Jemez Arts and Crafts Association

ABOUT

The Jemez Arts and Crafts Association (JACA) is an organization located in northern New Mexico, in the Pueblo of Jemez. We were formerly known as the Towa Arts and Crafts Committee. JACA's primary focus is to promote and protect the interests of Native American Jemez Artists according to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act*. 

Current officers are: President, Marlon Magdalena; Secretary, Laura Fragua-Cota; Treasurer, Florence Yepa. 

The initial group, Towa Arts and Crafts Committee, was formed in the early 1990s to help promote Jemez Arts and Crafts. Subsequently, the successful annual Jemez Red Rocks Arts and Crafts Show began as a way to promote local Jemez artists, as well as, Native American artists from other Indigenous Communities throughout the Southwest. Many Jemez artists participate in many other art shows, like the Santa Fe Indian Market, throughout the year.

Here are some events that we host throughout the year: Jemez Red Rocks Arts and Crafts Show, Jemez Artisan Fair, Jemez Harvest Festival. Events

Then in February of 2016, the organization felt we needed a name that better fit our organization's origin, and we decided to change our name to the "Jemez Arts and Crafts Association". The word "Jemez" is the name of an Indigenous group of people that have lived in Northern New Mexico for at least a thousand years, and is the Spanish spelling for the word "Hį:mįsh" (pronounced HEE-MEESH), which is the plural form of what we call ourselves. The Jemez are primarily farmers, but we also gather and hunt. Many Jemez are artists that create many different type of art; for example, pottery, paintings, drums, leatherwork, woodcrafts. We speak a very unique language that only a few thousand people speak, which American linguists call "Towa". We currently live in our one village of "Walatowa", or Jemez Pueblo. Here is the Jemez Pueblo website, and click the link for more Jemez history.

*According to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, "It is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States." So we chose to call our organization the Jemez Arts and Crafts Association, being that we are all members of the Pueblo of Jemez, a federally recognized tribe, and "Jemez Arts and Crafts", "Jemez Art", "Jemez Crafts", etc. are protected under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act since "Jemez" is the name of an "Indian Tribe".