Valerie Arntzen creates assemblages using objects and materials found locally as well as on her frequent trips to Mexico. RUST TO RELIGION reflects her long-standing fascination with religious rituals and artifacts, in particular the Mexican milagros. A milagro is a charm that is used to represent a body part or an animal that needed healing. Today, milagros are no longer made of silver but of tin. After they are blessed by the curandero or healer, they are carried on the person or left at the shrine with pieces of paper containing handwritten notes and prayers, some of which are in the shape of sacred hearts. In Arntzen’s creations, milagros, rusted metal, shells, rocks, wood, bleached animal bones, and other found objects come together and are transformed in newly-formed narratives.