LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S DAY OF THE DEAD ALTARS AND PHOTOGRAPHY AT VIRGINIA TECH UNIVERSITY, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2008

Laurie Zuckerman currently has an installation of three Day of the Dead altars in Virginia Tech's Diá de los Muertos exhibit at the Perspectives Gallery in Squires Student Union. It is a colorful and lively show, excellently curated by Mary Tartaro, director of the gallery. The show was mounted to coincide with Hispanic Awaremess Month.

Best of all, my bestfriend and altarmaking pal in Blacksburg, Kathy Pinkerton, is also featured in this exhibit and has a spectacular altar display as the centerpiece of the show. It is the closet thing I have ever seen to the over-the-top exuberance of Oaxacan Day of the Dead ofrendas. Below is a wide-shot of Kathy's installation.



The gallery invited me to fly out to give the keynote lecture on my travels to photograph Colonial Mexico's Day of the Dead altars, prior to the opening on October 3, 2008. I shipped all the myriad pieces of the altars and set-up my detailed installation the day before the show opened. (14 hours and many gallery helpers later, it was complete.) I also have 25 of my Day of the Dead photos from San Miguel de Allende, Guanujuato, and Oaxaca included in this exhibit. Three of my photos are used on the show announcement included with this post above.


The News Messenger of Montgomery County, Virginia published this front page article on October 8, 2008. Here are some quotes from the article by reporter Lauren Page, who interviewed myself and Kathy Pinkerton.

"Zuckerman describes her altar as more mournful that the rest of the pieces on display at the the exhibit. The altar, entitled "Devil May Care", is mostly black with an orange background. Zuckerman said the altar contains many references to Hallowe'en, including vintage American Hallowe'en decorations beside Mexican Day of the Dead artifacts. The black and orange color scheme has a three-fold meaning, she said. First, orange and black are the colors of Hallowe'en. Second, the orange represents the marigolds traditionally used at Mexican Day of the Dead festivals. Third, since it is next to [Kathy] Pinkerton's fuchsia altar, the two colors side by side look like the signature VT maroon and orange, Zuckerman said." [Actually this is bit of a misquote, as I was referring to the maroon and orange colors within my own altar installation being chosen in homage to Tech's school colors.]

"I like puns and double-entendres," Zuckerman said. "I like things to have a lot of different [visual] meanings.

"Devil May Care" is an homage to Zuckerman's parents. There is a large altar in the center, flanked by two smaller ones. The left side memorializes her mother. The right side memorializes her father. Zuckerman described her parents as "difficult and contentious."

"It was very painful dealing with their anger and bitterness," Zuckerman said. "This altar...represents the lighter side of what I kept bottled up inside."

The following web article at Virginia Tech University announced Laurie Zuckerman's altar installation, photography, and slide lecture in conjunction with the Perspectives Gallery group exhibition of Diá de los Muertos, October 3-November 8, 2008. The other artists included in the show are The Artgirlz group, Mindy & Baldwin True North, and Gilda Machin-Scarpaci, who all created wonderful altars for the show.

http://www.uusa.vt.edu/news/dayofthedead.php

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORY JUG WEEKEND WORKSHOP AUGUST 2-3, 2008

Laurie Zuckerman is teaching a two-day weekend workshop on Memory Jugs, Saturday and Sunday, August 2-3, 10 am-5 pm.
Please email Laurie at zucky@qwest.net for reservations and more details before July 30, 2008.

If you have ever wondered about memory jugs, now is your chance to delve into this mysterious Victorian American folk art tradition and make your own enigmatic jug. This small intimate workshop will be offered at a private location in Fort Collins. Bring your own jug, jar, or teapot and all the little memories you've been saving to create your own piece of American folk art, or purchase an antique jug from Laurie. All other supplies will be provided. An instruction book is included in the cost of the workshop. Cost will be $145. Advanced reservations required by July 15, 2008.

