A public reception for this exhibit featured the gypsy-jazz of The Durangotones. Textile expert and Toadlena Trading Post owner, Mark Winter, then followed with a gallery talk on Rio Grande blankets.
Textiles and other crafts produced by settlers in colonial New Mexico had their origins in Spain, but quickly developed into unique local styles influenced by new needs, available materials, and exposure to the traditions of local Native communities. This blending of materials, techniques, and styles in textile production in Spanish households created a unique new industry known today as the “Rio Grande” textile tradition.
For the early Spanish settlers, prized possessions were the legacy items brought, handed down, or imported from Mexico or Spain. However, as communities became established, their descendants began to create and appreciate their own regional forms of expression, creating items of beauty as well as of necessity.Read more about the exhibit in the Durango Herald's article - click here.
This exhibit was a continuation of programming surrounding the 50th Anniversary year for the Center of Southwest Studies, celebrating half a century of scholarship, service and preservation of the greater Southwest.