Good day, my hubby and I are taking a road trip to NM and I was
wondering if anyone can recommend any good jewelry sites ? We are
looking to retire (years from now) in the state and want to start
looking for nice communities that one could have a shop and a house
in one.
Thanks Tina
I made a trip to NM last month, as there is a good chance my husband
may transfer there. The two possibilities for us are Albuquerque and
Silver City. We had been to Albuquerque several times, so we spent
most of our time in Silver City. It is a great community with a large
subgroup of artisans, many in jewelry, but also many other areas as
well. All of the galleries and shops we visited were very friendly
and made comments like “If you want to see more of this guy’s work,
just call the number on his card. He’d be happy to show you around
his workshop.” The housing was reasonable and there seemed to be a
lot of retail space available for purchase as well. There is also a
4-year college there. It has about 10,000 people.
In contrast to our Silver City experience, we were in a gallery in
Old Town Albuquerque and saw some beautiful glass work. We inquired
about the artist, and all they could tell us was that the items were
exclusive to their gallery and that the artist lived “on the West
Coast.” We went another gallery and saw the same items, definitely by
the same artist, and asked about them. The gallery attendant said she
knew the guy’s name was Rick, and she thought he lived in California!
There were no business cards, nor even a placard stating the name of
the artist. If I were showing in either of these galleries, I’d be
furious that they weren’t giving customers about my
work. (BTW, the price tags were very visible!)
New Mexico is a great place, with many artisans. I wish you luck.
Theresa Bright, roasting in Nebraska at 114 degrees