Centinela Traditional Arts at 946 State Road 76 in Chimayo. Courtesy/Centinela

Centinela Traditional Arts News:

Centinela Traditional Arts has announced two new weaving programs for those interested in learning the Hispanic Rio Grande/Chimayo Weaving Tradition of Northern New Mexico.

Class Offerings:

• A 12-week open studio program workshop will be held at McCurdy Ministries Community Center (Espanola) May 28 to Aug. 21. Classes with instructor assistance are 4:30-6:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Looms will be available for rent by the hour outside of the set class times (available 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday). The workshop is priced at $500, which will cover the facility, equipment and instructor fees. Additionally, a refundable $20 deposit is required  for each loom. Yarn must be brought in by the student.

• A four-day intensive workshop in Chimayo will regularly be held at the back studio of the Centinela Traditional Arts storefront. Ther first class will run 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., daily June 27 to June 30. Students will have access to the loom a week after class ends during Centinela Traditional Arts business hours, but no teacher will be available during this time. This class is priced at $575 which will cover equipment fees, a weaving guidebook, instructor fees and materials. Classes are offered in June, August and October— but the hope is to schedule more soon as these classes are already filling up fast.

Background:

In 1982, award-winning weavers Lisa, Irvin and Irvin’s father Jake (Jacobo) Trujillo established Centinela Traditional Arts in Chimayo. Although they both attended school in Los Alamos and White Rock —  graduated Los Alamos High School (LAHS) — they met while attending the University of New Mexico (UNM). Jacobo Trujillo (who also worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory) passed down his family’s many-generational weaving legacy to his son Irvin, who then taught his wife Lisa and their daughter Emily.

Today, Emily (also a LAHS Alumni) carries on the family’s rich Hispanic weaving tradition as the eighth-generation weaver.

About the Instructor:

These classes are taught and organized by Emily Trujillo, an award-winning weaver who has taught various Rio Grande/Chimayo weaving classes for most of her career. She also lectures around the country regarding the history of Rio Grande weaving and her family’s history in the Chimayo tradition. This summer, in addition to courses taught at Centinela, she will be running the Ariat-sponsored Chimayo Weaving Apprenticeship Program for the second year in a row to help preserve and maintain her family’s heritage through a program that will provide jobs to weavers in the local Chimayo weaving shops at the end of the program.

For more information, visit https://www.chimayoweavers.com/collections/classes