Dia De Los Muertos
Celebrating The Dead is a tradition that dates back 3,000 years. Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Mayan, Aztec and Totonac, among others, performed rituals honoring their deceased ancestors. These rituals symbolized the death and rebirth of various cycles of their life. Each civilization held such rituals according to their own calendar...
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La Catrina
One of the most familiar images that comes to mind when thinking of dia de los muertos is “La Catrina”. A zinc etching created by one of Mexico’s most notorious print makers prior to the revolutionary era. Jose Guadalupe Posada, the creator of such image, depicted the figure of a female skeleton wearing an elegant hat, fashionable at the time. Posada’s intention behind this image, was to show that death, regardless of social status, is something we will all face. one day....
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The Castillo Horta Family
Master potter Alfonso Castillo Horta and his family have crafted Arboles de la vida, (trees of life) and numerouns day of the dead figures, for more than 5 generations. Their intricate designs and impecable attention to detail had gained them international recognition.
"ARBOL DE LA VIDA" Banamex Art Collection.
This beautifull replica depicts the history of the Mole Poblano, and is a very unique and highly detailed piece available at Olverita's along with other artwork pieces from the Castillo family.
The Linares Family
Pedro Linares Lopez, started manufacturing paper piñatas and masks at an early age, and later became one of Mexico City's most solicited cartoneros who provided judas and devil figures for the region's festivities. At the age of 30, Pedro found himself very sick and uncuncious. While he was in a deep state of sleep, he remembers visioning strange creatures made up of different animal parts; donkeys with butterfly wings, lions with eagle heads, lizards with horns and fangs.
Later on he decided to bring those creatures to life by creating the "alebrijes", figures made out of paper mache, higly detailed and intricatelly painted using really bright colors and patterns. Pedro soon, was noticed by other great artists, such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, who ordered alebrijes from him.
Pedro's legacy did not die with him in 1992. His family retains the style and carries along the tradition of the paper mache figures taking it to international levels. Today his sons and grand-sons continue to create magnificent paper mache pieces for museums across the United States and Europe.
