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Arte de Inspiración: Día de los Muertos 2024
Oct. 12* – Nov. 17, 2024
A journey through life, love and death, Arte de Inspiración: Día de los Muertos 2024 (Inspirational Art: Day of the Dead 2024) features contemporary altars and artwork by artists from Sacramento, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area.
Opening at the Museum’s Día de los Muertos Fiesta 2024 on Saturday, Oct. 12, the annual exhibit explores the Mexican cultural tradition of honoring deceased loved ones each year on November 1 and 2 by creating calaveras de azúcar (sugar skulls), altares de muertos (altars of the dead) and ofrendas (offerings), which has evolved from the Aztecs to modern day Mexico and California. This year’s exhibit features the work of artists Krisztianna, John Hancock and Juan Ramos, and Adrián Arias, whose altars are dedicated to notable Californians who have inspired their artistic practice: labor activist Helen Fabela Chávez, labor activist Larry Itliong, and artists and activists René Yáñez and Yolanda López.
Members of the public are also invited to honor friends and family members who have passed with a remembrance in the exhibit’s accompanying Community Altar. Optional templates can be downloaded ahead of time or created on site using materials at the Museum’s craft station. Photocopies of photos are encouraged; any items left on the altar will not be returned.
*The exhibit grand opening will occur at 6 pm on October 12 at our Día de los Muertos Fiesta. The exhibit will open to general admission visitors on Sunday, October 13 at 12 pm.
Meet the Artists
A multidisciplinary artist of Moche descent from Peru, Adrián Arias integrates visual arts, poetry, and performance to celebrate beauty and Native cultures while fostering collaborative dialogues on equality and liberation. Drawing on ancient wisdom, he creates public and private art that reflects his commitment to social justice, empathy, and community enrichment. Adrian’s altars will be dedicated to artists and activists René Yáñez and Yolanda López.
Krisztianna is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist based in Southern California. Her work, influenced by her Hungarian heritage and the immigrant communities from Michoacán, explores themes of birth, death, and rebirth through the fusion of sugar skull symbolism and Hungarian folk art. Her renowned muertitas sculptures feature antlered human creatures adorned with Day of the Dead motifs as ever-watchful and protective nature spirits. Krisztianna’s altar will be dedicated to labor activist Helen Fabela Chávez.
John Hancock and Juan Ramos of John Juan Art have been happily married artists since 2007. Their collaborative work combines mixed media with a special focus on papier-mâché sculptures. Their colorful, thoughtful, and generally humorous pieces have sold locally and nationwide. With inspiration from the great Mexican papier-mâché artist Sergio Bustamante, Juan began creating papier-mâché pieces in 1994. John and Juan’s altar will be dedicated to labor activist Larry Itliong.
Honor a loved one at the exhibit’s community altar
