Bultos

Bultos

These brightly colored sculptures of santos (saints) or other religious figures are carved from the wood of trees that grow in New Mexico: cottonwood, cottonwood roots, aspen and pine. Bultos are used for daily reverence, for general decoration, and as a talisman in churches and private homes.

A santero carves a bulto with a knife and then covers it with gesso, a mixture of native gypsum and glue, to prepare it for painting. Santeros still use paints from homemade pigments.