The Day of the Dead: Reflections/Installations

THE DAY OF THE DEAD: REFlECTIONS/INSTAllATIONS La Catrina-Jose Guadalupe Posada's smiling female skeleton wearing a plumed hat-has long been the unofficial icon of Mexico's El Dte de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead. Unlike the Mona Lisa, however, whose subtle smile is shrouded in mystery, la Catrina smirks openly and defiantly. Mexican writer and poet Octavio Paz suggests that her irreverent attitude reflects the spirit of a people "defined and illuminated by an intimate relationship with death." El Die de los Muertos, he notes, oscillates between a fiesta and a wake, a shout and a prayer.

Mexico, whose culture is rich in both native and European references, has developed its own traditions surrounding the Catholic observances of All Saints and All Souls. These feasts, observed on November 1 and 2, commemorate the faithful departed, saints and sinners, and by their affirmation of afterlife have given rise to the popular belief that the dead return to earth on these two days. In a time-honored Mexican tradition, ofrend as (offerings placed on altars) are set up on October 31 in homes and public spaces to guide and honor the dead during their return journey. Traditional ofrend as, a fusion of indigenous and post-conquest religious observances, feature sugar skulls, marigolds, bone-shaped bread, white candles, photos of the deceased, and their favorite food and drink. On the night of November 2, in rituals that vary from region to region, families gather at ancestral grave sites for all-night celebrations where tombs serve as banquet tables.

Less orthodox expressions of El Die de los Muertos abound in the guise of humorous calaveras, toy skeletons dressed as humans who peek their way into otherwise commonplace settings-weddings, taverns, bedrooms, offices-uncovering human failings and foibles. Decidedly irreverent, the calaveras mock class and rank differences since death, the great equalizer, is the guest of honor.

Et Die de los Muertos, steeped in history and cultural identity, is a multilayered and highly adaptable ritual. It is no surprise, then, that it has been mined by Chicano and Mexican-American artists for decades. Silkscreen printers, muralists, and-mixed media artists incorporated calaveras in their art work for decades, often using them as flagrant symbols of cultural pride. In galleries and museums across the country, Chicano artists have constructed conceptual altars, blending religious ofrend as with compelling secular testimony. Perhaps it is inevitable that Anglos would also borrow from and adopt aspects of a powerful tradition that blurs the lines between ritual and art, actor and audience.

In this exhibition at the Jundt Art Museum director and curator J. Scott Patnode brings together three Spokane artists who are also teachers of art-coming from distinct Mexican-American and Anglo cultural orientations-to revisit, participate in, and evolve with this ongoing, mutating genre: Patty Dike Haag, Carolyn Stephens, and Ruben Trejo.

Patty Dike Haag, a recent recipient of a prestigious Washington State Artist Trust GAP grant, has taught nonWestern art, painting, and design at Spokane Falls Community College for over two decades. Haag studied art at the University of North Dakota, at Emily Carr in Vancouver, Canada, and received an MA in art education from Eastern Washington University. In this exhibition, Haag is significantly informed by research on Ei Dte de los Muertos celebrations in Oaxaca, Mexico. But she also incorporates elements of other world cultures, as disparate as Tibetan and Midwestern U.S. "I was raised in Minnesota and North Dakota, in severe landscapes, among minimalist Scandinavian people where every word counts," she recalls. In response to these influences, she writes, "I used to practice the 'more is better' method, thinking that more brushstrokes, more color, and more objects would be visually stimulating and add to the work. Instead, the overabundance became a beautiful distraction." Haag's altar provides space for reflection, she explains, "It is a metaphor for how I want to live my life, in balance, letting go, yet staying connected, in a cycle of endings and new beginnings."

