More than 300 people from all across Richmond and the East Bay, including superheroes, witches, princesses and bumblebees, came to make art and celebrate the multicultural traditions of Halloween and Day of the Dead at Skeletonfest on Saturday, Oct 25, 2014.
The Richmond Art Center first hosted Skeletonfest in 2009 and it’s been a wildly popular annual event ever since. And this year was no different.
Kids, parents, grandparents and community members sat side-by-side and spent a fun afternoon coloring and constructing paper masks, learning about Mexican paper cutting and making cool paper creations, designing movable skeletons and decorating sugar skulls with colored frostings and adornments (a crowd favorite)!
Check out this video by the fine folks at Richmond Confidential:
Screen printing was another sought-after activity, and eager kids lined up for their turn to get their own T-shirt screen printed with a cool design — the Art Center’s instructors had selected three graphic and seasonal designs that were a big hit with all ages.
Our team of amazing volunteers made a whopping 300 sugar skulls and helped decorate the Art Center with cut-paper banners, Mexican paper flowers, painted skulls and, of course, skeletons. Why skeletons? The skeleton is a unifying and recognizable icon of both holidays.
The event ended with “Hip Hop Halloween” a music and story-telling event led by children’s instructor Lisa di Prima, who read aloud accompanied by the sounds of live drums in the Art Center’s main gallery.
A hearty thanks goes to our instructors — Lauren Ari, Lisa di Prima, Monica Gyulai, Kiki Rostad and Joyce Shon — who helped create such fun and creative activities. An enormous thank you to all of our volunteers who helped out on the day of the event — it takes a community, and we’re lucky to have a great one!
Skeletonfest is one of a series of free community events the Center hosts each year. These events are designed with art-making activities for the whole family to participate — from a 3-year-old child to her grandmother. The Art Center was founded on the vision that within every person lives an artist and these free events embrace that idea by bringing our diverse community together to make art and be creative.
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