The Latino Cultural Arts Center helps DPS students create Día de Muertos ofrendas

DENVER — Valverde Elementary School in Denver celebrates Día de Muertos every year. This year, the Latino Cultural Arts Center helped students at Valverde Elementary School and three other Denver schools create artwork for ofrendas, traditional exhibitions honoring their loved ones who have died.

Valverde art teacher Kristina Barboza said students worked on a variety of ofrenda items, from candles to alebrije, or “spirit animals” made of clay.

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“It’s two or three animals that you associate with and that’s what they create,” Barboza explained.

Some fifth-grade students at Barboza’s Art School combined some of their favorite animals. Others chose animals to honor the memory of loved ones they lost. Dream Walker lost her father earlier this year and chose a crowned butterfly as her spirit animal.

“We liked going to the butterfly pavilion and then to the crown because he was the king of the house,” Walker said.

The Latino Cultural Arts Center has long viewed art and healing as going hand in hand. LCAC facilitators encouraged students to ask family about ancestors and write their feelings in journals. LCAC hopes to expand the ofrendas program to more DPS schools.

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On Saturday, Valverde will celebrate the annual Día de Muertos festival with the large renda community.

The Latino Cultural Arts Center helps DPS students create Día de Muertos ofrendas