Día de los Muertos
The Día de los Muertas project was a project in which we honored the life of a passed family member/friend by remembering and capturing their existence in the form of art and poetry. Through the creation of calacas, a Día de los Muertas art form, we were able to portray our dead family members in a way that shined light on their life and pursuits. We were also given instruction to create and write our own calavera, a poem in which we captured the positive side of the dead family member's life, and used our range of vocabulary to create a well thought out poem honoring our ancestors. Enjoy my poem and art piece, honoring my passed border collie Willy.
Poema Calavera
By: Lyle Bryson
Se llama Willy
Él es un border collie rojo
Él es sano, tranquilo, curioso, y rápido
Él es residente de las montañas de Durango
A él le gustan los discos voladores
A él le gustan las pelotas de tenis
Hermano de bondad, Primo de juventud
Amigo de filete de pescado
A él le fascina los humanos elevados
A él le importa correr por los caminos
Él mira los venados y las ardillas
Él escucha las hojas susurros
Él necesita un refugio grande
Él quiere la comida caliente
Él desea los premios muchos
Él sueña con andar en un campos
Él va a bosques soleados
Él sueña con cruzar los ríos
⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊
Él es un border collie rojo
Él es sano, tranquilo, curioso, y rápido
Él es residente de las montañas de Durango
A él le gustan los discos voladores
A él le gustan las pelotas de tenis
Hermano de bondad, Primo de juventud
Amigo de filete de pescado
A él le fascina los humanos elevados
A él le importa correr por los caminos
Él mira los venados y las ardillas
Él escucha las hojas susurros
Él necesita un refugio grande
Él quiere la comida caliente
Él desea los premios muchos
Él sueña con andar en un campos
Él va a bosques soleados
Él sueña con cruzar los ríos
⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊⥊
Project Reflection
One of the biggest things I took away from this project was the idea that death doesn't always have to be associated with sadness and grief, but can be transformed into a celebration of life and remembrance of the positive things we take on throughout our journey. When we watched videos on Día de los Muertos, I was surprised to see how relaxed people were when talking about their dead relatives. This made me realize that although we often seem to treat death as the final and ultimate loss, we can find joy and hope in the fact that we shall be with our relatives in spirit during every Día de los Muertos celebration.
When I first walked into the exhibition hall on a cool night of November, I was caught off guard by the intense body heat resonating from the room and the strong smell of incense. Although, immediately after looking over the multiple ofrendas, I was overcome by a sense of warmth and unity. Tonight - this night - the dead and living would gather in a celebration of life. This idea brought me happiness as I fought through the burning throat I had acquired from reciting my poem multiple times, and for a moment the heat from the hundreds of bodies around me was not as hot.
The most challenging part of this project for me was creating my calaca, and shaping/painting it so that it came out to my liking. This was challenging for me because I wasn't very happy with my calaca from the get-go, and this made it harder for my to be happy with the project in general. Once it came to the painting portion of the project however, I was able to have more artistic freedom, and create a calaca that was refined and satisfying. If I had to do this project again, I would have tried another art form. I enjoyed creating the calaca overall, but I've never been very good with wire and sculpting, so maybe a painting or other art form would have suited my talents in a better way.
The thing I enjoyed the most about this project was remembering and writing about Willy, my old border collie. Writing the poem stirred memories of my old dog, and although he has passed I felt as if I was honoring him with my words, which was a great feeling. Along this prompt, I am most proud of my poem. I feel my use of vocabulary combined with my presentation at exhibition made this project unique and created a positive experience for me overall.
When I first walked into the exhibition hall on a cool night of November, I was caught off guard by the intense body heat resonating from the room and the strong smell of incense. Although, immediately after looking over the multiple ofrendas, I was overcome by a sense of warmth and unity. Tonight - this night - the dead and living would gather in a celebration of life. This idea brought me happiness as I fought through the burning throat I had acquired from reciting my poem multiple times, and for a moment the heat from the hundreds of bodies around me was not as hot.
The most challenging part of this project for me was creating my calaca, and shaping/painting it so that it came out to my liking. This was challenging for me because I wasn't very happy with my calaca from the get-go, and this made it harder for my to be happy with the project in general. Once it came to the painting portion of the project however, I was able to have more artistic freedom, and create a calaca that was refined and satisfying. If I had to do this project again, I would have tried another art form. I enjoyed creating the calaca overall, but I've never been very good with wire and sculpting, so maybe a painting or other art form would have suited my talents in a better way.
The thing I enjoyed the most about this project was remembering and writing about Willy, my old border collie. Writing the poem stirred memories of my old dog, and although he has passed I felt as if I was honoring him with my words, which was a great feeling. Along this prompt, I am most proud of my poem. I feel my use of vocabulary combined with my presentation at exhibition made this project unique and created a positive experience for me overall.