Carolyn Stephens was born Carolina Borsato to Italian immigrant parents in British Columbia, Canada. She studied art at Whitman College and holds an MA in studio art with a college teaching emphasis from Eastern Washington University. Stephens has taught art history and drawing at Spokane Falls Community College for over 20 years, during which she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study art and culture in Michoacan, Mexico. On a later trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to research the Day of the Dead, Stephens witnessed the "fluid space between life and death and the welcoming of returning souls, enticed by offerings on elaborate altars. The rituals were not so much about theater, but more about ordinary people living their lives." Stephen's work here is inspired by her mother Leonora's ongoing struggle with Alzheimer's disease. "Hers is a world in which a new person is emerging even as she is losing parts of herself that can never be recaptured." Stephens reflects on the challenge of this exhibition, "Artists who teach make art with the weight of art history on our backs. In this installation I venture into new territory that tries to capture the ebb and flow of life while respecting the weight of cultural history:' Ruben Trejo, an internationally acclaimed sculptor and mixed media-artist, was born in St. Paul, Minnesota,

into a migrant worker family from Michoacan, Mexico. "My family's history is one of economic survival," says Trejo. "I was born in a box car on the CB&Q Railroad where my father worked for 38 years. My cultural baggage embraces the magic that holds a people together as they go back and forth to Mexico: the tears, the love, the mysticism." Trejo earned a BA and MFA in art from the University of Minnesota and taught art at St. Theresa's College in Winona, Minnesota. He has been on the faculty of Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, for 28 years where he teaches sculpture and humanities. Trejo has exhibited throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Chile, and Mexico. His 1997 mixed-media piece Codex for the 21st Century, purchased by the Smithsonian Institution, is featured in the book Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Yorba, 2001). Trejo's installation titled Amor que mata unfolds responses and reflections in the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11 of this year.

El Die de los Muertos: Reflexionesl instalaciones can be visited on many levels. It is, of course, an invitation to experience an ongoing Mexican/MexicanAmerican tradition. On another level, however, the exhibition is an inquiry into the inner landscapes of three artists who borrow from and rework a tradition that is no longer geographically or religiously bound. Like Posada and other artists before them, Patty Dike Haag, Carolyn Stephens, and Ruben Trejo reflect upon the universal process of life and death, so that we as viewers can join them on our own personal journey.

Barbara Loste Barbara Loste is an educator and curator who has studied and worked in Mexico City for many years. She is a graduate of the Doctoral program in Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University.

Covers: Skull, unknown Mexican artist, c.1980s. Painted papier-rnache, 9"x 7"x 11", private collection.

Skeleton Bird Vendor, unknown Mexican artist, c.1980s. Painted papier-rnache, wire, wood, and feathers, 23 1/2"x 14"x 11", private collection.

Inside:

Male and Female Skeleton Candelabras, unknown Mexican artist from lzucar de Matamoros, c.1980s.

Polychrome painted pottery, 21 3/4"x 17"x 5 1/2" (each approximate), private collection.

This publication was funded by the Jundt Art Museum's Annual Campaign 2000-2001.

Photography by J. Craig Sweat. Š Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington 99258-0001

Jundt

Art

Museum

26 Octubre路 14 Diciembre 2001 Gonzaga Universltv, Spokane, Washington

El 011 DELOSMUERIOS: REFlEXIONES/lNSIIllCIONES La Catrina-Ia calaca sonriente de sombrero emplumado de Jose Guadalupe Posada-es el claslco icono del Dfa de los Muertos en Mexico. Mientras la sutil sonrisa de la Mona Lisa sugiere misterio, el gesto de La Catrina es sarcastlco y desafiante. Sequn el poeta y ensayista Octavia Paz, su actitud irreverente refleja el espfritu de un pueblo que "se define y es inspirado par una fntima relaclon can la muerte." EI Dfa de los Muertos, afirma Paz, oscila entre la fiesta y el veloria, el grito y la oracion.

