Each year, History Colorado hosts an altar in its lobby to honor the dead for Dia de los Muertos. People can bring items for the altar, write about those who have passed, or just sit and remember the dead.
This year, the museum is honoring Rita Flores de Wallace, who died in April and was known as Denver’s “First Lady” of Mexican folk art. Her widower, John “Juanito” Wallace, was at History Colorado on Friday as the altar was built.
“She is my life. I got involved in all these community activities — and it wasn't just Latinos, she was in everything,” Wallace said. “Her artwork is all over the place too. So a lot of it sold, some of it was given away, some of it's in the library or the museum and I still have some too.”
Flores de Wallace’s career stretched over 40 years, and she is credited with developing Denver’s vibrant Mexican folk art scene.
Flores de Wallace’s work has been showcased at the Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, El Pueblo History Museum,the Center for Visual Art at Metropolitan State University and many others locally, nationally and internationally.
The main artist behind the altar is Flores de Wallace's last student, Cal Duran. They started working together in 2021.
“Rita really did bring the tradition from her lineage to Colorado for Day of the Dead. And for me, it's just really about a celebration of life and death as one. So this is really important to have a community altar here,” Duran said. “And that's really what it's about, is this universal thread of us. We're all going to die. It's really important to celebrate the time we have here and the stories of our loved ones before us.”
Alongside Duran were students from a Metropolitan State University group, “Journey Through Our Heritage.” They were helping Duran set up the altar, learning about the altar and its meaning.
The altar is called an ofrenda, and it traditionally features the four elements of earth, wind, fire and air.
At History Colorado, the air element is represented by a big papier-mâché heart with woven strings in its core, as well as a traditional paper banner, or papel picado. The middle of the ofrenda represents earth, featuring a huge skeleton and photos of Flores de Wallace. A bottom level represents the underworld.
Before the crew started putting the ofrenda together, Duran performed a blessing to prepare the space for the altar.
“It's really important to do that just because we will be honoring so many ancestors,” Duran said.
Flores de Wallace's work has been featured at History Colorado for decades. In 2020, the Wallace family donated her massive collection of tapestries and textiles to History Colorado with the help of the “Journey Through Our Heritage” program and the Chicano Humanities Arts Council.
Her husband said that her being honored at the museum for Dia de los Muertos was another addition to her legacy in Denver. The couple married in 1980 when John Wallace, a teacher from Denver, was on a trip to Mexico, where Rita grew up. Once they were married, she moved to Denver.
Flores de Wallace was the dance director of Teatro Latina de Colorado and a consultant and choreographer for Fiesta Colorado. She also helped to establish Denver’s Dia de los Muertos and Dia del Niño celebrations.
Author Renee Fajardo, one of Flores de Wallace’s longtime mentees, watched the altar’s construction. She said the group art project was the exact way she would want to be honored.
“This woman literally taught thousands upon thousands of students here in Colorado about the history of Dia de los Muertos,” Fajardo said. “She was one of the original altar makers.”
The ofrenda will be in the lobby of History Colorado through the beginning of November.
