‘Olmec Trails’ to celebrate ancient art of Mexico in DuPage County
Fernando Ramirez allows himself to think big.
He dreamed up an exhibition of alebrijes monumentales, larger-than-life, surreal creatures painted by Mexican artists at Cantigny Park in Wheaton.
Ramirez is now one of the driving forces behind the next major exhibition coming to DuPage County this summer: “Olmec Trails: Culture and Legacy.”
Sculptures inspired by the colossal heads of the ancient Olmec civilization are bound to turn heads when the intricately hand-painted pieces are installed on the campus of the College of DuPage, in forest preserves and host towns throughout the county.
Nearly three dozen artists — 15 are from Mexico — are using large-scale replicas of the Olmec monoliths as their canvas. Ramirez visited Mexico this past December to see their work unfold.
“That’s really going to be telling the story. We learned that with alebrijes. The artists are the ones who tell the story,” said Ramirez, the president and founder of the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage.
The Olmec civilization developed around present-day Veracruz, Mexico, predating the Maya and Aztecs. Some scholars consider the Olmec society the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica. Using primitive tools, the Olmecs carved their colossal heads out of boulders. The multi-ton stone sculptures the Olmec artists left behind have headgear, flat noses, thick lips and distant eyes. Their facial expressions vary. Some appear to be smiling.
The sculptures in “Olmec Trails” are made of fiberglass but still imposing. Eighteen artists from across the United States will arrive in May to paint the Olmec heads on-site at the Mexican Cultural Center in West Chicago and COD’s McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn.
Nine of the Olmec heads will be displayed on the grounds of the community college and around its prairies. Other sculptures will be installed outdoors across the county, so it’s “free and accessible to everyone and in nature where it belongs,” said Diana Martinez, the director of the McAninch Arts Center.
Martinez joined other College of DuPage leaders and county tourism officials Thursday in announcing “Olmec Trails.” While Ramirez says he’s one of “the facilitators,” Martinez made clear, “This is Fernando’s project, and this was his idea.”
It also “lined up perfectly” with the College of DuPage Public Art Project, an initiative led by Martinez to bring murals and other public art and events to communities in DuPage.
“For me, I think the accessibility is a great gift and a great opportunity, but it will take a village for us to make this happen,” Martinez told Thursday’s gathering on the college campus, inviting more towns to serve as hosts for the “Olmec Trails” sculptures.
Justin Witte, the curator of the college’s Cleve Carney Museum of Art, will also create an educational exhibition in the lobby of the McAninch Arts Center where “anyone can come for free to learn more about this rich history” of the Olmec civilization. An “Olmec Trails” kick-off celebration at the lakeside pavilion behind the arts center is set for June 30.
Among the participating visual artists is Juan Chawuk, a muralist from Chiapas, Mexico, whose work can be seen on the Supermercado Tampico building in West Chicago. Other contributing artists will explore their Mexican heritage and “what the Olmecs mean to them,” Ramirez said.
“It’s an honor to be working with them through a lot of my partners,“ he said.