HONORING CULTURE THROUGH ART

Magnolia Park: Houston’s First Barrio

The Magnolia Park Dia de los Muertos event chairs unanimously decided to create a festival-specific exhibit focused exclusively on the historic neighborhood. The exhibit name and theme was called Magnolia Park: Houston’s First Barrio, a name owned by the festival.

The goal of this themed exhibit is to provide a distinct and honored space to affirm and celebrate the unique landscape, residents and cultural presence of Magnolia Park. The exhibit is intended to showcase the talents and visions of creatives from Magnolia Park—those who work in art, history, cultural performance or other creative endeavors. Each year a different creative from the neighborhood is invited to play on this theme and interpret it in their own unique way.

2022

Diane Muniz is a mixed-media painter who is not afraid to paint outside of the line. She is a native Houstonian, growing up in Magnolia Park. She has had a passion for painting since she was very young. During her formative years and through high school, she continued to develop what would become her style.

After high school she attended community college classes which greatly contributed to the manner of how she portrays her own vision of art, therefore embracing abstract art. She is an artist that is not defined by only one artistic movement. This is evident by her different types of art which includes her paintings, mannequins, furniture art and continues to explore different areas as she is enthusiastic thereby reaching all art lovers. Her artwork has been shown at Hardy and Nance Studio, Brash Brewery and Magnolia Art Studio.

2021

Laura Lopez Cano is a widely acclaimed and recognized artist, an entrepreneur, a public speaker, and a life and business coach. Laura's art is an interpretation of culture and tradition that embodies her Hispanic heritage.  Her exhibit in the historic Hidalgo Park quiosco, welcomed over 2,000 visitors throughout the course of the 2021 event.

This exhibit was funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, on behalf of the East End District and East End Cultural District.

2020

In light of COVID-19, a short film is being produced in lieu of the annual in-person festival. The short film will virtually premiere on Saturday, November 7, 2020.

Director: Celia Medina Garcia
Producers: Celia Medina Garcia, Marcie Mir, Lupe Olivarez, Gloria Ann Rodriguez, Christi Vasquez-Martin, Gloria Zenteno, Javier Zenteno
Editor: Michael “Mich” Martinez
Cinematographers: Chris Piñon
Narrator & Interviewer: Claudia Macias

2019

The Magnolia Park father-son artist duo Mark and Marc-Antony Piñon were the 2019 Featured Artists. Mark Piñon has historically derived artistic inspiration from the Mexican American/Chicano collective consciousness in works that reflect social histories spanning from contemporary times to the indigenous past. Their digital altar exhibit in the historic Hidalgo Park quiosco, or gazebo welcomed over 1,000 visitors throughout the course of the 2019 event.

This exhibit was funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, on behalf of the East End District and East End Cultural District.

2018

Jesse “Magnolia Grown” Rodriguez was the festival’s first Featured Artist in 2018, and with help of community members and other community artists, his exhibit welcomed over 800 attendees to the historic portion and countless others to the outdoor venue—a large portion of that year’s 7,000 attendees. His interpretation of “Magnolia Park: Houston’s First Barrio” featured historic neighborhood photos that he sourced and mounted on clotheslines, and a tent highlighting the work of other artists from the neighborhood. This unique weaving of history and Magnolia Park’s current creative participants was a clear nod to the future of the neighborhood: That creative innovation was alive and well, and that neighbors were ready to take pride in Magnolia Park like never before while carrying the area’s legacy forward.