Dia De Los Muertos Altar for my Hefito...

Today I am setting up the altar for my dad...for the Dia De Los Muertos celebration at Centro Cultural Aztlan on Sunday...It will be six years since my hefito left on his next journey...I will be back with more soon....there are a number of Dia de Los Muertos activities happening around San Antonio...you can view a good number of the listings at the  sacalaveras.com events calendar. Update...here is a preview of the altar...it is ready for the final items like fresh fruit, Dia de los Muertos bread, favorite foods, vegeteables, fresh tortillas, tamales, atillito, dulcecitos, and all the other cositas that my hefito liked...There are also other items that are placed on the altar, personal belongings of the loved one like books-my father had a large collection of books that he read-most of them were for reference except for his bible in which he took notes and most of them he got rid of so these few books are what remained, tools-he had so many really old ones too, and special things in the case of my father-his big cup for his daily atolito de abenita... tonight the evening at Centro Cultural Aztlan will be festive and nostalgic one...I hope to see everyone there... 

While I was setting up the altar for my father I had a few visitors...Raul and the vatos locos from Sabor Kolombia, were in town shooting a video and they were across the street eating lunch. They heard about our Dia De Los Muertos celebration that was going to take place in the evening, since they were going to be busy they wanted to stop by and look at all the alters that were set up and ready for the evening festivities

...Also visiting before the event was Prof. Rosita Harper from The University of Findlay in Ohio...she had found out about the event and a workshop that I was presenting at Centro Cultural Aztlan for the Dia De Los Muertos pre-weekend activities and came to visit for the evening events...It is always a pleasure to talk to people while I am installing my altar to my father...I find that it allows me to tell the stories that are held within all the items I place on his altar. That, I am sure, would make him happy...

Rudy's Visit....

My brother Rudy came through town on his way to Laredo...I had a chance to catch up with him...Rudy is an independent truck driver. He drives loads of produce from the Rio Grande Valley to the east coast mostly, after which he waits for loads that need to go from the east coast to other parts of the country. Sometimes he'll spend as much as three weeks on the road driving from dock to dock. Upstate NY, NYC, Virginia,D.C., Baltimore, Boston, Philly , to name a few places...then sometimes cross country from there...all the way to the west coast....I've been working on some studies of photographs, drawings and paintings based on his story...more later...

Things @ Twilight...

Sometimes all it take is a quick look around to see the dialogue between the earth and the sky...in this case it occurred at sunset and carries on with a marked ambiguity that should make you look twice...I took this pic on my way to the studio...it reminded me of a beautiful evening on a South Tejas coast...

Been working at the studio alot...I've got a show coming up at the end of November at the Institute of Texan Cultures and there is a Dia de Los Muertos exhibit that I am preparing to create an altar for...

Getting Ready for a Studio Visit

Today I will be having a studio visit to select the works that will be in an exhibit at the Institute of Texan Cultures-SATX...this exhibit will be up for six months...I will make sure that I post the opening event date...

Arte Chicano Discussion @ Gallista Gallery

This event was held in order to preview the new CD/DVD for the Latina/o Arts Community that the Hispanic Research Center out of Arizona State University is producing. They are known for the Chicano Art History books-Triumph in Our Communities and Chicano Art for Our Millennium. The majority of the San Antonio a

rtists that are in these books work out of and are associated with Gallista Gallery. 

I had a studio at Gallista Gallery for about seven years, but needed a larger place so I moved two buildings down the street at 116 Lone Star which is right around the corner.  The Event was well attended and there were copies of the books available for sale. Quite a number of the artist were available to sign copies of the books and there was a short question/answer session shortly after the presentation.

Arturo Almeida, Dr. Ricardo Romo, and artist Jesus Chista Cantu

Dr. Gary Keller, Ernesto Ancira and wife

1house-7water

I thought that this image would be fitting for the very first pic in my blog...intzalan is the place in between...what better description of the present...I welcome all my friends to this place...I will posting pix, poetry, video, etc. of what I am up to in the art scene in San Antonio...