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Placitas
Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Sale Celebrates 30 Years of Bringing
The Arts To Placitas
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Since
1982 The Placitas Holiday Arts and Crafts Sale has grown from
about a dozen local artists that displayed their artwork in
a newly built spec home to now over 80 artists that come from
many communities of New Mexico including Placitas, Bernalillo,
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, the surrounding Native American
Pueblos, Colorado and beyond. Artists from New Mexico have
been coming to Placitas for 30 years with their own special
artwork to sell to the public. They have been so well received
by our community that they continue to want to be in the show.
The Placitas
Holiday Sale dug its roots deep into the rich cultural soil
of Placitas, with its Spanish folk art heritage and the artistic
legacy of the nearby pueblos. It laid a foundation for other
art events in Placitas, created a reputation among artists for
high quality arts and crafts in Placitas and provided beautiful
works of art that decorate the homes of Placitas, Bernalillo,
neighboring communities and even across the country.
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Times
in Placitas have changed in 30 years. When the Placitas
Holiday Sale began in 1981 there were few homes below
the S-curves and most of the population was centered near
the village and outlying areas. It was a tight community
that got together often to have fun. The original idea
of starting the Placitas Holiday Sale came from Peaches
Malmaud, who at that time did ceramic art. Peaches now
sells shirts with fish and plant imprints and she is also
one of the founders of the well known Valley Garlic Oil.
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Peaches
Malmaud in the Big Tent 1991
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“Peaches
came around and talked with various artists to see if
there was interest and sure enough there was,” said Nancy
Couch, the show’s current coordinator. “She mostly organized
everything herself, but got others to help her like us,
Mary Hofmann, Susan Junge and others. Trades were common
to cover booth fees. We were in charge of making the signs
and putting them up.”
"It
became a community effort with neighborhood kids being
hired to direct the parking and local women acted as hostesses
at each location, making sure everything ran smoothly,"
said Dana Roth. "I was in charge of the publicity
photography, and my husband, John, ran electricity
to the tent."
In
the beginning, the show was held each year at a new location.
Peaches knew different builders in the area and negotiated
with them to allow the artists to display their artwork
in their newly built homes.
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Nancy
Couch in 1985 with Water Prisms
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“The
homes were perfect with large solar windows that really
made the artwork look good,” said Nancy Couch. “I clearly
remember the first show, we were in the green house and
had about 8 different styles of Water Prisms. They made
these incredible rainbows that went into the living room
and danced across the other artwork. It was a magical
moment and we sold out.”
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“Peaches
used every available space in the early houses to place
artists, even the bathroom (it wasn’t hooked up yet),”
said Mary Hofmann, a thirty-year veteran of the show and
one of its current directors. “The closets, all rooms,
the garage and more were filled with artwork. Different
dates were tried in November and December and then we
stayed with the week-end before Thanksgiving.”
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Mary
Hofmann with pottery at the 1997 Holiday Sale
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The favorable
response from people to the first show was encouraging to the
artists and the people were happy to purchase beautiful handmade
items for their own homes. That was the beginning and each year
after there was a different location for the show. This worked
out great for seven years until one of the homes was sold right
before the Holiday Sale was to begin. The new owners reluctantly
agreed to let the show go on, but this was a wake-up call to
move the location to something more permanent.
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Bunny
Bowen with batik scarves and pictures in 1998
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In 1989
The Placitas Holiday Sale moved to the village, displaying art
at Clear Light Gallery
and setting up the first Big Tent in the parking lot. For a
while the Community Center and the Hacienda de Placitas B&B
were used as additional venues and in 1995 the Placitas Elementary
School was added. The Anasazi Fields Winery became a site in
1997 before the wooden pavilion was built but it only accommodated
about 5 or 6 shivering artists out of the forty plus total artists.
The Winery was expanded a few years later when Jim Fish and
his partners built a large, heated wooden pavilion with a kiva
fireplace and magnificent views of their vineyards and orchards.
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In 2001
the Holiday Sale changed again and the Big Tent was put up next
to the beautiful Café de las Placitas building, which was also
used to show some of the 70 artists. The following year the
tent found its seasonal home next to the Casa Rosa at Las Placitas
Presbyterian Church.
In 2007
the Elementary School was renovated and the following year the
show expanded into the halls, allowing the number of artists
exhibiting to reach its current size of about 80 artists.Presently
the show is produced by local artists Nancy
Couch, Jon Couch, Mary Hofmann, Bunny Bowen, and Dana Roth.
The
Placitas Holiday Sale is making special plans for this year’s
Holiday Sale which will be the Thirtieth Anniversary of the
show. Jon Couch said, “This is a milestone since it’s the longest
running art show in Placitas.”
Today
Placitas is a culturally rich community that has spread out
in all directions. It has become known for its beautiful, spacious
views of the mountains and has through the years attracted many
artists who work and find inspiration in this peaceful setting.
It comes as no surprise that Placitas has become a growing community
of artists and that the greater community loves and supports
them.
All
photos by Dana Patterson Roth
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The
Placitas Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Sale is organized by
a committee of local artists and sponsored by the Placitas
MountainCraft and Soiree Society, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to serving the community, the arts,
and artists.
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