Happy Women’s History Month! This month we are launching our New Mexico Sheroes campaign to celebrate self-identified women who have made herstory in our state!
Pablita Velarde, also known as Tse Tsan, meaning Golden Dawn in Tewa, was born at Santa Clara Pueblo and lived from 1918-2006. She created beautiful art reflecting her own culture and the people of Santa Clara Pueblo using materials from the Earth, including clay and rocks, to make paint.
As a young girl, Pablita was made fun of for wanting to paint and told she would be more likely to make it by “washing dishes, washing clothes or scrubbing floors.” As a mother, she decided to paint competitively in order to sustain her family and became one of the most revered indigenous artists in US history. She is the author of “Old Father Storyteller” and was commissioned to paint 84 images of Pueblo life for Bandelier National Monument in 1939.
We’d love to learn about and celebrate the New Mexico Sheroes in your life! To participate, post a photo of the New Mexico women you want to honor on your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with a message about what they’ve meant to you and your community and tag us!