Perhaps a spiritual experience

During my stay in Chimayo I visited El Santuario de Chimayo numerous times.  The first time I went I found it overwhelming, so I took it in a little at a time and spend most of my last day in Chimayo wandering around the complex. 

 

The Santuario also known as the Lourdes of America, is a pilgrimage spot, where people travel long distances by foot to be cleansed by the act of the journey and also get some of the sacred red dirt found in a hole in the floor of the church, which is believed to have miraculous healing powers.  

 

I dug out some of the dirt from the hole in the floor and put it in a little plastic container I bought in the gift shop.  Perhaps it will help with the pain in my hip.

http://chimayo.us/Points.html#Santuario

 

I found being in the church complex a very powerful experience.  As I sat in the main chapel I started crying.    

Altar in the main chapel

I then went to the Santo Niño Chapel and started crying there and I began to wonder if perhaps I was having a spiritual experience.

 

The Santo Niño Chapel was recently redecorated.

Everyone says its really tacky (which it is), but I liked it.

So, I spent some time to try to figure out what all this emotion was about and I realized I wasn’t having a religious spiritual experience, but rather an artistic spiritual experience. The reason that I loved being the Santo Niño Chapel  was because it reminded me of something I would make or would love to make- just a big crazy, obsessive- and yes, tacky, immersive installation.  (Sorry, no photos allowed in the church and the ones I found on the internet aren't very good.)

In the main chapel I loved the colors and craftsmanship that seemed more fueled by passion and devotion than by a need to get a straight line.  The whole place looked like a theater set to me.  I particularly loved the bultos that were placed in niches and incorporated into the reredos (the wooden screens lining the walls of the chapel).

I also saw these at San Miguel Mission Church in Santa Fe, which is considered the oldest church in the United States (and perhaps one of the only truly interesting things in Santa Fe in my opinion).

Churches are supposed to be homes for the soul and as my art is my religion, these particular spaces gave me a real sense of home.