Santa Fe-area artists plan their own winter Spanish market

Oct. 17—ABIQUIÚ — Charles Carrillo wants to bring his family back together — in Santa Fe, on Catholic ground, with more than a sprinkling of holiday flavor.

The longtime New Mexican santero, known for his two-dimensional traditional Spanish religious paintings called retablos and his carvings of saints, known as bultos, has started an artist-driven winter market.

The initial Spanish Market Artist Winter Show, which will run the first weekend of December, will feature about 70 artists, all of whom have been aligned with the Spanish Colonial Arts Society's annual Winter Market.

The move comes after the society's leaders indicated to Carrillo and other market artists they were not planning a Winter Market this year. That market, which started in 1989 in Santa Fe, relocated to Albuquerque in 2013.

You might call it artistic revolt, but Carrillo said he does not want to compete with the arts society when it comes to producing markets. Noting the coronavirus pandemic erased last year's Winter Market, he said: "We can't go two years without a winter show. This is a tradition not just of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society but of the artists.

"I funded the money to rent the space out. It's going to be free parking, free admission."

If nothing else, he said, the move proves artists "can put the pen in our hands" — meaning, produce their own shows.

Jennifer Berkley, executive director of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, said by phone Thursday her organization was planning a market but did not announce it before Carrillo had initiated his own in September.

"It was a case of wires crossed," she said. "We got the message Charlie had done a bunch of work setting up one [a market] just about when we were setting up ours.

"We thought, 'Great, he's already doing it.' We didn't want to be in competition; we want the artists to succeed, so we withdrew our plans out of respect."

Part of the need for a winter show is to ensure working artists make money, Carrillo said. But keeping the local traditional Spanish arts energy going is even more important, Carrillo and other artists involved in the show said.

Grants artist Jerry Montoya, who works in tin and also creates retablos, said by phone Wednesday that Spanish Colonial artisans must do what they can, including staging their own markets, to get their work out there and known to keep the tradition alive.

"We're losing our culture," said Montoya, who has produced his own shows in the Grants and Gallup areas, including in Catholic churches, for about 20 years. Winter art shows have become a tradition in themselves for these artists, he said.

"This is our spiritual work," he said of the art form, which features many religious-themed art pieces. "And Christmas and winter is a big thing, when we sell most of our santos."

The Santa Fe show will take place at Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Church on College Avenue. Carrillo said he likes the idea of mounting the show in a Catholic church during the holiday season. As of Tuesday, Carrillo said, he had close to 70 artists committed to the show and room to add five or six more.

"We're trying to rock and roll," Carrillo said during a visit to the Abiquiú home and studio he shares with his wife, Debbie, just a day after a steady stream of visitors moved through the place as part of the Abiquiú Studio Tour.

The pressure is on. Carrillo said most artists maintaining traditional Spanish Colonial arts methods need well over half a year to prepare for a big show. Given he got the ball rolling in September, participating artists have less than three months to build an inventory for sale.

Carrillo said he was also motivated to bring the show back to Santa Fe from Albuquerque — where, he said, sales and artist participation were "disappointing" in 2019, before the pandemic struck.

He said that if the show is successful, there "could be" more independent winter art shows like this in the future.

Santa Fe santera Arlene Cisneros Sena said artists working in the Spanish Colonial style often take part in independently produced markets to "keep the traditional work of New Mexico big and educate the public as to who we are."

"It is important to keep the traditions alive," she said by phone Wednesday. "It's who we are. It's what New Mexico is. It's the only pace in the whole world, this teeny little spot in the world, where we do the work we do. And that is why it's very important to do a winter show."

Carrillo and several artists interviewed for this story said they have little or no concerns about the tradition fading away. Buyers continue to make purchases at market and online, they say, and there's no sign that the overall market for such art is hurting.

Berkley said Spanish Market artists who took part in July's show on the Plaza reported "good sales." She said that because those artists pay their own entry fees and handle their own transactions, market officials cannot keep track of exact sales numbers.

She said that if anything, there seems to be "renewed interest" in the art form.

Ray Hernández-Durán, a professor of art history and museum studies at the University of New Mexico, echoed that thought, saying interest is growing in both historical Spanish Colonial art and contemporary artists who keep the tradition alive.

On a broader level, he said, more and more museums, institutions of higher education and other art organizations are hiring curators and experts on Spanish and Mexican art and mounting more exhibitions focusing on the art form.

"When large institutions show interest in colonial art, other people show interest," Hernández-Durán said by phone Thursday. "One of the things that impacts people's recognition of colonial art is when one of the major institutions show interest."

He said contemporary markets like the one Carrillo is producing are designed to preserve the traditions and draw continual attention to them.

That's because, Hernández-Durán said, people can see "it's a living tradition; it's not the past."

He said he likes the idea of artists bonding to create their own show outside the parameters of any formal organization's overview.

"In my opinion, there can't be too many of these," Hernández-Durán said.

"I think people are going to be curious. I think there's going to be a lot of interest because it's being put on by local Hispano artists of the community. And people are going to be interested because they like the art."