Kathryn Nelson photographs, 1979-1981.
San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project
Presents
Los Testamentos
Kathryn Nelson
September 12 - December 7, 2025
Reception
Friday September 12, 4-6pm
at
The Range
307 4th Street
Saguache, CO
This fall the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project will present the momentous work of artist
and collector Kathryn Nelson at The Range in Saguache, Colorado from September 12 through
December 7, 2025, with an opening celebration on Friday, September 12th from 4 to 6pm.
Los Testamentos brings together 71 black and white silver gelatin prints Nelson made in the late 70s
and early 80s to document the colcha embroidery and weaving artists in the communities of Capulin,
Center, La Garita, Saguache, and San Luis. The photographs are presented alongside colcha embroideries
and weavings that Nelson collected during her time working to record the lives of these artists.
Featured artists in the exhibition include Eppie Archuleta, Rebecca Benton, Cordy Duran, Patsy Garcia,
Margie Gurule, Agueda Martínez, Mary Martinez, Lydia Martinez, Señon Martinez de Chavez, Viola Martinez,
Loyola Medina, Sadie Pacheco, Carina Quintana, Marcella Quintana, Nora Quintana, Virginia Rodriguez,
Joyce Romero, Olivia Medina, Cecilia Sanchez, Bernie Trujillo, Evelyn Trujillo, Tiva Trujillo, and
Julia Valdez. The photographs and artworks provide extraordinary images of everyday life in the San Luis
Valley from nearly 50 years ago.
Kathryn Nelson was born in 1940 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She moved to Colorado in 1958 to study
sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is an artist, curator, and collector who
worked in photography, ceramics, jewelry making, and interior design. She became a documentary
photographer in 1975. She photographed and recorded oral histories of artists in the San Luis Valley,
and in Grover, Colorado through her Grassland Women project with the support of the Colorado Council
on Arts and Humanities. She exhibited her San Luis Valley work at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center
in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1981 and at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in 1982.
She is retired and resides in Larkspur, Colorado.
The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project is digitizing Los Testamentos,
the 'slide and sound' documentary Nelson made on the art of weaver Eppie Archuleta and
colcha embroiderer Tiva Trujillo. A special screening will take place at The Range on
Saturday October 25, 2025 at 6pm.
In conjunction with Los Testamentos, the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project will present a free colcha embroidery workshop at The Range on Friday September 12th and Saturday September 13th. Materials and food will be provided. Please RSVP by emailing Trent Segura at trent@noonontheinternet.org. Spots are limited.
San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project
The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project supports artists to teach and tend to vital
community connections while celebrating cultural traditions.
The project supports exhibitions, workshops, and scholarship,
and is a program of NOON Organization,
a 501(c)(3) dedicated to cultural preservation and educational resources in Colorado's San Luis Valley.
