Artesanos de Questa Cultural Center was formed in 1996 with a vision to develop cultural tourism, to supplement the income of local artists, and to engage the greater Questa community in the artistic traditions of our area. While we also serve the community by providing meeting space, offering open-gym nights for youth, and coordinating the area commodities distribution, the Artists' Gallery is the core of what we do.

The Artists' Gallery provides local artists with several types of support including gallery space with a low $25 per year membership fee, a low commision of 20% on sales, free marketing workshops, and the opportunity to be featured in the Artist of the Month Series. Our 45 member artists represent a wide spectrum of ages, ethnicities, levels of formal art training, and media. Our gallery reflects the diversity of the community, including handmade items such as carved tables and cabinets, retablos, metal sculpture and blacksmithing, jewlery, sweaters and jackets, herbal products, post cards, paintings, pottery, and refrigerator magnets. Some artists continue the traditional local arts such as woodcarving and weaving while others follow more universal and contemporary styles such as photography and metal sculpture. Our Artists' Gallery is visited by over 4'500 tourists and locals each year which provides excellent visibility and sales for member artists' products.

In addition to supporting local artists through the gallery and bringing the community together through art receptions and hosting other community events, Artesanos de Questa is committed to providing hands-on art education for the community. Thanks to support from New Mexico Arts (a division of the Office of Cultural Affairs) and local artists donating their time we have provided pottery, tin-smithing, and stained glass workshops for 113 4th through 10th grade students over the past two years. During this period we have also held nine workshops for adults including stained glass, printmaking, creative writing, identifying and uses of New Mexican plants, vocal empowerment, beginning guitar, tin-smithing, pottery, and Idian basket weaving. The 83 students to date have ranged from 11 to 80 years old. The instructors have been well-known artists from Northern New Mexico willing to donate their time out of a desire to keep these workshops affordable.

Our Mission

Artesanos de Questa Cultural Center is a community-based orginization established to encourage community self-reliance and cultural preservation through the arts.