From MPR News. Minneapolis artist's Día de los Muertos designs break new ground as Postal Service stamps By Vicki Adame. Photo by Evan Frost | MPR News. Día de los Muertos has figured in Luis Fitch’s art for the past 25 years — at about the same time he moved to Minneapolis. Now his Day of the Dead art has merged with his lifelong dream of creating a postage stamp. Fitch’s design of a Day of the Dead U.S. postage stamp makes a nationwide debut Sept. 30 during a first day of issue ceremony in El Paso, Texas. It’s the first U.S. stamp to feature Día de los Muertos. Fitch remembered receiving the call with the offer to design the stamp. “I said a bad word inside my head. Because I thought he was joking, that it was a friend of mine that knew that I wanted to design a stamp,” Fitch said. “He told me enough information that I knew he was real, obviously. And so I got very excited.” Antonio Alcala, one of four contracted art directors for the Postal Service came across Fitch’s work while visiting Chicago several years ago. It was part of an exhibit on ofrendas and Day of the Dead at the National Museum of Mexican Art. “When the assignment came to do a Day of the Dead stamp, I thought of his work immediately, because it was just very graphic and colorful and bold and smart. And I thought it would be perfect for what the Postal Service needed,” Alcala said. Día de los Muertos is Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 in Mexico. It is also celebrated in other parts of Latin America — although they may differ slightly. It’s when the souls of loved ones who have died return for 24 hours to be with the living. Ofrendas — offerings in the form of altars — are created and include the loved ones’ favorite foods and drink, as well as cempasuchil (Mexican marigolds), candles and calaveras. Continue reading on MPR News. #luisfitch #mpr #dayofthrdead #diadelosmuertos #usps #stamps (at El Paso Museum of Art) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUbKkB-sCfd/?utm_medium=tumblr
