Cripple Creek Hand Carved Cross
Cemetery Cross
Karen Rivera 2012
Cripple Creek, Colorado
Scattered on a barren, windswept hilltop, outside of town and hidden from the casinos that have taken over the entire town, handmade crosses mark the graves of the miners who died far away from home.
San Raphael ~ Patron Saint of Travelers and Singles
San Raphael
Patron Saint of Travelers
Acrylic on raw alderwood
Karen Rivera 2005
Woman with Black Iron Patina and Cross
Woman with Black Iron Patina and Cross
sebastian 2003
Jemez Springs Adobe Church
Jemez Springs, New Mexico
sebastian 2009
Chimayo Holy Chile
Cross of the Day
Our Lady of Holy Chiles
sebastian 2003
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church is Transformed
In Santa Fe, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is honored within the parish’s santuario. Outside, a 12-foot bronze statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe stands near the entrance, its base often decorated with fresh roses. Parishioners accompanied the statue from Mexico City, where it was cast in bronze, to Santa Fe in 2008.
Church is converting a weedy slope in front of its parking lot into a shrine that tells the story of the iconic Our Lady of Guadalupe. The church also will create an Institute for Guadalupe Studies and a Marian Resource Center and Library in the old Guadalupe School and Convent across Agua Fría Street.
The area will be called “Santa Fe’s Hill of Tepeyac.”
“It’s a place where people can come and look for resources about Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Nguyen said.
The Santa Fe Hill of Tepeyac is “a wonderful way to pay honor to our Mother,” parishioner Diana Lujan said.
More from the Santa Fe New Mexican
Jane Beeder’s Vintage Cross Jewlery
Copper Turquoise Beads with Vintage Silver Cross
by Jane Beeder
To say Jane Beeder travels the world is an understatement. From her years in spent in the Middle East buying antique strings of hand carved gemstones to her upcoming trip to Russia, Jane never misses a chance to search out the most exquisite and exotic beads for her original jewelry.
In her recent show last month at Hayden Hays Gallery at the Broadmoor Hotel, Jane’s jewelry held it’s own with all the other masterpieces displayed.
Crosses, whether they are antique Navajo sterling silver, gem studded artifacts from Morocco or hand crafted by local Colorado Springs artists, are combined with the rough-hewn gemstones, hand-forged crosses and elegant silver findings that are a hallmark of Jane’s work.
Many of her recent pieces combine Coptic (Ethiopian) Crosses with turquoise beads.
Ethiopian crosses are made from elaborate lattice or filigree work in a baroque style. The artists designing the African crosses take great delight in creating ornate decorative patterns. They embellish a simple cross with trefoils, flared arms, fanciful projections, complex openwork and intertwined patterns of lines that symbolize eternity.
Traditionally worn around the neck on a deep blue cotton cord, the crosses are given to children when they are baptized and they become one of the most prized of all personal possessions.
Named after the region they come from, the crosses that Jane uses in her work are hand-cast and made from nickel or brass alloys.
Jane Beeder combines a hand-carved Antique Lapis Lazuli and Sterling pendant with oversized Lapis Lazuli rondelles and hand made sterling silver beads
Jane’s studio at Cottonwood Center for the Arts is an out-of-the-ordinary voyage. Crammed floor-to-ceiling with Chinese antique cabinets full of exotic beads just waiting to be turned into collectible, wearable works of art, Jane can be found working surrounded by overflowing baskets of chunks of amber, strings frosted 1930’s lucite and tribal beaded headbands
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For more of Jane’s necklaces, check out photos of her work here on Fresh Ink.
Jane’s studio, #103, is at 427 E. Colorado in downtown Colorado Springs at Cottonwood Center for the Arts. For more info about Jane’s workshop, call (719) 520-1899. Her work can be purchased at Cottonwood on Tejon or The Boulder Street Gallery in Downtown Colorado Springs.
