LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN'S DIA DE LOS MUERTOS MOURNING ALTAR AT LONGMONT MUSEUM'S DAY OF THE DEAD EXHIBITION 2012

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Madre Dolorosa mourning altar at the Longmont Museum 

and Cultural Center's 12th Annual Día de los Muertos Exhibition. 
The photos on the wall are my own pictures that I took in Oaxaca, Mexico. 
The photos on the floor are of my parents, Blanche and George Zuckerman.

In case you are wondering, I did not have a choice about the color 

of the pink walls or blue cloth behind the altar.

 Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Madre Dolorosa mourning altar installed at the 
Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's Día de los Muertos 12th Annual Exhibition.
My altar is dedicated to my grandmother and aunt, detailed below in the museum signage.
Below two families visiting the altar during the Family Celebration in October.

Below is a photo of my Madre Dolorosa mourning altar in my studio before the Longmont exhibition. It has taken me nine months to build this altar. I prefer the neutral wall background behind the black objects, even if it is more somber looking. It is a very sad altar, so the bright colors are too cheery for my intentions.

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Madre Dolorosa 

Day of the Dead altar as it last looked in the studio. 

The Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's 12th Annual "El Dia de los Muertos Exhibition" includes two altars by Laurie Beth Zuckerman. This year I have created a new altar installation, entitled Madre Dolorosa, for the community altar gallery honoring family and friends. My altar is dedicated to my grandmother, Sarah Melnick Zuckerman, and my Aunt Elizabeth. 

Last year I was the Altarista-in-Residence and created a huge installation honoring the folk arts of Mexico, entitled Homage to Old Mexico.

The fiesta opening of "El Dia de los Muertos" was jam-packed on October 4. The family day on October 27 is the next main event. You can visit the exhibition anytime during its daily run from October 5 through November 4.

For more information about the exhibition and all of the programs, visit the Longmont Museum's website below. 

www.ci.longmont.co.us/museum/education/day_of_dead.htm

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN'S DIA DE LOS MUERTOS MINI-ALTAR AT LONGMONT MUSEUM

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Day of the Dead mini-marketplace altar is on display

at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's Día de los Muertos Exhibition.

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Day of the Dead mini-marketplace altar is on display

at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's Día de los Muertos Exhibition.

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's Day of the Dead marketplace altar's Tree of Life.

The Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's 12th Annual "El Dia de los Muertos Exhibition" includes two new altars by Laurie Beth Zuckerman. 

I designed, built and painted this altar nicho beginning in 1989, and over the years I have collected miniature Mexican folk art to create this diorama of a tienda/ mercado. I also hand-painted the "Tree of Life" candelabra which crowns the top of the altar. Many of the objects are vintage figurines I have collected from flea markets around the country, while others were gathered on my own visits to Colonial Mexico. There are even tiny Mexican Day of the Dead skulls, and calacas from Peru.

Last year I created one of my largest altar installation during my Altarmaker-in-Residency at the Longmont Museum. The contrast in going from HUGE to MINI-scale this year was fun.

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Homage to Old Mexico" Day of the Dead Altar

at the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, Colorado 2011

This year's fiesta opening of "El Día de los Muertos" was jam-packed on the evening of October 4. The family day on October 27 will be the last main event for this fabulous exhibit. You can visit the exhibition anytime during its daily run from October 5 through November 4.

For more information about the exhibition and all of the programs, visit the Longmont Museum's website below.

www.ci.longmont.co.us/museum/education/day_of_dead.htm

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN DIA DE LOS MUERTOS TARNISHED ANGELS ALTAR AT STUDIO 12 GALLERY IN DENVER'S SANTA FE DISTRICT

Detail of Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Tarnished Angels" altar

on view at the Studio 12 Gallery in Denver, Colorado

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Tarnished Angels" altar
at Denver's Studio 12 Gallery Día de los Muertos Exhibition

Denver's Studio 12 Gallery Dia de los Muertos Exhibition 2012

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Tarnished Angels" altar

at Denver's Studio 12 Gallery 4th Annual Día de los Muertos Exhibition 2012

Laurie Beth Zuckerman invites you to the November 2 Closing Reception at the Studio 12 Gallery's Día de los Muertos Exhibition, juried by artist, Carlos Fresquez. I am exhibiting a new mourning altar entitled, "Tarnished Angels" in honor of my father, Hollywood screenwriter George Zuckerman. The movie, Tarnished Angels was one of George's most successful films and was directed by the famous auteur Douglas Sirk in 1957. It starred Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone, and is based on William Faulkner's novel, Pylon. My father made four films with Rock Hudson, including the 1956 Academy Award-winning Written on the Wind, also starring Lauren Bacall.

The ultra-hip Studio 12 Gallery is located in the Santa Fe District of Denver, Colorado, and is owned by artist, Sean Brown. This is my third year I have been invited to construct a contemporary altar installation for the gallery's fourth annual Day of the Dead show. Last year the 3rd Annual show won "Best Curated Exhibition" in the Santa Fe District. It has been great having my altars set the mood for these popular group shows. I have met so many talented artists from Denver and Northern Colorado.

Below are pictures representing my Tarnished Angels altar at different stages of design and construction. I collected so many possible vintage items for this altar during the past six years that I have been building it in my studio. I had to radically pare down my options for the space allotted at the Studio 12 Gallery. My altars tend to be huge space hogs, so it was a challenge to make one that is slender in all dimensions.

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's new "Tarnished Angels" altar

under design in Laurie's studio

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Tarnished Angels" altar

under final construction in Laurie's studio

Additional information about the First Friday Reception on November 2.