Laurie has been making memory jugs since 2004, using her eclectic found art assemblage style. Laurie is best known for her altar installations and memory jugs, which have been on display at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, the Loveland Art Museum, and the Durango Art Center. Her memory jug artwork has been published most recently in Lynne Perrella's new book on assemblage artists around the country entitled: Artmaking, Collections, and Obsessions. Please browse this blog for examples, articles, and reviews of Laurie's assemblage art.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN TOURS CEMETERIES AND MISSIONS OF WEST TEXAS

Laurie Zuckerman just returned from her latest photograph journey to the mission churches and cemeteries in West Texas. Despite the 400-year history of Spanish and Indian settlement along thie Mission Trail in El Paso and Juarez, Mexico, I found the churches to be much less decorative and distinctive than the churches in Northern New Mexico. The oldest of the churches is in Juarez, but it was closed the day I walked across the border. Had to settle for some beer and guacamole and helado on a stick.

As far as the cemeteries in this region, I was even more disappointed. The graves were not particularly unique from a folk art standpoint and the level of vandalism was the worst I have ever witnessed. I managed to get just a few photographs of any note. The most unique cemeteries were actually far afield in the towns of Terlingua, Lajitas, and Study Butte, all neighboring Big Bend National Park. The Terlingua ghost town cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places and was truly decrepit, but the locals tell me it is cleaned up and decorated annually for the Day of the Dead.

Also took the tour in Marfa of Donald Judd's Chinati Foundation, and decided once and for all that minimalism is not my game. I did appreciate, from a found object assemblage standpoint, John Chamberlain's junked car part sculptures. Marfa, Texas may be the up and coming "Santa Fe" of West Texas, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN LECTURES ON MEMORY JUGS FOR THE REMARKABLE WOMEN SERIES

Laurie Zuckerman was invited to speak on Memory Jugs for the Remarkable Women Series sponsored by A Place for Every Woman's Spirituality in Fort Collins, Colorado. The well-attended lecture was held on April 4th. Since there is so little known about folk art memory jugs, I concentrated on my personal history with making memory jugs and memorial jugs. I plan to offer a workshop through this women's center later this spring or summer.

http://www.everydaymysteries.com/Remarkable%20Women.htm

"Laurie Zuckerman constructs enigmatic memory jugs from antique and vintage found objects. She has conducted memory jug workshops at the Loveland Art Museum and the Artists' Nook in Fort Collins. she has exhibited her altar installations, memory jugs, and shrine photography since the mid-1990's, at the Elmhurst Art Museum in Chicago, the University of Northern Colorado, the Loveland Art Museum, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Durango Arts Center.

"Memory jugs, an American vernacular folk craft from the Victorian era, are believed to honor the dead with personal tokens once belonging to the deceased -- shells, jewelry, toys, buttons, beads, etc. Some art historians propose that memory jugs are linked to Southern African-American funerary traditions, and may have been used to decorate their gravesites.

"Laurie's memory jugs appear in the 2008 book by Lynne Perella: Art Making Collections and Obsessions (Quarry Publishers). In 1999, Laurie was included, along with 99 other woman altarmakers, in a book by Kay Turner, A Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars.

"Laurie was born in Los Angeles and received her B.A. in Fine Arts from the U. of California, Berkeley; and her B.F.A. in Painting from the U. of Oregon. She is a painting and drawing instructor at Front Range Community College, and lectures publicly on altarmaking to universities, colleges, museums, galleries, libraries, and arts organizations."

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S PHOTOGRAPHY AT SLIDING DOOR GALLERY IN DENVER

Laurie Zuckerman's digital image, "Baja Madonna" was juried into the new exhibit, "Current Works on the Front Range," at the Sliding Door Gallery in the popular Santa Fe Arts District in Denver, Colorado. The show presents a survey of photography by 22 regional artists and photographers and includes a range of work from traditional photography processes to digitally manipulated photographic collage. The exhibit was timed to correspond with Denver’s Month of Photography. My photo is one of my all-time favorite digital photos I shot in a decrepit graveyard in a remote town in colonial Baja del Sur. This altar was inside a private mausoleum whose door had been broken open.

Two public openings: Friday, March 7th and Friday, March 14th from 6-10 pm.

The show runs through Sunday March 30th. Regular hours are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5 pm.

