As part of Latino Heritage Month, Booth Library is currently displaying a variety of Mexican art pieces as an additional way to observe the month and study the culture.

The exhibit began Sept. 7 and will run through Oct. 14.

Kit Morice, curator of the exhibit, said the exhibit focuses on a variety of different styles of Mexican art like the “Dia de los Muertos,” the Day of the Dead.

“It is a variety of Mexican folk and popular art forms, including masks, ceramic sculptures and a vessel, paper mâché sculptures, papel picado, a Oaxacan wood carving, and other works associated with el Dia de los Muertos,” Morice said. “Noted artists include Josefina Aguilar and her son Demetrio Garcia Aguilar, Alfonso Castillo, and Edilberto Cortés.”

Along with the well known Mexican artists featured in the exhibit, Morice said there are also many pieces that are not signed by an artist.

“It is typical of many folk art forms; many of the works are by anonymous artists and are not signed,” she said.

All of the pieces featured in the exhibit come from Morice’s personal collection, and she is lending them to Booth for the duration of the exhibit.

“The works were chosen from my collection,” she said. “I have collected Latin American and Caribbean folk art for some 20 years.”

After deciding what pieces to use in the exhibit, Morice and her team went through the process of setting it up in the library, which began last spring.

“It takes planning with library staff for exhibit space in the spring, followed by the selection of pieces to go into the case, then installing the exhibit with the assistance of library staff,” she said.

While the exhibit is a supplement to the Latino Heritage Month as a whole, Morice said there are specific things that visitors can learn only from the exhibit.

“The exhibit was organized as a survey to introduce viewers to a wide variety of forms and expressions found in Mexican folk and popular art,” Morice said.

She said some of the information includes labels noting the artist, area, materials used and estimated date the piece was created.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.