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN'S MEMORIAL FAMILY ALTARS AND SHRINES FEATURED ON "COLORADO CREATES" WEBSITE, BY LYNN SCHWEBACH

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's "Pie Safe Altar" 2012

To view this article on the Colorado Creates website, click on this link:

http://coloradocreates.com/laurie-zuckerman-creates-christian-altars-and-shrines-for-jewish-family-members/

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHS MEDICINE WHEEL NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK SACRED OFFERINGS IN THE BIGHORN MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN WYOMING

I took my summer sojourn to visit the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming this past weekend. I am drawn to sacred sites and I knew that this would be a meaningful place to photograph after seeing a website photo of the rope fence decorated with colorful offerings. The cloth packets, bandanas, beads, and feathers hanging on the rope fence were left by the 81 indigenous Indian tribes who visit the Medicine Wheel. The guard told me that the tied up packets contain tobacco, sage, and cedar. I need to research this tradition, as I have never seen these beautiful handmade offerings before, many of which look like bouquets of roses. 

This ancient site, believed to be 700 years old, contains an 80-foot diameter wheel of stones radiating with 28 spokes and six rock cairns. Vandalism has caused the astrologically-aligned wheel to be recently fenced in from tourists, although native people are still allowed entry inside the wheel. To me, the fence and its abundant offerings dominated the solemness of the white rocks on the earth, and commanded most of my visual attention.

The drive from Fort Collins to northern Wyoming took one short day. We rented a quaint old cabin in the historic district of Buffalo, and the next morning spent the day exploring the Bighorns on Scenic Byway 14A heading west out of Sheridan. The scenery was idyllic. Spying three moose on the way there was a good omen. Medicine Wheel, which resides at nearly 10,000 feet above sea level, hangs precipitously over the deserts of Western Wyoming. The mandatory three-mile hike was a bit of a chore for me at that elevation, but plenty of pikas and marmots kept me company along the rocky route. Medicine Wheel is well worth the effort.

For more information: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/usa/bighorn-medicine-wheel

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN'S FIREPLACE MANTLE CURIOSITY ALTAR. DO YOU HAVE ONE, TOO?

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's fireplace mantle "altar or curiosities."

Laurie Beth Zuckerman's fireplace mantle "altar or curiosities." It is not really an altar in any intentional form. It is certainly not symmetrical, as are most of my altars. Some of the objects are collected from Mexico. Others are handmade by my husband, Tom Mathies. It is an odd assortment of oddities.

What do you have on your mantlepiece? I would love to see your displays. Share your photos with me, perhaps. Email them to me at: lauriebethzuckerman@gmail.com

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHY OF ANIMAL CAROUSELS FROM OAXACA, MEXICO

Carousel in Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico during El Día de los Muertos

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Carousel in Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico during El Día de los Muertos

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Carousels decorate the plaza for the Guadalupe Festival in Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

Mexico is always abundant with rich color, and these carousel animal photos taken in the Oaxaca region during several trips are wonderfully garish and madly humorous. Carousels are used to celebrate El Día de los Muertos and the Virgen de Guadalupe festivals.

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOS OF CIUDAD DE OAXACA'S BUILDINGS

Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

Ciudad de Oaxaca, Mexico

I have been taking pictures of building doorways and windows since my first travels south of the border in the early 1980s, but these particular photos from Ciudad de Oaxaca's historic district are my most favorite pictures of all. These aged combinations of paint, plaster, wood, and wrought iron are a painter's dream palette and a photographer's bonanza! Oaxaca is a World Heritage site in the southernmost state of Mexico.

LAURIE BETH ZUCKERMAN'S PHOTOS OF LA VIRGEN DE LA SOLEDAD STATUES IN OAXACA

La Virgen de la Soledad is one of the most popular saints
sold in Oaxaca's religious stores near the Bascilica.
Made of clay and plaster, they are often seen on graves in
Oaxaca's municipal cemetery, the San Miguel Panteon.
This statue is still in excellent condition.

A plaster weather-worn Virgen stands disintegrating
inside a locked wrought iron grave nicho.

A clay Virgen losing its paint around its face.

A portable Virgen de la Soledad stands in the courtyard of the

Basilica de la Soledad. This patron saint of Oaxaca is

venerated every year on December 18.  After prayers, gifts of flowers, 

lighting of candles, and the ritual touching of her robes,

the Virgen is paraded back into the church.

In honor of my previous Sunday's post, I am sharing more images of La Virgen de la Soledad—the patron saint of Oaxaca, Mexico. She has her own church, the Basilica de la Soledad in Oaxaca City, which is considered the most important religious site in the entire state. La Virgen is my most favorite of the Mexican virgins. I love her stylized triangular shape. And her robes are black, gold, and silver, colors I adore. La Virgen de la Soledad is one of the most popular saints sold in Oaxaca's religious stores surrounding the Bascilica. Made of clay and plaster, they are frequently seen on graves in Oaxaca's municipal cemetery, the San Miguel Panteon. Above are three Virgens in various states of disintegration. Click on each of my photos to see the details in a larger format. To see my photos of this famous Virgen click on my earlier post.

Architecturally, the Basilica is known for its 79 ft high Baroque facade and its heavily gilded interior. It was built between 1682 and 1690 to house the holy image of the Virgin of Solitude (Soledad). The main statue stands inside the church, decorated with 600 diamonds and topped with a 4 lb gold crown. Her vestments are encrusted with pearls. In the 1980s, robbers removed her jewel-studded crown. She now has a replica of the original and stands in a glass-covered shrine. Many locals come to pray before the image, as she is believed to have the power to heal and work miracles. A major festival on December 18 honors the Virgin, attracting the faithful from all over Oaxaca. The last photo above shows the religious store directly across the street from the Basilica with many Virgins on display in the window. 

For more information about this sacred site: Basilica de la Soledad, Oaxaca, Mexico.