Tapestry Weave Rag Jerga

I draw on the loom . . . just what I feel like at the moment.

--Agueda Martínez

Agueda Martínez wove traditions, ideals, and her own ebullient spirit into rugs that are contemporary in design. Here, concentric diamonds, hourglasses, and chevrons echo Chimayó patterns of her Mexican American community. Martínez and her husband, also a weaver, supported their family of ten children as subsistence farmers during the day and weavers at night. They gathered plants for dye and spun scraps of worn clothing into yarn to make rugs. At first, they sold them through blanket dealers, and later, as their work became well-known, from their home.

By the 1970s, "Doña Agueda" Martínez was nationally renowned. In 1975 she received the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. The 1977 documentary film Agueda Martínez: Our People, Our Country about her relationship with the land and her family was nominated for an Academy Award.