Santa Fe, NM – With the generous support of the Qwest Foundation, the rich Hispanic culture of northern New Mexico will be celebrated at the 58th Traditional Spanish Market, Saturday and Sunday, July 25 & 26, 2009 on the Santa Fe Plaza. A popular event for residents and visitors alike, Spanish Market features handmade traditional arts by over 200 local Hispanic artists as well as continuous live music and dance, art demonstrations and regional foods. A separate youth exhibition area also features the work of some 100 emerging artists. The Market provides a unique opportunity for visitors to enjoy a taste of New Mexico’s vibrant Spanish culture, both past and present. Admission is free.
The traditional artforms featured each year at Spanish Market include the following:
- Santos – depictions of religious figures in the forms of bultos (carvings in the round), retablos (paintings on wooden panels), and gesso and wood relief-carved panels.
- Hide Paintings – religious images painted on deer or elk hide
- Straw Appliqué – crosses, chests and boxes decorated with applied straw
- Textiles – hand-woven on looms using handspun yarns
- Furniture – usually made from pine using mortise and tenon joints
- Colcha – unique regional embroideries employing the colcha stitch
- Tinwork – decorative and utilitarian objects of cut and punched tin
- Ironwork – tools, fastenings, and household objects forged from iron
- Precious Metals – silver or gold jewelry, utilitarian and devotional objects
- Pottery – hand-sculpted bowls, pots, and other ware made from micaceous clay
- Bonework – decorative items, anillos (rings) and tool handles carved from bones
- Ramilletes – decorative paper garlands
- Basketry – baskets handwoven from red and brown river willow
Spanish Market is produced by the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art which supports traditional Hispanic arts and artists through educational programs, grants, lectures and the production of Spanish Market each July and Winter Spanish Market, held November 28-29th, 2009 at the Santa Fe Convention Center. These two major exhibition/sales events give visitors a rare opportunity to meet some of the best Hispanic artists working in the area today. The Society’s collection of more than 3500 objects is housed at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, 750 Camino Lejo (Museum Hill) in Santa Fe. The collection includes Spanish colonial art forms spanning four centuries and four continents.
For complete information on Spanish Market or the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, please contact 505-982-2226 or info@spanishcolonial.org.