DENVER — At Valverde Elementary School in Denver, Día de Muertos is celebrated every year. This year, the Latino Cultural Arts Center helped students at Valverde Elementary School and three other Denver schools create art for their ofrendas, the traditional displays honoring their loved ones who have died.
Valverde art teacher Kristina Barboza said students have been working on different elements of the ofrendas, from candles, to alebrijes, or “spirit animals,” made from clay.
“It's two to three animals you associate with and that’s what they create,” Barboza explained.
Some of the students in Barboza’s fifth grade art class combined some of their favorite animals. Others chose animals honoring loved ones they’ve lost. Dream Walker lost her father earlier this year and chose a butterfly with a crown for her spirit animal.
“We liked to go to the butterfly pavilion, and then the crown because he was the king of the house,” Walker said.
The Latino Cultural Arts Center has long seen art and healing as going hand in hand. Facilitators with LCAC encouraged students to ask their family about their ancestors and write their feelings in journals. LCAC hopes to expand the ofrendas programming into more DPS schools.
Valverde will have its annual Día de Muertos festival on Saturday with a large community ofrenda.