Mi Vida en Colcha: Josephine Lobato

On View Across Two Spaces:

Access to both locations is free of charge.

University of Denver
School of Art & Art History

In partnership with:

San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project The Range | HEART of Saguache
PO Box 416 | 307 4th Street
Saguache, CO 81149 therangeontheinternet.com heartofsaguache.org

Denver, CO – Join us this fall at the University of Denver School of Art and Art History for Mi Vida en Colcha, the retrospective of Josephine Lobato, the nationally recognized colcha embroidery artist. Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will begin on Wednesday September 25, 2024 with an artist talk at the Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women at 5pm. The full exhibition will open with a reception on Thursday October 24, 2024 from 5-7pm at the Davis Gallery at the Shwayder Art Building, remaining on view through Wednesday December 4, 2024. This exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of Lobato’s art, providing the rare opportunity to view the life’s work of one of Colorado’s most significant artists. In 2019 Lobato was awarded the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in recognition of her exceptional contribution to American folk and traditional arts.

Josephine Lobato was born in San Luis, Colorado in 1936. She lives and works in Westminster, Colorado. She is one of the most widely celebrated colcha embroidery artists in the United

States. Colcha embroidery is a textile art that came to the San Luis Valley from Northern New Mexico in the 19th Century and has been shaped by revival movements in Colorado and New Mexico into a pictorial narrative artform. The term colcha refers to the Spanish word for bed covering. Lobato uses colcha embroidery to depict the stories and folklore of her life and community. She began making colcha embroidery during her time as the director of San Luis Valley’s Fort Garland Museum in the 1980’s. She was instrumental in starting the Sangre de Cristo Heritage Museum in the Town of San Luis. Her artwork is the subject of Dr. Suzanne MacAulay’s Stitching Rites: Colcha Embroidery along the Northern Rio Grande (2000).

Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will feature forty colcha embroideries, accompanied by texts that offer insight into the stories they depict, alongside family photographs and a video that provide a biographical portrait of the artist. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Michael Lobato, Lobato’s grandson who passed away on August 19, 2024. Colcha embroideries made by Lobato’s daughter Rita Lobato Crespin and granddaughter Rachelle Varela are included, further reflecting the generations of family connected through the artwork. Mi Vida en Colcha is curated by the artist in collaboration with Adrienne Garbini, Dr. Suzanne MacAulay, Trent Segura, and the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project. The San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project is a partnership between The Range in Saguache, HEART of Saguache, and artists in the Valley that supports exhibitions, workshops, and scholarship. The University of Denver Department of Art and Art History is partnering with the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project through the Davis Gallery and the Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women to host this important retrospective exhibition that honors Lobato’s unique artistry in preserving her memories, textile traditions, and the history of the San Luis Valley.

University of Denver history intersects with the revitalization of Colorado colcha embroidery, as the Colorado Women’s College hosted the offices of the Virginia Neal Blue Foundation, which was instrumental in bringing colcha embroidery workshops led by Chilean artist Carmen Benavente Orrego-Salas to the San Luis Valley in the 1970s. Benavente Orrego-Salas was influential in Lobato taking up colcha embroidery in the 1980s. This connection also led to the decades-long collaboration between Lobato and her art historian, Dr. MacAulay, who first encountered colcha embroidery while working at the Colorado Women’s College, which later became a division of DU.

The University of Denver Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women is located at 1901 East Asbury Avenue. The University of Denver Davis Gallery is located in the Shwayder Art Building at 2121 East Asbury Avenue. The exhibition is open to the public at both locations from October 24 through December 4, 2024. The Davis Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, closed on Mondays, except by appointment. Part of the exhibition will be on view at the Chambers Center beginning Wednesday September 25 at 5pm, in conjunction with Lobato’s artist talk with curators Adrienne Garbini and Dr. Suzanne MacAulay.

Josephine Lobato: Mi Vida en Colcha will result in an exhibition catalog published by What Nothing Press, with support from the San Luis Valley Colcha Embroidery Project.

For more information, contact The Range at info@therangeontheinternet.com or call 646-734-1373. The Range is located at 307 4th Street in Downtown Saguache, and is currently celebrating its tenth year in Saguache.

Please join us for the opening reception at the Davis Gallery on Thursday, October 24 at 5:00 PM.