Family Album Hieroglyphics: Jack be Nimble… © 1996, Linda C Everson
October 31 -November 2.
Dia de los Muertos,
All Saints Day,
All Souls Day,
Allhallowtide,
Hallowmas.
And of course, Halloween!
A day to pray for and honor family and friends who died, especially in Mexico, but throughout the world. Traditionally, altars are created, graves visited and cleaned, stories told. Publicly there are parades, art shows, and festivals with altars, costumes, food, and music. Skeleton and skull images are abundant. Candles, flowers (marigolds), and food too. It is not always sorrowful, but can be filled with joy too. It is a celebration of the circle of life!
Family Album Hieroglyphics are a series of intaglio prints by Linda C Everson. The inspiration for the art was her children’s stick figures, which she embelished with backgrounds of rock art, ancient Native American dwellings, and other natural imagery. This intaglio print called Jack be Nimble… references the nursery rhyme Jack be Nimble, Jack be Quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick (or pumpkin). It embodies both a spooky and a playful nature. Halloween of course can be both. And Dia de los Muertos, is meant to be joyful, but traditionally, many believed that if you did not clean the gravesites, the departed would come back to haunt you.
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