Beatrice Maestas Sandoval

Beatrice Maestas Sandoval (born 1947, Las Vegas, New Mexico) was raised alongside six siblings in an adobe home built by their father in Las Vegas, NM. While growing up, Beatrice heard stories about her great-grandmother, Martita Baca, a weaver whose portrait hangs in the family home, where Beatrice now resides. These stories inspired Beatrice to pursue weaving and, subsequently, to learn colcha embroidery and other traditional Spanish colonial arts such as tinwork. Beatrice feels deeply connected to the Land of Enchantment and its many colors, which inspire her to use natural resources yielded by the land to make her own dyes, spin her own yarn, and weave her own sabanilla cloth from the fleece of local Churro sheep. Beatrice is a beloved teacher and was the longtime Curator of Textiles and Volunteer Coordinator at El Rancho de las Golondrinas (1995-2009). For two decades she participated in Spanish Market, where she was awarded the Grand Prize, Best of Show, as well as numerous other awards. Among many honors, Piecework Magazine named her Needleworker of the Year in 2005, and in 2012 she was awarded Centennial Artist of the Year at the Fiber Arts Festival, Albuquerque, NM. Beatrice prides herself on the care and love she puts into creating each individual piece from start to finish. She produces all her work using natural materials created by hand and from her heart and even built her own loom with her longtime partner, George Ulibarri, so as to create the exact brake system that works best for weaving sabanilla. Beatrice derives pleasure knowing that her process holds true to the original "tradiciones" and that she is helping to preserve her Spanish heritage.