2023 EXHIBITIONS AT THE FIREHOUSE ART CENTER

MAIN AND SOUTH GALLERY: OCTOBER

CATRINA PAINTING AND CALACAS MASK AUCTION

OCT 14- NOV 4, 2023
OPENING RECEPTION: OCTOBER 14, 11AM-3PM DURING THE FAMILY FIESTA FOR DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

AUCTION ENDS AT THE CATRINA BALL AT 10PM

VIEW THE 2022 CATRINAS

THE AUCTION

During the month of September, the community was welcome to create as a community. The Firehouse Art Center provided paint, paper, brushes, clay, carving tools, and a space to create, while enjoying the shared experience of creation. The Catrinas and Calacas masks will be auctioned off online with proceeds supporting the Firehouse Exhibits and Outreach classes, which are classes offered at no cost to marginalized and under-resourced communities.

BIDDING OPENS: OCT 14- 11AM
BIDDING CLOSES: OCT 28- 10PM

Where do the proceeds for the Catrina Auction go?
Did you know that over half of the Firehouse Art Center Art Education classes are offered at no-cost to under resourced areas of our community?

Did you know that our gallery is always free to visit- we have no admission fee and welcome anyone in our community to experience innovative, creative and thought provoking contemporary art.

Your purchase of one (or more!) of these beautiful works of art supports these programs and brings art and culture to the community!

The tradition of the Catrinas and Masks for Dia de los Muertos
Because of migration, Day of the Dead celebrations are found in Mexico, Guatemala, the United States, and other parts of the world. It is important to note that Day of the Dead celebrations vary from place to place.

The Catrina
The Firehouse Art Center invites local artists to create their representation of La Calavera Catrina. La Calavera Catrina is a zinc etching by the Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. Posada created his most famous print during the start of the Mexican Revolution, when he felt that Mexico’s ruling class were obsessed with acting and looking European. To mock them, Posada put a fancy French hat on a skeleton, his representation of Mictecacihuatl. His statement was that rich or poor we all die and death is the great equalizer.

Masks
Revelers often wear masks, colorful makeup, and costumes. They hold parades, parties, sing, dance, and make offerings to honor deceased loved ones. The rituals have deep symbolic meanings. Celebrants today paint their faces or wear skull masks to represent a deceased loved one. The idea is to dance in honor of a loved one or keep the spirits close. Our masks are interpretations of the Calacas, skulls typically used during the Dia de los Muertos celebration, Alebrijes, and Aztec inspired masks.

Alebrijes
Alebrijes (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈβɾixes]) are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastic, mythological creatures. The first alebrijes, along with the invention of the term, originated in Mexico City in the 1930s by artisan Pedro Linares. Pedro Linares Lopez (906-1992), a paper Maché artist from Mexico City, is renowned for making big figures for easter’s eve called Judas. Mr Linares job as cartonero or paper mache artist was so good that Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo used to collect his creations, even before he made the first alebrijes.

Aztec Masks
Many people know of the Mexican holiday Día de Los Muertos, which is filled with vibrant colors and intricately painted faces. What many people don’t know is that this holiday originated over 3000 years ago with the Aztec empire. The Spanish Conquistadors first recorded a Día de Los Muertos celebration during the 16th century. When the Aztecs had begun this tradition, they weren’t remembering loved ones who passed, but they were worshiping the queen of the underworld and protector of the dead.1

This Aztec queen was Mictecacihuatl, “Lady of the Dead,” Queen of Mictlan.2 According to Aztec legend, Mictecacihuatl was sacrificed as an infant and placed in the underworld to become the wife of Miclantecuhtl, the king of the underworld. In the underworld, her role was to watch over the bones of past lives, which would be used to create new life in the living world. However, in order for the bones to be able to create new life, they needed to be stolen from Mictecacihuatl to be brought to the living world. As their protector, part of her own life would be carried with the stolen bones. Even after the bones were stolen, she would continue her duty to protect them by returning to the living world every year to make sure the bones were being properly taken care of. When the time came for her to return to the living world, the Aztecs celebrated Mictecacihuatl’s return with death festivals and traditional dances, to honor her for her protection of the bones that created life and to seek protection for those who died.3

The Aztecs celebrated Día de Los Muertos much differently than it is celebrated today due to the Spanish conquistadors and Catholicism. The Spanish changed the lives of the indigenous peoples wherever they went, from taking land for the Spanish throne to converting people to Catholicism. Many traditions changed, including those of Día de Los Muertos.4 The Aztecs laid out offerings for the King and Queen of the Underworld for the whole month of August, and the Spanish were the first outsiders to witness this honoring of Mictecacihuatl by the Aztecs. Not long after the Spanish exposure to this festival, the Spanish combined the Aztec tradition with Catholicism. Syncretism, the blending of Spanish and indigenous beliefs and practices, combined the Aztec traditions of Día de Los Muertos with the Spanish traditions of All Saint’s Day and All Souls Day.5 Some examples of syncretism between Catholicism and Día de Los Muertos are the symbols that are most recognizable with Día de Muertos, such as decorated skulls and skeletons, and the Spanish character “La Catrina,” who represents Mictecacihuatl.6 The merging of Catholicism with the Aztec religious beliefs began the evolution of how Día de Los Muertos, transforming how it is celebrated today.

In Pre-columbian Mexico, Aztec masks followed a tradition of many cultures. The art form was ancient, and had religious connections. Aztec masks were used as ornaments, and were sometimes worn as part of a ritual, or in death as a death mask. They usually represented one god or another, and the Aztecs did have many gods. Like the artistry and materials, the Aztecs worshipped gods collected from a variety of cultures.

Calacas

Skulls—known as calaveras or calacas in Mexico—are an essential part of the symbolism of Día de los Muertos in Mexico. The motif is used in food (sugar or chocolate shaped like skulls), face paint and masks called calacas (skeletons).

1. MasterFILE Complete, 2008, s.v. “Día de los Muertos, by Benjamin Perea. ↵2. Sin Jones, Mictecacihuatl, Santa Muerte, 2010, 1-16. ↵3. Sin Jones, Mictecacihuatl, Santa Muerte, 2010, 1-16. ↵4. Mark Lacy, Origins of El Día de Los Muertos: The Prehispanic Festival of the Dead Defies Cultural Invasions of Mexico, (History Institute for Culture), 1. ↵5. Mark Lacy, Origins of El Día de Los Muertos: The Prehispanic Festival of the Dead Defies Cultural Invasions of Mexico, (History Institute for Culture), 1. ↵6. Mark Lacy, Origins of El Día de Los Muertos: The Prehispanic Festival of the Dead Defies Cultural Invasions of Mexico, (History Institute for Culture), 1. ↵

MAIN GALLERY: OCTOBER

“THE JOURNEY’ A COMMUNITY LED PROJECT BY JOYANNA GITTINGS

OCT 14- NOV 4, 2023
OPENING RECEPTION: OCTOBER 14, 11AM-3PM DURING THE FAMILY FIESTA FOR DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

STUDIO 64

SARA BROERS BROWN

Color and organic line are keynotes of Sara L. Broers Brown as an acrylic-mixed-media painter and art quilter. Working in both modalities, she employs a wide range of materials to fabricate visual images which evoke the viewer to seek a story beyond the obvious whether it is a landscape, portrait, or abstract. For over 25 years, Sara L. Broers Brown has been an active member in the Longmont art community displaying throughout town and participating in several events including the studio tours.

OCT 14- NOV 4, 2023

OPENING RECEPTION: OCTOBER 14, 11AM-3PM DURING THE FAMILY FIESTA FOR DIA DE LOS MUERTOS