A new exhibition on the work of traditional weavers and colcha embroiderers is opening in Saguache.
Los Testamentos brings together 70 black-and-white silver gelatin prints that artist Kathryn Nelson made to document artists in the communities of Capulin, Center, La Garita, Saguache and San Luis. The photographs are presented alongside colcha embroideries and weavings that Nelson collected during her time working to record the lives of these artists.
The exhibition will be on display Sept. 12 through Dec. 7 at The Range, an artist space at 307 4th St. in downtown Saguache. An opening celebration will be on Friday, September 12, from 4-6 p.m. at The Range.
The photographs and artwork provide extraordinary images of everyday life in the San Luis Valley from nearly 50 years ago. Featured artists in the exhibition include Eppie Archuleta, Rebecca Benton, Cordy Duran, Patsy Garcia, Margie Gurule, Agueda Martínez, Mary Martinez, Lydia Martinez, Senon Martinez de Chavez, Viola Martinez, Loyola Medina, Sadie Pacheco, Carina Quintana, Marcella Quintana, Nora Quintana, Virginia Rodriguez, Joyce Romero, Olivia Medina, Cecilia Sanchez, Bernie Trujillo, Evelyn Trujillo, Tiva Trujillo and Julia Valdez.
The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project is digitizing Los Testamentos, the “slide and sound” documentary Nelson made on the art of weaver Eppie Archuleta and colcha embroiderer Tiva Trujillo. A special screening will take place at The Range on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m.
In conjunction with Los Testamentos, the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project will present a free two-day colcha embroidery workshop at The Range on Friday, Sept. 12, from noon-3 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Materials and food will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing Trent Segura at trent@noonontheinternet.org. Spots are limited.
For more information on any of these events, contact The Range at info@therangeontheinternet.com or call 646-734-1373.
About the photographer:
Kathryn Nelson was born in 1940 in Oshkosh, Wis. She moved to Colorado in 1958 to study sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is an artist, curator, and collector who worked in photography, ceramics, jewelry making, and interior design. She became a documentary photographer in 1975. She photographed and recorded oral histories of artists in the San Luis Valley, and in Grover, CO., through her Grassland Women project with the support of the Colorado Council on Arts and Humanities.
Nelson exhibited her San Luis Valley work at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis., in 1981 and at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in 1982. She is retired and resides in Colorado’s Front Range.