A TMC Arts Program Grand Park's Downtown Día de los Muertos

2022 Grand Park’s Downtown Día de los Muertos Artists

• Alain F. Norte

  Never forget where/who you came from. Family holds us together. Gives us the strength to move forward.

• Beatrice de Alba & Richard de Alba

  Our altar is dedicated to family members and artist friends who have passed. It is titled, “Amor y Arte”. We will be incorporating a family altar with tributes to various street artists. It will include a main altar complete with all of the traditional elements as well as original graffiti art designs on wood.

• Carolyn Castaño

  My Day of the Dead altar is dedicated to my late father Jairo Castaño and my aunts and uncles who have recently passed away, specifically Jose Maria Castaño, Hernan Castaño, Gustavo Castaño, and Maruja Ramirez. The altar centered around my father Jairo Castaño and uses his photography to tell the story or stories about their lives. Jairo emigrated from Cali, Colombia to Los Angeles in 1962 and worked in many industries as an electrical circuit board maker, screen printer, and laborer.

• Consuelo Flores

  This will be the community altar sponsored by Self Help Graphics. The design will include a Mother Earth figure on the top center of the platform as part of a Tree of Life. The title of this ofrenda is "The Giving Tree - A Cycle of Life" and will include the roots of the main tree, "feeding" smaller trees throughout. All will feature butterflies, birds and flowers alongside photos from members of our community, including the victims of the Uvalde school shooting.

• Denise Esparza

  Amorcito Corazon honoring couples who have passed.

• Generaciones en Accion

  As our organization works to promote the unity between intergenerational immigrant families living in Los Angeles, we wanted to keep a traditional Latin ofrenda, highlighting intergenerational families of different Latin cultures. In essence, we want to show that it is not just the elderly we have to remember, but there are generations of our ancestors we take into account during this holiday. We want to capitalize on the diverse Latin immigrants we have here in Los Angeles and will be representing as many of these Latin countries as possible.

• Gian F. Norte

  The installation will be 5 pieces in the shape of Elote's with a calavera face on each and small detail. The pieces will be made out of chicken wire and other mixed media.

• Ginette Rondeau

  Our Eternal Love, A Celebration of Life!

  We tragically lost my grandnephew, Abraham James Clugston, earlier this year. He was 2 years old. He was so full of love and energy. Whenever I visited him, he would giggle and fill the house with joy and laughter. In my grieving, I imagined him being greeted by my family that had passed in the heavens above. I envisioned my mother and grandmother celebrating his arrival--with him giggling during his new adventure. My altar will be a celebration of all of them having a wonderful time together. It will be dedicated to my beloved ones. I want to make it magical like him. My cousin, Rebecca Brooks, will be assisting me. She is Abraham’s grandmother. I am hoping to include my Mailbox to Heaven where people can write letters to their loved ones that have passed.

• Jessica Monares

  This altar is dedicated to the ancestors who sacrificed for the beautiful life I have today. The aesthetic foundations of the altar are inspired by my abuelito, Federico Caballero Monares who broke his body as a concrete craftsman, pouring concrete for gas stations all over Los Angeles. Although he had a rough exterior, once during a stressful time I overheard him telling his friend that I was a chingona and I had never felt so proud. The photos in boxes are in honor of my maternal abuelo Arturo Dominguez, who passed long before I was born, my Tio Arturo Dominguez Jr. and Tia Dolores Dominguez who shared a love of vintage and gardening and whose potted desert plants are featured on the altar. My suegro Jose Luis Jimenez who left this earth right before my love and I first crossed paths, leaving me my childhood friend turned magical partner. I owe much to these spirits and am grateful to be able to honor them here in the middle of the city that has been the backdrop of our family history.

• Rock Rose Gallery

  From Artists to Angels

  A memorial tribute to Inner City Cultural Center.

• Latino Theater Company

  PURO TEATRO - Dedicated to the artists and supporters who dedicated their life to theater.

• Marissa Magdalena

  I am building this altar to honor the legendary Vin Scully. I aim to highlight Vin's inimitable career with photos and quotes. All the traditional altar elements will be present in a way that furthers the themes of Vin's life. Papel picado pennants, calaveras in Dodger uniforms, and cempazuchitl made from Dodger blue and white tissue will honor the fact that Vin has been an institution for generations of Chicanos in Southern California and beyond. Viewers may leave their memories of Vin as part of the offenda as well. Having just lost Vin in August, this will be an important way for the Los Angeles community to come together in gratitude for his legacy.

