Community members of all ages came together to creatively pay homage to those who are no longer with us. We truly appreciate the openness and joy that each participant shared with us.
Community members of all ages came together to creatively pay homage to those who are no longer with us.
Our next workshop was hosted by the “Calaveras and Alebrijes” youth project team led by Selina Calvo. Community members were invited to paint paper maché calaveras constructed by the young artists made from cardboard, paper, and glue. Designs were sketched onto the sculptures and given to the community to decorate. The interactions between young peoples’ creations and family members following their direction was a clear example of the work that ARTS wants to continue to do: create a dialogue between the art that young people create and incorporate the creativity of the community who experiences it. During the workshop, students helped families mix their colors, experiment with different materials and textures, and to encouraged them to not be afraid to make some mistakes.
Paper Mache Calaveras being painted by community members
Youth directed community members to tell their stories about Día de los Muertos
Our last workshop was led by the “Narrative Stories” project team, guided by Reynaldo Escoto. Participants had the opportunity to join youth at several activity stations: painting calavera masks, recording stories about their relationship with Day of the Dead, and animating a short stop-motion video.
Our rooms were filled with tech like microphones and headsets, mixers and consoles, etc…, as well as traditional objects pan de muerto, calaveras de azúcar, paper cempasúchil, amaranto, and sal de grano that were used as props for the short animations.
Young people asked questions, created demos and provided guidance to the community. They stepped into the roles of directors, producers, and assistants reminded us of the unlimited potential of the ARTS Center to host transformative intergenerational creative learning experiences in the South Bay!
