Great Angel Uriel, Light of God,
Guardian of the Earth and Humankind,
thank you for bringing down
the touch of Sacred Fire.
Inspire me to creative work
so that my dream may come to earth.
Your flame is vision, prophecy,
the poetry of truth.
Set my creative spark ablaze
so that my word and pen and hand
bring light into the world.
© Gabrielle Herbertson
About the Artist
Lynn Garlick started carving, painting, and producing her retablos in 1993. Her workshop is located in the high desert town of Taos, New Mexico, a landscape richly steeped in religious iconography and history. The retablo, or ʻboard behind the alterʼ, was originally created in New Mexico in the 1800ʼs in response to the lack of Bibles and Icons being sent from the church in Rome. The Santero (saint maker) painted retablos from pigment collected and ground from the local surroundings. The boards were hand hewed usually of ponderosa pine or tin. The practice has carried down through the generations and is still done this way today. Lynn paints her originals retablos on traditional pine boards carving and then paints them. To create her production work the images are mounted on baltic birch.
