Painter's mission to save history

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An Albuquerque painter is on a mission to save several historical mission churches that are in bad shape.

One church, that’s nearly 200-years-old, came crumbling down last week.

Ana Bealle has painted all of the historic churches of the San Miguel Mission. The centuries-old places of worship sit just outside of Socorro. She said it started as a personal passion.

“Why I wanted to paint them was just a personal fascination as an artist,” Bealle said.

After she walked inside each church, started researching them and getting to know the communities that keep them open—Bealle’s fascination turned into a mission.

Now her plan is to try and make money from her artwork to give to the churches.

Some are in desperate need of renovations and repairs. The churches are all made out of stucco and adobe. Some of the walls are filled with cracks and have started to lean.

Last week, a portion of La Sagrada Familia Church or Holy Family crumbled. Bealle painted it just last year.

“Look at that, that's just August," Bealle said. "Fantastic.”

Officials from the main church, San Miguel, and the mission family were working fast to fix a problem within the church’s walls.

“Most of the money coming out of their own pockets,” Bealle said.

Bealle said past restorations to many churches included concrete to keep the structure standing. However, church officials found out it was not a good idea.

“You can tell from the first picture that Sagrada de Familia had concrete put all the way the foundation on the bottom,” Bealle said.

“That also trapped moisture on the bottom.”

The moisture started to corrode the hard adobe and turned it into powder. A similar problem was eating away the bell towers at San Miguel.

Collections at mass did not bring in enough money for the repairs. A Socorro bank stepped up and paid the $56,000 bill, saving the towers from collapsing in on the 400-year-old church.

There is no bank stepping forward, yet, to help rebuild the Holy Family Church. Since many of the mission churches, including Holy Family, only celebrate one mass a month, there are few collections from parishioners.

“Its not for a lack of love, it’s for a lack of funding,” Bealle said. “It’s a 179 year old church, there's a lot of living and dieing and baptizing and marrying and loving.”

So now, Bealle is taking her paintings on a statewide tour. She will show the artwork to generate donations. She hopes the money can be raised in time.

“Hopefully no more will collapse and fall down,” Bealle said.
In five years, Bealle's paintings will be auctioned. She said all the money collected will be turned over to San Miguel Parish and its mission churches.

San Miguel Church officials still don't know how much it will cost to rebuild the portion of the Holy Family Church that fell, but they expect it will be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

For more information about the San Miguel Parish and its mission churches call (575) 835-2891.