Arts & Culture in the Espanola Valley

Weaving is a local tradition.

Although a 20th-century Anglo woman, Georgia O'Keeffe, brought the area to the world's attention, the Espanola Valley has sustained a thriving art scene for millennia. The Anasazi petroglyphs -- images carved into rocks -- preserve a record of the Ancient Ones' creativity. And with Northern New Mexico's awe-inspiring vistas and magical light it's no wonder inhabitants are constantly moved to create.

The valley's best-known Native artists are those at Santa Clara and San Juan Pueblos. Both are major centers for Native pottery styles, which vary widely from artist to artist but even more so from one pueblo to another. Works in dull red, shining black, or glittering with bits of mica, are made by Indian artists and others who have adapted their techniques. San Juan's Oke-Oweenge Crafts Cooperative provides space for the creation, exhibition and sale of Native pottery as well as painting and weaving.

Spanish colonial arts -- like the religious icons and paintings called bultos and retablos -- had nearly disappeared by the beginning of the 20th century, but were revived again in the 1920s. Espanola Valley residents feel strongly about keeping their artistic traditions alive and many organizations in the area are devoted to sharing these skills with future generations.

The Chimayo Museum administers a program called Los Maestros, bringing in members of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society to teach their crafts to teens. Students learn how to punch tin, make pottery, carve retablos and bultos, work with straw applique, embroider and paint on animal hides.

Chimayo has a high concentration of weavers working in traditional Hispanic styles and their works can be seen at several workshops in the village. Many weavers here are committed to using natural dyes, wool from Navajo Churro sheep and other materials that would have been available to colonial artists.

Weaving and fiber arts have a major champion in the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center. The EVFAC is a non-profit member organization where local weavers can teach and learn the techniques of their ancestors.

At Northern New Mexico Community College in Espanola, students of all ages can study traditional Hispanic arts like those taught at the Chimayo Museum. NNMCC also presents courses on pueblo sash weaving, silversmithing, jewelry making, and flamenco dance.

But it's not only colonial arts that are celebrated here. Northern New Mexicans also push barriers with non-traditional and "outsider" arts such as the creation of lowrider cars and tattooing.

Tourists and neighbors alike are invited annually to studio tours in small villages like Abiquiu, Chimayo and Dixon. Artists working in a wide array of media welcome the public into their workspaces to show and sell their work. The variety of works shown in their studios is as diverse as the people and places of the region.