Some of the oldest art in the American southwest depicts the culture and religion of Hispanos, Spanish settlers who moved hundreds of years ago into what is now New Mexico and Colorado.At a gallery in Denver, the largest collection of these art pieces is on display and preserved for study in a library at Regis University.History hasn't always been written or documented. But people do have memories, and then there are artifacts that still survive, said Tony Ortega, an artist and professor at Regis University.The artifacts in the collection are retablos painted panels and bultos carved wood sculptures, depicting saints and other holy figures and objects from the Roman Catholic religion. Father Thomas J. Steele, a Catholic priest who taught at Regis University, collected the art work from the mid-1960s until his death in 2010. The university library now maintains and continues to add to the collection, which now includes more than 1,000 pieces. The exhibit is open for anyone to visit for free during the Dayton Memorial Library's hours of operation.Ortega studies and teaches about the craftsmanship, religious meaning and customs, traditions and identity behind the works of art.For Chicanos, or Mexican-Americans, Ortega said this art helps build an understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we're going.Hispanos, Chicanos, have been in the Southwest for a lot longer than [this area has been] part of the United States. I always go back to: My family didn't cross the border, the border crossed us, he said.The earliest paintings and sculptures in the collection date back to the late 1700s and early to mid-1800s, a period known as the Golden Age.The artists are known as santeros, saint makers, and because they were relatively isolated in the southwest at the time, they developed their own distinct styles. They started looking at the local Indigenous population and using materials that they were using, Ortega said.Local pine and cottonwood roots form the base for the panels and sculptures. A variety of clays and imported cochineal bugs when ground up and mixed with water and egg became the paints. In one technique, santeros carved wood and inlaid pieces of straw dipped into sticky tree sap to create basically a poor mans gold, Ortega said.During the Golden Age, there were more communities with churches than there were priests. So, groups of village men known as mano penitentes helped preserve the religion. In part, they would reenact the Stations of the Cross, or the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, using paintings and sculptures.Once the railroad arrived in New Mexico, about 1870 or so, they started bringing imported canned goods, he said. After eating the food inside, artists cut out the tin to make embellished frames for prints.The cans that held fruit have become part of a sacred object, he said. But after the arrival of the railroad, when Colorado and New Mexico became part of the United States, this unique style of saint-making died off until about the 1920s, Ortega said.Then in 1925, writer Mary Austin and writer-artist Frank Applegate started a Spanish Market intended to revitalize the tradition of saint-making. Instead of of local people buying them or trading or getting them, it became tourists who are visiting New Mexico and southern Colorado, Ortega said.By the 1960s, few santeros remained. But with the Chicano movement, they started looking at how do we culturally preserve what was part of our tradition, Ortega said. Catholics dont worship these saints. But they do venerate them and ask for their help. Each saint is associated with a different need. Our Lady of Sorrows with mourning the loss of a loved one. Saint Anthony with finding something youve lost. Saint Joseph with trying to sell your home.Sometimes the saint doesn't do it or doesn't intervene, Ortega said. If youve asked for help and been ignored, some people will turn the saint around or put them in the drawer, so sort of punish them until they intervene on your behalf, he said with a laugh.What they're holding, or what they're wearing, that helps you identify who they are, he said.Today, collections like these seek to understand the past and inspire new ways of using the traditional techniques. Sean Trujillo, a contemporary santero, uses the hand-carved wood and natural pigments of the old style. But his retablo in this collection depicts a very recent experience: The coronavirus pandemic. Instead of the traditional Father, Son and Holy Spirit he painted medical professionals at the top. Below, a vaccine shot, toilet paper roll and hand sanitizer pump.Ortega himself incorporates these traditions into his art and teaches his students how to make it, too.Many of those things were never taught, or we didn't learn about them in school, or they had been forgotten in the family, he said. But by preserving and reimagining this art form, Coloradans are better understanding that history and themselves.