Dia de los Muertos Postcard Competition
September 19 – November 12, 2006
Open Book Lobby Gallery
Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) is a celebration of the memory of deceased ancestors, celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. The origins of the celebration can be traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Americas, such as the Aztec, Maya, Purepecha, Nahual and Totonac. Today, despite the morbid subject matter, the holiday is celebrated joyfully. On these dates, families clean and decorate graves, build shrines, and provide offerings and trinkets of flowers and loved ones’ favorite foods. A common symbol of the holiday is the skull, which celebrants represent in masks, called calacas. In recent years, the vibrant colors, symbols and decorations associated with Día de los Muertos have become increasingly visible in popular art. To celebrate this festival, Minnesota Center for Book Arts sponsored a postcard contest, with all entries displayed from September 19 – November 12, 2006 in the Open Book Lobby Gallery.
Five winners were selected and their designs were professionally reproduced. They were: Ruby Thompson, Linda Bergerson, Alan Vandenburgh, Libby Schmid Sullivan and Michele Heather Pollock.