MONROE — For the past 20 years, Carmelo Ambriz has used his artistry to create a fitting display for a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Monroe.
Over the years he has mastered a technique of crumpling and stapling together paper to form a realistic version of the mountainside in Mexico where Juan Diego saw the Virgin Mary appear in 1531.
With the help of eight volunteers on the evening of Dec. 10, Ambriz was able to recreate this very meaningful part of his homeland in what has become a treasured tradition.
— Photos by Troy C. Hull
