LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S "VISION OF THE MADONNA" MOSAIC IN RIVER GLASS

Laurie Zuckerman experienced a "vision" right before Christmas that she could create a Madonna from the shards of river glass her husband collected for her in Wyoming this fall. Using nearly every piece, I positioned these chunks of bottle and telephone transformer glass on my outdoor patio table to resemble the Madonna's head with her blue mantle, and without the add of a picture. It still needs plenty of fussing before I glue it down, if at all. Perhaps on an old, old wine bottle I found in Leadville, Colorado. I want her to be beautiful, but at the moment, she is harsh and stern like a witch. I was reading my new book on New Guinea's Bowerbirds when my vision struck me. Male Bowerbirds collect and carefully arrange colorful baubles to entice a female to mate. Fortunately our balmy winter weather cooperated so I could run outside on Christmas Eve and work until I was finished with this rough draft. What do you think?

I've made some changes, found some more cobalt beach glass, but the snow has covered my backyard Madonna experiment for now. 

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN WISHES YOU A FESTIVE CHRISTMAS FROM NORTHERN COLORADO

Laurie Zuckerman celebrated Christmas Eve day with a drive in the country to Cheyenne, Wyoming, hoping to spot some nativity scenes along the way. Magically, on the way home, I spotted this nearly life-size plastic family in Weld County, just east of Fort Collins. I'll be out scouting again today in Weld County, as the sun is shining here and there is no snow for a white Christmas. Hope you are enjoying your own festive Christmas!

Here's a few shots I took tonight in Fort Collins, on a lucky hunch that the historic Tres Colonias neighborhoods might have a few good nativity scenes. That's how I spent my Christmas evening, stealing into people's driveways to photograph these lighted shrines. I even caught up with this Virgin of Guadalupe Shrine, which has probably been up for the past couple of weeks, if not longer.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN SHARES A CHRISTMAS NATIVITY SHRINE FROM SOUTHERN COLORADO

Laurie Zuckerman wishes you and your family a wonderful holy season. I hope your home is as spirited as this one in the tiny town of Weston, deep in Southern Colorado. The porch makes a perfect manger for the coming of the baby Jesus. These nativity figures are life-size. Wish I had the guts to kitsch-up my house like this!

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN'S "ROCK OF AGES" PHOTO SERIES FROM SOUTHERN COLORADO'S HISTORIC CATHOLIC CEMETERIES — "CAMPOSANTOS"

Day 1: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 2: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 3: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 4: Carved fieldstone in Southern Colorado 2007

Day 5: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 6: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 7: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 8: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 9: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 10: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Day 11: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2007

Day 12: Carved fieldstone Southern Colorado 2010

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Keota Cemetery

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Pawnee Buttes

Carved rock by Tom Mathies at the Pawnee Buttes

Christmas Day!! Laurie Zuckerman spends her vacations cruising Hispanic cemeteries "camposantos" in the Southwest for folk art gravestones. Probably the oldest and most primitive of the markers I find are small fieldstones that unobtrusively mark forgotten plots of loved ones. The stones are irregular and encrusted with lichens, obscuring the handcarved Spanish-style crosses engraved in their faces. In honor of the twelve days of Christmas, I will display a new photo each day from cemeteries tucked away in the remote San Luis Valley of Colorado. Once governed by Spain and Mexico for centuries, the religious culture of Spain and Mexico still survives, due to that remoteness. Later on Christmas Day I will post photos of our own "rock of ages" stones my husband has carved for my birthday and Christmas presents this month. We are taking them out to the country today for their debut shoot out at the old Keota Cemetery, in the heart of dustbowl land and then on to the Pawnee Buttes National Grasslands. The last three shots are from today's Christmas journey.

"My refuge my rock of salvation! 

'Tis pleasant to sing to your praises.

Let our house of prayer be restored. 

And there we will offer You our thanks.

When You will have utterly silenced the loud-mouthed foe.

Then we will celebrate with song and psalm the altar's dedication.

