Mi Familia Calaca / My Skeleton Family (First Concepts in Mexican Folk Art)

Come meet La Familia calaca! They're just like everybody else. Except they're all bones!

Welcome to the family! It's just like yours: father, mother, sister, brother, abuelita, gato, even a great-great grandmother. Well, but there's something just a little bit different about this particular family. Maybe it's those clothes they wear... just a little bit fashion backward. And the colors! So vibrant and... lively. Maybe that's what it is. They are just so full of life while looking almost other worldly.

Cynthia Weill's bilingual collaboration with artist Jesus Canseco Zarate teaches young readers basic information about relationships, while also celebrating the colorful tradition of Mexico's Day of the Dead. Canseco Zarate long-limbed sculptures are a playful twist on traditional Mexican iconography of the skeleton that stretches back through the country's art history to José Guadalupe Posada's engravings and Aztec sculpture.

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¡Bienvenidos a la familia! Es justo como la tuya: papá, mamá, hermana, hermano, abuelita, gato, hasta un a vis-abuela. Pero hay algo un poco diferente sobre esta familia. Tal vez es la su ropa... es un poco anticuada. Y los colores! Tan vibrantes y... vivos. Tal vez eso es, solo están llenos de vida, al mismo tiempo pareciendo de otro mundo.

La colaboración bilingüe entre autora Cynthia Weill y artista Jesus Canseco Zarate le enseña a lectores jóvenes información básica sobre familias, al mismo tiempo celebrando la tradición colorida del Día de Muertos. Las esculturas de brazos largos de Canseco Zarate le dan un toque juguetón a la iconografía Mexicana tradicional del esqueleto, que se ve a lo largo de la historia artística del país, hasta los grabados de José Guadalupe Posada, y las esculturas Aztecas.

Cynthia Weill's fascination with the crafts of Oaxaca began while she was working in Mexico as a Fulbright exchange teacher. She has published several books in the Mexican Folk Art series, which features different folk art of Oaxaca. Many of the figures showcased in this series are now part of the permanent Mesoamerican Anthropology collections at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. Cindy lives in New York City and can be found online at cynthiaweill.net.

Jesús Canseco Zárate is a Oaxacan folk artist known for his elaborate calacas (skeleton statues). In 2008, he won first prize in the Friends of Oaxacan Folk Art completion for young artists. His work has been showcased in local, national, and international galleries and venues. Currently, Jesús works as an artistic photographer in the Oaxaca and Mexico City area. His work can be seen online at chuchocaza.wordpress.com.