TAOS, N.M. — A Taos, New Mexico local fiber arts group held an opening of an exhibit of colcha art pieces at La Hacienda de Los Martínez, a local fiber arts group on Saturday, May 19, from 2-4 p.m.  The exhibit also included colchas from the Museum of Spanish Colonial Arts and the Colcha Club from San Luis. 

The Colcha Club from San Luis has been meeting for several months at the Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center and the Costilla County Economic Development meeting room.  Marcella Pacheco, San Luis, organized the group when La Hacienda de los Martinez asked Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center for nearly 20 pieces made in San Luis in the 1970s. The Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center shared its Virginia Neal Blue collection for the exhibit. The three groups have formed a strong bond of an old and new generation of colcha stitchers. San Luis participants include Marcella Pacheco, Irene Medina, Nancy Vialpando, Connie Morrell, Eufemia Barela, Evanea Pacheco, Julie Mondragon and Sue Jensen.

As part of the New Mexico Fiber Crawl, admission to Hacienda Martínez will run the exhibit until June 29th. Its hours are 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. This event will include demonstrations of colcha embroidery, spinning, weaving, knitting and felting.

Connie Fernandez, organizer of the exhibit of the Taos group explained colcha in depth. She was quoted in the Taos News Tempo Magazine:

“Colcha embroidery started when bedcovering got holes from wear or moths. You don’t toss them out; they’re precious. Women would cover up the holes and put a design on them to make them beautiful. Women used what they had. The designs were traditional and would often resemble things brought into the area. We were very isolated back then. You could see similarities in designs from Mexico and the East Coast because of the trade route.”

— CONNIE FERNANDEZ

The Hacienda is located at 708 Hacienda Road, Taos, NM.  For more information call La Hacienda de los Martinez at (575) 758-1000.