There’s something, well, magical, about The Philadelphia Magic Gardens, home to Isaiah Zagar’s largest mosaic mural in the city. And this week, the gardens will get even more spiritually vibrant.
The PMG is collaborating with artist Ivonne Pinto-García for Día de los Muertos, Mexico’s Day of the Dead, which honors our ancestors who have died.
Pinto-García hails from San Martín Texmelucan de Labastida, in Puebla, and moved to Philly in 2005. She is an active community organizer — promoting Hispanic art and spreading Mexican culture in the city. For years, she has been collaborating with the PMG for its Day of the Dead celebrations.
“I’m from a place in Mexico City where we’re born seeing and participating in these festivities,” she said in a translated statement. “It’s part of my tradition and culture, which I now share with my daughter, family and friends in Philadelphia.”
The Magic Gardens will feature a special ofrenda — a colorfully decorated Mexican altar to honor ancestors made by Pinto-García in the back of its museum — from Oct. 22 to Nov. 3. Visitors can leave notes and photos to honor family members and loved ones who are no longer with us.
Sugar Skull Workshops at PMG (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens)
As a girl, Pinto-García would watch her mother cook red rice with vegetables and lay out clean tablecloths and new clay dishware for Día de los Muertos. She remembers her father lighting incense to call her grandmother’s spirit, and smelling “the aromas of copal, guava, bread and sugar cane — along with the coffee they served for my abuela.”
“Creating the ofrenda is a very intimate ritual for me,” she said. “Where I connect with my family, calling out to them so they know I’m waiting for them with much love — thanking them for their lives and the love they left behind.”
In addition, the PMG is featuring its first-ever Day of the Dead Crafting Party, where visitors can workshop their own sugar skulls and paper flowers.
“It’s really hard not to try to eat the sugar skulls because they look so delicious,” said Allison Boyle, the events and marketing manager at PMG. “We use a lot of different materials. We have all different colored icing that you can put on the sugar skulls and sequins and feathers and things like that.”
“Everybody’s looks different, which is really fun to see,” Boyle said, adding that the paper flowers are easier to create than they look.
PMG Sugar Skull Workshop at the Studio (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens)
The workshop takes place this Saturday, Oct. 25. There will also be a Day of the Dead-themed scavenger hunt and guided tours of the Magic Gardens. Pinto-García is excited to bring this tradition back to Philadelphia, and provide a community space for Mexican people and immigrants.
“It fills my heart to hear the moms talk about when we were little and made flowers or secretly ate sugar skulls,” she said.
In many ways, the PMG’s collaboration with Pinto-García is a natural extension of what Zagar’s mosaics are all about.
“Our founding artist Isaiah and his wife travel to Mexico regularly and have a really strong connection with a lot of artists there,” Boyle said. “And as a result, we have a lot of beautiful Mexican folk art in our space, and so we want people to kind of learn a little bit more about that, as well as the holiday.”
Pinto-García echoed this idea, saying that Zagar’s space highlights Mexican folklore and “speaks just by looking at it.”
Mexican Folk art at the Magic Gardens Museum (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens)
“He knows and has traveled to our Mexican lands from the center to the south to understand, study and showcase the beauty of my culture,” she said. “One can feel at ease because they speak Spanish and display Mexican masks, alebrijes, and a whole series of original Mexican art.”
Certainly, one does not have to know about Zagar’s connection to Mexico to feel it.
“I think if you ever travel to Mexico, you see all the details and the colors,” Boyle said. “It definitely looks like our space, which is really cool.”
Boyle also wants visitors to know that this Saturday the Magic Gardens aims to be a safe space for immigrants and the Mexican community.
“It is a really scary time for a lot of people,” she said. “We have talked to our staff about how to handle if ICE shows up — how they don’t need to be admitted into the building, so we are prepared in that way. And we just want people to know that no matter your background, you are welcome here.”
Día de los Muertos paper flowers (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Magic Gardens)
For Pinto-García, creating a community space for Mexican families to celebrate the spiritual holiday is an act of perseverance.
“A safe place is a feeling of being part of a family; it’s knowing that your time away from home means returning safely to your loved ones,” she said. “Safe spaces are a sign of dignity, resilience and the strength families possess. Being in safe places is a way to embrace everyone who gathers to enjoy and prepare to celebrate their ancestors.”
The Magic Gardens’ Day of the Dead Crafting Party takes place Saturday, Oct. 25, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.
Comments are closed.