History of New Mexican WPA
New Mexican WPA Furniture
Of the many programs initiated in the early days of the first Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to deal with the massive unemployment of the Great Depression, few were as successful as the Works Progress Administration.The WPA, as it was popularly known, was generally associated in the public mind with large-scale construction efforts building roads, bridges and dams which created thousands of new jobs for the country's laborers. But there was an equal effort to create employment for the country's artists and craftsmen.
See Morning Star Traders' New Mexico WPA furniture here.
Artisan Projects
A theatre project provided employment for playwrights, actors and theatre technicians. A photography project sent hundreds of photographers across the nation to document America's many natural wonders on film. Painters worked on scaffolds in public buildings in dozens of cities creating murals telling the story of the country's development. Musical archivists traveled miles of back roads transcribing early folk music from every region of the country. There were programs to employ composers, musicians, filmmakers, potters, weaver, virtually every imaginable kind of artisan.
Unique among these was a program initiated in New Mexico in 1933, where unemployment exceeded seventy percent among unskilled workers. Hispanics in remote rural areas and Pueblo Indians were particularly affected. The WPA program recruited established craftsmen to teach their skills to unskilled workers willing to learn. The pieces the participants produced were sold at fairs and festivals scheduled throughout the year, and also were marketed through stores and catalogues. Crafts included straw appliqué, pierced tinwork, woodcarving, painting, pottery making, weaving, but a particular emphasis for obvious reasons was placed on furniture making.
New Mexican Carpinteros
There were a number of recognized carpinteros in New Mexico at the time producing furniture that served as the basis for what we know today as southwestern style. The carpinteros were highly skilled craftsmen who were fine carvers as well as cabinetmakers. They produced pieces the old-fashioned way mortised, tenoned and pegged, without the use of nails, screws or metal braces. Most pieces were carved, either gouge- or chip-carved, with incised carvings of rosettes or shell designs, rope-carved legs and gracefully turned spindles. Some carried cutout geometric designs, some were painted, but all were products of superior workmanship.
The carpinteros taught their students to make furniture in the same way, with the same designs, the same meticulous carving, the same attention to detail. The effort produced a generation of new carpinteros who turned out distinctive furnishings, tables, chairs, chests, dressers, trasteros, sideboards, decorative boxes that were in continuous demand and, today, are highly sought by collectors.
The New Mexico WPA project lasted only ten years, until 1943. Then, the labor demands of World War II made the project unnecessary and the Federal government discontinued it. Fortunately, the new carpinteros carried on the tradition of teaching their craft to another generation. Today, their sons, grandsons, and even great-grandsons are diligently applying their skills in their own workshops, producing beautiful New Mexico-style furnishings that would make the old carpinteros proud.
Of the many programs initiated in the early days of the first Franklin D. Roosevelt administration to deal with the massive unemployment of the Great Depression, few were as successful as the Works Progress Administration.The WPA, as it was popularly known, was generally associated in the public mind with large-scale construction efforts building roads, bridges and dams which created thousands of new jobs for the country's laborers. But there was an equal effort to create employment for the country's artists and craftsmen.
See Morning Star Traders' New Mexico WPA furniture here.
Artisan Projects
A theatre project provided employment for playwrights, actors and theatre technicians. A photography project sent hundreds of photographers across the nation to document America's many natural wonders on film. Painters worked on scaffolds in public buildings in dozens of cities creating murals telling the story of the country's development. Musical archivists traveled miles of back roads transcribing early folk music from every region of the country. There were programs to employ composers, musicians, filmmakers, potters, weaver, virtually every imaginable kind of artisan.
Unique among these was a program initiated in New Mexico in 1933, where unemployment exceeded seventy percent among unskilled workers. Hispanics in remote rural areas and Pueblo Indians were particularly affected. The WPA program recruited established craftsmen to teach their skills to unskilled workers willing to learn. The pieces the participants produced were sold at fairs and festivals scheduled throughout the year, and also were marketed through stores and catalogues. Crafts included straw appliqué, pierced tinwork, woodcarving, painting, pottery making, weaving, but a particular emphasis for obvious reasons was placed on furniture making.
New Mexican Carpinteros
There were a number of recognized carpinteros in New Mexico at the time producing furniture that served as the basis for what we know today as southwestern style. The carpinteros were highly skilled craftsmen who were fine carvers as well as cabinetmakers. They produced pieces the old-fashioned way mortised, tenoned and pegged, without the use of nails, screws or metal braces. Most pieces were carved, either gouge- or chip-carved, with incised carvings of rosettes or shell designs, rope-carved legs and gracefully turned spindles. Some carried cutout geometric designs, some were painted, but all were products of superior workmanship.
The carpinteros taught their students to make furniture in the same way, with the same designs, the same meticulous carving, the same attention to detail. The effort produced a generation of new carpinteros who turned out distinctive furnishings, tables, chairs, chests, dressers, trasteros, sideboards, decorative boxes that were in continuous demand and, today, are highly sought by collectors.
The New Mexico WPA project lasted only ten years, until 1943. Then, the labor demands of World War II made the project unnecessary and the Federal government discontinued it. Fortunately, the new carpinteros carried on the tradition of teaching their craft to another generation. Today, their sons, grandsons, and even great-grandsons are diligently applying their skills in their own workshops, producing beautiful New Mexico-style furnishings that would make the old carpinteros proud.