554 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204, Phone: 720-979-4448.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORY JUGS PROFILED IN BEAUTIFUL ART BOOK BY LYNNE PERRELLA: Art Making, Collections, and Obsessions

Laurie Zuckerman's memory jugs are profiled in Lynne Perrella's newest book: Art Making, Collections, and Obsessions: An Intimate Exploration of the Mixed-Media Work and Collections of 35 Artists. I am one of the 35 obsessed artists she has selected for this publication, and I am proud to be in such great company with Michael deMeng, Keith LoBue, and of course, Lynne Perrella. My copies of this beautiful hard-cover book just arrived in the mail this afternoon. I took some photos of my four-page spread that features several of my very obsessed memory jugs, along with the "fixin's" for another jug not pictured. Lynne has also used one of my photos for the frontispiece of her book. Thank you, Lynne! You did an awesome job putting this book together. Amazon.com already has twelve 5-star reviews of the book.

Amazon.com website to order book:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Collections-Obsessions-Exploration/dp/1592533639/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202864898&sr=8-1

Book Description from Amazon.com:

"A glimpse into the personal collections and work of 35 major artists.

"This large format, full-color, inspirational book is about how artists use their collections to make artwork. The gallery-style format allows readers to see what artists collect, and the resulting spectacular artwork they make from it. The book will feature the collections and the artwork of thirty-five major mixed-media artists. The artwork will include journals, assemblages, altered books, as well as jewelry pieces, and detailed descriptions of the materials and techniques used, plus tips and insights into using unusual materials and collections.

"Mixed-media artists are naturally collectors. They are fascinated by the stuff of life, and they are always looking for the right elements to add to their collages and journals. This book offers a juicy combination -- sort of a walk through an artist-filled flea market, and a gallery of the pieces created using these collections with tips and insights on collecting and creating, and how they go hand in hand."

About the Author:
Lynne Perrella is an artist, author, and workshop instructor. Her art interests include collage, assemblage, art journals, and one-of-a-kind books. Her first two books, Artists' Journals & Sketchbooks and Alphabetica were published by Quarry. Her third book, Beyond Paper Dolls came out in September 2006 by Stampington. She contributes articles to a variety of magazines, including Sketchbooks, Martha Stewart's Body + Soul, and Mary Englebreit's Home Companion. Her work has appeared in various books on mixed media including: Collage for the Soul, True Colors, Crafting Personal Shrines, Altered Books, The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery, Quilted Memories, and others. Lynne also appears in the documentary film, ?1000 Journals?. She conducts creativity workshops at venues throughout the United States and abroad. She exhibits collage and assemblage at galleries throughout the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. Her website is www.LKPerrella.com.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S NEW MADONNA SHRINE

For my Christmas present, my husband Tom Mathies spent days sawing, carving, and painting me an exquisite shrine out of alabaster, cholla cactus, rusty tin, and gold leaf. For the focal point, I gave him a chalkware Madonna head I had found in a trash can in Southern Colorado. Tom used found materials that he had located in Wyoming and New Mexico. Last year he carved an alabaster grotto for my birthday. I can't wait for him to make another shrine!

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS OF DAY OF THE DEAD ALTARS IN OAXACA, MEXICO TO APPEAR IN INDIE ARTS DVD MAGAZINE

Just received my copy of Karen Landey's Indie Arts DVD, Issue 7. A collection of Laurie Zuckerman's Oaxaca, Mexico photos are profiled in the gallery section of the DVD. I attended Michael deMeng's Day of the Dead altar workshop in Oaxaca last fall with 20 other artists from around the country. I am very excited to be in this issue along with Michael deMeng and Lisa JonesMoore, a Seattle artist who was also in his workshop. The photo above was taken in Teotitlan del Valle, at the home of weaving family. The other photos included on the DVD concentrate on the ornate El Diá de los Muertos altars in Oaxaca's cemeteries, churches, and public squares. This issue features an antiquing painting demo with Artist and Author, Michael deMeng during his 2007 workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico.

If you want to check it out, follow these links to Indie Arts' website for previews of this issue and ordering information:

www.indieartsdvd.com/guideissue7.htm
www.indieartsdvd.com/Previews.htm

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S PHOTOS OF MEMORY JUG, BOTTLE TREES, & FOLK ART MEMORIALS FROM SAVANNAH, GEORGIA

I returned from a great adventure in Savannah in January, hunting for folk art in flea markets and antique stores, visiting museums, and traveling through Gullah country in South Carolina. On my journey with my best artist buddy, Kathy Pinkerton, we photographed two bottle trees, one on the historic island of St. Helena, SC, and the other right around the corner from Kathy's home in Savannah. The bottle tree was in front of a huge African-American/Gullah folk art gallery named Red Piano Too.

