SANTA FE, NM.- The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2026 Art of the Spanish Americas Grants & Fellowships program, awarding more than $160,000 to support the conservation of significant colonial paintings and scholarship exploring the art and visual culture of the Spanish Americas.

Since its launch in 2018, the Thoma Foundation has supported individuals and institutions working to preserve, study, and share the art of the Spanish Americas. The 2026 recipients continue that mission through projects that advance research, conservation, and public understanding of the region's artistic legacy.

The announcement comes ahead of the opening of “Spectacles of Power and Faith: Colonial South American Art from the Thoma Foundation” at the Meadows Museum at SMU, opening August 23, 2026. Drawn from the Foundation's collection, the exhibition features paintings from present-day Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, many of which will be published for the first time in a forthcoming exhibition catalogue. Together, the exhibition and the 2026 grant recipients reflect the Foundation's ongoing commitment to the art of the Spanish Americas.

“This cohort of fellows and grantees reveals the importance and vitality of the field of Art of the Spanish Americas across Latin America, the United States, and Europe. The Foundation remains committed to funding innovative research and rigorous conservation efforts that continue to advance our understanding of this period in history,” said Marilynn Thoma.

The 2026 Art of the Spanish Americas Grants & Fellowships recipients are:

Post-Doctoral Fellowship



Camila Mardones Bravo (Project location: Bolivia/Chile): Researching eighteenth century Indigenous parishes in the Andes to examine the visual and material culture of Catholicism through a forthcoming scholarly publication.

Pre-Doctoral Fellowship



Juan David Parra (Project location: Colombia): Investigating colonial painting workshops in the New Kingdom of Granada and the artistic networks that shaped their production between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Research & Travel Award



Agustina Rodríguez Romero (Project location: Bolivia): Examining ecclesiastical patronage and the visual culture of the Diocese of La Paz during the late seventeenth Century.

Conservation Grants



Asociación Civil Amigos del Arte Andino (AMARA) (Project location: Peru): Supporting the restoration of “The Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier,” a recently rediscovered colonial painting that reflects the adaptation of Jesuit visual culture in the Andes.



Ricardo López (Project location: Bolivia): Restoring three masterworks by Melchor Pérez Holguín, including the signed 1710 painting “The Lord of Times.”



Sylvia Ortiz Batallas (Project location: Ecuador): Conserving the 1672 painting “The Death of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino” to preserve one of Quito's most significant colonial artworks.

Exploratory Travel Award



Abril Urcola: (Project location: Argentina): Investigating how Indigenous patrons in the colonial Andes used donor portraits and religious art to express devotion and negotiate social and political identity.



Alexander Narvaez: (Project location: Ecuador/Colombia): Examining how colonial religious paintings reflected everyday fears and served as expressions of faith, protection, and collective memory in the Spanish Americas.