The Buddy Holly Center’s annual Celebración exhibition has a history dating back to the 1980s, when it was held at the Fine Arts Center before it joined the Bully Holly Center.
That’s according to the director of municipal museums Jacqueline Bober. She said the museum invites artists every year to exhibit their art and celebrate life, death, and the holiday of Día de los Muertos.
Dedicated to remembrance and celebration of those who have passed, Día de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead is November 1 and 2.
Celebración was the first exhibit Bober saw at the gallery when she started working for the City of Lubbock, 17 years ago.
“It was not part of my cultural upbringing, not part of anything that I was truly aware of, and I thought it was a little maybe on the morbid side, just maybe a little bit,” Bober said. “But it has truly become one of my favorite exhibitions that we host here every year.”
The exhibition's ability to help people understand and appreciate Día de los Muertos was mentioned by museum staff and artists alike.
Alexandra Pitts is the new curator at the Buddy Holly Center, she started at the museum about a month ago. She says that meeting the artists as they brought in their Celebración pieces was an exciting and welcoming experience.
Having a background in anthropology, Pitts was familiar with Día de los Muertos, but working with the exhibit helped her to truly understand the holiday.
“I only recently – and I say recently, like a couple of years – have actually lost family members that have truly meant to me,” Pitts said. So I feel like that connection with this really just opened my eyes more to the beauty of it.”
This year’s Celebración features art from more than 40 artists from the region.
Sophia Villalobos is a fiber artist in Lubbock, this year is her second time participating in the exhibition. She was raised Catholic and celebrated All Saints and All Souls, but didn’t start celebrating Día de los Muertos until after her mom died in 2020.
Her piece this year, a fiber piece called Familia, is a tribute to her seamstress mother and grandmother and her whole family.
“When I worked on it, I worked on it at home,” Villalobos said. “I call it a lap piece because I never put it up and looked at it until I took it to be hung.”
Familia features Día de los Muertos motifs like the ofrenda, sugar skulls, water, and marigolds. Villalobos says these earthly things like the foliage and water represent maternal figures.
“I just feel like it's important to show up in some of these exhibits around town. As an artist, but also just as a human,” she explained. “There's so much more of this story that's important, and I wish that I had known about it before, or that it had been something that had really been instilled in us. The ideas go back to the Aztecs over 3000 years ago, the idea of this circle of life.”
In addition to honoring those who have passed, Villalobos says it’s also a time for us to celebrate our own stories and embrace every day as an opportunity.
Another artist in the exhibition, Renee Simpson, is from Lubbock and has celebrated Día de los Muertos for about 25 years. While she thought it was strange at first, that changed when she learned more about it.
“And then I thought, the world needs to celebrate,” Simpson said. “We need to take that time to stop and remember. It's just a very sacred holiday to me, and I bring my grandchildren every year to introduce them and anybody else I can find to bring.”
She has three pieces in the exhibition this year, three different renditions of La Catrina: a watercolor, an oil painting, and a stitched piece.
“But every one of them is like a prayer,” Simpson said.
La Catrina is a symbol of Día de los Muertos, a skeleton woman, usually adorned with flowers and colorful clothing.
“I probably could be a Katrina one day,” Simpson laughed. “She's a little whimsical, a little – you know – artsy.”
Carolina Arellanos has participated in the annual exhibitions for the past five years. While she’s lived in Lubbock for 30 years, she is originally from Mexico.
“I have seen how it has evolved and the communities embracing it,” she said. “And it's really nice as a Hispanic woman to see that our culture and our beliefs are being embraced by, not just the Buddy Holly, but Texas Tech University, the museum, just the community at large. And I have noticed that that growth, which I think speaks highly of Lubbock.”
As well as being an artist, Carolina Arellanos is the Assistant Director of International Relations for the Office of International Affairs at Texas Tech University. She says it’s incredible to see celebrations of various cultures.
“It's a comfort to the Hispanic community,” she said. “I mean, who doesn't want to be seen, you know, in the art world and being represented and being included in community events.”
Her piece in this year’s exhibition is a box piece called Rib Cage, which incorporates family photos, x-ray, and three-dimensional elements.
“I was trying to kind of show this family transition and how even though they're gone, they're still very much part of who we are,” Arellanos said.
This idea speaks to the themes of Día de los Muertos and the Celebración gallery.
“The idea of making this beautiful thing that will bring your ancestors to want to come and spend some time with you,” Villalobos said.
Jacqueline Bober described this year’s exhibit: “And it's colorful, it's joyous, it's sad, it's remembrance, it's commemoration. It is all of those things wrapped into a wonderful package.”
She said she loves seeing the approach of artists who were raised celebrating Día de los Muertos and those who appreciate the culture.
“My favorite part is actually seeing all the other artists' work because it's so many beautiful stories there,” Villalobos shared. “It's a beautiful thing about life and death and this time of the year. Just like the leaves dry and die, so will we. And what story are we going to share?”
“I see much of the soul of the artist and I think that is so important,” Simpson said. “It's the one holiday every year that I really go in-depth to celebrate because it's a time you can bring those back – family or not family – the people that you admire, the artists you admire. It gives you a chance to come back and recenter. And this is always a profound exhibit.”
Celebración will continue to be displayed in the Buddy Holly Center’s Fine Arts Gallery through November 17. Including at tonight’s First Friday Art Trail from 6 to 9 p.m.
Tonight, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., is the Día de los Muertos celebration at Texas Tech’s International Cultural Center. It will showcase art from Hutchinson Middle School, offer arts and crafts, and feature live mariachi music.
Both events are free and open to the public.