Bottle tree's can be traced back to African origins. Sarah Fishburn just sent me this blurb from The House of Voodoo:

"The belief in and use of spirit bottles can be traced back to 9th and 10th century Congo where colorful bottles, traditionally cobalt blue, were placed on the ends of tree branches to catch the sunlight. It was thought that when an evil spirit sees the sunshine dazzling from the beautiful bottles, it is enamored and enters the bottle. Like a fly, the spirit then becomes trapped within the bottle; too dazzled by the play of light, the spirit prefers to remain in its colorful prison, rather than trouble the world of the living."

I spent the week asking about memory jugs, and on the last day, in the last hour of my trip, Kathy and I got lucky at the Telfair Art Museum in Savannah. Here is a shot of the only jug they had on display in the children's area of the museum, under the category of, "What is this?" It was beautiful. It is the first jug I have ever seen in a museum, besides my own at the Loveland Museum. It is only the third antique jug I have seen in person in the 14 years since I bought my first one.


An interactive computer display next to the jug helps kids or adults to decipher its true meaning.

Here is a shot from Kathy Pinkerton's altar exhibit at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2002. I love this Madonna altar! Missed the exhibit, unfortunately, but was still living in Blacksburg, Virginia when Kathy was working on this shrine.

Kathy Pinkerton's altar 

The most brilliant piece of folk art we found was in Savannah, in a neighborhood outside of the historic district. It was created entirely of papier maché by artist, James Kimble, and is called The Black Holocaust Memorial. Kathy had the opportunity to buy a smaller version of the memorial, which was equally beautiful.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR FEATURED IN CURRENT ISSUE OF PASTICCIO ZINE

Laurie Zuckerman's huge altar installation, "In the Pink" appears in the current issue of Pasticcio, a collaborative "zine" venture by artists Sarah Fishburn and Angela Cartwright. The issue is filled with beautiful artwork by artists around the country. I am thrilled to be included in the gallery section of this publication, thanks to my new friend, Sarah Fishburn!

"PASTICCIO is a pioneer in the next wave of a dynamic arts publication arena; with this 72-page Holiday 2007 issue, it has evolved into a QUARTZ: a QUality ARt Zine. To be specific, PASTICCIO 2 QUARTZ is meticulously jam-packed with a plethora of compelling (and fun!) information and incredible work from well known artists (and a few up and comers as well). Find inspiration, specific tips and techniques, reviews, art history, and a few special “gifts” within its pages. Printed on high quality glossy paper, its essence and design are as integral as the contents."

The magazine can be ordered at: http://www.lulu.com/content/1619814

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM LAURIE ZUCKERMAN

Happy holidays to you, particularly my two favorites: Winter Solstice and New Years. Here's my favorite holiday altar I photographed this past Octover in the village of Ocotlan, just outside of Oaxaca. Even my own altars don't have this many Jesuses, and that's saying something.

From my altars to yours, Laurie Zuckerman

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR LECTURE AT HARMONY LIBRARY, DECEMBER 7, 2007

On December 7, 5:30-7:30 pm, A Place for Every Women’s Spirituality is hosting their first Women’s Spirituality Altar Making seminar session at the Harmony Library’s Community Room. The entire community is welcome to attend a photo lecture by altarmaker, Laurie Zuckerman. Laurie will discuss her sixteen-year obsession with Catholic and Vodou altarmaking. Cost is $10.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR, CEMETERY, AND CHURCH IMAGES FROM EL DIA DE LOS MUERTOS IN OAXACA, MEXICO 2007

I just returned from ten terrific days of El Dia de los Muertos in Oaxaca, Mexico in conjunction with Michael DeMeng's Day of the Dead shrine workshop. It was a rich and varied experience, thanks to Michael and Colleen Darling.

http://picasaweb.google.com/iconarteimages

If you would like to see my best Day of the Dead altar photos and cemetery decorations from Oaxaca, Mexico and its neighboring villages during El Dia de los Muertos festivities, just open my Picasa website in your browser. You can view any or all of the pictures in the four Oaxaca photo albums. You can even turn them into slideshows.

http://picasaweb.google.com/iconarteimages

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S El DIA DE LOS MUERTOS PHOTO LECTURE AT HARMONY LIBRARY

Here is the press release for the Coloradoan newspaper announcing my upcoming lecture on the Day of the Dead festivals in Colonial Mexico. My presentation features my color photography from my 2005 journey to the cemeteries of San Miguel de Allende and Guanujuato. I will be photographing the Day of the Dead festivities in and around Oaxaca, Mexico this fall.

