A free party will celebrate the appearance of nearly three dozen larger-than-life sculptures at the College of DuPage and around DuPage County.
The Olmec Family Fiesta will be from 2 to 6 p.m. June 30 at the Lakeside Pavilion at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. It’s a free, family-friendly event featuring live music by Mariachi Monumental, folkloric dance by Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl, salsa dance lessons, face painting, tattoos, mural painting and food vendors.
It’s a festive way to celebrate the realization of a new project called “Olmec Trails: Culture and Legacy.” It’s an outdoor exhibit consisting of 33 large, brightly-colored and hand-painted heads that will be displayed July through October around DuPage County. They are renditions of the colossal stone heads crafted by the Olmecs between 1400 BCE to 400 BCE that originated in the southern part of Veracruz, Mexico.
This project is a collaboration of Mexican Cultural Center DuPage in coordination with Meztli Mexico and in partnership with the College of DuPage Public Art Project and the DuPage Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The exhibition seeks to shed light on the culture of the ancient Olmec civilization, said Diana Martinez, director of the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage.
“I think that what’s really interesting thing about this project is it brings awareness to this mother civilization of North America and the fact that so many people don’t know about them,” she said. “We know about the Mayans, we know about the Aztecs, we know about King Tut. But why don’t we know about the Olmecs? It’s such a mysterious civilization and it was only discovered less than 100 years ago.”
Fernando Ramirez, founder and president of Mexican Cultural Center DuPage, came up with the idea. He partnered with the international Latin American art organization Meztli Mexico and the ball got rolling from there.
A green head painted by artist Pablo Helm-Hernandez is installed at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. (McAninch Arts Center)
The College of DuPage will do its part to educate visitors about the Olmec civilization and the sculptures with displays in the lobby of the McAninch Arts Center, she said.
“We’ll have the most amount of displays here,” she said.
Olmec Family Fiesta attendees will have the opportunity to view the 10 Olmec sculptures installed at the College of DuPage.
“The first head was found in 1862 and it wasn’t really until 1938 that the first archeological investigations began,” Martinez said. “It’s super interesting because where they found these colossal heads, the stone is not available. The stone comes from like 30 miles away. So how did this civilization move these tons of large stones 30 miles? That’s what points to the fact that this civilization was sophisticated and organized.”
The goal was to keep these 33 eight-foot-tall replicas all outside, to promote free public art as well as physical activity, she said. Each will have an artist label and the Olmec Trails website will have an interactive map, she said.
The Mac is designed to be the start of the tour, Martinez said.
“We will have a historical exhibit done by our curator, Justin Witte, in the main lobby,” she said. “You can see 10 in one location here. And you can get a map or information on where to see the rest.”
She hopes people see the connections between people from different nations and even different times in history.
“I think the connection between 33 artists from all across North America that have all come to DuPage County or have representation here with their artwork reflecting on the past and the future is a pretty impressive opportunity,” she said. “It also helps to substantiate the enduring impact that the Latin American community. It is the mother culture. It proves that they were the first civilization.”
The heads were painted at the College of DuPage, in Mexico and in West Chicago, she said.
All of the artists chosen to paint one of the heads come from cities that are Soccer World Cup host cities, she said.
“The big dream of Fernando is that eventually these will go and be in the host cities during the World Cup,” she said. “The tie-in to that is the Olmec were people of rubber. They worked with rubber trees and they used to play games. Fields they played on were excavated and that’s how they solved their issues, their fights, their wars, was through this ball game. They were the originators of the first ballgame in North America.”
In addition to the 10 installations found on the walking paths of College of DuPage, five are at St. James Farm in Warrenville, three at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook and three at Fullersburg Woods in Oak Brook.
Additionally, a sculpture can be found at both the Downtown and the 95 Street branches of the Naperville Library, Great Western Prairie Path in Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn Prairie Path in Glen Ellyn, Kline Creek Farm, West Chicago Public Library, West Chicago Park District and Kruse House in the City of West Chicago, Wheaton Prairie Path in Wheaton and a yet-to-be-announced location.
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
Olmec Family Fiesta
When: 2-6 p.m. June 30
Where: Lakeside Pavilion at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn
Tickets: Free
Information: 630-942-4000; atthemac.org
