The Last of the Alters...

Friday night Taelyn and I popped over to Centro Maya shopping center to check out some alter presentations. We had such a good time. Taelyn of course loved bopping up and down to the music playing on the speakers. I, of course, loved the alters and snapped liked a paparazzi again.

I had a chance to talk to the teacher, Señor Salvador Fernandez and his students whom presented some of the alters from the Universidad Riviera Diseño Grafico (Riviera University of Graphic Artists). They were so gracious and proud of their Mexican culture and wanted to educate me on their history. Mexicans are known for being very inviting and humble with strangers, and this group completely embodied the spirit of their people. Señor Fernandez was very proud of his students and spent over 30 minutes talking to me about their work and what they did for the alters.


Selene Quiroz did a large alter honoring Jose Guadalupe Posada a famous Mexican artist known for drawing skeletal art. Most foreigners look at his work, and they think that he just drew skeletons. However, he was actually known for being a political cartoonist, and used art as a creative expression to move his country forward. Selene's alter had the traditional pan de muertos, candles, marigolds, sugar skulls, and soda. What I loved most was how she used marigolds everywhere so it was splashing with color and vibrance and popped with the purple.

On the ends of Selene's alters were two hand drawn renditions of Posada's art. Daniela Aguilar Martinez drew the one of the skeleton on the bike. I have to say I love this one the most because its humorous to think of a skeleton riding on a bike. Daniela made the presentation complete by dressing up and sitting next to the alter for the finishing touch. Miguel Santoto Arzola drew the 100 Anos picture. Do you see all the detail in that thing? My pen would have been drawing out of the lines the first time it touched the paper. I can't even draw a stick figure for goodness sakes! I was so impressed by these kids and their talent, and I hope to see them later in life as famous artists themselves. Now, why didn't I think to ask if they had other works for sale? Silly me!

There were also some other alters being presented by other schools. The kids who did these were much younger, but you could see they had still put some thought into what they were presenting. The one with the orange and white cross had rice going up the left and salt going up the right. I wonder if that means anything or was just artistic expression? Ponder.