Today! Expoventa in Albuquerque
Where: Fiber Arts on 4th, 6463 4th Street, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM 87107 When: 10 am to 7 pm — Opening Reception from 5 pm to 7 pm At 1 p.m., I am talking about Craft and Culture in Mexico, with a special emphasis on why we travel to remote villages, artisan life and […]
Textile ExpoVenta in Albuquerque, NM: April 3-5, 2025
SPECIAL EVENT! EXPO-VENTA SALE!April 3-5, 2025 — Albuquerque, New Mexico Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Textiles-Folk Art-Jewelry AND Hoon Arts Uzbek Silk Ikat + Baskets of Africa Norma is Participating One Day ONLY — Thursday, April 3, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. @ Fiber Arts on 4thhttps://FiberArtsOn4th.com 6463 4th Street, Los Ranchos, New MexicoOpen to Public — Thursday, 10am […]
Oaxaca to New Mexico, a Contrast
I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Thursday afternoon. After getting up at three o’clock in the morning to get in the taxi at four o’clock to arrive at the airport forty-five minutes later, I’d say the trip was pretty easy. It was a mere six hours plus from Oaxaca through Houston to get here, […]
Christmas Eve from Taos Pueblo, Oaxaca Connection, and Happy Holidays
We know that New Mexico, in fact the entirety of the southwestern United States, was part of New Spain, and then after Independence in 1821, part of Mexico. The Spanish conquered, enslaved, and imposed Catholicism into all parts of the empire. Christmas celebrations in Oaxaca are an amalgam of pre-Hispanic and Catholic rituals. They are […]
Southwest Road Trip: Chasing the Solar Eclipse at Chaco Canyon
We heard that Chaco Canyon would be at the epicenter of the solar eclipse earlier this week. Little did we know when we planned this trip months ago that we would be at Chaco for the event! We bought the special glasses at the Mesa Verde visitor’s center, but the National Park Service rangers at […]
Southwest Road Trip: On The Floor of Canyon de Chelly
We have hopscotched through four states — New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado since October 1, 2023. We left Canyon de Chelly (pronounced SHAY) and Chinle, Arizona, yesterday morning and are back in Gallup, NM, before going on to Chaco Canyon, NM, where we will see the annular solar eclipse on October 14 as it […]
Southwest Road Trip: Zuni Pueblo to Gallup, NM
There are 23 Native American tribes in New Mexico. In Oaxaca, we count 16 distinct indigenous groups each with their own language. My sister and I decided to do a Southwest road trip about six months ago instead of making an international trip. We chose to do a wide circle starting from Albuquerque (ABQ), traveling […]
National Hispanic Heritage Month, Crypto-Jews, and High Holidays
National Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15 and continues to September 24. It officially recognizes the contributions Hispanics and Latinos make to our national culture in the United States of America. Coincidentally, the Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe — emphasizing renewal, reconciliation, and self-reflection — began on […]
La Malinche: Mexico’s Mestizo Origins
For those who don’t know, La Malinche was the young woman-child and slave sold to Hernan Cortes on the Maya coast of Mexico in 1521. She was traded by the Chontal Maya along with 19 other 12-year olds. Her narrative is complex and formidable. An exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum examines her role as survivor, […]
Collecting Indigenous Art: From Oaxaca to New Mexico and Back
On June 16, 2022, the New York Times published a story about Native American artist Cannupa Hanska Luger focusing on the tension between what white collectors’ want and how the native artist responds. Titled Cannupa Hanska Luger is Turning the Tables on the Art World, the story digs deep into artistic expression, art as social […]
Salida: Sah-lee-dah or Sah-lye-dah–What’s In a Name?
Spanish names are ubiquitous in the western part of the United States of America, especially in the southwest, which was part of New Spain under the Spanish conquest and rule. The region then became part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican Revolution. It’s very pronounced here in New Mexico, where the Spanish language is […]
Where is the Chili Pepper Capital of the World?
