Bernadette Vigil
New Mexico Magazine
in “Artists at Home,” published by New Mexico Magazine, 2003
Every aspect of artist Bernadette Vigil’s home feeds her soul. "Some days it reminds me of a temple and other times I feel like I can retreat into it like a cave," she explains as sunlight streams in from the skylight.
Working with help from friends and family, Bernadette designed and built the circular home in the wide expanses of ranch land near Budaghers between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The property is part of the homestead of her mother’s parents, Pablo and Dolores Leyba. "My grandfather was a miner in Madrid and my grandmother pretty much ran the ranch," she explains.
Her grandmother, no longer living, was a great inspiration to her. "She was incredible. Most of the small pieces of furniture around here were made by my grandmother. She could ride horses and just about do anything that needed to be done on the ranch," she says.
Though many of her paintings include rich, intense colors, her home has primarily subdued tones that echo colors of the surrounding foothills. Simple, stair-stepped adobe walls separate the rooms and allow light to travel throughout the house. A large pyramid skylight in the roof provides natural illumination.
"The light out here is a precious gift. It has greatly influenced my work. I see light in a totally different way," she says. While she keeps a studio in Santa Fe, she also spends many hours painting right in her living room, particularly in summer.
For many years she had no electricity, so she used only candles. This, too, affected her work.
"When the candlelight is dancing and the stars glow overhead, it brings a total reverence into the space," Vigil says. Much of her artwork has a deep, spiritual quality.
Bernadette grew up on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, where she felt the influence of the dynamic art community. Her early works, from the 1980s, painted in oils or acrylics, focused primarily on portraying life in traditional Hispanic rural villages, drawing inspiration from her family roots.
In the mid-‘80s, she studied buon fresco. Painting with the technique, which uses freshly ground pigments on wet plaster, she created colorful murals in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. She says that several of these projects provided excellent opportunities to work with at-risk youth.
It was during the ‘90s that she began studying Toltec wisdom, studying for 11 years as an apprentice to the shaman don Miguel Ruiz, author of the best-selling book The Four Agreements. Her artwork began to reflect that spiritual transition in her life. Images of the six directions and the raven, which has a strong personal, spiritual connection, dominate her more recent paintings.
In addition to her work as an artist, she’s become a recognized spiritual author and teacher. Writing as doña Bernadette Vigil with Arlene Boska in Mastery of Awareness: Living the Agreements, she tells about her own spiritual journey and gives advice on how others can make personal transformations. Today she travels around the world offering Toltec wisdom workshops. Regarding her writing, she says, "It’s just another aspect of art. You should never limit your ability of expression."
