CONTACT: Clara Mae Marcotte

512-593-4143

ARTIST REMEMBERS THE SPIRIT OF LOVED ONES

KINGSVILLE (September 24, 1998) -- "Honoring the Souls: Day of the Dead Altars," an altar installation by Irma Vega, will be displayed in Texas A&M University-Kingsville's Bailey Art Gallery Oct. 8 - Nov. 3. An opening reception will be held from 5 -7 p.m. Thursday Oct. 8.

Vega, originally from Baja California, Mexico, works in ceramics, raku and blackware. Her altar installations have been displayed in San Francisco and Santa Barbara.

The Texas A&M-Kingsville installation will be dedicated to photographer and muralist Amy Lou Packard. Packard, who died in May, was a peer and photographer of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Community members also will display altar installations. Maggie Salinas, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will dedicate her altar to 10 undocumented workers walking from Mexico seeking freedom who died stranded in the brush country. Maria Lomas Garza, mother of artist Carmen Lomas Garza, will dedicate her altar to the oppressed ones.

Two workshops, free and open to the public, will be held Oct. 9 in conjunction with the exhibit, but spaces are limited and must be reserved in advance by calling the art department. A children's workshop using paper cutouts and clay figurines will be presented in the Conner Museum from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Vega also will present an adult workshop in the artdepartment on creating family altars from 12 noon to 1:50 p.m.

Family altars are used to remember someone. "This is something you do once a year, perhaps on the day they were born or when they died, in order to remember the spirit of those we love," Vega said.

Every year Vega has a big celebration at home for Day of the Dead. "For weeks ahead, I

prepare paper cutouts and all the different items that will be made with clay, such as tombstones, plates, figures, incense burners and skulls. By Nov. 1 the altar is ready with special flowers, bread, food, candles and other special items to receive the visiting spirits and honor them, keeping a tradition of hundreds of years," Vega said.

Vega said many items can be used for the altar -- peaceful things to enhance the spirit of the remembered one.

"Honoring the Souls: Day of the Dead Altars" is sponsored by the Texas A&M-Kingsville art department and the Texas A&M-Kingsville Hispanic Heritage Committee.

Bailey Art Gallery hours are 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information or workshop reservations, call the Texas A&M-Kingsville art department at 512-593-2619.

-TAMUK-