"Laurie Zuckerman, an art instructor at Front Range Community College, will give a slide show presentation on "El Día de los Muertos: Altars and Cemeteries from Colonial Mexico" at 4 p.m. Tuesday, October 23, in the Harmony Library Community Room.

"Zuckerman’s presentation is one of the activities to recognize El Día de los Muertos, a Latin American tradition in which people build sometimes-elaborate altars in memory of deceased loved ones. The tradition corresponds with Christian recognition of All Saints’ Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2). Altar decorations, including sugar skulls and vintage dolls, will be exhibited in the display cases of Harmony Library.

"The activities are co-sponsored by FRCC’s Latino Club, Student Life, and the Psychology of Death and Dying class taught by Beverly Leslie, psychology faculty. The Fort Collins Public Library also is a sponsor."

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S PHOTOS EXHBITED AT "FRIGHT • FEAR • FOBIA" SHOW IN COLORADO

I have two of my photos in an upcoming exhibit in Fort Collins: Fright • Fear • Fobia, which opens on October 5th. The CoCOA Gallery is hosting the exhibit that was organized by the museum studies class at Front Range Community College. They put out a national call for work to be juried, and since I am an art instructor at FRCC, I entered two of my digital roadside America photos. Here's one of the photos. Currently, I am showing a couple of digital transfer photos from the same roadside America series in our annual Front Range Art Faculty exhibition at the CoCoa Gallery. Here's one of my favorite images from that series, shot in downtown Las Vegas.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN DOES DURANGO AND TAOS WITH ALTAR-MAKING PAL, KATHY PINKERTON

Here are new photos of two of my favorite roadside sanctuarios from southern Colorado. The first Madonna is inside this folksy roadside shrine on the altar. The second Madonna is the focal figure of a sandstone grotto called The Shrine of the Blessed Mother in Huerfano County, which I have been photographing since 1999, often several times a year. The Madonna is always changing, as you can see by this last shot taken just months before. "The St. Mary Club of Walsenburg put a statue of Our Lady of Grace in the grotto in the mid-1960s, and since then travelers and residents have added objects to memorialize their loved ones," according to Mary Jean Porter at the Pueblo Chieftan. I wonder if this Madonna is the original statue. I found an old plaster statue tossed to the side of the grotto, unfortunately decapitated, so I am not sure.

I was photographing this grotto sanctuario again on Labor Day. I am working on a large series of photographs from roadside shrines in Colorado and New Mexico to be included in my upcoming solo show at the Loveland Art Museum in 2009. I was visiting there with my best altar-making buddy—artist Kathy Pinkerton, from Blacksburg, Virginia. Kathy came out for the holiday weekend to accompany me to the Durango Arts Center to see my altar and photography exhibit that was ending September 1st.

We stayed with artist, Mary Ellen Long and her husband in their beautiful art-filled home. Kathy and Mary Ellen are both papermakers and painters, so they had a lot in common. After packing up the car with the artwork that hadn't sold, the three of us lunched and shopped at a couple of antique stores, where I scored some old dolls and little goodies for my memory jugs.

Sunday morning, I awoke with a wild hare to drive Kathy to Taos, instead of heading home as the crow flies. Mary Ellen told us about the Richard Diebenkorn retrospective of his New Mexican paintings at the Harwood Museum. Being that it was ending in a few days, I knew this was my only chance to see the show. Diebenkorn has always been one of my favorite American painters. I had studied with two artists from his gang of Bay Area Figurative painters: Elmer Bischoff, when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley; and Nathan Oliviera, at Centrum in Port Townsend, Washington after graduate school.

