Last November, Sid Vicious and Elvis showed up on Sixth Avenue.



Articulated Dia de los Muertos puppets carried by Di Morgan Graves and her husband, the puppets were funny, well-made, and to me, inspiring.



I wanted to make one of my own.



For the next few weeks, I’ll get my chance. Morgan-Graves hosts free Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead puppet workshops every Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at Epworth Lesourd Methodist Church on Sixth Avenue in preparation for the Dia de los Muertos procession on the Avenue Nov. 2.



Morgan-Graves credits a call-out on the Tacoma Arts ListServe by Morgan Alexander for a Tacoma Day of the Dead procession, three years ago. Morgan-Graves, Craven, and Ceccante, all rose to the call, along with arts instigator Claudia Riedener and others. Following the traditions of Day of the Dead processions and elsewhere, the idea for the puppets carried during the procession, and workshops to make the figures, evolved.



Via e-mail, Morgan Graves shared a bit about herself: “I moved here from Memphis four years ago. I have been doing paper mache for over 15 years. I started making masks and small cow sculptures, the first being The Fairy God Cow. I still make the cows and masks and have participated in Art on the Ave for the last three years under the name of Mad Old Bat. I also made a Tacoma postcard you may have seen.” (Come to Tacoma … we have balls, says the card, over a picture of Chihuly glass balls at the Museum of Glass.)



“I have always been drawn to the art of Dia de los Muertos so was intrigued when Morgan Alexander put out the call to artists. The figures I made for the Day of the Dead — for the past two years my husband and I carried Elvis and Sid Vicious — are just larger version of the whimsical figures I’ve been making over the years. We are still mulling over who to make this year.”



With regard to paper mache, Morgan Graves states, “It is very relaxing, a nice mindless art form to a degree. It’s hard to really mess it up — you can always slap more on or rip something off. You can let your mind wander to other more important things ... many of the people who have participated in the workshops have never paper mached before or have not done so since grade school. They have commented that it was more fun than they thought it would be.”



I’m looking forward to dirty-handed fun Saturday.



[Epworth Lesourd Methodist Church, Sept. 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6, 13, and 20, 10 a.m. to noon, free, 710 S. Anderson, Tacoma, 253.274.0655, www.on6thave.com]