día de los muertos: altar-making in the schools

A major highlight of our fall season is the annual Día de los Muertos Community Celebration. Each year, Nimbus provides cultural education and altar-making instruction to middle and high school students in Calistoga and St Helena, and the wonderful altars made by the students are then on display for the whole community at the Día celebration.

Nimbus artists have explored  a wide variety of altar-making themes with students over the years, including: creating imaginary animals (alebrijes) in the style of Mexican artist Pedro Linares, honoring endangered species, honoring people who’ve died in the last year, and honoring dead musicians. The students truly enjoy learning more about this Mexican holiday’s wonderful cultural and artistic traditions, and creating their own personal artwork honoring the dead.