The New Mexico Fiber Arts Directory
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  • QUELLE ZINE DIRECTORY
    • QUELLE ZINE 01/26/23 TO...
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    • QUELLE ZINE ***EXTRA*** & ^^UPDATE^^ PAGE TWO
    • QUELLE ZINE ***EXTRA*** & ^^UPDATE^^
    • LIN BENTLEY KEELING NEWSLETTERS
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022
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    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS OCTOBER 2022
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022
  • OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
  • FIBER RESOURCES BY NEW MEXICO PRODUCERS
  • 2023 -2024 NM CONTEMPORARY EVENT CALENDAR
  • FIBER RELATED FESTIVAL/SHOW OPPORTUNITIES
  • NEW MEXICO FIBER ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
  • HISTORICAL TEXTILE RESOURCES
    • NM HISTORICAL TEXTILE GALLERIES & TRADING POSTS
    • NEW MEXICO MUSEUMS
    • CALENDAR FOR HISTORIC EVENTS
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    • ELLIE BETH SCOTT
    • BARBARA KNUPPER
    • BARBARA HOLLOWAY
    • WOOL

N E W  M E X I C O  H I S T O R I C A L  T E X T I L E  R E S O U R C E S
Please contact your proposed place or event to confirm.
For additions, edits, and whatknots contact the Editor ​

GALLERIES
MUSEUMS
CALENDAR
VIDEO & MEDIA
APPRISAL SERVICES
CONSERVATION & RESTORATION

A HISTORIC OVERVIEW

Read this article by Molly Elkind: 
Wednesday, October 3, 2018: Pueblo textiles: a weaver’s education continues
​mollyelkindtalkingtextiles.blogspot.com/2018/10/pueblo-textiles-weavers-education

     Fiber has a long history in New Mexico. From early times natural fibers, from the immediate environment, were used to fulfill  many daily utilitarian needs from sandals to baskets to rugs and blankets. Natural dyes were experimented with and used with growing success. Early fibers were yucca and willow. Early dyes came from plants, berries, bark, roots and flowers and leaves. These plants produced a range of color from browns and yellows while minerals provided reds, yellows, and black.
     The people of early New Mexico were not isolated, but traveled and traded with their surrounding geography, borrowing and sharing resources, plant and other materials, techniques and culture. Cotton was introduced around 1000 and spread along the Rio Grande Valley. The portable, upright Pueblo loom and the back strap loom were invented and widely used.
     The arrival of the Spanish in the early 1500s brought tremendous change – soldiers, settlers, priests, and servants, and thousands of animals. They brought the sturdy Churro sheep, a highly adaptable animal with two distinct layers or coats of wool. The outer coat produces a long, coarse fiber, while the under coat is shorter, soft and flexible. Thru raiding and barter, the Navajo acquired sheep for themselves and became a herding society. They acquired Spanish looms thru the settlers.
     For nearly 300 years, until the coming of traders over the Santa Fe Trail in the 19th century, Churro sheep wool was the foundation of many Native, Spanish, and Mexican textiles. Spanish colonists also brought the horizontal European treadle or floor loom. In 1638 the Spanish set up a textile workshop in Santa Fe weaving on Spanish treadle looms. They produced the Serape or wearing blanket under the direction of the Spanish. The Pueblo weavers who had taken refuge with the Navajo (Diné) brought the techniques to the women who cared for the sheep
     The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 virtually halted the growing textile industry. By 1694 the Spanish Reconquest reestablished the Colonial enforced labor textile industry. By 1790 large sheep herds existed around the Albuquerque area accompanied with a substantial population of weavers. In 1807 the Spanish government sent master weavers, Juan and Ignacio Bazán, to Santa Fe to teach technical skills and improve the industry. They bring the magnificent Saltillo serape designs. Rio Grande design elements still today reflect the legacy of the Bazån brothers. In 1821 Mexico became independent from Spain. Trade flourished along the Santa Fe Trail. The arrival of the railroad in 1879 brought in goods, yarn and synthetic dyes. The Navajo established Trading Posts to fill the ever increasing demand for their weavings.
     At Bosque Redondo - the imprisonment of much of the Navajo in the 1860's resulted in a decimated population when they returned to their land five years later and were provided with yarns and synthetic dies. The Spanish blankets have influenced Navajo designs, resulting in experimental pieces such as eye-dazzlers--distinctive textiles with complex serrated patterns and vibrating color schemes.
     Only small Spanish communities in the north, such as Chimayó continue the Rio Grande weaving tradition. Pueblo weavings are used only for ceremonial purposes.

​IRVIN, LISA & EMILY TRUJILLO
Chimayo Weavers – 
Centinela Traditional Arts
Chimayo
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www.chimayoweavers.com
"Eight Generations"

Located in Chimayo, New Mexico, on the "High Road to Taos"
Address: Centinela Traditional Arts, 946 State Road 76,
Chimayo, NM 87522
Phone: (505)351-2180
​Email:
centinela@newmexico.com
facebook
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 1987 picture of Irvin's parents
​Jake & Belle Trujillo
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Irvin Trujillo
2007 National Heritage Fellow
collections/irvin-trujillo
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Irvin Trujillo
Collection Smithsonian American
​Art Museum
************
Visit The Trujillo's on
 The New Mexico Fiber Arts Directory
​
READ THEIR QUELLE ZINE ARTICLE
IN NMFAD

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Lisa Trujillo
Weaver, Teacher, Author
collections/lisa-trujillo 
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Lisa Trujillo
"19, 20, 21"
To be Exhibited at the
Museum of International Folk Art
in the Gallery of Conscience
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Emily Trujillo
8th Generation Weaver, Artist, 
& Teacher
collections/emily-trujillo
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"Maniac," or "Maníaco"
By Emily Trujillo
Honorable Mention at
Spanish Market 2022

40"x60" Trampas Vallero, made of
Two 20"x 60" tapestries, sewn together. 
All churro yarn from
Emily's Aunt's sheep 
with a touch
​of cochineal dye.


