Santero organizes a winter Spanish colonial art show
When he heard rumors that the Spanish Colonial Arts Society might not hold a 2021 winter art market, Charlie Carrillo decided to take matters into his own hands. “I started thinking, I’ve been doing this close to 40 years, so maybe I can pull something together — you know, for the artists,” Carrillo said. “I’ve named it the Spanish Market Artists Winter Show, so it has its own name. What I wanted to do was provide an opportunity, a venue, for the many artists who normally do a winter market. I also wanted to bring this family of artists back together.”
Since SCAS took the market to Albuquerque about a decade ago, it has struggled with attendance, said Carrillo. “I wanted to bring [winter] Spanish Market back to Santa Fe. “There’s no blame; it just wasn’t working.
So I negotiated with Santa Maria de la Paz to use their large parish hall and community center. I’m a parishioner at Santa Maria de la Paz, so I talked to Father Daniel Balizan there, and lo and behold, I now have 70 artists and the space is filled up.”
Organizing the market “has been a major undertaking, especially without financial backing,” Carrillo said. “But, thank God, it’s going to happen. It’s so important that we return to Santa Fe. It’s important that we take a stand and reground Santa Fe with a tradition like this. A lot of locals feel disenfranchised these days.”
Marketgoers can do their holiday shopping, and Carrillo has “arranged for the Knights of Columbus to provide local comfort food, maybe Frito pies. The Catholic Daughters at the church will provide cookies and hot chocolate.”
“The artists are all juried into multiple categories,” said Carrillo, “like Spanish colonial embroidery, called colcha; traditional Spanish weaving; and santos — both kinds, bultos and retablos. We will have straw appliqué and a type of art called encrusted straw — those are mostly crosses and boxes. We’ll have punched-tin art and tin repujado [embossed]. We’ll also have traditional Spanish colonial pottery . . . . It looks a bit like Native American pottery, but it’s made in Hispanic villages. There will also be furniture makers, and that furniture must be made of pine; it can’t be any other kind of wood. Finally we’ll have cooking ware, micaceous pottery and jewelry.”
The jewelry will feature turquoise, silver, gold and other precious gems and metals. “I have a blacksmith signed on for ironworks,” Carrillo added with a chuckle. “Jewelers always do well at an art show. Men buy for their wives, and the women buy for themselves.”
The market runs Friday, Dec. 3, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Church community parish hall, 11 College Ave. Free parking and admission.