ABIQUIU INN NEWS RELEASE

The Abiquiu Inn has launched a new exhibit in the Upstairs Gallery in honor of Women’s History Month. Colcha of New Mexico: The Legacy of Beatrice Maestas Sandoval is now open and will be on display until April 30. Included in the exhibit are her Colcha works, rugs and tinwork. March is designated Women’s History Month and honors the contributions by women to American history.

Colchera Beatrice Maestas Sandoval was born in 1947 in Las Vegas, N.M. She was raised alongside her six siblings in the adobe home her father built. As a child, Beatrice heard stories about her great-grandmother, Martita Baca, a weaver whose portrait still hangs in the family home, where Beatrice now resides.

These stories inspired Beatrice to pursue an interest in weaving, Colcha embroidery, tinwork, and other traditional Spanish colonial arts. Deeply connected to her roots as well as to the Land of Enchantment (and its many colors), she was inspired to create her own natural dues, spin her own yarn, and weave her own sabinilla cloth from the fleece of local Navajo-Churro sheep. Beatrice is a beloved teacher, as well as the longtime Curator of Textiles and Volunteer Coordinator at El Rancho de las Golondrinas (1995 – 2009).

For two decades she participated in Spanish Market, where she was awarded the Grand Prize, Best of Show, as well as numerous other awards. Among many honors, Piecework Magazine named her Needle Worker of the Year in 2005. In 2012, she was named Centennial Artist of the Year at the Fiber Arts Festival in Albuquerque.

Beatrice is proud that her artwork and the processes associated with each piece hold true to original “tradiciones” and that she continues to preserve her Spanish culture and heritage.

Colcha is a style of embroidery unique to northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. It is a folk art steeped in history, traditions, and cultural expression. The word colcha means bedcover. During the Spanish colonial era, the wool from Navajo – Churro sheep was spun into yarn, then dyed with local plants indigenous to New Mexico’s high desert. These yarns were made into sabinilla, a woven cloth. Colcha has been called “a tribute to the women who traveled the Camino Real”.

They traveled with sheep and a needle which led them to create truly beautiful art. Woven blankets from the fleece of the churros were prime trade items for the early settlers of northern New Mexico. When their own blankets became worn the repair turned decorative. Floral designs led to the wool-on-wool embroidery that became the Colcha embroidery we replicate today.

Now recognized as a Spanish Colonial art form, colcha is celebrated by artists throughout New Mexico, as well as Spanish Market. The Pueblo de Abiquiu Library & Cultural Center recently established its own local group, Las Colcheras de Abiquiu. The group meets monthly to learn and share in this historical art.

The Abiquiu Inn is a thirty-room boutique hotel. Their restaurant, Café Abiquiu, is under the lead of Chef Rey Melton. The Abiquiu Inn supports and showcases artists and their work in their gallery, dining room and The Shop.

Visit http://www.abiquiuinn.com and http://www.abiquiulibrary.com.