Northern New Mexico Fine Arts and Crafts Guild
We are a New Mexico nonprofit corporation, a project of the T.O.M. founded in 1965, a 501(c) organization.
Local Color by Zandra Hall
I was raised in Los Alamos. I began weaving on a child’s loom when I was 8 to give me something to do while my tonsils healed.
When I was a new bride in Denver, I found out about an old loom in a neighbor's basement that was being tossed out. I acquired it, and after a weeks' worth of trying to assemble it, finally began weaving my first rag rugs. The loom is a Depression Loom and has served me well for 43 years to stave off frustrations by beating on it. Several looms have joined the pack.
I was a guide at the Santa Fe Opera when a teenager, and I fell in love with the beautiful handwoven shawls we were to wear with black skirts while seating folk. Those shawls inspired me to play around with fiber, color and texture in creating shawls, ruanas, linens, tapestries, rugs, curtains, etc. I love observing the development of whatever I am weaving into an object with it’s own personality, feel, individuality.
Whenever an object I create is either given as a gift or purchased, I always hope deep in my heart that the recipient appreciates the time, effort and love that went into the weaving of a truly personal item. I want whatever I make to be used and loved, not tucked away.
