New Mexico State University’s Art Museum holds the largest public collection of Mexican retablos in the United States. Soon it will be available at your fingertips thanks to the beginnings of a large-scale digitization project funded by NMSU’s Office of Research, Creativity and Economic Development.
Visitors can see some of NMSU’s more than 2,000 works on tin, wood, copper and canvas in addition to other objects of sacred art in the Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery at the University Art Museum located on campus inside Devasthali Hall.
“It has never been properly inventoried or integrated into our current collections database system with updated photographs,” said Courtney Uldrich, Collections Curator at the University Art Museum. “We have a lot of photographs of old pieces, but they’re from the nineties and really don't function well for our current database system. So, one of my first priorities coming into this position was to kind of try and get things more manageable.”
With roots in European and Mexican art from the 16th to 18th centuries, retablos and ex-votos are religious images painted on tin plates and other found materials. Their use and significance can be traced back to religious images placed on church altars and they hold personal, spiritual importance for the people who create them. Ex-votos are retablos depicting miracles, often placed in a church or chapel where the worshiper wishes to express gratitude. They are part of a Mexican tradition depicting religious narratives of hope and suffering mitigated by divine intervention, resulting in healing and devotion.
Uldrich is leading the effort to digitize and inventory the growing collection acquired by NMSU over the last 60 years, with more than 200 new retablos added in 2022 alone. The internal seed grant, Uldrich says, will help her to apply for larger federal grants in the future, supporting the continued digitization and research opportunities surrounding the collection.
“Digitization offers people who may not be able to visit the museum the chance to access the retablos and navigate our platform,” Uldrich said. “Hopefully, it will also bring in researchers and scholars from across the world that are interested in studying the collection and can't fund travelling here. They would still be able to research and study from the collection without needing to physically tvisit here, which is a really exciting opportunity.”
Uldrich, who received her master’s degree in art history from NMSU in 2022, had been working as the collection’s graduate assistant since 2019, but recently was named its Collections Curator, a new position which was initially supported by the Mellon Foundation.
This task isn’t Uldrich’s job alone. Through the seed grant funding, Olivia Juedeman, a graduate assistant, started working last fall to help intake new retablo acquisitions, complete an inventory, digitize and integrate the collection into the UAM database.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to work so closely with our collection and learn more about the cultural significance of our retablos, archival techniques and large-scale digitization,” Juedeman said. “I find myself completely drawn to the preservation of artworks and the inherent importance they carry for the community.”
NMSU students in the Museum Conservation program have been working to preserve and restore pieces in the retablo collection since the early 2000s.
“If there’s ever any type of conservation concerns or damage to the pieces, we have updated, proper photographs of the entire collection and are able to look back to see if any changes have taken place,” Uldrich said.
Yasmine Jahangiri, a senior double-majoring in museum conservation and theatre arts, has worked closely with both Uldrich and Juedeman to assist in photographing, digitizing and storing the retablos.
“I’m able to train the next generation of museum professionals,” Uldrich said. " I feel really lucky that I'm able to do that with Olivia and Yasmine. I want to make sure that we're preparing our graduate and undergraduate students for wherever their trajectory takes them and that they’re well prepared and get as many different experiences as possible while they’re still here.”
The collection, currently in the process of being updated, can be found at https://uam.nmsu.edu/collections/retablo-collection.html. For more information on upcoming events and collections, go to https://uam.nmsu.edu/ or call 575-646-8036.
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CUTLINE 1: From left, graduate assistant Olivia Juedeman and collections curator Courtney Uldrich in the room where more than 2,000 retablos are currently stored in the University Art Museum. (NMSU photo by Chloe Dunlap)
CUTLINE 2: From left, graduate assistant Olivia Juedeman and undergraduate assistant Yasmine Jahangiri in the process of photographing and digitizing a pair of retablos from the collection. (NMSU photo by Chloe Dunlap)
CUTLINE 3: Visitors can explore the country’s largest retablo collection in-person in the University Art Museum at New Mexico State University. The UAM is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. (NMSU photo by Chloe Dunlap)
CUTLINE 4: “Our Lady of Guadalupe,” a 19th century oil painting done on tin by an unknown artist, is one of more than 2,000 retablos at New Mexico State University’s Art Museum. (NMSU photo by Chloe Dunlap)
CUTLINE 5: Learn more about NMSU's retablo collection and the digitization project through interviews with Courtney Uldrich and Marisa Sage. This video was produced by Emmanuel Ramos Barajas for a UAM exhibition back in 2022. (Courtesy of the University Art Museum)