November 2: Day of the Dead,

or Dia de los Meurtos, and All Souls Day, are festivals for family and friends to come together to honor the lives of loved ones that have passed, through prayer, remembrance, ritual, and celebration.

Meditation

detail

I learned about and experienced Dia de los Muertos mainly by having lived in Arizona for eight years, and visiting Mexico, and witnessing the celebration. However, I was drawn to the skeleton themed artwork long before that. Something about creating humorous, colorful figures of death made me feel good!  I also love the idea of celebrating a person's life through full remembrance - eating the foods they loved, listening to the favorite music they danced to, telling stories of their lives, good times, funny ones, and courageous ones...  What better way to fully bring that loved one back into your life again? 

Desert Dorothy and Toto, Too

detail

These are a couple samples of the artwork I made while living there, for a Dia de los Muertos show in Tucson.  They are made primarily from paper maché - wall paper paste, old newspaper, and cereal boxes - materials doomed for a trash death, rebirthed into these characters!

detail of 

Meditation 

back view