Can su cultura rica en referencias indfgenas y europeas, Mexico ha desarrollado sus propias tradiciones relacionadas can las fiestas catolicas de Todos los Santos y el Dfa de los Muertos, celebradas el primero y dos noviembre, respectivamente. De estas festividades, que conmemoran alas fieles muertos, santos y pecadores, ha surgido la creencia popular que los muertos regresan al mundo en estos dos dfas. Par eso, el 31 de octubre, en una tradicion consagrada par el tiempo, en las casas privadas y en lugares publicos se colocan altares can of rend as para guiar y honrar alas difuntos en su viaje de regreso. Las of rend as tradicionales, una fusion de costumbres indfgenas precolombinas y europeas de la epoca posterior a la conquista, consisten de calaveras de azucar, cernpasuchil, pan de muertos, velas blancas, imaqenes de los difuntos, y las comidas favoritas de ellos. En rituales que varfan de region a region, la noche del dos de noviembre las familias se reunen en los cementerios. En celebraciones que suelen durar toda la noche, se concentran alrededor de las tumbas ancestrales que sirven de mesa de banquete.

Otras expresiones mas profanas del Dfa de los Muertos son las calaveras satlricas, esqueletos de juguete vestidos como humanos que aparecen en los lugares mas inesperados-iglesias, tabernas, dormitorios, oficinasrevelando los defectos y las debilidades humanos. Claramente irreverentes, las calaveras se burlan de las diferencias de clase y estatus social ya que la muerte, que iguala a todos, es la invitada de honor.

Permeado de historia e identidad cultural, el Dfa de los Muertos es un ritual rnultifacetico y sumamente adaptable. Por eso mismo, no llama la atencion que haya side fuente de inspiracion para artistas chicanos y mexicano americanos por decadas. Muchos serigrafistas, muralistas y artistas de medios mixtos han incorporado a las calaveras en sus obras, usandolas con frecuencia como sfmbolos flagrantes de orgullo cultural. En galerfas y museos nacionales, diversos artistas chicanos han elaborado altares conceptuales, combinando ofrend as religiosas can testimonios seculares sugerentes. Ouizas haya side inevitable que algunos artistas anglos tam bien se hayan apropiado 0 adoptado aspectos de esta tradicion poderosa que borra los Ifmites entre el ritual y el arte, el actor y su publico.

En esta exposicion del Museo de Arte Jundt, el director del rnuseo y el curador J. Scott Patnode reune a tres artistas, todos maestros de arte, que poseen distintas orientaciones culturales, mexicano americanas y anglo americanas-Patty Dike Haag, Carolyn Stephens y Ruben Trejo-para re-evaluar, participar en y evolucionar con este genero siempre tan vital y mutante. .

Patty Dike Haag, reciente ganadora de una beca de Artist Trust GAP del estado de Washington, ha dado clases de pintura, diserio y arte internacional en Spokane Falls Community College por mas de dos decadas.

Haag estudio arte en la University of North Dakota, yen Emily Carr en Vancouver, Canada, y reclbio su maestrfa en la ensefianza de arte de Eastern Washington University. En esta exhibicion, sus investigaciones sobre las celebraciones oaxaquefias del Dfa de los Muertos han tenido un gran impacto en su obra artlstica, Pero ella tarnbien ha incorporado elementos de otras culturas mundiales tan distintas como las de Tibet y del medio oeste de los Estados Unidos. Haag revela, "Me crie en Minnesota y North Dakota, en paisajes muy asperos, rodeada por gente escandinava minimalista para quienes toda palabra contaba." Respondiendo a estas influencias, escribe ella, "Yo practicaba el rnetodo, 'mientras mas abundante, tanto mejor,' creyendo que mas pinceladas, mas color y mas objetos serfan visual mente estimulantes y enriquecerfan mucho el trabajo. En lugar de eso, la profusion se hizo una bella distraccion" La pieza de Haag da lugar a la reftexlon, Explica ella, "Hago una metafora de como quisiera vivir mi vida, en equilibrio, dejandorne libre a la lnspiracion a veces, pero tarnbien manteniendorne en contacto conmigo misma, en un cicio permanente de inicio y fin:' Originalmente Carolina Borsato, Carolyn Stephens nacio en British Columbia.Canada, de padres inmigrantes italianos. Estudio arte en Whitman College y obtuvo la maestrfa en arte con enfasis en la ensefianza universitaria de Eastern Washington University. Stephens ha side profesora de historia del arte y de dibujo en Spokane Community College por mas de 20 afios, durante los cuales Ie fue otorgada una beca Fulbright para estudiar el arte y la cultura en Michoacan, Mexico. En un viaje posterior a Oaxaca, Mexico, para investigar el tema del Dfa de los Muertos, Stephens dice que presencia "el espacio flufdo entre la vida y la muerte y la acogida de almas transitorias, tentadas por las of rend as en los altares. Los rituales no se vefan tanto como teatro sino como la vida cotidiana de la gente." La obra de Stephens es inspirada aquf por la lucha de su madre contra la enfermedad