My soul was sated with misery, 

My strength was spent with grief.

They embittered my life with hardship..."

Excerpt from the Channukah "Rock of Ages" song.

Carved "moss rock" by Tom Mathies, photographed 

at Keota Cemetery, Weld County, Colorado, 2010

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHS BOTTLE TREE IN SOUTH FORK, SOUTHERN COLORADO

It is not everyday that Laurie Zuckerman finds a Southern-style spirit bottle tree to photograph. Here is a shot from South Fork, Colorado, that I took over the Thanksgiving Break, in a place and a state I would never expect to see one. I was told a bear knocked down the tree and its original old bottles. These cobalt blue bottles are the replacements, but these days everyone is using these bottles liberally.

LAURIE ZUCKERMAN PHOTOGRAPHS VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE SHRINE, ANTONITO, COLORADO

Twelve Days of La Virgen de Guadalupe at

el oratorio de juan diego y la sagrada familia 

roadside shrine in Antonito, Colorado

Day 1:  Conejos, Colorado

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 2010

Day 2: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2006

Day 3: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Can you find the changes in four years time?

Amazing how little has changed in this public shrine.

Day 4: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2006

This stunning Guadalupe is dedicated to Blanche Kleid Zuckerman, 

my dear mother who would be 88 years old today. For you, Mom!!

Day 5: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 6: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 6: Villanueva Grotto, New Mexico 2007, comparing Guadalupe statues

Day 6: Villanueva Grotto, New Mexico 2007, comparing Guadalupe angels

Day 7: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 7: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 7: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 8: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2006

Day 8: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 8: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Notice La Madre Dolorosa's tears.

Day 9: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 10: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine window, 2010

Day 10: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine painting, 2006

Day 10: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine painting, 2010

Day 11: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2006

Day 11: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 11: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine door from inside, 2006

Day 11: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Look carefully, that is my reflection in the door.

Day 12: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 12: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2006

Day 12: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 12: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Day 12: Antonito, Colorado roadside shrine, 2010

Hope you have enjoyed my tour in Antonito!!

Day 12: Rocky Ford, Colorado yard shrine

Happy Virgin of Guadalupe Day to all who have joined in!!!

Laurie Zuckerman shares her birthdate, December 12, with La Virgen de Guadalupe, Mexico's widely revered Virgin. This might just be why I respond to her image so viscerally. Over the Thanksgiving Break, I traveled to Southern Colorado and photographed images of the Guadalupe in the oldest operating church in Conejos County, aptly titled Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. I also re-photographed "el oratorio de juan diego y la sacrada familia" roadside shrine on the southside of Antonito. Days 2 through 12 are photos I have documented from this Guadalupe roadside shrine. I have visited this shrine several times over the years, on my way to and from Northern New Mexico. I will be comparing shots from a 2006 visit with my 2010 visit, as my interests lie in how the shrine is used or changed. It is likely that the people who own the shrine have made these decorative additions and subtractions themselves. It is also probable that the community brings offerings to this shrine that are periodically "cleaned up." A third possibility is that the shrine is occasionally vandalized, but the four-year documentation of this shrine shows little change or abuse. I just want to know what happened to these beautiful flowers and leis on the Guadalupe. She is housed in a tiny, closet-sized building on Highway 285 leading south of Antonito, and well-protected from the elements, keeping her in pristine condition for a chalkware statue. I reveal outdoor shots of this shrine on December 12th.


Hope you've enjoyed the tour. Thanks for coming along!!!

PLEASE log onto Recuerda Mi Corazon to see more wonderful images of La Virgen de Guadalupe on Rebecca Brooks' blog. Rebecca is hosting "A Virgin a Day." Other artists are sharing their daily visions of Guadalupe on Rebecca's site, too. What a sweet commemoration! I am thoroughly enjoying the experience each day.

On December 13, I will begin a Rock of Ages series, plus a Baby Jesus series, honoring the twelve days celebrating the Christmas season, as I was raised celebrating Christmas, not Channukah.