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In 1994, David Nabor Lucero was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. The burglar alarm specialist knew he would be unable to continue at his former profession. To take his mind off his health problems, his mother encouraged him to accompany her to Santa Fe's Spanish Market. On crutches, David browsed the displays of Spanish Colonial art and found inspiration. He was fascinated with bultos, carved wood saints fashioned by artists called "Santeros". He bought his first set of wood carving tools that very day. Today he says, "God had a plan." David Nabor Lucero is the only Santero to ever win back-to-back grand prizes for relief carving in the Santa Fe Spanish Market. He's also renowned for his painted retablos and bultos. His photo graced the cover of the 2002 Santa Fe Visitor's Guide. He carved a 9x5 foot relief of Christ Risen for a church in southern California. Best of all, his success has prompted other members of his family to take up the art of the Santero. In a few short years, "Casa Lucero" has collected a bounty of honors and become a prominent name in New Mexico's Spanish Colonial art world. |
David Nabor and three of his brothers have been juried into the Spanish Colonial Art Society as market artists. Frankie Nazario's bultos and retablos sell out at the Spanish Market every year. He's been awarded "Best in Hispanic Arts" at the state fair and the first Collaboration Award at the Spanish Market. Jose A. Lucero, dubbed "The Picasso Santero" for a style that pushes the boundaries of tradition, was commissioned by the city of Santa Fe to carve life-size bultos of the Seven Archangels from the trunks of dead trees in the park beside the Santa Fe river. His creation has become a Santa Fe landmark. He was awarded second place for his miniature retablo at the 2002 Spanish Market. He won the Spanish Heritage Award for his collaboration with blacksmith Steve Lucero (no relation) on an art interpretation of the Cross of the Martyrs. He also won an honorable mention at the state fair. Master furniture maker Felipe collaborated with their mother Maria Victoria, a colcha embroidery artist, on a traditional sewing box that won the Spanish Heritage Award. He also won an honorable mention at Spanish Market and third place at the state fair. Baby brother Richard, is a tinsmith as well as a machinist at Los Alamos lab, often collaborates with his brothers. Jose and Felipe also work together carving pillars, beams and architectural details for traditional Santa Fe-style buildings. Their work can be seen on the porches of the Casa Pacific compound on Paseo de Peralta. |
The Lucero brothers are passing on their art to the next generation. Nephew Federico, apprentice to blacksmith Lucero, won the Youth Award at Spanish Market. At age nine, Frankie's daughter Jasmine was the youngest award-winner in the history of the Spanish Colonial Art Society. She won a Creativity Award in 2000 and a Craftsmanship Award in 2001. In 2002, she was honored with a Purchase Award, a Craftsmanship Award and an award for best in her age group. She collaborated with her stepbrother Ernest and Felipe's son Phillip II on a repisa chosen for the permanent collection of the Spanish Colonial Art Society. Felipe's daughter Elise won the 2001 Purchase Award for her retablo. Santa Fe's St. Francis Cathedral commissioned family matriarch Maria to embroider a colcha altar cloth of hand-dyed, hand-spun wool which has been in use since Good Friday 2002. Patriarch Nabor Lucero worked as a draftsman for the state highway department, made furniture as his avocation and encouraged his sons to become Santeros. He predicted David's second Spanish Market grand prize before his death in 1997. |
The Lucero family is featured in the documentary Santero: Art of Devotion, which screens for visitors at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington D.C., as well as in the books Our Saints Among Us: 400 Years of New Mexican Devotional Art by Barbe Awalt, Paul Rheffs, Thomas J. Steele and Charles M. Carrillo and The Saint Makers: Contemporary Santeras Y Santeros by Chuck and Jan Rosenack. The Santeros of Casa Lucero are best friends as well as siblings. Although they often carve and paint together in the workshop of their family compound off Cerro Gordo, they are known for their distinct artistic styles. Jose says, "We're very young at what we're doing, but our family has been blessed by recognition we've received for our work." |
Jose and Maria |