Dia de Los Muertos is one of Tieton Arts and Humanities most loved and favorite celebrations of the year. This new sculpture project was designed to not only embrace the beautiful artwork of the culture/celebration but to also embrace the community in which we live in. 

The idea to design a giant paper mache sculpture of a skeleton was brought on by the traditional crafts done in Mexico’s capital Tláhuac neighborhood. There they are built by local artists. Some of these sculptures measure more than 11 feet in width and 7 feet tall. They are crafted from recycled and salvaged materials then painted. The skeletons are created in the hope to encourage cultural preservation.  

Day of the Dead celebrates those family, and friends that have passed on. The skeleton is one of the iconic symbols for this celebration and is used in many ways. Small skulls made out of sugar are piped with frosting, foil and gems and used as decor for altars. People paint their faces and dress up as skeletons to celebrate and honor those who have passed away. Using a skeleton as the main imagery for Tieton Arts and Humanities sculpture seemed the most fitting to Honor the culture and celebration. 

With this project we wanted to not only have a finished product for our Day of the Dead celebration but also have something that our community could take part in creating. It was important that it was fun and creative and appropriate for all ages to contribute to. Since this is to be a large sculpture we hope to work on it throughout the year. We have a basic structure built of the skeleton and plan to bring it out during community events throughout the year. During these events all visitors are welcome to contribute to helping construct the sculpture. The three local artists behind the design are Cindy Lemus, Carlos Prado, and Rosie Saldana. 

The structure is fabricated out of recycled materials and mounted to a wooden pallet so it will be easy to transport around the venue. The materials we will use to cover this sculpture are newspaper and glue. Like the community artists in Mexico’s capital we wanted to create a large paper mache skeleton. Firstly to continue the traditional crafting of mexican heritage and secondly to make it an easy and fun project for everyone to enjoy. 

It's important for us to have our community feel part of this project because this celebration we put on annually is firstly for our community. We want them to feel like they have a part in making this day as beautiful and memorable as possible. Tieton Washington is located in the middle of an agricultural community so we have a large hispanic population.