The Grand Rapids Downtown Market is excited to welcome Grand Rapids artist Arturo Morales Romero for ArtPrize 2026 and host his one-of-a-kind collection of artwork made entirely from indigenous seeds that celebrates Mexican culture, tradition, food, and community.
Inspired by Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, Morales Romero’s collection explores life, death, remembrance, family, and the connections that continue across generations. The exhibit fills the Market’s second floor with larger-than-life installations and 90+ pieces created by members of the Grand Rapids community on display.
For Morales Romero, the exhibit is deeply connected to his own story. Born in Tepetixtla, Mexico, he discovered his love for art as a young child and later became fascinated by murals and their ability to make art accessible to everyone. After moving to North Carolina in 2000, Morales Romero experienced discrimination because of his ethnicity and stepped away from painting murals. When he and his family moved to Grand Rapids in 2014, he was inspired to pick up his brushes again. Today, he calls Grand Rapids home and uses his work to share the history, culture, and traditions that have shaped him.
At the center of the exhibit are two larger-than-life pieces created entirely from seeds: a nine-foot image of La Catrina and a 10-foot Aztec solar calendar with a functional Día de los Muertos altar titled “La Catrina y La Altar”.
Morales Romero created La Catrina to represent the beauty of ancient mythology, beliefs, history, identity, and culture, using seeds to symbolize the beginning of new life when a person’s life in this world ends. His Aztec solar calendar, inspired by a visit to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, uses seeds to share stories of culture, agriculture, food, and history.
The materials are an important part of that story. Morales Romero uses the natural colors and textures of corn, beans, pumpkin seeds, chili seeds, and other crops cultivated by Indigenous communities in the Americas for thousands of years. Many of these crops have traditionally been grown together because they help one another thrive, connecting the artwork to themes of community, survival, and the ways food continues to bring people together.
The community became part of Morales Romero’s ArtPrize exhibit before the competition began. During workshops hosted at the Downtown Market, participants created Día de los Muertos-inspired artwork from seeds and beans in remembrance of loved ones who have passed.
Those workshops resulted in 92 individual and group pieces now displayed alongside Morales Romero’s work. Together, they create a community collection celebrating Mexican culture, food, family, and memories.
Guests can add their own story to the exhibit by bringing a personal item honoring a loved one and placing it on Morales Romero’s traditional Día de los Muertos altar.
The celebration of art continues this weekend when ArtPrize presents DoodleStreet at the Downtown Market on Saturday, September 26, from 11am to 4pm. The free, family-friendly event will bring hands-on art and creative experiences throughout the Market, including a special activation with Morales Romero, ArtPrize make-and-take projects, a giant community chalk drawing, and interactive experiences from organizations throughout Grand Rapids.
Visitors can explore DoodleStreet, experience Morales Romero’s complete ArtPrize collection on the second floor, and stop inside the Market Hall for a bite from one of the Downtown Market’s 21 merchants and restaurants.
Morales Romero’s ArtPrize exhibit will remain on display at the Downtown Market through November 2. For more information about Arturo Morales Romero and ArtPrize at the Downtown Market, visit downtownmarketgr.com/artprize.
