Celeste Contreras

Celeste Contreras is a Xicana – Indigenous artist who works in mixed mediums to share stories of ceremony, palimpsests, and memory with reflections of identity. Her work includes illustrations, prints, book arts, fiber arts and animation. Contreras holds a MFA from UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts and a BFA from Alverno College. She founded and directed Milwaukee’s Día de Muertos Parade and Festival from 2009–2019. Contreras was the 2019 Gathering Art, Stories and Place Artist-in-Residence with the Milwaukee Public Library where she published a 200-edition box set of artists’ books, Artist in the Library. Contreras is a resident artist at The House of Rad, a creative collective of artists, and manages Studio Tlacuilo + Library, which will house artist’s books and all handmade books including a collection on international bookmakers. Her mission in life is to remind everyone that they should write, print, dance, sing and draw their books.

“Book is the intersection between the living and the dead; it’s where I meet with my ancestors. When I wear the mask of the Tlacuilo and I put on the apron handed down from my elders, I perform the ceremony of the bookmakers. I am a palimpsest of a Tlacuilo.” -Celeste Contreras, 2022