Back in the mists of time (pre-net and Etsy), the end of 1989, I moved permanently to New Mexico from L.A. I'm a Long Beach, CA native. And until 1997 I was blessed to make a living producing hand made, hand painted and stenciled clothing, in the place I was meant to be-and loving it. I did have a great sales rep helping me. And it was all a lucky fluke. As all things southwest exploded in 1988 I began schlepping my floorcloths to the new southwest design stores popping up along nearby Melrose. In one of those the owner was in from her main store in Taos. It turned out that what she loved was my "sales uniform", my little hand painted muslin vest. Could I do something similar in black velvet and she'd take some for the Taos store. That fluke got me back to New Mexico where I'd gone to grad school at the start of the decade, using my at that time 23 years of high skill sewing chops, along with 10 years of stenciling and surface design. I managed to make sure the painted velvet was hand washable and figured out how to "pop" the colors, which I've not seen from other artists now working on black velvet clothing. Back then I was one of the very few doing it, but I also used denim (and my boyfriend style hand painted cowboy jackets were excellent sellers), chambray (my fave), raw silk, charmeuse, and crepe de chine.
In those days, in the southwest frenzy, those of us surface designing on mostly cotton clothing had the same respect and sales as traditional silk painters using gutta, dyes and steam setting. And there were a lot of us. But by 1997 both me and southwest style were burned out, along with the crafts of sewing (now much revived), stenciling (anemically revived), and hand painted clothing never really revived, becoming the Rodney Dangerfield, we get no respect, of surface designed clothing, leaving silk painting intact as a craft. What I do is a craft which takes a great deal of knowledge, practice and skill. I hope to be part of its much needed revival, along with a greater use of stenciling.
Nearly a year ago, after several years playing in other media, sometimes successfully with my tiles, and several unexpected life detours, my little inner voice began quietly telling me to go back where I started. I ignored it, not sure it was a good idea. The voice got louder until it was screaming. And it didn't hurt that Donna Karan's spring 2012 collection included a Haitian folk art cotton print skirt retailing at just under $2000. Please check out my listings for the skirt specs, but they are easy to customize for length, size, and most especially color combos, and I'd love to do special orders.
Those life detours were important including loss of my last parent, early on-set breast cancer, and a mercifully short marriage. My decks are cleared; I'm where I'm supposed to be in my life; and I'm in love with where my heart was all along and ready to go. And the ideas are flooding my brain! There is a place for southwest style, which I call borderland because I draw from many folk art traditions of the Americas. I use classic, simple clothing styles with attention to sewing quality because I want these to last, heirloom quality, appropriate for most age groups and functions. Best of all, whether stenciled, painted, or both, it is all by hand and isn't "print perfect", though no one really sees that. But it is the hallmark that a human hand with a brush or roller applied the design. And those 2 1/2 degrees in U.S, U.S. West/Native American history and a BA double major in Anthropology have turned out to be invaluable for researching what influences and inspires my designs. So I guess all that over-education my mother complained about wasn't wasted after all. And I'm looking forward to teaching again. Passing on skills is such a joy!
I've got more products in development, including an accessory item soon to appear, a jacket, and those skirt designs taking up space in my brain right now. And please, I'd love your comments, ideas, questions and suggestions.
Martha Ellis
Proud and active member of the New Mexy Etsy team and the Cancer Survivors and Those with Cancer team (ironically its founder lives in Albuquerque and it turns out we have the same oncologist! What are the odds of that?)
This is the little muslin vest that started it all. I still have it and I no longer fit it. Pulled from my archives.
Hand painted black velvet vest, my first and most durable seller in the old days.
All 3 stencils for 1/4 of one skirt, laid out. And yes, I do have to use my floor to paint.
Stenciling in progress with brush and paint.
Finished stenciled skirt, this one the updated Pueblo style.