Skip to content

Oakland Museum of California Announces Programs for 21st Annual Días de los Muertos Exhibition Rituals + Remembrance

CALENDAR EDITORS PLEASE LIST:

Museum exhibitions, Family events, Cultural events, Community events, Festivals

EXHIBITION

Rituals + Remembrance
October 14, 2015–January 3, 2016

Celebrating the theme of memorial across cultures, the Oakland Museum of California’s 21st annual Días de los Muertos (Days of the Dead) exhibition, Rituals + Remembrance, explores how Latin American, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, African American, and other communities view death, memory, and healing. The exhibition includes new and existing work by artists Nancy Hom, Lilli Lanier, Yvonne Escalante, Charles Valoroso, Bryan Keith Thomas, Safety First ©, Paco Garcia, Melanie Cervantes, and Jesus Barraza, as well as installations created by MetWest High School, Sankofa Academy, and the Alameda County Public Health Department. 

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

Days of the Dead Community Celebration
Sunday, October 25, 12–4:30 pm

The Oakland Museum of California’s popular annual community celebration for Días de los Muertos will feature main stage performances ranging from contemporary popular music to folkloric dance, Mariachi to Aztec dance.  Performers include Ballet Folklorico Paqueyollotzin of Petaluma, UC Berkeley Mariachi, Quenepas (Puerto Rican Bomba youth ensemble), and dynamic up and coming band Soltrón. The celebration starts out with a welcoming ritual that leads a procession into the OMCA Garden led by members of the Días de los Muertos Committee and Danza Azteca Cuicatl. Community-created altars throughout the building and the garden will pay homage to loved ones lost.

An artisanal mercado will highlight the OMCA Store and local vendors featuring traditional and contemporary apparel, craft, artwork, and food. A selection of festive food highlighting the Bay Area’s diversity of cuisines will be available for purchase from Off the Grid, and Bike East Bay will provide a bike valet service.  Entry includes Museum admission and access to special exhibition Rituals + Remembrance, featuring new and existing work by nine artists and three community organizations celebrating the theme of memorial across cultures.

Advance tickets: $11.95/adult; $8.95 student/senior/youth; $4.95 youth (9–17). Advance tickets available now at museumca.org/visit

Day-of tickets: $15.95/adult; $10.95 student/senior/youth; $6.95 youth (9–17). Children 8 and under and OMCA Members are always free.

FRIDAY NIGHTS @ OMCA

Community Welcoming for Rituals + Remembrance
Friday, October 16, 2015, 6–8 pm    

Highlighting the multicultural practices featured in special exhibition Rituals + Remembrance, OMCA hosts a community welcoming including a community blessing, and an artist meet-and-greet in the gallery, where visitors can ask questions and hear directly from the creators about their installations and works created for this year’s exhibition. This program is held during Friday Nights @ OMCA, featuring Off the Grid food trucks, live music, and more. Included with Museum admission.

Friday Nights @ OMCA
Fridays in October, 5–9 pm

Join OMCA and Off the Grid on 10th Street every Friday through the month of October for a festive month of Días de los Muertos-themed evenings. Enjoy local music, food, art, and cultura! Savor California beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages around the Koi Pond at the Blue Oak beer garden. Enjoy half-price admission, community altar presentations, live music and dance, hands-on activities for kids, and extended OMCA Store hours.

What to expect on Fridays in October:

5–9 pm: Half-off gallery admission for adults, free for ages 18 and under
5–9 pm: Local beer and wine specials in the Blue Oak beer garden
5–9 pm: All Museum galleries open late
5–9 pm: Gourmet food trucks from Off the Grid featuring the best in local cuisine
5–9 pm: Gardens open for family fun, with a special lawn bar by Blue Oak café, lawn games, and Books & Blankets available for free with a photo ID
5–9 pm: Featured artists selling their wares and an OMCA Store pop-up
5–6:30 pm: October resident DJ spinning hits in the 10th Street Amphitheater
5–8 pm: Family-friendly drop-in art activity: making papel picado and paper origami cranes, inspired by upcoming exhibition Rituals + Remembrance
5–8:30 pm: Community altar spotlights in honor of the exhibition Rituals + Remembrances on October 9 & 15
6:30–9 pm: Dance instruction and live bands playing festive music in the Amphitheater
7:45 pm: A Snack Size Docent Tour, a fun, fifteen-minute un-tour in an OMCA gallery—you won’t know which until the tour begins—on October 2 & 30 only
6–8 pm: sugar skull-making workshop, part of OMCA’s ongoing Makers & Tasters series, on October 2 only

OMCA Artist Talk | Rituals + Remembrance
Friday, December 18, 2015, 7–8:30 pm

Get a peek inside the minds and practice of the prolific Bay Area artists featured in this year’s Días de los Muertos exhibition, Rituals + Remembrance. Join exhibition curator Evelyn Orantes for a moderated conversation with Nancy Hom and other artists featured in the exhibition. Learn more about the multicultural focus of Rituals + Remembrance and hear from these unique artists about their approach to their work, the mediums they use, and how art practice is a conduit for honoring the past and remembering.

For more information about events and Friday Nights @ OMCA, visit museumca.org/events

SPONSORS

Rituals + Remembrance is made possible in part by generous support from the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, Kaiser Permanente, and the California Arts Council. The 2015 Days of the Dead Community Celebration is made possible in part by generous support from Kaiser Permanente and the Oakland Museum Women’s Board. OMCA Family is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Friday Nights @ OMCA is presented in partnership with Off the Grid: Lake Merritt @ OMCA and are made possible in part by generous support from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.

ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people. OMCA’s groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California’s cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic and social forces that affect the state and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.9 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California’s dynamic cultural and environmental heritage.

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Oakland Museum of California is located at 1000 Oak Street in Oakland, California. ­­­­­­Museum admission is $15.95 general; $10.95 seniors and students with valid ID, $6.95 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for Members and children 8 and under. Admission during Friday Nights @ OMCA is half-off for adults, and free for ages 18 and under, after 5 pm. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. For more information, visit museumca.org.

* * *