Dia De Los Muertos - Longmont Museum

It probably comes as no surprise given the name and imagery on the blog, but I'm quite a fan of Mexican folk art, particularly as it pertains to Dia De Los Muertos. There's just something about the Day of the Dead and the Mexican way of marking the occasion in a comic yet tributary manner that's engaging to me. The Great Equalizer as clown. Or showman. Someone who lurks unseen in our daily activities like a Caspar in our back pocket waiting to point at a watch, shrug, and say, "Time's up. Now...if you'll just step right this way, friend."

Wonderful.

Annually, in the Fall, our local museum here in Longmont sets aside the main exhibition space to allow for "tribute altars" to be created (or recreated) in the Latin tradition. It is an exhibit that I look forward to every year. Sure, the medium is always the same, yet the message and the altars themselves are as different from year-to-year (indeed altar-to-altar) as the people to whom the tributes are directed. It is a spectacular, moving event and the largest of its kind in Colorado.

The tribute altars this year are of special note. Artists Zarco Guerrero and Laurie Beth Zuckerman have created amazing Latin-themed tributes that transcend nationality and seek to incorporate elements from the prehistory of Latin tradition all the way through to modern times.

There are also altars created by Latin families memorializing their ancestry, altars created by students and children as learning experiences, and one altar in particular that is so moving and and heart-wrenching that words fail to describe it. It must be seen to be appreciated, even if it cannot be fully understood. You will know it when you see it.

I'll mark this personal note this as well: a local Longmont person created a tribute to one of their relatives, actor Richard Basehart. I remember watching him as Admiral Nelson on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on TBS reruns. I was knocked out. I don't think I've (recently) been twacked on the head with a reminder of my childhood as I was with that altar. It's funny, too: that show consciously or unconsciously informed a lot of LEGO creations here in the house (flying sub, anyone?). A very well done tribute.

This exhibit is so well-worth seeing, I cannot recommend it highly enough. I hope you will make an effort to get there. Or maybe seek out a similar exhibit closer to home.

Our local exhibit runs through November 6.

Best to you this season!