Detail of Panel from Reredos, Church of Sanctuario at Chimayo 1935 - 1942

Editor: This is "Detail of Panel from Reredos, Church of Sanctuario at Chimayo" by E. Boyd, made with mixed media sometime between 1935 and 1942. The image has a gentle feel to it, probably because of the pink watercolor background. There are these grapes that have dark and light circles of colors making each grape stand out on the vine. What jumps out at you? Curator: What I find particularly compelling are the grapes themselves. The clustering, the darkness contrasted with the surrounding pink, and the leaves which reach out like hands. The image invites one to meditate upon themes of communion and transformation that grapes symbolize, especially when taken from a church panel. Do you find the frame integral, or separable from the grapes in your observation? Editor: I hadn’t thought of the communion aspect at all. Thanks for sharing! About the frame—it seems pretty integral. Like it contains and supports the more free-flowing forms in the central panel. It feels protective, in a way. Curator: Exactly! Think about the reredos, as a whole. What does the repetition of framed images, echoing each other in the architecture, suggest about the cycles of the ritual year or even individual life? Notice too how the muted pinks are bracketed by earthier browns and greens. A sort of life-death-rebirth visual rhythm perhaps? Editor: So it’s not just a decorative border, it’s reinforcing ideas within the image! It sounds like everything, even color and framing, communicates an underlying symbolic system. Thanks for helping me appreciate this image on so many different levels! Curator: Indeed. Visual language permeates everything we see, if we only take the time to learn to read it!