Press Release: Día de los Muertos
Día de los Muertos
Fall Family Day 2021
Saturday, October 23, 12pm-3pm | FREE
Richmond Art Center (courtyard), 2540 Barrett Avenue, Richmond
Event webpage: richmondartcenter.org/familyday2021
Richmond, CA: Family Day is coming back to Richmond Art Center with a special celebration of Día de los Muertos on Saturday, October 23, 12pm-3pm. Kids of all ages and their grown-ups are invited to join us in RAC’s courtyard for art-making, dancing, music and more.
This free family event will feature an Alebrije workshop, performances by Puerto Rican youth Bomba ensemble Quenepas, and storyteller Olga Loya. RAC artists-in-residence Liberación Gráfica will be there screen printing tote bags and the Great Tortilla Conspiracy will also be printing up some tortilla art!
Schedule of Activities:
- 12pm-1pm First Alebrije workshop with Rachel-Anne Palacios
- 1pm-2pm Performances by Bomba group Quenepas followed by storyteller Olga Loya
- 1pm-2pm Second Alebrije workshop
Tissue paper Mexican paper flower making, scavenger hunt, printmaking, community altar, and music by DJ Dion Decibels will run 12pm-3pm.
Richmond Art Center is located at 2540 Barrett Avenue in Richmond.
Covid-19 Prevention: Mask wearing and signing a Visitor Waiver is a condition of entry to the event. We will track attendee numbers in the courtyard and galleries to ensure spaces do not get too crowded. See RAC’s website for more information about what we are doing to prevent the spread of Covid-19: richmondartcenter.org/about/covid
For more information contact: Sarah Guerra sarah@richmondartcenter.org
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About the Program and Participants:
Alebrijes workshop with Rachel-Anne Palacios: Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. In honor of Latino Heritage Month/Día de los Muertos, artist Rachel-Anne Palacios will guide us on a short presentation about alebrijes and how to create your own with air dry clay. Follow Rachel-Anne on Instagram @devikaspalacio
Bomba by Quenepas: Bomba music and dance originated over 400 years ago in the sugar cane plantations of Puerto Rico where enslaved Africans played, sang, and danced to survive and to resist colonial oppression. Quenepas is a vibrant Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance youth ensemble that had its inception in 2008 at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. Quenepas youth have been studying and performing under the direction of Hector Lugo and Shefali Shah for over 15 years and many of the youth have been involved in the practice of Bomba through observing and participating in community jams and performances with their families. Contact: bombaaguacero@gmail.com, 510-681-1036
Storytelling by Olga Loya: Olga Loya is also an author, performance artist, keynote speaker, and teacher, who has performed and taught workshops throughout the United States and Mexico. Loya performs a large repertoire of family and personal stories with the goal of exploring the struggles and complexity of being bicultural – Mexican-American – in the United States. Loya also tells bilingual Latin-American folklore and colorful and sometimes magical stories from Africa, India, Asia, the Antilles, and Europe. Loya uses stories as a way of examining themes like healing, racism, and multiculturalism. She incorporates a variety of performance styles, including improvisation, movement and dance, song, and instruments. More info: www.olgaloya.com
Liberación Gráfica: Liberación Gráfica is a collective of young printmakers from Richmond whose members create work to uplift social justice, the Richmond community, and young voices. As educators the collective has developed a curriculum that helps young people engage in printmaking through exploring historical political posters and creating their own posters on topics they feel connected to. The collective has held multiple live screen printing workshops around the community at events, high schools, and local organizations like RYSE, Urban Tilth, APEN and Richmond Art Center.
The Great Tortilla Conspiracy: The Great Tortilla Conspiracy is a collective based on edible artwork. After much experimentation and technological developments the Conspirators developed a secret recipe that has been called delicious by many a quesadilla acolyte. The edible artwork produced by the Conspiracy is screen printed on tortillas and cooked on a griddle so that the image is affixed to the substrate. Simultaneously cheese is melted on the reverse side. Salsa is optional. The art consumer can both eat and enjoy the aesthetic sensation that is the Great Tortilla Conspiracy.
About Richmond Art Center: Richmond Art Center has been sharing art and creating with the community since 1936. Our programs encompass classes, exhibitions and events at our facility in downtown Richmond, as well as off-site activities that bring free, high-quality art making experiences to WCCUSD schools and community partners. richmondartcenter.org
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