Ellen Chavez de Leitner lives in Chimayo, New Mexico, home of her ancestors, with her husband Hans and their six children. The whole family participates in the production of traditional Hispanic arts and crafts. Ellen and her daughter Cecilia paint retablos. The family uses traditional materials – hand carved pine wood, homemade gesso, water based paints made with natural pigments and dyes, pinion say varnish, and beeswax finish – and strives to re-create the simple devotional expressiveness of the master santeros of the 18th and 19th centuries. Each retablo is a unique, hand-produced work.
http://sites.google.com/site/ellenleitner