• The Wall Las Memorias

  For this year’s Altar, we are using the traditional elements like, flor de cempasuchil, salt,water, papel picado and more much little details, to create an atmosphere of traditionand respect for those who has passed away from HIV/AIDS, during the pandemic andfor trans people.

• Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore

  Mictlancihuatl: Our feminine caretaker of Mictlan, the place of rest.

• United to House LA

  “Tener Un Techo, Es Un Derecho”

  This altar includes elements reminiscent of home, miniature houses and opportunities for locals to leave offerings for their loved ones, along with traditional paper flowers, real cempasúchil, and tenant rights papel picado. The intention is to recreate Los Angeles and represent the many tenants across LA County who lost their lives to displacement.

• Women Who Submit

  Writers Altar

  I’ll continue

  fill the void of your absence with

  love between me and ours

  gods

  --Wanda Coleman, Unofficial Poet Laureate of Los Angeles

  
  Our altar honors storytellers. The woman-identifying and non-binary writers on the altar were chosen from our WWS, Los Angeles, and Southern California communities. Often overlooked because of gender, race, orientation, health, and class, we lift up these writers' voices just as they lifted up marginalized writers in their lifetime. We want to ensure their contributions are honored in this life and their names remembered into the afterlife. We thank mother earth for holding all our stories while we live on this plane, and we ask our ancestors and our gods to welcome these writers into the beyond.

  
  With this altar we celebrate Barbara Abercrombie, Octavia Butler, Wanda Coleman, Camila María Concepción, Joan Didion, Natalie Smith Parra, Kit Reed, Michele Serros, Tatiana de la Tierra, and Yvonne de la Vega.

  
  We make this offering in love and respect for all the poems and stories that go unheard, unpublished, and unrecognized.

• Rose Portillo

  This altar for Grand Park 2022 is in honor of Isa Meksin (1928-2022), an Echo Park legend and an activist well-known to City Hall. She was a Distinguished Educator and was declared Woman of the Year in 2018 by Congressman Adam Schiff (congressional record). Born in Ukraine, her family moved to the USA in the 1930s and she came to LA in 1953. She had an indomitable spirit - a rabble rouser, a fierce lover of justice, an advocate for the arts… The altar reproduces some of her artwork from when she was 15 yrs old, originally drawn in pencil on the back of a receipt book. “You can turn anything into Art."

• The Familia Flores

  Let’s take a cruise down memory lane Dedicated to the Lowrider community and culture. Representing parts of East L.A. area places and people who contributed to its history, like Ruben Salazar.

• Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles

  Mujeres de Lucha, e Interrupidas/Fighting and Interrupted Women

  
  In memory of those Mexican women who dedicated their lives to the service of their people, as well as those who perished along the way. Among them, Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, considered a pioneer and reference in the defense of human rights, peace and democracy in Mexico. Her light has gone out, but there are still many that illuminate, and every day others are lit to continue her legacy of struggle for inclusive justice in society.

  
  A road of marigold flowers with a central image of Rosario Ibarra de Piedra

  
  A banner framing the head of the offering, with a picture of Rosario and one of her quotes. Candles to light the way. Other names to be included:

  
  Kimberly Melissa Díaz Ortíz (14 años). Debanhi Susana Escobar Bazaldúa (19 años). Arith Alejandra Landeros Montaño (25 años). Jessica González Villaseñor (21 años, maestra). Ximena Monserrat Martinez Rangel (16 años). And more.

• Latino Outreach + Understanding Division

  Despierta DACA

  
  This altar will serve to honor individuals that have lost their lives in ICE detention centers and recognize the uncertain future of the program DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).

• Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

  Teotihuacan: The City of Gods, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

  
  Celebrating the life of Rodrigo Garcia, founder of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and a tribute to the fallen heroes of the LADWP and American Society of Civil Engineers Younger Member Forum.

  
  SHPE believes the most pressing problem facing the STEM industry is that the workforce has yet to reflect the diversity of our nation. We are bridging the gap between Hispanics and STEM SHPE changes lives by empowering the Hispanic community to realize its fullest potential and to impact the world through STEM awareness, access, support, and development.