Macario Ramirez, of Casa Ramirez Folkart Gallery, passed away June 10. My thoughts and from friends that I asked to contribute are below The Leader article links.
Heights cultural icon Ramirez dies at 86
Macario (Mister to me) Ramirez passed away June 10. A tremendous loss for many communities. The shop he and his wife owned, Casa Ramirez, was one of the first I visited when I first “discovered” the Heights. In many ways, Casa Ramirez is part of the glue that has kept the Heights often used phrase, Small Town in the Big City, alive.
If you read the well written obituary by Charolette Aguilar in The Leader, linked above, you’ll learn much more about the store, his wife Chrissie and the impact Mr. Ramirez had on so many people.
I’m always a big fan of people that support local artists and that was a huge part of what the Ramirez’s did with their store.
Mr. Ramiez was not someone that sat on the sidelines waiting to jump in. He was the first one to speak up, speak out and champion the downtrodden. He was quick to praise those that he saw doing good too.
Mister Ramirez complemented my art market and efforts to help my fellow artists regularly. He made it quite clear he had been watching and following along with what I was doing, and praised me for it. To say I was only just honored by his comments would be an understatement on a grand scale.
Quite often the Ramirez’s would drive by the market in the morning as we setup early, real slow, having a good long look! LOL. Sometimes stopping to chat, but more often waving as they passed on the way to open their store. I loved that!
A few years ago, Mr. Ramirez called me. He was disappointed in me! OH MY GOSH, NO! Apparently what I had written about Dia de los Muertos in my arts column for The Leader was incorrect.
Mr. Ramirez was kind about it but insisted I come by his store as soon as possible. What transpired was a one on one version of his instructional classes that he lead at the store about the traditions surrounding Dia de los Muertos. I left invigorated and with a wealth of new knowledge and respect for the holiday.
My experiences with Mr. Ramirez was limited, and I will miss him. His impact on emerging and established Hispanic artists was enormous and I doubt even quantifiable.
I am happy to see that Chrissie Ramirez has decided to keep Casa Ramirez open.
My sincerest condolences to Chrissie and family and friends.
Mitch Cohen
From artist Sergio Santos
There is a multitude of characteristics that made Señor Ramirez special. The most powerful to me, however, is that in his Dīa de Los Muertos teachings, he invited people of all different backgrounds, races, and walks of life to celebrate their ancestral past. His teachings were provided to the community at no charge and created a bond with a diversity of people that is beautiful, and impressionable.
He was/is a symbol of pride to many Latinos in the community, but through his benevolent spirit, and genuine love of all people–he was so much more than that. It is that legacy that will be most sorely missed but certainly lives on in any of us that were fortunate enough to take any amount of time to learn from Señor Ramirez’s life example.
Sergio Santos
Sergio attended regularly at 1stSatArtMarket for many years until moving to Fort Worth. Find Sergio on Facebook and Etsy @elsantosworld
Photographer Alex Barber sent me links to photos he took of the Ramirez’s in action! Thank you Alex!
DDM Procession 2012
DDM Procession 2013
Sugar Skull Workshop 2013
DDM Class 2019
Here’s everything I’ve tagged with “Casa Ramirez”:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=42542120%40N05&sort=date-taken-desc&text=casa%20ramirez&view_all=1
And tagged with “Macario” – there’s shots here of him receiving an award in 2013, and meeting Dolores Heurta in 2013 at Rothko.
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=42542120%40N05&sort=date-taken-desc&text=macario&view_all=1