The Virgin Mary from Immaculate Conception to Our Lady of Sorrows: A Curators’ Talk with Silvia Marinas-Feliner and Courtney Uldrich

In this video filmed on June 27th, 2020, please join the co-curators of the University Art Museum’s inaugural retablo exhibition as part of Labor: Art & Motherhood in 2020 for a virtual curators’ talk and exploration into the history of the UAM’s Mexican retablo collection. Co-curators Professor Silvia Marinas-Feliner and NMSU graduate student Courtney Uldrich discussed their methods in curating an exhibition in connection with motherhood, and exploring the importance of the Virgin Mary as one of the most exemplary models of motherhood. This exhibition is the first time the retablos have been displayed since the 2000 exhibition El Favor de los Santos: The Retablo Collection of New Mexico State University. With a recent donation of over 200 retablos by renowned retablo specialist and conservator Gloria Giffords, the UAM Permanent Art Collection now houses 2,000 nineteenth-century retablos, the largest such collection in the United States. Discussion will also include the history of the collection at the UAM, and a behind-the-scene look at the process of accessioning the recently acquired retablos into the collection.

Silvia Marinas-Feliner has been the Director of and lead instructor for the Museum Conservation Program at New Mexico State University since 2002. From 2000 to 2001, she also served as the Acting Director of NMSU University Art Gallery, she was the gallery’s conservator from 1998 to 2008, and she was the lead conservator for the exhibition El Favor de los Santos: The Retablo Collection of New Mexico State University between 1998 and 2000 and was in charge of sending the exhibition around the United States, Mexico and Spain.

Courtney Uldrich is a current graduate student within the MA art history program at NMSU. She has worked with the UAM for over a year as their Collections Specialist, dedicated to the research, organization, and continued preservation of the UAM Permanent Art Collection. Uldrich worked with UAM Director, Marisa Sage, to curate the retablo exhibition as well as the modern and contemporary exhibition in connection with Labor.