Fechin House exhibition ‘Sacred Spaces’ presents ecclesiastical miniatures by ex-monk

The Santa Fe-based sculptor and former Benedictine monk, Roberto Cardinale, has created more than 500 miniature architectural sculptures over his four-decade career. “Sacred Spaces: Churches, Chapels, Synagogues, Missions and Moradas of New Mexico” at Taos Art Museum’s Fechin House highlights Cardinale’s sculptural renderings of historic Southwestern houses of worship, with a focus on the sacred architecture of New Mexico. The exhibition opens on Saturday, Jan. 10, and runs through March 1.

“I was a Benedictine monk for five years at Holy Cross Abbey in Cañon City, Colorado,” Cardinale said. “That’s when I became infatuated with ecclesiastical architecture.”

Although Cardinale left the Benedictine order to pursue an art career, he considers his art a natural extension of his earlier sacred calling.

“It all ties in,” he said. “I really feel like I’ve come full-circle, and I feel very comfortable as an artist making churches.”

While all of Cardinale’s sculptures are inspired by real places, they’re not meant to be accurate scale models.

“They’re not replicas, but they try to capture the feeling of the structures and what they mean to people in the community,” he said.

Cardinale often makes sketches and photographs of the sacred sites but allows his memory and imagination to intervene during the sculpting process to express the emotional truths of the buildings and not merely their outer forms. Sometimes, he consults archival photographs, as well.

“A lot of times, I work from my own photographs of a church, but I also work from historic photos, because churches change over time. They get remodeled, or they have a fire or something. They change,” Cardinale said.

People often wonder if Cardinale uses clay or plaster — he does not — and how he gives his houses of worship their antique, weathered look. All of his structures begin with wood — usually white pine or New Mexico sugar pine — which he stains, then rubs with kitchen paraffin wax before painting with multiple layers of latex house paint.

“Once I’ve done that, I rub the whole piece with a graphite stick,” he said. “I rub over it, and I rub it with my hands, until I get an aged-looking patina on the surface. Then, I might add details with different colors”

“It sometimes looks more like adobe or clay than it does wood, because of the layers,” Cardinale added.

Although Cardinale’s first miniatures were churches, he has expanded his repertoire over time to include synagogues and other houses of worship reflecting a diversity of religious traditions.

Many of the pieces feature hidden drawers containing narrative collages or assemblages by his wife, the artist PJ Cardinale.

“Her collages reflect aspects of the church or synagogue, or the architect, or traditional Catholic or Jewish imagery,” Roberto Cardinale said.

According to a Taos Art Museum press release, PJ Cardinale’s assemblages recall “the tradition of leaving milagros, offerings or reliquaries within holy sites.”

PJ and Roberto Cardinale got married at the same abbey where Roberto Cardinale had been a monk, and visitors can see a representation of that abbey in the show.

“One of the pieces I’m showing is the Holy Cross Abbey. It’s not for sale, but it’s a piece I did for my wife a few years ago. And she did the drawer, which represents our wedding,” he said. “I left the monastery in 1964, and then we got married there two years later, in 1966. This is the first time I’ve had that piece from our house in an exhibition. We got engaged in Taos. So, now, to have this piece in an exhibition in Taos, late in my career, and after 60 years of marriage, it’s a real special thing.”

The couple will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in May.

In addition to the houses of worship, Cardinale’s exhibition features three new works, representing three Fechin House fireplaces. The fireplaces, like the rest of the Fechin house and studio, were designed and built by the artist Nicolai Fechin in the late 1920s and early ’30s.

“I was so taken with the fireplaces, because they’re almost like altars,” Cardinale said. “They have a sacred sense of being an almost spiritual space — like the hearth in the home — and they become the center of the rooms.”

Cardinale’s fireplaces even include miniature pottery and artworks similar to those seen on the mantles in the historic home.

Christy Coleman, the executive director of the Taos Art Museum, said Cardinale’s work is a perfect match for the site.

“When I first saw Roberto Cardinale’s sculptures, I was struck by how profoundly they echo the spirit of the Fechin House with its quiet sanctity, handmade beauty and sense of refuge,” Coleman said in a statement. “His work invites us to view sacred spaces with fresh eyes, honoring the traditions and stories that shaped them.”