Arthur Lopez – “Alma Del Maria” Wood Santos Carving

13"w x 18.5"h

$ 4,800.00

Arthur Lopez is one of the leading santos carvers in New Mexico.  After the piece is carved, is covered in gesso (a glue made from rabbit hide) which is allowed to dry and then sanded.  It is painted with both natural and watercolor pigment.  Natural colored pigments, such as the brown, are derived from black walnut hulls.   These are the time involved and historic foundations for his work.  This piece is entitled, “Alma de Maria”.   Arthur says of this piece:

“Alma de Maria”  is an allegorical variant of the Immaculate Conception, it represents the descent of the Holy Spirit (Dove) upon Mary and the Announcement of the Incarnation. She wears a crown of roses to symbolize her purity and exemption from the sins of the world. The baby birds in a nest made in the form of a crown of thorns represent innocence at birth and Jesus death for our sins. “If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long. – Deuteronomy 22:6-7″

Arthur’s work is found in numerous museum and public collections, including Albuquerque Museum of Art & History,  Denver Art Museum,  Freedom Museum (911 Memorial at Ground Zero), Harwood Museum of Art, Museum of International Folk Art,  Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the State of New Mexico Permanent Art Collection.