Pablita Velarde’s Studio

One of the leading painters of the 20th century, Pablita Velarde/Tse Tsan “Golden Dawn” (Santa Clara Pueblo) (1918-2006) was a pioneer as a woman artist in an era and a community where painting was a male art form.

Her painting began in a traditional manner but evolved through many original styles and media. She engaged in the experimentation that the best artists practice, in media or style. She cared deeply about depicting traditional lifeways that she feared would be lost and using her art to tell the stories of those lifeways. Over the decades she was an effective spokesperson discussing her art and the larger issues of the Native art world.

This exhibit contains an accurate recreation with original objects of Pablita’s working studio, giving insight to the public of this extraordinary artist’s process.