de Alzheimer. "Su vida transcurre en un mundo en que una persona nueva parece surgir de continuo mientras que al mismo tiempo va perdiendo aspectos de su identidad que nunca seran recapturados." Stephens reflexiona sobre el reto que Ie representa esta exhibici6n. "Nosotros, los artistas que ensefiarnos, elaboramos el arte lIevando el peso de la historia del arte en los hombros. En esta instalaci6n, yo penetro en una regi6n desconocida que se ernpefia en captar los avatares del tiempo, teniendo muy en cuenta el valor de la historia cultural."

Rub e n T r e j 0, r e con 0 c i d 0 internacionalmente como escultor y artista de medios mixtos, naci6 en St. Paul, Minnesota en una familia de trabajadores migrantes de Michoacan, Mexico. "La historia de mi familia es una de supervivencia," dice Trejo "Nacf en un vag6n del ferrocarril de C B Y Q, donde mi padre trabaj6 por treinta y ocho afios, Mi bagaje cultural evoca la magia que vincula a la gente mientras va y viene de Mexico: las laqrimas, el amor y el misticismo." Trejo obtuvo los tftulos de bachiller y maestrfa en Bellas Artes en la University of Minnesota.

Primero ensef16 arte en St. Theresa's College en Winona, Minnesota.

Ha ensefiado escultura y humanidades en Eastern Washington University en Cheney, Washington, por veintiocho afios. Trejo ha exhibido a traves de los Estados Unidos, as! como en Canada, Chile y Mexico. Su pieza "C6dice para el siglo veintiuno" fue adquirida por la Instituci6n Smithsonian y aparece en el libro Arte Latino: Treasures of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Yorba, 2001).

Su instalaci6n Amor que mata representa respuestas y reminiscencias diversas a los sucesos traqlccs que ocurrieron el once de septiembre de este afio.

La exhibici6n El Dte de los Muettos: Reflexiones / instaiaciones puede apreciarse en varios niveles. En primera instancia es una invitaci6n a participar en una tradici6n dinarnlca mexicanaimexicano americana. En otro nivel, sin embargo, leiexhibici6n hace eco de los paisajes interiores de tres artistas que toman prestada y reproducen una tradici6n que va mas alia de sus lazos qeoqraficos y religiosos originales. Como Posada y otros artistas que los precedieron, Patty Dike Haag, Carolyn Stephens y Ruben Trejo reflexionan sobre el ciclo universal de la vida y la muerte para que nosotros, como observadores, podamos seguirlos creando nuestra propia trayectoria.

Barbara Loste Barbara Loste es una educadora y muse6grafa que estudi6 y trabaj6 en Mexico durante muchos

sties. Obtuvo

su doctorado en Gonzaga University.

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Texto traducido por Stefania Nedderman, Gonzaga University.

Text translation by Stefania Nedderman, Gonzaga University.

Martha Gonzales

Martha Gonzales,

y Allan Englekirk,

profesores

and Allan Englekirk,

en el Departamento

professors

in the Department

de Lenguas Modernas, of Modern Languages,