IF YOU QUILT, collect coins, or refurbish antique dolls, there’s a juried contest—more than 1,400 in creative and home arts—for you at the fair. Here are three creative competitions not to miss.
Wood carving. Animal and human figures; canes and walking sticks; clocks and gunstocks; and even a Santa Claus category. Entrants compete by skill level, so novices are welcome. “Find a senior center that offers a wood-carving group,” says Mary Beresford, president of the Rio Grande Woodcarvers Association. “Show up and tell ’em you’re new, and they’ll tell you what to do.”
Rubber-stamping. Greeting cards showcase entrants’ hand-carved and stamped designs in seasonal, celebration, and Southwestern categories. Although the medium is often taught to schoolchildren, rubber-stamping can be as exquisite as any fine-art printmaking.
Lego. A juried exhibition complements a live-build contest on September 13 at 12:30 p.m., in which entrants compete by age group. “The Lego folks are as skilled with their medium as painters or sculptors,” says the fair’s arts director, Ramona Vigil-Eastwood. “They know how to envision what they want to build. We get dragons, horse-drawn wagons, a two-story house.”
➤ Meet a master of tradition. Basket weaver Rowena Mora carries Jicarilla Apache artistry forward.