Eugene weekly., October 30, 2003, Page 12, Image 12

T E N Y EA R S O F
Dia
de los
Muertos
Maude Kerns
Art Center
hosts exhibit.
by Sylvie Pederson
PENSANDO EN LA MUERTE , ALTAR BY MITZI LINN.
T
he Mexican celebration of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) combines pre-Hispanic and Catholic
customs and rituals to commemorate the departed. The celebration has a complex history and varies
widely in style and form according to region, ethnic roots, social class, urban or rural setting, even from
village to village. However, all versions share a similar spirit — not morbid, macabre or mournful but
festive and playful, at times reflective. Death is confronted squarely, humorously and without dread.
As the two-day holiday has become more celebrated across the U.S., the grassroots art that accompanies the
festivities has also attracted the interest of many artists outside the Mexican tradition.
This diversity is reflected at Maude Kerns Art Center’s 10th annual Día de los Muertos juried exhibit. With
artists from eight states participating and additional influences from Russia and Japan, “It’s the most geographi-
cally diverse and most international show we’ve ever had,” Exhibitions Coordinator Tina Schrager said.
Altars
Mexican families create home altars to
remember and honor their deceased with
ofrendas (offerings), during their annual
return as spirits. A table and crates are
stacked in tiers, covered with cloth and sur-
mounted with an arch of reed or other veg-
etation, through which the spirits return to
find beautiful displays. The spirits are
greeted with photographs of themselves;
images of saints; candles; a profusion of
12 OCTOBER 30, 2003
fresh flowers, particularly cempazuchitles
(marigolds, whose fragrance leads them
home and whose orange color symbolizes
their joyful return) and barro de Obispo
(deep red cockscomb); burning copal (a
pine resin incense formerly used by the
Aztec); their favorite foods (tamales, the
spicy chocolate sauce molé, chocolate, tor-
tillas, beans, corn, chili peppers, all kinds of
fruit, and pan de muertos or bread of the
dead); beverages (from water to mezcal);
and any item of significance such as an
instrument for a musician or toys
for a child. Calacas, skeleton fig-
ures, are often part of the decora-
tion, sometimes involved in minia-
ture party scenes that replicate the
larger setting.
Eight altars created by local
people, five of them collective
endeavors, are on display at
MKAC. Mitzi Linn’s (see cover for
detail) is entitled Pensando en la
Muerte (Thinking about Death),
after a Frida Kahlo painting. The altar
incorporates most elements commonly
found on altars in Oaxaca, where Linn lives
part-time, as well as distinctive additions
such as a photograph of the Dalai Lama.
Linn’s rich, colorful display is dedicated to
Mexican friends and artists — some of
them represented by a photograph or art
sample.
Most personal is Rebecca Easton’s altar
to her mother, Norma Elizabeth Pineda.
Beyond the traditional offerings, it is the
deceased’s handful of seashells, her beauti-
ful collection of Spanish-language poetry
books, and above all the poem she wrote,
which was found in a drawer after her
death, that move us deeply. The poem’s
injunction spells out the very spirit of the
commemoration:
Remember me with smiles and laughter
For that’s how I’ll remember you all
If you can only remember me with tears
Don’t remember me at all.
The altar by Courageous Kids, a grief
support program for children and teens, is
also poignant. The altar and wall are filled
with colorful artwork, photographs, poems
and messages addressed to lost ones.
Decorated disks dedicated to the deceased
carry streamers with messages from family
and friends. In one low-relief clay tile, a
family van rides through a bright country-
side landscape, evoking family outings
with a lost husband.
The altar In Memory of Martha
Yamasaki by Hannah Goldrich (best known
as a jewelry-maker), Carol van Houten,
Yayoe Kuramitsu and Irwin Noparstak hon-
ors their friend and fellow community
activist. Yamasaki dedicated herself to the
struggle for peace and justice after being
interned as a young adult in a camp for
Japanese Americans. “She was a woman of
high simplicity and incredible elegance,
very serene, with strong principles,”
Goldrich said. Though structurally faithful
to the Mexican tradition, the altar is aes-
thetically Japanese in its sobriety and use of
muted colors. Instead of marigolds, we find
a bonsai and ikebana flower arrangement.
Against the wall, a kimono in a delicate
pink replaces Mexican textiles.
Radunitsa by Yuri Pantioukhin and
LA BODA DE WEISSBARTH Y FUENTES
BY ANALEE FUENTES.