Week
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October 31, 2001
Inside the Register
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Regis
U to celebrate All Saints with santos art exhibit
6-week event features Colorado santo artists, market, lectures
By Roxanne King
Denver native Catherine Robles-Shaw, was praying for her daughter to be healed of brain cancer when she rediscovered santos, handcrafted saints, at churches in New Mexico. Shaw didn't find a cure, but she did find renewed faith — and hope — in the religious folk images.
Those graces aided her and her daughter's 13-year battle with the disease — nine of them fought after Sherry Ann was given just one month to live. The struggle ended in 1984, when Sherry Ann died at 16. Seven years later, Shaw turned her newfound devotion into a career when she became a santera, an artist who depicts saints (males are santeros).
"This is my work now," Shaw, 49, said from her Nederland home. "I work fulltime just making saints. I use them as prayer as I go around painting them."
Despite growing up in a "very Catholic home" replete with altars for prayer, Shaw said she had taken santos for granted until her anguished pilgrimage led her back to them. After embarking on her new career, she learned she was the fifth generation in her family to do so.
Now, another daughter, Roxanne, is following Shaw's footsteps. Like her mother, the 21-year-old Shaw also is an award-winning santera.
Both mother and daughter's work will be on display with that of 14 other santeras and santeros — Colorado's finest, according to organizers — at Regis University's "Santos: Sacred Art of Colorado" exhibit. Opening on All Saints Day, Nov. 1, the show runs through Dec. 13 at the O'Sullivan Arts Center. The exhibit is free. It begins with a Mass celebrated by Bishop José Gomez 4 p.m. Nov. 1 at St. John Francis Regis Chapel. Following the liturgy, Bishop Gomez will lead the artists in a procession to the gallery for the opening reception.
Related events include a market Dec. 8 where the public can purchase works by the featured artists. Additionally, Jesuit Father Thomas J. Steele, curator of the Regis University santo collection, will give a lecture, "Santos: An education in saintly living," 7 p.m. Nov. 8. Santero José Raul Esquibel, a 1965 Regis graduate whose work will be in the exhibit, also will present a lecture, "Modern Usage of Santos," 7 p.m. Nov. 15.
A folk art mainly associated with New Mexico, many Colorado artists have taken up the santo tradition and are extremely good, said William Sutton, director of the O'Sullivan gallery. The fine arts professor emphasized that Colorado artists are continuing a tradition that extends beyond the political boundary separating the two states.
"It's just a straight line across the territory, but the land continues and the culture continues," Sutton said.
Featuring bultos (hand carved saints), retablos (painted wood panels), and reredos (altar screens), the show is even better than the one Regis presented four years ago, which was a huge success, Father Steele said.
"The quality of work in Colorado has flourished in a wonderful way," he said, adding that the works displayed are "really splendid."
So how do santos aid with saintly living? Because they teach the three great virtues — faith, hope and charity, Father Steele said.
"Faith is believing what the Church believes," he said explaining that santos depict the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the Blessed Mother, saints and angels. They are used to aid prayer, which "is almost always involved in hope," he said, and they are used to teach moral lessons on how to live a Christian life, "which comes down to love."
Some 200 subjects are represented in the santero world, Father Steele said, each with its own symbolism. The crucifix, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron of farmers San Isidro (St. Isidore), and San José (St. Joseph) are among the most popular.
"Part of the Hispanic take on (spirituality) is that God is a good administrator and knows how to delegate authority," Father Steele said. "If you want rain, you pray to San Isidro and he will make a decision on whether it should rain or not."
Appearing about 1800, the santo tradition dwindled when modern technology and mass production nearly brought an end to the hand made devotional objects, said Esquibel, who has made santos since 1992. In the not-too-recent past, they were regarded more as a collectible. Recent resurgence of santo popularity is related in part to people's desire for a more personal sacramental, the 57-year-old Littleton resident said.
"I think people hunger for this more authentic spirituality," Esquibel said. "That's what these santos represent."
Like a Negro spiritual, santos have an ethnic quality that's specific to a cultural group, but their spiritual meaning resonates universally, the santero said.
"You know the spirituals come from a distinct moment in history and personal experience," Esquibel said. "The same with santos, you know they arose out of the Hispanic religious tradition but you relate to it."
Each santo is unique, with a beauty born of its simplicity and personal quality, he said. Today, santos are again being used in their traditional manner — for devotional purposes in homes or as gifts on religious occasions.
And, they're remarkably affordable, he said, noting that the vast majority of works by respected artists sell for less than $200. But they can cost thousands, he added.
Like Shaw, Esquibel, grew up in a home rich with Hispanic Catholic religious traditions. Esquibel's decision to become a santero was the result of prayer seeking guidance on how to recover the faith practices that held such power and meaning in the Hispanic community — such as youth kneeling before elders for their blessing before leaving on a trip — but which his generation had let slip away, Esquibel said.
"I thought to myself, `Am I a part of this loss?'" Esquibel said.
Now, he's an integral part of the santo revival and one of the main forces behind the Regis exhibits, which the university hopes to hold every four years, Father Steele said.
"This is a wonderful thing," Esquibel said about the upcoming exhibit and the auxiliary bishop's willingness to begin it in true Hispanic religious form with a liturgy and procession. "Bishop Gomez comes to the Hispanic community and he gets to see the best of it, the fruit."
During the last santo exhibit, Hispanic students excitedly promoted the event to their parents, Esquibel said, calling them back to their roots.
But the event is an opportunity for all to learn about the santo tradition, the santero said, adding, "You don't have to speak Spanish to enjoy it."
Regis University is at 3333 Regis Blvd. O'Sullivan gallery hours are 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesdays, 1-4 p.m. Fridays, and 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 6-9 p.m. Thursdays.