Dia de los Muertos 2010, Dream Catcher

My camera mysteriously died and then came back to life again hours later so I didnt get too many pictures of the Cleveland celebration of Dia de los Muertos.  Also, I was busy leaving Stella's memorial, to pick up lobsters, to swing by the celebration, make a quick stop in Wall Eye Gallery, and then on to a friend's house.  This is indicative of a typical Cleveland weekend.  Always something to do and always (usually) crappy weather.

 I've always wanted to make a dream catcher and looked up some instructions online.  I made this one, but out of wire so you can tell it took me a while to get the twists right.  Oh well.  It hangs from leather and is accented with gemstones and glass beads.

Day of the Dead part I

In case anyone wondered what the Mother Mary Machine actually is-

A Marshall full stack with Our Lady of Guadalupe on the screen.  Here is an artist rendition:

This time of year always makes me reminisce about Dia de los Muertos and how much fun it was in Cleveland last year!  There was such a great community festival with a lot of artist involvement.

Here is the entrance to the graveyard where you could leave messages for the dead:

Many artists, myself included, had the honor of creating ofrendas or shrines within the church.  There was such a great variety of interpretation it turned out to be a very spiritual night.

Here is a couple from the parade that went down the street

This was a great, life size Mary

All of these were handmade!

This is part of the shrine that I made.  It was in honor of my grandmother, my cat Chango, and Our lady of Guadalupe.  We built the display and filled it with paintings, drawings, a quilt, and mementos.

The air was filled with incense and music

This was the main altar made by Dante Rodriguez in honor of his abuela.  I love the housecoats and they reminded me of my own grandmother!

Here is another close up of mine:

This is a view at night when the sun was down and all the candles in the room had a magnificent glow.

This is from another artist.  

What a great time!  A shame to be missing it this year, boo.

Day of the Dead part I

Waiting on a new USB cable so I only have these two camera phone pics from the Day of the Dead event at Parish Hall.

Everything is made by hand. The sketching on the candle holders took hours and was done with fine point pens. The quilt is largely pieced using fabrics that were donated to me.

Oh, those three sombreros were loaned.

More information on this annual event can be found:

diadelosmuertosohio.com