Día de los Muertos: Coleccionando Memorias and Selections from the Collection: Juan Sandoval Jr.

Mexic-Arte Museum is opening two new exhibitions on Friday, September 11, with a reception from 6 to 9 PM. The main show is Día de los Muertos: Coleccionando Memorias, and it's paired with Selections from the Collection: Juan Sandoval Jr. Both are curated by Luisa Fernanda Perez.

Coleccionando Memorias draws on decades of the museum's work collecting and preserving the artistic traditions around Día de los Muertos. The works on display are pieces that arrived in Austin and became part of the city's cultural landscape: José Guadalupe Posada's iconic calavera prints, the Linares family's cartonería, and contemporary artists like Claudia Zapata and Claudia Aparicio. The holiday itself is rooted in Indigenous traditions and shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, observed on November 1 and 2 when families prepare ofrendas with cempasúchil marigolds, candles, photographs, favorite foods, and personal belongings to welcome back their loved ones. The museum's community ofrenda marks its 42nd year, and the holiday is framed here as a contemplative celebration of life and death in which the living and the dead are both welcome.

Running alongside it is Selections from the Collection: Juan Sandoval Jr., which honors Juan Antonio Sandoval Jr. (1946–2021), an El Paso native who donated more than 1,500 works by Latine/x artists to the museum in early 2020. While the reception is on the 11th, this particular show stays up through January 3, 2027.

Mexic-Arte is at 419 Congress Ave. Admission is $8 for adults, and $5 for seniors, active military, veterans, students, educators, and children 12 and under. It's free for museum members, and free for everyone on Sundays. The museum is open Monday through Thursday from 10 AM to 6 PM, Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM, and Sunday from 12 PM to 5 PM.