VALERIE FAIRCHILD LANDED ON THE PLAZA IN 1972, smack in the middle of a rollicking, beat-inspired arts and crafts movement. She opened a small jewelry store off the Plaza and soon became legendary for her unique, hand-drawn designs. Today, she does custom orders out of the same workshop, but in a completely transformed Plaza. When we spoke to her from her shop overlooking San Francisco Street, the first words out of her mouth were, I want to be one of the more outrageous people you have in the magazine.
Let’s see how she did.
It started when I was three. I missed my psychiatrist mother so much, I would hang out in her closet and her bed. I used to see things – animals, carriages, people – in the wallpaper and in the patterns of the ceiling plaster. I also didn’t speak until I was three, so my mother thought I was autistic.
By four, I astral traveled down the house stairs. I told my mom, and she immediately thought I was mentally ill. I always had vivid dreams as a child and had several friends no one else could see. My colorful, intense dreams have been a huge boon to my creativity. I dream of jewelry, then I make it.
I arrived on a Trailways bus at the old station on Water Street in 1972 with a broken arm and no money. Little did I know that I would soon be part of an amazing, new crafts and fine art movement. Hundreds of people about my age
(I was 19) flocked to this holy place and started designing leatherwork, jewelry, gemstones, beads, pottery, sculpture, and paintings. Some of them lived in the mountains outside of Taos. They made their own buckskin clothes. A wild crew.
My first job was cutting latillas for coyote fences. It was a good job. Then I worked at The Palace Restaurant. I waited on Tim Leary. Working there paid off. I’m a pretty good cook – my peach and apricot jams won the blue ribbon at the New Mexico State Fair.
But jewelry was my passion. So after that, I started working for Falk Burger, a genius, one of the nation’s top jewelers and stone cutters.
By the mid-1980s, there were several designer jewelry galleries representing the work of Anglo, Spanish American, and Native American contemporary jewelers and other artists. It was an exciting time.
In ’86, I opened my own trade shop where I made custom orders for stores, did repairs, and made my own work for wholesale. I was basically a self-taught goldsmith and did all my own model making and casting. Everything. I was the short order cook of jewelry.
In the 1970s, Santa Fe was truly a small town. The Plaza had Capitol Pharmacy, Zooks Pharmacy, JC Penney, Kahn Shoes, and the tiny Plaza Bar. And Woolworth’s, with that great lunch counter. All places locals went. You could even park on the Plaza.
The last place in town that reminds me of then is Canyon Road. It was a really cool, peaceful place. A place where artists gathered. And, to some degree, it still is. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
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Photo SFM
