Martinez's Dia de los Muertos exhibit is open at CCFA

I recently attended "first Sunday free" Gallery Day at the California Center for The Arts Campus in Escondido. Though "free is good," I can say that you will all want to go to this before it closes.

It's a perfect chance for a Frida Kahlo fix. In fact, two "Frida's from Fallbrook" have become part of this exhibit thanks to local, but nationally known, artist Daniel F. Martinez. The exhibit is called "The World of Frida" and it came here from Walnut Creek.

I made it a point to see the exhibit because Martinez has a wonderful "Dia de los Muertos" companion exhibit there.

I had gone to CCFA more than 10 times in the past but that was before COVID-19. I was shy about visiting the gallery because of the pandemic, but it seemed like a good opportunity to see Martinez's grand "offrende" (altar) which had been long in the making as an installation.

When I realized that temperature-taking before entry, masks were required, and there are large, open gallery spaces, I figured it was safe to go.

So off we went to experience a remarkable traveling exhibition of Frida Kahlo in many forms and media, by a diverse group of women artists who portrayed themselves in art works and photographs wearing traditional Kahlo attire though they are from cultures from all corners of the earth. Their interpretive statements share in Kahlo's own fears – personal and yet somehow universal.

In Martinez's "Dia de los Muertos" exhibit, he incorporated the use of a finely-crafted "Frida sculpturette" with long braids, fine features and traditional attire placed at the center of an extremely large elevated platform area intended to honor the dead which many call "altars."

Objects surround the museumgoer and consist of paintings, assemblage pieces, small to large artistic items as well as a re-created Frida studio.

Martinez divided the space brilliantly with items suspended from the ceiling, crutches displayed representing her long struggle with disability throughout her entire life, prayer cards, mattress springs, all artfully arranged. The almost centered piece is an amazing vintage burgundy automobile shared to honor Dia de los Muertos, lent by the Oceanside Car Club.

Characters and skeletons stand alongside the cool car while representative items flow from the trunk. Martinez knew which objects to pull together to create a sense of familiarity with an emphasis on indigenous people of Latino cultures while inviting visitors to seek comfort in the setting.

One Fallbrook Frida was crafted by the Quad Collaborative of artist BJ Lane and her art friends along with a rolling Fallbrook scarecrow, "Emotional Frida," with two sides by Gina Abdelrahman of De Luz. Yet it took Martinez with a grand vision to see how it could all fit together in one cohesive unit.

And yet a special and most sweet surprise was Martinez's re-creation of an amazing art piece titled "Bench Fantastico" which he auctioned off at a Nov. 2, 2019 auction to benefit Fallbrook's Save Our Forest's environmental education program.

The placing of the bench just inside the exhibit's door was for a very important reason – to honor beloved Potter Jr. High art teacher Julie Hinkhouse who recently passed away and with whom he had worked for many years.

The recreated art bench will be donated to Hinkhouse's young daughter upon completion of the exhibit. This bench not only honored the teacher and daughter but is a tribute to the students he had talked to and worked with as a volunteer during career day.

The students always remember Hinkhouse's (and Martinez's) direct, honest encouragement to pursue your passion in life, do what you love, share those gifts with others, and stick to a creative path if that is your decision.

This is the fourth time Martinez has had a Dia de los Muertos exhibit at The California Center for The Arts in Escondido. Let's all hope it is not his last.

For those wishing to see this stellar traveling Frida exhibit, visit http://www.artcenter.org or http://www.californiacenterforthearts.org for tickets and information.

Those also wishing to honor Hinkhouse may write in the guest book that the bench is the reason for their attendance.

But don't wait too long. Both exhibits at the California Center for the Arts close Nov. 15.

There is a special free event on Nov. 13 from 12-6 p.m. and tickets in advance are recommended, as well as free events for the children and workshops occurring from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1 to celebrate Dia de los Muertos week. More information can be found on the center's website.