Celebrating Hispanic Heritage with Art
By Angel Sabater |
Scratch-art made by, librarian, Rae Downen.
It all started in 1968 with 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson. He called it Hispanic Heritage Week. Fortieth president Ronald Reagan expanded it in 1988 for 30 days and starting on Sept. 15, to honor the independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, which all gained their independence from Spain in 1821. Mexico, Chile, and Belize celebrate their independence on September 16, 18, and 21, respectively. Many Hispanic and Latino Americans celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month not only for their independence, but also for Hispanic and Latino culture and heritage.
“I think all the awareness months celebrate the culture of the people as well as the successes they have achieved,” librarian, Rae Downen said. “The history, the culture, and part of the cultures are art, music, theatre, dance, and food especially.”
Scratch-art made by Sophomore, Tatiana Grivich.
Although many celebrate by going to the museum to observe art made by Hispanics and Latinos across America, in the Molly Pruitt library, Downen celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with groups of students, during all lunches, by sketching a crafty item.
“We had scratch-art tools and a cut out piece of scratch art paper, where you use the tool to scratch out the lines on the paper, that make up a picture, and it reveals a rainbow color in it or you could do your own art on the scratch art paper.”
A Panamanian Mola displayed by librarian, Rae Downen.
Downen also displayed a multiple photos of Panamanian Molas for students to observe and discuss about. “Panamanian Molas are basically fabric designs from the Koona people in Panama,” Downen said. “They’re layered materials with different fabrics showing through and they also look very much like a maze where the design has multiple blinds around it and it’s really cool looking.”
A papel picado themed Dia de los Muertos.
On Oct. 27, during Teen Time for all lunches, the Molly Pruitt will have Kathleen Trenchard, an artist, who will be teaching students all about paper cutting called papel picado, in English means punched paper. Papel picado will be themed Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. Dia de los muertos officially starts on Sunday, Nov. 1 and ends on Monday, Nov. 2.