THE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY at Sonoma State University recently hosted a Día de los Muertos community altar and celebration, bringing visitors together for performances, art activities and remembrance.
The gallery’s free, public program opened Monday and ran through Friday, with an altar open daily that invited visitors to reflect and contribute to a shared community gathering.
Walking into the gallery, the sound of mariachi music filled the room. A speaker hummed with timeless classics, their familiar melodies lending a lively rhythm to the artwork and installations.
Monday’s pet day honored beloved animal companions, featuring portraits of cats and dogs. Visitors were encouraged to remember their pets as part of the altar, extending the week’s observance to the animals that had been part of their lives.
On Tuesday, Mariachi Lobos, a group from Elsie Allen High School, performed at Seawolf Plaza on the Rohnert Park campus from noon to 12:30 p.m. The performance brought live music to the week’s activities.
Wednesday and Thursday featured drop-in art activities where visitors could make marigolds and take part in a papel picado station. Hands-on projects were offered each day.
The week’s events drew on Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a tradition in which families and communities remember loved ones. Altars, flowers, food, offerings and shared gatherings are among the many ways people honor those who have left the world of the living. The gallery’s community altar offered visitors a place to take part in that remembrance.
The celebration concluded Friday with a gathering from noon to 1 p.m. Associate professor Natalia Villanueva-Nieves was the guest speaker at the closing program, which also included a taco lunch and a hands-on printmaking activity.
All events and activities were free and open to the public. The week’s mix of remembrance, performance and art gave visitors several ways to participate, whether by spending time at the altar, joining an activity or attending the closing lunch on Friday.
