Bulto & Retablo Making

Retablo Making Courses

Retablo Making: Students will create retablos in the northern New Mexico style by choosing appropriate wood, paint, and hand-made materials such as gesso and pinon varnish.

Bulto Making: Students will study the basic techniques for carving and painting bultos in the northern New Mexico style.

Instructor: Juanito Jimenez

Inspired by Spanish Colonial art of the Southwestern United States and its rich regional heritage, Juanito Jimenez has been painting and crafting fine art pieces from an early age.

Juanito was awarded his Masters degree in Education from the New Mexico Higlands University of Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1971 and teaches courses in Retablo Painting throughout New Mexico, at Ghost Ranch in Abiqui, Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico College in El Rito. He has also given Retablo Painting courses in Colorado, California, Indiana and Georgia. Juanito has served as Curator of Southwest Devotional Folk Art at the A.R. Mitchell Museum in Trinidad, Colorado and lectured at the Trinidad Historical Society on Spanish Colonial Devotional Art.

With pieces in public museums throughout New Mexico, Colorado and Washington D.C., Juanito's works are also held in private collections in the United States, Europe, South America, Mexico, Canada and Australia.