Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Taylor Museum for Southwestern Studies
Colorado Springs, CO
719-634-5581
By the Grace of Light: Images of Faith
from Catholic New Mexico
With photographs by acclaimed fine-art
photographer Craig Varjabedian, the exhibition By the Grace of Light:
Images of Faith from Catholic New Mexico began a twelve city national
exhibition tour in 1998 extending through the year 2000.
Within
the exhibition, Mr, Varjabedian's fifty black and white photographs are
combined with words by the Most Reverend Michael J. Sheehan, Archbishop
of Santa Fe, and were produced in conjunction with the 400th anniversary
-- the Cuarto Centennial -- of the arrival of Catholic faith to North America
and specifically to New Mexico. The exhibition is curated by Cathy Wright,
Director and Chief Curator of the Taylor Museum at the Colorado Springs
Fine Arts Center. Included with the exhibition are traditional contemporary
Hispanic santos from the Taylor Museum along with historical artifacts from
the collection of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
The exhibition is accompanied by a newly published photography
book, titled By the Grace of Light: Images of Faith from Catholic New
Mexico, Photographs by Craig Varjabedian, published by the Colorado
Springs Fine Arts Center in April 1998. Included with Varjabedian's photographs
are essays by Archbishop Sheehan, San Francisco arts writer Mag Dimond and
the Taylor Museum's Cathy Wright.
Perhaps in no other state of the union is the Catholic
church and images of faith more ever present 
in the lives of its citizens -- Catholic and non-Catholic
alike -- than in New Mexico. As one casts a quiet eye across the land, the
perceptive viewer soon notices a host of venerable objects that contain
some facet of New Mexico Catholic iconography. These include humble adobe
churches, low riders adorned with Catholic imagery, hand-crafted santos
and well known santo makers, diverse representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe,
roadside crosses and many other subjects. Varjabedian spent three years
completing this body of photographic work. After considering the richness
and beauty of these images and learning of the year-long celebrations being
planned-by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Varjabedian sought and received
the unqualified support of Archbishop Sheehan in creating an exhibition
of his photographs that would be combined with the Archbishop's words to
mark the occasion.
Craig
Varjabedian is an acclaimed photographer of the lands and peoples of the
American Southwest. Working often with a large-format view camera and almost
exclusively with black and white photographic materials, Varjabedian creates
sensitive and luminous photographs with a strong spiritual connection to
place. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts,
the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and numerous others for his photographic
work. His previous work includes the well-known traveling photographic exhibition
and fine-art book, En Divina Luz: The Penitente Moradas of New Mexico.
This body of work presents for the first time images of the humble chapter
meeting houses belonging to the elusive penitential lay order known as The
Pious Fraternity of Our Father Jesus set within the backdrop of a powerful
New Mexico landscape. The exhibition was received with much enthusiasm at
museum venues across the United States. (En Divina Luz translates from Spanish
to mean "In Divine Light")
Of Mr. Varjabedian's photographs, the late well-known photographic
historian Beaumont Newhall said, "In my considered opinion, the remarkable
photographs by Craig Varjabedian are not only beautiful but also extremely
valuable documents of architecture, culture, and lifestyle of Northern New
Mexico. His work is extremely valuable from both artistic and historical
viewpoints."
By the Grace of Light: Images of Faith from Catholic
New Mexico has received the generous support of
the Peter & Madeleine Martin Foundation for the Creative Arts of San
Francisco, California and Taos, New Mexico.
Photographs by Craig Varjabedian from top to bottom: Euologio and
Zoraida Ortega, Santeros, Velarde, New Mexico, 1996; Santa Nino Chapel,
La Manga, New Mexico, 1997; Dexter's Cross, Santa Rosa de Lima Church,
Abiquiu, NM, 1996.
Read more about the Colorado Springs
Fine Arts Center / Taylor Museum in Resource
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rev. 11/22/10
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Copyright 2010 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights
reserved.
Within
the exhibition, Mr, Varjabedian's fifty black and white photographs are
combined with words by the Most Reverend Michael J. Sheehan, Archbishop
of Santa Fe, and were produced in conjunction with the 400th anniversary
-- the Cuarto Centennial -- of the arrival of Catholic faith to North America
and specifically to New Mexico. The exhibition is curated by Cathy Wright,
Director and Chief Curator of the Taylor Museum at the Colorado Springs
Fine Arts Center. Included with the exhibition are traditional contemporary
Hispanic santos from the Taylor Museum along with historical artifacts from
the collection of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
