May I suggest ...
SANTA FE, N.M. - Perhaps the saints have called upon artist Charles Carrillo to keep their spirits alive in the Southwest. Each time Carrillo creates one of his paintings of the saints on wood panels called retablos, he breathes life into an art form that dates back more than 400 years to when Catholic missionaries first arrived in New Mexico.
As an extension of his artistic talent, he writes about the saints in a scholarly fashion, reflective of his academic pedigree. Carrillo earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of New Mexico in 1996 and is currently an adjunct professor for UNM;s religious studies program. In March, LPD Press released the second edition of his book, ''Saints of the Pueblos.''
The glossy, lightweight 93-page softcover features the retablos created by Carrillo of each patron saint of the Land of Enchantment's 19 pueblos, and four ancestral pueblos. He said there are at least 50 ancestral pueblos in New Mexico that are no longer standing, but chose the four that are most visible to people who visit the state.
''We call them ancestral because the ancestral spirits of the people never left,'' he said. ''They are not abandoned, because abandonment implies that there's nothing there.''
Carrillo has spent 30 years crafting retablos with the border motifs in traditional New Mexico Spanish baroque and folk design style. As an active historian, he was well aware of the influence of the Catholic faith on Pueblo Indian culture; so he set out to make a set of contemporary retablos that would reflect the culture's beauty. The Pueblo Indians' long history of creating exquisite pottery designs was the perfect inspiration to apply to the border motifs of his retablos.
''Traditional retablo designs never had Native American designs on the border motif,'' he said.
Each chapter features a description of the materials and designs Pueblo Indians use to create their pottery, a brief history of each pueblo and a description of the patron saint.
The photos complement an already interesting and easy read, and even the cover features a colorful retablo of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It would make a nice addition to any coffee table. In most chapters, the pottery of each pueblo is placed next to the retablo for juxtaposition. There are nostalgic photos of early missions, some now rebuilt, and retablos from the 1800s.
In the Spanish language, saint translates to ''santo'' and the artist that paints them is called a santero.
The changes that were made to the new edition were mostly minor, said Paul Rhetts, publisher of LPD Press & Rio Grande Books and longtime friend of the Carrillo family. They tweaked the design, made some minor corrections and updated information.
''It was so successful that we didn't want it to go out of print, so we came back with a new edition,'' he said.
Read More
When Carrillo creates his contemporary pieces, he follows the traditions of his Spanish ancestors, using only natural, non-synthetic materials. Each retablo is crafted from hand-split wood, and he uses animal hide glue and ground gypsum to create the white foundation to paint upon. He creates his own colors, reflective of the paints used during the Spanish colonial period.
For example, he painted Saint Francis' habit indigo blue, a color worn by Spanish Franciscans, but not as commonly used as brown. On occasion he uses the juice of the cochineal bug to create a deep red color. And to preserve each piece, he finishes it with pinon nut oil. When dry, it forms a hard, glossy finish without compromising the integrity of the paint.
''Every color is homemade,'' he said. They are either a vegetable dye, mineral, ground-up rock of some type, or clay. So, everything I have done is historically correct.''
Carrillo's passion for creating retablos came from a combination of experiences associated with his years as a student, researcher and archaeologist. He discovered the mystique and long history of the influence of saints on artisans while working at a Spanish colonial site.
''In other words, archaeology led me to art history, and art history led me to the santos and the santos became my life,'' he said.
Although he sold his first set of retablos from the book via the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque, he crafted an entirely new collection of the pueblo-inspired pieces. Brian Vallo, museum director of the IPCC, said they are sponsoring the traveling exhibition starting 2009.
Vallo, Acoma Pueblo, said that his people might have had some involvement in the selection of St. Stephen, who died by being stoned to death and was the first Christian martyr. They felt that affinity for him due to the violence and cultural erosion that came with early Spanish settlement. ''The stories vary from pueblo to pueblo,'' he said.
As the healing continues, each pueblo celebrates its patron saint during its annual feast day. The date for each celebration is listed in each chapter on the pueblos. ''It's really a nice time to see a meshing of cultures and religions,'' Vallo said. ''It took a period of time for the pueblo to accept a very traditional Catholic system and make it their own.''
Carrillo has won numerous accolades for his work, including the prestigious 2006 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Carrillo's wife, Debbie, is an award-winning potter; and their two children, Estrellita and Roan, have also won awards for their santos.
He is also the author of ''Hispanic New Mexican Pottery''; ''A Tapestry of Kinship,'' co-authored with Jose Antonio Esquibel; ''A Century of Retablos: The Janis and Dennis Lyon Collection of New Mexican Santos, 1780 - 1880,'' co-authored with Thomas J. Steele, S.J.; and the ''Novena to the Santo Nino de Atocha,'' co-authored with Steele and Felipe Mirabal. He has also contributed numerous articles to books and magazines.
For more information, visit www.nmsantos.com.
