2017 Masters Award Recognition Evening at Tiny’s

  Tuesday, June 20, 2017 from 6 – 10 pm

Come for the great food and the formal announcement of this year’s recipient of the 2017 Masters Award for Lifetime Achievement – Mel Rivera.

J.R. Palermo, owner, has offered to continue the tradition of donating 20% of the proceeds of food and drink purchases the evening of June 20th to the Spanish Market.

The restaurant will have open seating for the evening with a full food and beverage menu. Tiny’s is a family owned and operated restaurant/lounge in Santa Fe for 65 years. Come and enjoy one of the Southwest’s great made from scratch kitchen, offering Native New Mexican Foods and full bar. A Santa Fe institution, Tiny’s indoor/outdoor dining area is a perfect spot to spend an evening and help us support Spanish Market.

We would like to encourage you to bring friends to mingle with Market artists and Society members and staff for a fun filled evening and suggest making reservations for your group for the evening by calling (505) 983 – 9817.

Tiny’s Restaurant and Lounge

1005 St Francis Dr Suite 117

Santa Fe, NM 87505

 

Mel Rivera

2017 Masters Award for Lifetime Achievement Recipient

The Recipient for the 2017 Masters Award for Lifetime Achievement has been awarded to Mel Rivera, a 29-year participant of Traditional Spanish Market.

Mel Rivera is a fourth-generation Santa Fean, and is a graduate of New Mexico State University with a degree in Business Administration. He first received recognition for his artwork in 1981 when he was doing woodcarving. After returning to Santa Fe area, however he became very interested in straw appliqué, an art form dating back to the 1700s in New Mexico.

Modern straw appliqué derives from the ancient craft practiced in North Africa and introduced into Spain by the Moors. The art form adopted by Spanish artisans, who brought it to the Americas. In the upper Rio Grande, straw appliqué was used as a practical substitute for the more elaborated wood and mother-of-pearl inlay. Straw décor was originally used on boxes, wooden candleholders, picture frames and devotional wooden crosses.

Mel made his first straw appliqué cross in 1985, using only wheat straw. He continues to create new designs on traditional objects using only the core of the straw plant, a unique feature of his work. Over the past thirty-five years, Rivera has won countless awards in shows throughout the southwest, participated and received an award in Italy, and his work can be found in the permanent collections of many museums. He also had the honor of being selected to have his work purchased and displayed in the shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France.