Early New Mexico Weavings: How to Identify and Price New Mexico Rugs
How to identify New Mexican and Chimayo blankets and distinguishing them from Mexican Saltillo blankets and Navajo weavings. Dr. Mark Sublette shares tips from 25 years of experience handling Navajo and Hispanic weavings.
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Early New Mexico Weavings how to Identify and Price
When we talk about Hispanic or Mexican weavings, we’re generally talking about those early pieces such as this, which is a classic Saltillo Serape, and they were made anywhere between about the 1750s to about 1870, but there was another class of weavings that were made in New Mexico.
You have to remember that New Mexico was part of Spain; in fact, it was a part of Spain until 1821, and then it became (with the revolution) part of Mexico, and became part of the United States in 1848. So, there was a long history in Santa Fe, especially from Santa Fe all the way up to Southern Colorado, of making blankets. The earliest people that we know that visited in from Mexico to New Mexico were the Bazan brothers, Ignacio and Juan Bazan, who came in 1805 to help with their weaving, because the weavings that were being produced in New Mexico at that time were very loose in coarse, compared to something like this which is a classic Saltillo Serape, which is being made.
The New Mexico weavings were very poor in quality. So, the Bazan brothers worked with the Hispanic weavers in Santa Fe to help them bring up their weaving skills. This is an example of a piece that would have been made around the 1890s. This has aniline dyes, as does this blanket behind me, and you can see the Saltillo center is very reminiscent of the other classic New Mexico blankets. This is a piece that was probably made in 1880s to 1890s, and it has all aniline dyes, versus this, which is the classic piece with all natural dyes because synthetic dyes weren't even invented till 1856 when William Perkins found coal tar dyes.
Now, after these blankets, which we call Rio Grande blankets, and they're called that because they're made along the Rio Grande watershed anywhere from Albuquerque to again southern Colorado. About the turn of the century they stopped making blankets that were to be used and worn, and traded two blankets called Chimayo or Chimayo Blankets.
Now the Chimayo blankets are still made today – often these have designs such as birds, and what we call pan-Indian designs. In fact, they were marketed early on as the Chimayo Indians. They were Hispanic weavers, actually, and they didn't use a vertical or aboriginal limb; they used a horizontal or treadle limb. This piece right here was made in about the 1870s, and I got it from an individual whose grandmother bought it around the turn of the century in southern Colorado as a Chimayo Indian blanket, though in reality this is an early Rio Grande blanket.
So, there is mixed culture that you'll see in these weavings. In fact, when you think of Hispanic blankets, you also see designs that the Navajo used when they were interned at Bosque Redondo in 1864 to 1868. Some of the blankets they got were these Hispanic blankets from the Rio Grande watershed. The Rio Grande blankets and some of the design elements were transferred into Navajo usage.
In fact, you'll see these especially in the later blankets that are the Germantown weavings and in some of the Eye Dazzlers. So, when you think of Hispanic blankets you can think of early Mexican blankets – these are very valuable, and to a lesser extent, the Rio Grande blankets, which are also very beautiful and have value but not at the same level as a classic Saltillo Serape weavings.
Irvin Trujillo Master Weaver
Julie Wignall goes to Chimayo New Mexico to meet Irvin Trujillo a master weaver who creates beautiful weavings from scratch in the traditional Spanish style.
NMPBS ¡COLORES!: Weaver Irvin Trujillo
Seventh generation Chimayó, New Mexico, weaver Irvin Trujillo shares his vision.
“I really feel that in my career as a weaver, I was entrusted with the tradition to put our culture into the new millennium.”
Find ¡COLORES! on Instagram: instagram.com/colores_nmpbs
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Music
Gillicuddy – From Up/Down
All Eventualities
Bending the Reed
Nick Rivera
Happy Song is a Happy Song
Rigid Heddle Road Trips: Taos, New Mexico
As a weaving teacher, I have the opportunity to travel to weaving destinations all over the country. Rigid Heddle Road Trips let's you go along for the ride. In this edition, I take you to Taos, New Mexico, to visit the Taos Wool Festival and a few other neighboring fiber destinations.
SHOW NOTES
Taos Wool Festival, taoswoolfestival.org
Vendors or Organizations I visited or featured*:
Aniroonz Sheep Co, aniroonz.com
Bristol Yarnworks Studio, bristolyarnworks.com
Elsawool, wool-clothing.com
Hougen's Mountain Grown Lamb and Pelts, haugenslamb.com
Lana Dura, lanadura.com
The Natural Twist, thenaturaltwist.com
Rocky Mountain Natural Colored Sheep Breeders Association, rmncsba.org
Tierra Wools/Shepherd's Lamb, handweavers.com/organiclamb.com
North American Shetland Sheep Association, shetland-sheep.org
The 100th Sheep, the100thsheep.com
Walking Rain Studio, walkingrainstudio.com
The Oveja Project is still developing its website. If you are interested in connecting with New Mexico Shepherds, there is a newly formed New Mexico Fiber Producer and Artists Facebook Group. You will have to answer a few questions before joining.
To learn more about heritage breeds, check out The Livestock Conservancy and their new Save 'em to Save 'em initiative, livestockconservancy.org
*The vendors that I did not visit or feature are no less noteworthy, I get pretty wrapped up in conversation, and I tend to visit the few over the many. I encourage you to visit the festival and find your own route. Each booth has a story and a treasure.
Other Stops:
Millicent Rogers Museum, millicentrogers.org
Southwest Weaving, southwestweaving.com
Tres Estrellas, tresestrellasdesign.com
Centinela Traditional Arts, chimayoweavers.com
A look back on Spanish Market, 2010
Santa Fe's annual Spanish Market is the largest market of its kind in the United States. Each year, thousands flock to this high-desert community to shop the market. Video by Luis Sanchez-Saturno
Marco Oviedo - Part 2 : Bronze
Marco is a carver and a maker of bronzes. He works in many styles using several different mediums and processes. He may carve bultos of santos in the New Mexican style, simple and elegant, but he is also still working in the baroque method that has been handed down through his family. The originals, the masters of these pieces, take me years to carve, he says, I'm doing a Guadalupe that I already have two and a half years into carving. I do my own face in the San Franciscos. That way I am looking for a little salvation. The master bulto maker smiles at me.
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