Crafting Devotions: Tradition in Contemporary New Mexico Santos

Rating:
Summary: Divine Inspiration
Review: If you are interested in wood carving and the tradition of the wood carvers in New Mexico this is a must have book. The secular and non-secular images displayed are excellent and inspiring works of art. The book is easy to read and entertains in a quasi-sholarly way. The glimpses into the various artists featured are interesting as they share insights into the way of life of these Santeros. The various profiled artists are unique, diverse, deceased or living and extremely talented. The section on Patrocino Barela and his family is fascinating and worth the cost of the book alone as it features some of his works which are extremely rare. This is a book that you will enjoy reading but more than that you will love looking at the works of art. Add this book to your art or religious section of your personal library. Be warned, you may not shelve the book as you will want to look at it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: Paraphrased from the Jacket
Review: This study of contemporary santeros working in northern New Mexico is illustrated throughout with color photographs. Kalb examines the role and meaning of tradition in the work of a number of artists, both living and deceased. For each of these artists, the meaning of tradition varies, and the issues of self-representation, cultural expression, preservation, innovation, and market demands are all complex, powerful, and delicate. It is both troublesome and rewarding to be able to support a family on the sales of religious images to Anglo buyers. The mainstream fine art world, tourism, religion, and ethnic politics all play roles in the creation of traditional works in a contemporary world. For all the santeros, the tangle of religious, commercial, political, and aesthetic forces requires complicated choices far beyond the basic relationships between themselves and their saints. Laurie Beth Kalb tells a fascinating and revealing story about a unique art form and its significance