On Sunday 7 November 2010 the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia will be hosting a free Mexican fiesta for families. 

From 12pm – 4pm there will be fun hourly sessions exploring Mexican culture, including dancing, music, crafts and storytelling. Fiesta! is inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead, a traditional Mexican festival to remember and celebrate the dead, which takes place every year on 2 November. 

The event will be run by Mexicolore, a teaching team who have run Mexican themed events across the country. The Mexican theme links to the Sainsbury Centre’s current exhibition, Surreal Friends as well as objects in the permanent collection of world art.

“Fiesta will be an exciting family event, jam-packed with colourful activities and the chance to experience Mexican culture here at the Sainsbury Centre! It will be a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.” – Emily Ward, Education and Events Officer.

As part of the event Mexicolore will be constructing a traditional decorated altar covered with sugar skulls, flowers, food and drink. Families can enjoy drop-in sessions and spend the day at the Centre enjoying a host of activities on offer. These include an activity table where children can create some Mexican crafts to take home, such as an Eye of God (a ritual object), Mexican bunting or marigold flowers. The Sainsbury Centre will be decorated in a Mexican Day of the Dead theme with a flower arch over the entrance to the Living Area Gallery and marigold paths. A storytelling session continues the theme with Mexican stories and spooky ghost tales. During the day there will be workshops led by Mexicolore in the Centre giving visitors the opportunity to find out more about Mexican culture including dancing, music, traditional dress and piñatas.

The Mexican Day of the Dead is based on a 3,000 year old tradition and is still celebrated today. Families gather to remember friends and relatives who have passed away. This colourful festival is not seen as sad, but as a time for having lots of fun and being happy! Today the festival blends Mexican traditions with Catholic beliefs. People dress in costume, ritual dances are performed and families gather to remember the dead.

Mexicolore are a London based company which specialises in the teaching of Mexican culture and traditions. They are an artefact-based teaching team that have worked in around 2,000 primary schools throughout England as well as with the British Museum, Museum of Mankind and the Royal Academy of Arts. They run fun sessions exploring Mexican culture for schools and various groups using dance, music, food and crafts.

The event also highlights the Mexican and South American objects in the Centre’s diverse collections. For example, the Standing figure of a Mexican ballplayer in the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury collection is dated from AD 100 – 400.

The Mexican theme of the event links to the Sainsbury Centre’s autumn exhibition. Surreal Friends celebrates the artistic achievements, extraordinary lives and enduring friendship of three leading women surrealists: British painter Leonora Carrington, Spanish painter Remedios Varo and Hungarian photographer Kati Horna. All three women fled Europe during the Second World War and came together in Mexico City in 1943. Their new home became the inspiration for their surrealist art. The exhibition opened on Tuesday 28 September and runs until Sunday 12 December.


Fiesta!
Sunday 7 November 2010 12pm – 4pm
Hourly drop in sessions