PORT TOWNSEND — Tonight and on Monday and Tuesday evening, the second-floor windows of Port Townsend High School will glow in an unusual fashion — and the public is invited to look up and contemplate a particular holiday.
In a project that included students of art, science and Spanish at Port Townsend High, a row of classic Day of the Dead images adorns the school’s main building, visible from Benton Street just past Van Ness.
The lighted window decorations, patterned after the sugar skulls common in El Dia de los Muertos displays, are just black butcher paper, cut with X-acto knives and scissors. But they represent the Latin American tradition of remembering loved ones who have departed — and celebrating their favorite things with ofrendas, or home altars.
Reed Aubin, who teaches Spanish at the high school, guided more than 130 of his students as they delved into Day of the Dead folkways.
Those in Spanish I and II each chose a deceased person, and honored that person by creating a brief biography including their tastes and likes, where they lived, and why they were meaningful.
The students wrote about their honorees in English and Spanish, and set up their tributes in the high school library.
Photos of this display can be found at https://sites.google.com/ptschools.org/muertos2021.
At the same time, Aubin’s Spanish III and IV students worked in groups to make nine more ofrendas — composed of photos, mementos and decorations — for people they feel are especially appropriate to honor now.
In addition, the high school is honoring Travis Seebergoss, a local student who died Sept. 10, 2020, by hosting an ofrenda made by his family.
“The best part of the Day of the Dead project is being able to come together as a class and share who was important to us,” said Ellise Gardner, a sophomore.
“It’s also a great opportunity to reach out to family members; to reconnect and learn more about someone we have lost,” she said.
For Sophia Lumsdaine, a junior, the project was a way to “lift up life,” as she put it.
“I have been reminded how precious life is,” she said.
One group of students chose to honor three young women from Bainbridge Island who were killed in a car wreck. They decorated their piece with Bainbridge High School colors, since they had known the other students through sports.
Another group honored LGBTQA+ victims of hate crimes, decorating their work with rainbow-themed decals and paper flowers.
Students also remembered Black Americans killed by police violence by writing the victims’ names on their artwork; yet another group dedicated their ofrenda to victims of breast cancer, painting mandalas in pink against the black paper.
Musicians in the school’s orchestra and students in Michele Soderstrom’s art classes and David Egeler’s advanced media classes also got involved in this exploration of Latinx tradition, while students in Brandi Hageman’s biology classes crafted ofrendas to honor Latin American scientists.
The Day of the Dead project “makes for a great opportunity to open conversations with my family,” about those members who have died, Spanish I student Juliet Harrison said.
Aubin, for his part, said this year’s work grew out of 2020’s lonely, Zoom-heavy classes. Last fall, he and Soderstrom started experimenting with displays in his windows, with small groups of students joining in.
The displays “worked so well as conversation pieces for online classes and looked so cool that this year, students wanted to continue the tradition with their own ideas,” Aubin said.
He and his colleagues are always seeking ways to connect with the surrounding community; the pandemic has complicated that, Aubin said.
Yet he believes the skull beacons over Benton Street, along with the website showing the library displays, serve as links between the youngsters, their town — and beloved cultural traditions.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
