Dia de los Muertos at the Empty Space
Dia de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. That Latino celebration honoring their dead is being celebrated by seven local artists at the Empty Space Theater including local author and artist N.L. Belardes. Saturday evening I went down to the Empty Space Theater for the opening of the Dia de los Muertos art show. All the artists had out done themselves with a couple large-scale altar like pieces, paintings, photographs and paper mache skeleton marionettes all depicting a festive reverence for the dead. There was an altar room where visitors could leave lit candles, pictures and written thoughts or names in remembrance of their dearly departed. There was festive food and acoustic music provided by Ben Gomez of Broken Record Gospel. Curator Julia Heatherwick did a great job putting this show together and she even sold a few of the pieces, including one to me. I bought a photograph of a skeleton sitting on a curb from the series la familia de sancho that I had to fight her for because she wanted it too, but in the end she relented and let me have it. I might go back for another piece that I can’t stop thinking about-- a painting of an altar on a school locker surrounded by abstract colorful shapes.

I have always been fascinated by the Day of the Dead celebrations, festivities and art. The Day of the Dead art is always so unique, colorful, reverent, meaningful, mystical and the skeletons are amazing artistic creations. I would love to one day be in Mexico City on the Day of the Dead and experience authentic celebrations and parades. Two years ago I was in Ensenada Mexico a couple of weeks before the Day of the Dead and I searched high and low for a paper mache Day of the Dead skeleton to bring back as a gift for a friend. The Day of the Dead celebration is a beautiful piece of the Latino culture that I would love to take as my own. Having lost 3 grandparents, a great aunt and an uncle all in the last three years I couldn’t think of a better way to remember them then to take a moment and celebrate their memory on the Day of the Dead and at a Day of the Dead art show.

There was quite a good crowd at the Empty Space on Saturday. I helped Julia out some and volunteered at the door for a while. Several local musicians came out to show their support of NL and the art show. All in all it was a good time of remembrance and celebration of the dead and art. The Dia de los Muertos art show will be on exhibit for several weeks at the Empty Space so get on down there and check out some great art and buy a piece or two.  posted by Matildakay at 3:03 PM