COLCHA EMBROIDERY - A REVIVAL

Colcha means “bedcover” in Spanish. This style of needlework was created by Colonial settlements
in northern New Mexico. Colcha embroidery has a wonderful history and revival.
The stitch that became known as “colcha” was a self-couching stitch.
The colcha stitch was free-form and flowing. It was perfect for large motifs as well as finer details. This technique also maximizes the thread usage, which is important since most of the earlier stitching was done over the entire surface of the base fabric. The original base fabric was called “sabanilla”, a loosely-woven wool fabric with a 12- to 22-thread count. Colors were dictated by what was available. Sheep provided the wool in white, brown, and black. Dyes from plants provided green, yellow, and peach colored yarns. There was also a rare blue indigo and a red cochineal, made from crushed cactus bugs.

Industrialization brought commercially-made goods. Tighter woven cotton fabrics replaced the woven wool strips. The original yarns were also replaced by spun yarn that had a consistent size and twist. The overall designs were no longer needed to cover the loosely-woven patchwork strips. In time, even the handwork was abandoned to the modern finished products. The original embroidery had almost been forgotten except for museum exhibits.
The first revival began in the 1930’s in Carson, New Mexico. There was a salvage operation that took old colcha pieces and tried to repair them –  it brought the heritage stitching back.
The middle 1970’s, the Museum of International Folk Art reached out to women in the region with the Villenueva project,The museum sponsored workshops teaching colcha embroidery. Women were encourged to stitch pictorial projects based on their daily lives. Following in the 1980’s, Colcha embroidery played a large part in the revitalization of the San Luis Valley. Father Patricio Valdez created The Sewing Circle, which was predominantly Hispanic women. 

EMBROIDERED HISTORY: COLCHAS AND THE STITCH THAT DEFINED A REGION
Sunday, June 2, 2019 to Sunday, November 10, 2019
HARWOOD MUSEUM - TAOS
Hispanic Traditions Gallery 
Contact 
​
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Visit the NMFAD Video Page to View
​COLCHA CIRCLE: A STITCH IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO CULTURE

A documentary video produced by the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) 

*** VISIT THE NEW MEXICO FIBER ARTS DIRECTORY ON THE NEW MOUNTAIN WEST FIBER ARTS DIRECTORY ***

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  • HOME/ARTISTS BY REGION
    • SOUTHWEST REGION
    • NORTH CENTRAL REGION SANTA FE AREA
    • NORTH CENTRAL REGION CHIMAYO, DIXON, PEÑASCO, CHAMISAL, TAOS, QUESTA, ABIQUIU, EL RITO, ABIQUIU, CHAMA & TIERRA AMARILLA AREAS​ >
      • A TRIBUTE TO Clôdie François
    • CENTRAL REGION ALBUQUERQUE, BUDAGHERS, CORRALES, PLACITAS, TIJERAS, STANLEY & SURROUNDING AREAS
    • EASTERN REGION LAS VEGAS, PECOS, ALTO, LINCOLN , RUIDOSO, ROSWELL, CARRIZOZO, WHITE OAKS & NEARBY AREAS
    • NORTHWEST REGION AZTEC, FARMINGTON
    • INSTALLATION ARTISTS
  • QUELLE ZINE DIRECTORY
    • QUELLE ZINE 01/26/23 TO...
    • QUELLE ZINE 02/22To 11/22
    • QUELLE ZINE 09/2020 TO 11/21
    • QUELLE ZINE 04 TO 08/2020
    • QUELLE ZINE ***EXTRA*** & ^^UPDATE^^ PAGE TWO
    • QUELLE ZINE ***EXTRA*** & ^^UPDATE^^
    • LIN BENTLEY KEELING NEWSLETTERS
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS NOVEMBER 2022
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS OCTOBER 2022
    • SOUTHWEST WEAVING NEWS SEPTEMBER 2022
  • OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
  • FIBER RESOURCES BY NEW MEXICO PRODUCERS
  • 2023 -2024 NM CONTEMPORARY EVENT CALENDAR
  • FIBER RELATED FESTIVAL/SHOW OPPORTUNITIES
  • NEW MEXICO FIBER ARTS ORGANIZATIONS
  • HISTORICAL TEXTILE RESOURCES
    • NM HISTORICAL TEXTILE GALLERIES & TRADING POSTS
    • NEW MEXICO MUSEUMS
    • CALENDAR FOR HISTORIC EVENTS
    • APPRAISAL SERVICES
    • CONSERVATION & RESTORATION
  • INDEX
  • VIDEO/MEDIA
  • FIBER ARTS RESOURCES-AT-LARGE
  • About
  • Become a Member, Renew & Donate
  • NMFAD Editor/Publisher Page
    • ELLIE BETH SCOTT
    • BARBARA KNUPPER
    • BARBARA HOLLOWAY
    • WOOL