{"id":466118,"date":"2026-10-14T21:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466118\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T21:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:10:14","slug":"dia-de-los-muertos-exhibit-to-feature-piece-by-bishop-arts-native","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/466118\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00eda de los Muertos exhibit to feature piece by Bishop Arts native"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The figure of Sant\u2019Anna in Josh Niccolai-Belfi\u2019s exhibition. Courtesy of Josh Niccolai-Belfi.<\/p>\n

The Hughes Family Tribute Center\u2019s<\/a> 12th annual celebration of D\u00eda de los Muertos will open an art exhibit at Crown Hill Memorial Park and Mausoleum<\/a> on Saturday, Oct. 17.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curated by artist Art Garcia,<\/a> Pathways of Past Lives: The Persistence of Existence Art Exhibition will include works exploring ancestry, memory, life, death, and rebirth by regional area artists, along with a featured central installation by Bishop Arts native Josh Niccolai-Belfi.<\/a><\/p>\n

Niccolai-Belfi\u2019s piece is a recreation of \u201cPala di Sant\u2019Anna\u201d by the Italian artist Tiziano Vecellio, who happens to be a direct ancestor of Niccolai-Belfi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a piece that I\u2019ve studied quite a bit because I\u2019ve been writing on the historic churches of the area of Cadore, which is a historic region there, where my family is, and I visit there every summer. And this piece was presented. It was unveiled for basically the Day of the Dead, Nov. 2, in the year 1530,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The idea to replicate Vecellio\u2019s piece came about four years ago for Niccolai-Belfi, and he said this upcoming exhibit gave him a good opportunity to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Niccolai-Belfi\u2019s \u201cPala di Sant\u2019Anna\u201d is approximately 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide, made from an aluminum material used in the aerospace industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a honeycombed aluminum, so it\u2019s really thin and light, but it\u2019s almost an inch in thickness front to back, and I built a chisel,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just something that I\u2019ve never seen anybody do. I just happened across this idea when I was repairing some at one point, and so I embossed the aluminum and then went in with enamel and painted the figures, and then it also has gold leaf included as well in the panels.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Niccolai-Belfi added that he hopes to showcase both the D\u00eda de los Muertos traditions with the \u201cmore quiet, subdued\u201d All Saints\u2019 Day connected to his Italian heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to incorporate a bit of both into it to kind of have a blending of the cultures, and kind of the Italian side is really my access point for this type of celebration,\u201d he said. \u201cBut included in it, I\u2019ve commissioned two dancers, Favian Herrera and Fabiola Sanchez, who both have extensive experience in Day of the Dead, being Mexican American themselves, and (musical accompanist) Noe Garcia, also Mexican American, to bring in a bit of the Mexican voice, so that I\u2019m not just an outsider trying to show my interpretation of a celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pathways of Past Lives: The Persistence of Existence Art Exhibition will be on display Saturday, October 17 through Monday, Nov. 2. Specific viewing and performance hours are listed below:<\/p>\n

Saturday, Oct. 17: Grand Opening<\/p>\n

Art on view 6 p.m. \u2013 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Musical\/theatrical performance at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Oct. 18<\/p>\n

Art on view 1 p.m. \u2013 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday, Oct. 24<\/p>\n

Art on view 1 p.m. \u2013 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Sunday, Oct. 25<\/p>\n

Art on view 1 p.m. \u2013 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Saturday, Oct. 31<\/p>\n

Art on view 1 p.m. \u2013 4 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunday, Nov. 1<\/p>\n

Art on view 1 p.m. \u2013 4 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Monday, Nov. 2<\/p>\n

Art on view 10 a.m. \u2013 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

D\u00eda de los Muertos performances begin at 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Crown Hill Memorial Park and Mausoleum is located at 9718 Webb Chapel Road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The figure of Sant\u2019Anna in Josh Niccolai-Belfi\u2019s exhibition. Courtesy of Josh Niccolai-Belfi. The Hughes Family Tribute Center\u2019s 12th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[158712,158713,102,104,103,3933,158714,158715,158716],"class_list":["post-466118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-art-garcia","tag-crown-hill-memorial-park-and-mausoleum","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-dia-de-los-muertos","tag-hughes-family-tribute-center","tag-josh-niccolai-belfi","tag-tiziano-vecellio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}