In conjunction with: Día de Los Muertos: A Cultural Legacy, Past, Present and Future, artists Jerri Allyn and Nicole Rademacher present a workshop designed to empower the participants to make and record their own origin stories. Join them in touring the exhibition, creating stories, and making cards.

This 90-minute workshop is designed to empower participants, to record their unique histories. Working in groups, they create an “origin story” of their choice using visual prompts.

The workshop will begin with a brief tour through the Dia de Los Muertos exhibition which features a 4-decade history of visually striking prints, rituals and celebration. The artwork and altars cover a range of both contemporary and historical “origins” of this lively commemoration that occurs throughout the Americas. “Today’s interpretation of the sacred indigenous tradition (in the United States) has been remixed and recycled into a commercial holiday blending Mexican, Latino and American pop culture iconography with the spiritual aesthetics of Dia de los Muertos’ indigenous and Catholic influences.”  - catalogue.

This workshop is recommended for youth and adults ages 12 and up.

ARTISTS

Nicole Rademacher, as a Mexican American adoptee, has recently turned her art practice to also encompass community engagement. Rademacher facilitates workshops with the adoptee constellation: building works collaboratively and creating a space for discussion. Rademacher has exhibited and screened her work worldwide including an exhibition currently on view at LAX Airport. Rademacher currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California with her husband and toddler.

Jerri Allyn, a Community Artist and Educator, creates interactive installations and participatory performance art events that often become a part of public life. She has exhibited internationally and been awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Residency, Italy; International Lila Wallace Fellowship, Mexico; and NEA  grants. In 2015 Allyn produced Hidden in Plain Site: Creative Referendums to Human Trafficking: www.hidden-in-plain-site.com; and continues projects on this topic. Allyn is blessed with a large family immigrating from Ireland, Spain, Britain and Poland. Her 8 siblings have expanded their lineage to include partners from Asia, the Caribbean and Africa. Some have adopted children from Eastern Europe and Latin America. Modern life has the family living on 3 continents, yet they manage regular reunions.