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2004 NEA National Heritage Fellowships
ELISEO and PAULA RODRIGUEZ
Straw appliqué artists, Santa Fe, NM
During the 1930s while working for the government's Works Progress
Administration Federal Arts Project, Eliseo Rodriguez learned the rapidly
disappearing tradition of straw appliqué. Sometimes referred to as "poor man's
gilding" this was a Spanish colonial art form found in the villages of northern
New Mexico that uses straw to emulate gold leaf in the decoration of crosses and
retablos (religious screens) found in the churches. By the 1950s Eliseo and his
wife Paula, who he also taught, were the last remaining practitioners of straw
appliquÈ in New Mexico. However, in the 1970s a conservator at the Museum of
International Folk Art discovered their work and encouraged them to show their
pieces in the Spanish Colonial Arts Society's Spanish Market. Due to this
exposure and publicity and their willingness to teach others, including members
of their own family, straw appliqué is once again a thriving tradition in
northern New Mexico. One writer has said of the inspired work of Eliseo
Rodriguez, "...true spirit doesn't give figurative speeches. It sings in golden
figures."
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