In a nod to Mexican Independence Day today, and in appreciation for all that Mexico has given us, me thinks the answer to this question is MEXICO. However, New Mexico thinks otherwise. It’s newest license plate proclaims this as truth and features big red and green chili peppers next to the identity number of the […]
Family, Culture, Community and Covid in Mexico and New Mexico: Thoughts
Preface: It’s Labor Day. We depend on labor wherever we live to work the fields, harvest food, wash dishes or cook in restaurants, sew clothes, tend our nursery-school age children and grandchildren, build, repair or clean our homes. Before I learned the word, Huelga from Cesar Chavez when I participated in the California Farm Workers […]
Living in a Sea of Sagebrush: Taos, New Mexico
It’s been two months since I left North Carolina and arrived in New Mexico, where life is more like Mexico than I ever imagined it would be. Spanish is a predominant language here. Indigenous Native American culture and artistry is powerful. Time moves slowly. There is no urgency and many people here say Taos means […]
Tribal Art and Georgia O’Keeffe: New Mexico Study Tour
Tuesday, September 1 – Wednesday, September 9, 2020 – 8 nights, 9 days New Mexico was originally part of the Spanish land grant known as New Spain. It calls to me in a way that reminds me of Oaxaca: Vast vistas of mountains and desert punctuated by red and purple skies, stately organ-pipe cactus and […]
Jeweler’s Studio: Kewa-Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico
Under the Palace of the Governors portal sit Native American artisans, displaying their craft. They may sit on small camp stools or cross-legged on a blanket waiting for us. Their hang tags tell their name, their pueblo, and authenticate what they sell. This is a juried system. The portal at the Palace of the Governors […]
Native American Jewelry Making — Ancient Art of Identity
The tombs of Monte Alban, the ancient Zapotec civilization perched atop a mountain in Oaxaca, Mexico, revealed, when excavated, unparalleled Mesoamerican gold metal smithing, stone and beadwork. For many of us who live in Oaxaca or visit there, we become attached to filigree work in traditional designs brought to Mexico via the Moors who taught […]
Vast Austerity of Landscape: Speaking of (New) Mexico and Georgia O’Keeffe
I’m in New Mexico and hour north of Santa Fe in the village of Abiquiu, where painter Georgia O’Keeffe reconstructed a dilapidated adobe, converting it into a winter home of extraordinary minimalism. She would have been at home in the living simply movement of modernity. One could also say she shaped it. Here in Nuevo […]
Santa Fe, New Mexico Consignment & Thrifty Shopping: The List
Driving from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with stops back and forth in Taos and Abiquiu–Ghost Ranch (to pay homage to Georgia O’Keeffe), I am constantly reminded that this land was once Mexico. The landscape reminds me of Oaxaca: expansive with arroyos, crevices, looming 12,000 foot mountains, scrub oak, sign posts telling of […]
New Mexico Dry. After the Santa Fe Folk Art Market.
By Tuesday after the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market ended, most friends returned home or continued with travels. Market weekend was HOT, over 100 degrees fahrenheit with no rain, unusual for July when afternoon thunderstorms usually cool things off, they say. There’s no air conditioning here, my local friends remind me. Adobe, shade and […]
Oaxaca-Santa Fe Connection and the International Folk Art Market
The 2016 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market is over. Hard to believe it’s been ten days since I last wrote a blog post. This is the second year I’ve come to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to volunteer for this amazing, often overwhelming experience of meeting hundreds of artisans from around the world. They come […]
Injustice, Coping: Fine Oaxaca Black Pottery Maker Goes to Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
Right now, there’s mango cardamom chutney cooking on the stove. It’s a clear, cool day after a series of heavy rains and the sky is brilliant blue. White puff clouds hug the mountain just beyond my reach, and I’m thinking about the injustices in our world and how people cope. In about three weeks, I’m […]
Color Culture: Oaxaca at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
Oaxaca and Mexico is well-represented at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, a knock-your-socks-off bazaar of many of the world’s best artisans. Interspersed among the over 150 exhibitors are some of Oaxaca’s best artisans, too. Selection to participate is very competitive. Preference seems to be given to collectives and cooperatives that further the economic, […]
Sunrise From New Mexico and California Berries
On a pre-dawn Wednesday this week, I was on a plane from Albuquerque to Denver with a connection to San Francisco. It was dark at take-off. The lights of the city sparkled against the black desert that met obscure sky. On the vast horizon I could see shapes of mountains and the lights of Santa […]
Labor Day and Saludos From Taos, New Mexico
We have this last 3-day holiday weekend of summer, Labor Day to honor the United States of America labor movement and workers around the world. As I look out onto panoramic scene of the Rio Grande River Gorge from my friends’ home on a high mesa outside of Taos, New Mexico, I think about the advocacy and […]