Continuing the traditions
Jul. 29—ALFRED BLEA (booth no. 107), Por la Carne (2017), micaceous clay
Albuquerque-born ceramist Alfred Blea studied under master potter Felipe Ortega in La Madera, New Mexico. A Best of Show winner at Traditional Spanish Market in 2013 (his first year), he works in the Jicarilla Apache tradition, creating works of micaceous clay, which he collects by hand. The pottery tradition in Spanish Colonial arts includes functional wares such as jars, bowls, and plates. Micaceous wares are undecorated, but the reduction firing process can create "fire cloud" patterns and blackened surfaces. Non-micaceous pottery, which includes Nativity scenes and incense burners, and other objects, are often decorated with linear patterns in colored clay slips. Blea was juried into the Pottery and Ironwork categories.
BERNADETTE MARQUEZ (booth no. 9), Tres Flores (2021), sterling silver
A native of Santa Fe, artist Bernadette Marquez finds inspiration for her silverwork in the ever-changing landscapes of the Southwest. Marquez creates an assortment of silver bolos, bracelets, pendants, rings, and more and often decorates them with original artwork, including commissioned pet portraits. Her designs are redolent of tradition, but she often adapts pop culture imagery for the hand-carved and painted elements of her work. It's a modern twist on a tradition extending into the Spanish Colonial era, when it wan't uncommon to see a brooch painted with devotional imagery. Traditionally, gold and silver were used to make utilitarian, devotional, and decorative items but are now used primarily in the jewelry-making tradition. Marquez's work comes under the category of Precious Metals, and she also does work in straw appliqué.
FRANK ZAMORA (booth no. 17), La Familia Sagrada (2017), wood, gesso, paint, varnish
Among the most populated categories in Traditional Spanish Market is Retablos. Flat wooden panels, painted on one side with imagery of Christian devotion, retablos, like bultos, or sculpture in the round, were painted with hand-gathered pigments, historically. The style of the imagery went through transformations over time. Early examples in the collection of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts show the direct influence of a naturalistic Spanish Baroque tradition that carried over from Europe. But a rustic, folk tradition developed in New Mexico over time. Today, santeros and santeras (saint makers) create works in both styles, and often diverge from religious themes, or merge them with contemporary imagery. Frank Zamora was formerly a contemporary artist who turned to the Spanish Colonial tradition. Natural materials used in the priming and painting of traditional bultos, retablos, and altar screens include gesso made from rabbit-skin glue, pigments made from cochineal, and the husks of black walnuts. Zamora's works are in the categories of Retablos, Woodcarving, and Hide Painting.
JULIA GOMEZ (booth no. 75), Northern New Mexico Tree of Life (2015), wool
Colcha is a type of embroidered textile that features a long stitch tacked down on fabric with angled cross stitches. It's an art form that evolved from its roots as a means of mending coverlets and bedspreads, and beautifying them, to an art form. Two types of colcha embroidery dominate the New Mexico tradition: all-over colcha, in which the backing material is completely covered by stitching, and linear colcha, where the backing material shows through the linear patterns and designs. But colcha embroidery nearly died out. After the deaths of writer Mary Austin and artist and writer Frank Applegate, who co-founded the Spanish Colonial Arts Society (as the Society for the Revival of Spanish Colonial Arts) in 1925, Spanish Market was dormant from 1938 to 1951. Without active promotion during that time, interest in colcha began to fade. Artist Julia Gomez is determined to make sure the art form survives. Gomez, a retired De Vargas Middle School teacher, learned to embroider as a youth from her mother. As an adult, she studied under master colcha embroiderers Monica Sosaya Halford and Beatrice Maestas Sandoval. Gomez obtains wool from the sheep at the living history museum El Rancho de las Golondrinas after shearing. Gomez cleans the wool, spins it, and colors it with natural pigments, including marigold, onion skin, and cochineal beetles. Her work is in the categories of Colcha Embroidery and Innovations Within the Tradition — Colcha Embroidery.
MEL RIVERA (booth no. 6), Holy Family Prayer Box (2017), wood, paint, straw
Inspired by European marquetry, straw appliqué evolved from setting cut pieces of cornhusk in a piñon sap varnish (a technique called encrusted straw) to the early 20th century practice of applying golden straw onto wood with commercial adhesives. In the Spanish Colonial era, crosses encrusted in straw were a common motif. But it isn't uncommon to see other objects, including bultos, furniture, and Christmas ornaments, that include straw appliquéd surfaces. It developed as a practical substitute for wood and mother-of-pearl inlay. Straw appliqué can be found on historic examples of Spanish Colonial chests, wooden candleholders, and picture frames. Mel Rivera, a fourth-generation Santa Fean, creates his traditional designs using only the core of the straw plant, which is a signature of his work. He is juried into the categories of Straw Appliqué and Innovations Within the Tradition — Straw Appliqué.
NICHOLAS MADRID (booth no. 106) and NICOLAS OTERO (booth no. 72), Santo Nino de Mesilla (2017), wood, pigments, tin
Two artists, who collectively represent seven Spanish Market categories, collaborated on this Santo Nino, which combines painting in the retablo tradition with tinwork. Spanish Colonial tinwork is typically constructed from sheet metal with soldered joinery. The tin was originally derived from recycled cans. Tin was used for many kinds of decorative and utilitarian objects, including picture frames, sconces, nichos, candleholders, and crosses. It evolved from an early regional form of recycled art to an elaborate and rich tradition. The changes began in the 19th century with the merging of separate art forms such as glass-walled nichos framed by stamped tin and picture frames inset with reverse painting on glass. Often, the reverse painting was combed into a decorative linear pattern, which is an aspect of the tradition that's preserved on the example from Madrid and Otero. Madrid was juried into the category of Tinwork, and Otero is in Retablos, Innovations within Traditions — Retablos, Hide Painting, Revival Arts — Ramilletes, Painted Bultos, and Gesso Reliefs.
