Week 5:Ofelia Esparza

I didn’t get the chance to meet Oflelia Ezparza when she came to present for us in our class. But, from the research that I have collected, I can say she is an extraordinary artist. Ofelia Esparza is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. She specializes in altar making in Chicano Communities. She went back to school when she was in her early 40s to become a teacher and she taught elementary for about thirty years. She introduced Mexican culture and art in the school system and from there, she fell in love with teaching and empowering her roots. Her first huge altar she constructed was in 1979 in the United States at Los Angeles Self Help Graphics. I feel like personally, she didn’t care about winning the many awards she received. Although they do serve to acknowledge her many achievements, she cared about the message she is giving in her art. And that message is to never give up in order to do what you love in the future. By teaching her elementary students, the staff that surrounded her, and her friends and family about her culture, she definitely succeeded. I was also able to see some of her altars online and they are honestly very beautiful, artistic, and iconic. And the fact that she was one of the artistic advisers in making the Disney movie “Coco” makes her even greater. She is currently an artist fellow with the Alliance for California Traditional Art, giving altar making workshops in the Building Healthy Communities Boyle Heights Initiative and at the State Correctional Institution for Women.