Farmington Hills Resident Designs Ofrenda For DIA Day of the Dead Exhibit

Dr. Betz King, a Farmington Hills psychologist and the master’s program coordinator at the Michigan School of Professional Psychology, will be participating in the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Ofrenda Exhibit, showing her piece “Ofrenda de mi perro.”

Hers is among 28 ofrendas created by local artists from Friday, Oct. 24, to Sunday, Nov. 2. An ofrenda (offering) is an essential part of the traditional Mexican Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) holiday, a day to remember and honor the memory of deceased loved ones.

Ofrendas consist of a collection of objects meaningful to the deceased and placed on altars as a welcome to those being remembered or honored. They are traditionally decorated with ornate sugar skulls, flowers, favorite foods, mementos and pictures of the deceased. Some contemporary versions have gone beyond the tradition and have been created as a way to pay homage not only to people but also to places, moments in time, ideas and events that people feel are worth commemorating.

Themes for the DIA ofrendas include memorials to family members and friends; victims of violent crime; the origins of the Mexican ofrenda tradition; artists; celebrities; Mexican women dedicated to the arts, science, politics and social activism; missing women in the towns on the Mexican-American border; pets; immigrants who died while traveling to the United States; Detroit’s abandoned buildings; and the United States Postal Service (USPS), among others.

The altars will be constructed from a variety of media, including found objects, ceramics, seeds, photographs, sand, beads and paper flowers, and range in size from one foot to 10 feet tall.

The DIA put out a call to artists for proposals, and submissions were judged by a panel that included Latino artists and community members, including Detroit City Council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez and Ruben Millan Mayorga, administrator at the Consulate of Mexico in Detroit.

The artists chosen for the exhibition have wide-ranging experiences and occupations – seasoned artists, teachers, students, veterans and entrepreneurs. Many have designed ofrendas for other museums, galleries and community centers.

Participating artists will discuss their ofrendas in a public talk on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at the DIA.

Museum hours are 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Tuesdays–Thursdays; 9 a.m.–10 p.m.Fridays; and 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors, $4 for ages 6–17, and free for DIA members and residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. For membership information call (313) 833-7971.

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera’s world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA’s collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.

Programs are made possible with support from residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

_____

Photo: Dr. Betz King’s personal blog.