In conjunction with Gilded, Carved, and Embossed: Latin American Art, 1500–1800, the Benton welcomes Chicana visual artists Ofelia Esparza and Rosanna Ahrens Esparza for an altar-building workshop. with priority access for students at Pomona and the Claremont Colleges.
In our workshop, participants will come together with stories of their own along with photos, poems, writings and other personal mementos to create individual ofrendas. We will discuss how this practice of storytelling creates bridges that foster healing through the dignity of our histories.
Co-sponsored by Chicano Latino Student Affairs (CLSA) at the Claremont Colleges.
About Ofelia Esparza and Rosanna Ahrens Esparza
Chicana visual artists, Ofelia Esparza (b.1932) and Rosanna Esparza Ahrens (b.1961), are master altaristas (altar makers) born and raised in East Los Angeles, CA. Ofelia is highly recognized for her Day of the Dead ofrendas (altars/shrines), which have been shown nationally and internationally since 1979. Her work celebrates her spirituality and Indigenous heritage from the Purepecha culture of Southern Guanajuato, Mexico. A great portion of her work honors womanhood, and reflects the spirituality found in nature and in the dignity of the people around her. Informed by her mother’s altar-making traditions, Esparza’s ofrendas, for Day of the Dead, and Nacimientos (nativity scenes), became integral in her art curriculum at City Terrace Elementary School, where she taught for 30 years and retired in 1999. Her role as educator extended beyond the classroom and into her community; she sees herself as a cultural facilitator, through her ofrenda-building. She is a 2018 National Heritage Fellow with National Endowment of the Arts (NEA).