The show was great, well worth the five-hour drive across Northern New Mexico. Plus the Harwood has a great collection of New Mexican santos and retablos, which I enjoyed visiting for a second time. Last fall, I met with the curator of the Harwood Museum to discuss my work. I am hoping to have some of work, likely my photography, shown at the museum someday. I am in the process of making CDs of my Mexican, New Mexican, and Coloradoan shrine photography to mail to the museum this week, per the request of the curator.

Kathy and I have been altar compatriots since the early-1990s when I lived in Blacksburg and worked at Virginia Tech. Kathy is meeting me in Oaxaca for Michael deMeng's Day of the Dead workshop. I can't wait, as we had a complete blast driving across two states, antiquing along the way, and talking non-stop!! Thank you, Kathy! Still haven't unpacked the car. Tomorrow is another day.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORY JUGS TO APPEAR IN LYNNE PERELLA'S UPCOMING BOOK: "ART MAKING—COLLECTIONS & OBSESSIONS"

Lynne attended the "Grave Matters" exhibit at the Loveland Museum last summer, while she was in town teaching at the Artists' Nook, where she saw my memory jugs and found-object assemblages. She later invited me to participate in her latest book project. I photographed three of my memory jugs for inclusion in the book, and sent Lynne the "fixins" for my latest jug, "Up in Smoke," for her own photographer to shoot. I can't wait to see all the other artists in her book, as I love the concept of artists who collect. The book is due out in 2008. Can't wait!

If you don't know of her work, Lynne Perrella is a terrific mixed-media artist, author, graphic designer, and workshop instructor. She conducts creativity events at various venues in the United States and abroad. She's taught some excellent workshops at the Artist's Nook, and will be back again in 2008. I took her class last summer and loved her teaching approach. She has three other books, “Artists Journals & Sketchbooks," “Alphabetica,” and 'Beyond Paper Dolls." Check out her website: www.LKPerrella.com. Her link is under my favorites.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S ALTAR APPEARS IN: "A BEAUTIFUL NECESSITY: THE ART AND MEANING OF WOMEN'S ALTARS," by Kay Turner

"Marriage Altar" Detail, by Laurie Zuckerman

If you are looking for the best book on the history of women's home altars, try A Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women's Altars, by Kay Turner. I was proud to be profiled along with 99 other American, African-American and Hispanic-American woman altarmakers in this book. A photo of my Marriage Altar appears in the book, along with some quotes by me, but it is a different detail of this altar.

Each artist received a small profile. Mine reads: Laurie Zuckerman "all but abandoned" her career as a painter when she turned to altar-making in the early 1990s, but she approaches her altar aesthetic with a painter's concern for form, color, line, texture, and concept. She regularly spends time "adjusting" her altars: "They are the most fluid part of my home. Altars are intended to be altered, to grow and respond to life's persistent changes."

Several famous altar artists are in the book, in particular internationally acclaimed Betye Saar. Her work is a must see. Two of my friends were also included in the book. Kay's book was published in 1999 by Thames & Hudson and is available on Amazon.com.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN IS HEADING TO OAXACA, MEXICO FOR THE DAY OF THE DEAD WITH MICHAEL DeMENG

This October I am heading to Oaxaca for a unique found object, shrine-making workshop with artist, Michael deMeng. I'll be spending my free-time photographing Day of the Dead shrines in the cemeteries and public squares. Here's a couple of public Day of the Dead altars I shot in 2005 in San Miguel de Allende and Guanujuato, respectively. I am ready for more color and more shopping at the sugar skull markets, as we will be building a collective Day of the Dead shrine at our workshop.

Here's the Day of the Dead ofrenda I spent the week building with the help of my old friends from Seattle in the home we all rented in San Miguel.



I was excited to discover my Day of the Dead blog entry on Michael deMeng's blog, after I signed up for his Oaxaca workshop. Thanks for the nice plug, Michael.


I am busy collecting up all my miniature skulls and appropriate goodies, and counting the days until we leave on October 25th. Lots of friends from the Artists' Nook are coming, too, plus my best altar-making buddy, Kathy Pinkerton, from Blacksburg, Virginia. Here's a shot of Kathy's Mexican altar at the Apex Gallery in New York City. This show was curated by art critic and author, Suzi Gablik.