Catrinas en mi Ciudad 2026

The Catrinas are back at Denver Performing Arts Complex!

In celebration of Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), Denver Center has collaborated with Mexico City based costume and set designer Ricardo Soltero and Cooperativa Jaen Cartoneria to bring these towering beauties to Denver as part of the Catrinas en mi Ciudad exhibition.

The exhibition features colorful Catrinas  (the tall, highly decorated female skeletons), Calaveras (decorative skulls) and various sculptures that pay homage to Mexican culture. 

I love all of the color and the cultural aspects of the Catrinas and Calaveras, and especially enjoy the contrast of these pieces in such a modern, urban environment. Each pieces shines and adds a touch of wonder and delight to the complex.

Catrinas en mi Ciudad is on display through November 4th, so there are just a few more days to check it out. Can't make it? Consider this post the next best thing!

Catrinas en mi Ciudad at Denver Performing Arts Complex

Denver Performing Arts Complex is looking pretty colorful right now with a stunning exhibition celebrating the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos, aka Day of the Dead.

Catrinas en mi Ciudad is an outdoor exhibition held throughout the complex and features larger than life Catrinas (the tall female skeletons) and Calaveras (the highly decorated skulls) created by costume and set designer Ricardo Soltero and Cooperativa Jaen Cartoneria from Mexico City.

I love all of the color and the cultural aspects of the Catrinas and Calaveras, and especially enjoy the contrast of these pieces in such a modern, urban environment. Each pieces shines and adds a touch of wonder and delight to the complex.

The best part of this exhibition? It’s free!

Let’s take a look…

Sugar Skulls for Day of the Dead

Today Ava's class at school decorated sugar skulls for their Day of the Dead altar.

The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is a Latin American celebration honouring those who have passed away. The holiday is celebrated with candle lit processions and altars dedicated to the deceased. These altars are decorated with (among other things) candles, marigolds and sugar skulls. Ava's class has been learning about Day of the Dead and have created an altar outside their classroom. Today their altar was completed with the sugar skulls.

Sugar skulls were made in advance from a mould similar to the ones you can find here. The kids were then provided with bottles of royal icing in bright colours to decorate their skulls. Their teacher spoke to them about symmetry and the traditional patterns that are used on sugar skulls for Day of the Dead. Most of the kids tried to stick to making their skull decorations pretty symmetrical but quite a few of the skulls ended up completely covered in a mess of icing! 

Everyone had fun and the skulls look fantastic together on the altar.

Here's a look at Ava's class working on their sugar skulls...

Sugar Skull Masks for Day of the Dead

This one's a little late, but you know what they say; better late than never...

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As you know last week we celebrated Halloween. What you may not know is that Halloween wasn't the only celebration of the week. Following right on the heels of Halloween is the Latin American holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Day of the Dead is a day to remember and honour those who have passed away. The holiday is celebrated with candle lit processions and altars dedicated to the deceased. These altars are decorated with (among other things) candles, marigolds and sugar skulls.

In preparation for Day of the Dead, Ava and Lola made sugar skull masks with their friends Rider and Fiona. We used the Sugar Skull Mask Kit from Paper Source which contained pretty much everything we needed. You can find them online here. We added a few glitter pens and stickers (also from Paper Source) to the mix and the kids had a field day decorating their masks.

Ava, Rider and Lola show off their masks