FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
TO:
LISTINGS/CRITICS/FEATURES
FROM:
CHRISTINE MILO, 914-738-2525 ext. 113 [email protected]
DATE:
September 29, 2010
DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION AT PELHAM ART CENTER
FREE All Age Art Workshop
With Zafiro Romero-Acevedo and Aurelia Fernandez Marure
Saturday, October 30, 1:30 - 3:30 pm
L-R: Aurelia Fernandez 2008; Day of the Dead Alter
Pelham Art Center presents a FREE All Age Art Workshop to celebrate the Mexican holiday,
Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos). In the Mexican culture, death is addressed through
many cultural and religious rituals. The indigenous people of Mexico, as well as many modern
Mexicans believe that the souls of the dead return each year to visit with their living relatives - to
eat, drink and be merry. In Mexican tradition, this is a day to remember the dead and to
celebrate by preparing special foods in honor of those who have departed. On this day the
streets near the cemeteries are filled with decorations of flowers and “calaveras,” skeletons and
skulls made of candy.
To celebrate, families make altars and place offerings of food, candles, incense, yellow
marigolds (known as “cempazuchitl”) and most importantly, photographs and mementos of the
departed soul are placed on the altar. Pelham Art Center continues these folkloric traditions and
honors the memory of loved ones and national heroes in an art workshop lead by folk artists
Zafiro Romero-Acevedo and her mother Aurelia Fernandez Marure. Participants will create
vibrant memorial altars with Mexican paper crafts and art materials provided by the Art Center.
Zafiro Romero-Acevedo was born in Morelos, Mexico and has lived with her family in Yonkers
since 1984. She has been brought up in a strong culture heritage as in Mexican folklore
performances, murals and paper arts. Her family started Mexican activities in Saint Peter's
Church, Saint Mary's Church in Yonkers, and Manhattan. Mrs. Acevedo’s late Uncle Don Lazaro
Marure began the first Mexican Community in South Yonkers. Mrs. Acevedo earned her
bachelor's degree from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, PA majoring in Computer Graphics
Technology in Multimedia and Associates degree in Fine Arts and in Animation. She conducts
workshops in Mexican fine arts and traditional Mexican performing arts and theater in Yonkers
Public Schools as well as art centers, museums, and Hispanic festivals in the Tri-State area
and Ocean County New Jersey.
Ms. Aurelia Fernández Marure was born and educated in Mexico who has lived in the Yonkers
since and since 1984. She has led workshops for all ages in traditional Mexican crafts at the
Historical Society of Rockland, and at the Riverfront Library and the annual Riverfest in Yonkers,
at Casa Puebla in NYC, the Brooklyn Museum, the Mexican consulate, the Westchester Arts
Council, the American Museum of Natural history, the State University Rutgers of New Jersey,
the American Indian Museum and at the Museum of the City of New York, through the Mano a
Mano Mexican cultural project in New York City. In 1998, she helped found the annual Alma de
Mexico cultural festival which just celebrated its 10th year. Ms. Fernandez has been conducting
workshops in the Mexican traditional crafts at Pelham Art Center and at Williams Elementary
School in Mount Vernon since 2002.
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Pelham Art Center 155 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY 10803 914-738-2525 [email protected]
Hours: Tuesday- Friday, 10-5pm Saturday, 10-4pm
Directions: Located 5 blocks from the Hutchinson Parkway exit 12 and 2 blocks from the Metro North Pelham stop
Pelham Art Center receives funding from ArtsWestchester, through county government; Public funds from New York State Council on the
Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong communities in New York State's 62 counties; Westchester Jewish Community Services; The
Countess Moira Foundation; Nurse's Network of America; Town of Pelham; New York State Department of Education through State Senator
Jeff Klein; Brewer Family Fund, Lifetime Arts; Strypemonde Foundation; Junior League of Pelham; Broadway Electric; New Rochelle
Campership Fund; Bistro Rollin; Robin's Art+Giving; Members; and Annual Fund Donors.