Altares y Muertos
Honoring memory, ancestry, and community through art.
Altares y Muertos is a cultural arts program by IDEAL PDX that celebrates the tradition of Día de Muertos through community altars, workshops, artist residencies, exhibitions, and intergenerational learning.
Since 2016, this program has grown through collaborations with Centro Milagro, Cargo, and partners throughout the Central Eastside, bringing to life spaces of remembrance, creativity, and cultural connection.
At its heart, Altares y Muertos is about keeping tradition alive — creating opportunities for people of all ages to gather, remember loved ones, share stories, and honor ancestral practices through art.
Program Overview
Each year, Altares y Muertos brings together artists, schools, families, and community partners to create meaningful cultural experiences rooted in remembrance and celebration.
While the main annual altars are presented at Cargo and Centro Milagro, the program has expanded over time to include up to 16 altars and ofrendas created in collaboration with schools, local organizations, businesses, and community spaces.
The program continues to grow every year, expanding beyond altar-making into a larger platform for education, community engagement, cultural preservation, and artistic expression.
Through these installations, we create spaces where memory, art, and tradition come together to honor loved ones, ancestors, and the stories that continue to shape our communities. Each altar is unique and often reflects the identities, histories, and cultural perspectives of the artists and partners who created it.
These altars are not only visual experiences — they are also invitations for reflection, remembrance, and connection.
Community Workshops
A core part of Altares y Muertos is its educational and hands-on workshop programming.
We offer workshops for:
Schools
Families
Community organizations
Public audiences
Private groups and institutions
These workshops welcome all ages and provide opportunities to learn about the history, symbolism, and meaning of Día de Muertos through creative practice. Our workshops are rooted in intergenerational practices, encouraging children, youth, adults, and elders to create together while sharing family stories, traditions, and cultural knowledge.
Participants may explore:
Ofrenda-making
Papel picado
Alebrijes and Paper Maché Sculptures
Repujado
Sugar skull and skull-inspired art
Mixed media altar elements
Memory-based art making
Ofrendas de Barro ( Clay Offerings)
Storytelling through symbols and objects
Collaborative community installations
Artist Residencies & Cultural Exchange
As the program has grown, Altares y Muertos has expanded to include artist residencies and cultural exchange opportunities.
Through these experiences, we have invited guest artists and cultural practitioners from Mexico to share their artistic approaches, community traditions, and personal ways of celebrating Día de Muertos.
These exchanges deepen the program by connecting our local community to artists who carry regional and lived knowledge of the tradition, while also creating opportunities for dialogue, learning, and creative collaboration.
Pictured: Artist Santiago Savi
Exhibitions & Performances
In recent years, Altares y Muertos has also grown into a platform for fine art exhibitions, installations, and performance-based cultural experiences.
By collaborating with local organizations, artists, and creative partners, the program has expanded beyond public altar installations to include curated artistic experiences that explore memory, identity, migration, ancestry, and ritual through contemporary art.
One example is Tributo a mis Muertos, a special exhibition developed in collaboration with Mullowney Printing, where seven IDEAL PDX artists participated in a unique residency and exhibition process to create original work inspired by remembrance and ancestral connection.
These artistic collaborations allow the program to continue evolving while creating new opportunities for artists to engage with this tradition in meaningful and innovative ways.
Pictured: Virginia Marting’s work at Tributo a mis Muertos
Why This Program Matters
In a time when cultural traditions can be overlooked, Altares y Muertos creates opportunities to celebrate and share the richness of Día de Muertos in ways that are welcoming, educational, and deeply rooted in community.
Interested in collaborating with IDEAL PDX for an altar installation, workshop series, artist residency, school partnership, or exhibition?
We would love to connect and create meaningful cultural experiences together.
Altares y Muertos has been made possible through collaborations with community partners, schools, businesses, and cultural organizations who believe in the importance of honoring memory, culture, and collective creativity.
Thank you to our collaborators: