Community arts for people of all ages,

Classes fill up quickly so you must call ahead to sign up for a class!! Suggested donations are $6.00 to $15.00 or 2 Time Dollars per class meeting, depending on what you can afford. Classes lasting four hours are considered to be double sessions. You are asked to pay for the entire class, no matter how many sessions you are able to attend.

Please pay for the class you are taking before or during the first class meeting. If that is not possible, you can arrange a payment plan with us that meet your needs. Scholarship assistance is available by request. Please talk with us so we can make it work for you. Family rates are available. If you want to help someone else take a class with an additional donation, please let us know.

This fall, we begin our classes with

“Building Bridges in Our Community:

A Celebration of DIA DE LOS MUERTOS”

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a celebration practiced in Mexico, other parts of Latin America, and parts of the U.S. A fusion of Christian devotion and pre-Hispanic traditions and beliefs, this festive holiday is a time to remember, celebrate, and reconnect with deceased family members and friends. It lasts from October 31 to November 2. October 31 is Dia de los Angelitos, or Day of the Little Angels, when children who have died are remembered. Adults are honored on November 1; November 2 is the Day of the Dead.

In some places, people make skull masks, called calacas to wear in parades. People dance to honor deceased relatives. Skulls, symbols of death and rebirth, are cast in sugar, and names of the deceased are written on them. In rural areas, families go to the cemetery, decorate graves with marigolds and candles, and eat the favorite foods of the deceased. Families also build altars in homes and on the street in honor of the dead, adorning the altars with photos, flowers, candles, and favorite foods. During Dia de los Muertos, special bread is baked in the shape of bones.

Neither frightening nor morbid, Dia de los Muertos is a time to celebrate life and to embrace Latino life and culture.

Our Portland celebration is supported by a generous grant to A Company of Girls from the Nancy P. Greenleaf Fund of the Maine Community Foundation. Collaborators A Company of Girls, SPIRAL Arts, Tengo Voz, East End Community School, and Bayview Heights invite you to celebrate Dia de los Muertos by joining a class and attending our celebrations on Nov. 2nd and 3rd. Additional workshops will happen at A Company of Girls. Call 874-2107 for more information.

NICHOS

Shadow Boxes

Tuesdays, October 9, 16, 23 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Adams School, 48 Moody St.

Together we will learn to make nichos— shallow shadow boxes used to celebrate loved ones who have died. We will assemble our nichos using found objects, creating small skeleton sculptures, and painting scenes from the life our loved one. Ages 9 to adult. Snacks provided. Free.

Artist: Lizz Sinclair is a painter who adores Dia de los Muertos!

ALTARS and SHRINES

The Art of Remembering

Wednesdays, October 10,17,24 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Adams School, 48 Moody St.

Using fabric, photographs, drawings, paper marigolds, paper cut-outs, and more, we will create altars to honor loved ones or role models who have died, ideas we hold dear, or events that have been central in our lives. Our altars will be included in a Gallery of Altars that will be exhibited November 2-3 at Adams School. Ages 9 through Adult. Snacks will be provided. Free.

Artists: The Rev. Virginia Marie Rincon, founding director of Tengo Voz, grew up in Houston where her family and community celebrated

Dia de los Muertos. The Rev.Priscilla Dreyman is the director of SPIRAL Arts.

PAN DE MUERTO

Bread of the Dead

Saturday, October 27 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Location to be announced

Together we will bake the traditional bread for Dia de los Muertos, shaped into bones and human figures. While the bread is rising, we will make papel picados or paper cut-outs. We will be baking for the big celebration on November 3; however everyone will take home a small loaf of bread. Free.

GALLERY OF ALTARS

Friday, November 2, 2007 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Adams School, 48 Moody St.

As part of Portland’s First Friday Artwalk, the altars, shrines, and nichos created in our classes, in community workshops, and by local artists, will be exhibited. Art making and food too! Free.

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION OF DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Adams School, 48 Moody St.

Noon to 5:00 pm

Art Making Workshops

Creation of a Community Altar

6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Parade, Special Food, Dancing, Music

Gallery of Altars

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos with your entire family! Bring your friends!

Meet new friends from across the Portland Community!

Call A Company of Girls for more information at 874-2107

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THE WONDER OF POETRY

19th century British poet, Matthew Arnold, said, “Genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul.” Exploring the wonder contained in “genuine poems” selected from many poets, subjects, and times, we will also choose to either write our own poems or analyze the work of other poets, or both. Let us know your preference when you call.

Poet: Peter Manuel, a poet for over 30 years, received an MFA from USM’s Stonecoast Creative Writing Program. His elegy for his mother was just published in Portland’s Café Review.

In this workshop, we will explore the Gnostic Gospels through the words and work of Dr. Elaine Pagels, professor of Biblical Literature and

Philosophy at Princeton. We will read parts of the Gospel of Thomas, hear about the background and meaning of this Gospel, and discuss its significance for our spirituality in the present. Dr. Pagels insight will unveil new insights about the Gnostic Gospels, and the Gospel of Thomas in particular. No one else in this field can help us understand better than Pagels these, until recently, unheard voices in our religious history and spiritual

Leader: The Rev. Marjean Bailey, a retired Episcopal priest, has a keen interest in feminine spirituality and the nature of the feminine divine. She has visited France, Crete, Sicily, Malta &Turkey to explore the feminine divine in ancient Goddess sites.

For beginning and experienced watercolor painters, we will explore the painting and drawing elements of color, line, value, and contrast by looking at watercolor reproductions as well as creating our own works of art.

Artist: Rita Swidrowski enjoys combining watercolors with ink drawings in her illuminated travel journals.

A popular art form in rural Maine, crazy quilting is a Victorian style of quilting in which fabric remnants are arranged into crazy collage designs. We will learn the basics of this art form by creating small hand-sewn projects such as change purses, eyeglass cases, wrist bands, and table runners. We can embellish our work with embroidery if we wish. Beginners to sewing will be taught the simple stitches needed for crazy quilting.

Artist: Lisa McNeil is a fiber artist whose new sewing business is Designs for You by Lisa Loo.

Carving our original tile in clay, we will then make a plaster mold of our tile and create reproductions of our tile for a tabletop, splash guard, counter area, or wall decoration.

Artist: Kara Kowalczyk, a graduate of Mass College of Arts with a BFA in Education and Ceramics, lives in Portland and works with teens.

Expressing your own spiritual and cultural heritage, unleash your creativity and make artistically beautiful gifts for family and friends. Create your own greeting cards, origami ornaments, jewelry, menorahs, watercolor boxes, elegant books, and much more. A silent auction and inexpensive gifts will be available as well as delicious snacks. A great evening for the entire family!

Beginner & experienced mosaic creators needed for this community project creating mosaics for PROP’s Parkside Neighborhood Center. Free.

SPIRAL Arts will craft original mosaic house numbers to match or enhance the colors of your home. Call SPIRAL Arts to make an order.