San Francisco de Asis: Subject of Artists Georgia O’Keeffe, Ansel Adams and Countless Others
Its Surface Holds a Community’s History
TAOS, NEW MEXICO (May 2010) – This summer, as part of Taos’ “Return to Sacred Places” travel education theme, the Taos Festival of Art and Architecture offers visitors an intimate glimpse into the sacred art and architecture at the heart of this magical region.
The Festival’s signature event is the yearly re-mudding of the San Francisco de Asis Church. Since the adobe church in the Spanish Mission style was completed in 1815, each year a layer of mud plaster mixed with straw is applied to its massive-yet-fragile skin to protect it from the elements.
Winter snows and Spring winds often damage and deteriorate the mud that covers the thick adobe walls, and if not repaired, moisture can seep into cracks and weaken them. For churches not so rigorously cared for in this part of the world, the consequences can be devastating.
This year not only are parishioners invited to participate but also an army of volunteers will be welcomed from the community at large to participate in the annual enjarre or mud-plastering. The mudding gives participants an idea of what it took to build the church over a 40-year period some 200 years ago.
Constructed of thousands of hand-made adobe bricks, the church is built in the shape of a cross, with massive four-foot thick walls and enormous buttresses on its west end. The roof, also made of mud and ceiling planks, is supported by some 30 beams, or vigas, up to 32-feet in length and weighing 600-700 lbs each.
But the Church is more than a physical structure, for it holds on its surface the community’s history — generations of hands plastering and re-plastering the adobe walls. For many Taosenos, the Ranchos Church provides a place of worship on Sundays and holidays; for others it provides a sense of permanence: the comfort of a cultural icon in their midst, a real and durable anchor in the landscape.
The re-mudding will take place between June 7 and June 18, but exact dates may vary according to weather and other conditions.
Those interested in participating should understand that the parishioners who are normally in charge of the re-mudding are only interested in people who are willing to make a real commitment to “do the work.” The re-mudding involves a process and technique that requires some training and expertise. If mudding seems like too much of a time commitment, volunteers are also needed to carry water, feed the workers, etc. For more information and to get involved call the Church Office at 575.758.2754.
