By: Maria Manuela

Christine Hernandez is a weaver who lives in Chimayo, New Mexico, near the old plaza with her Chihuahua mix named John Wayne. The old adobe home is a beautiful three-room space, with a bright weaving studio occupying one of them; the wall covered in spools of differently hued yarns. She moved in just before the last holiday season, and is still setting her creative intentions there when I visit her less than a week before Christmas. 

As we talk, John Wayne sits on her lap in his knit sweater. The way he mirrors Christine’s movements, and watches me with readiness, he reminds me of a daemon from Phillip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. In the series, humans (who have magical powers) have vital bonds with animals that stay with them at all times, called daemons. 

I’m not sure if it’s this comparison, which my mind draws subconsciously, or something else about Christine. But there’s a bit of magic in her Chimayo home, and in her weavings. She’s petite and sprite-like. She speaks quietly, with deliberate wording that you need, and want, to lean in to hear.    

She’s been weaving since 2015, when she was working as a barista in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Missing the classroom, and that feeling of soaking up new knowledge, she looked for classes at the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts. “I saw weaving and I hadn’t considered weaving before. So, I tried it and I just fell in love with it after the first semester. I took three semesters back to back.”

Weaving classes at the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts, which is housed in an old convent, were predominantly taken by women and taught by Nancy Heneghan and Casey Galloway. “It was really cool to weave and learn from them. At the Southwest school it was mostly women. Just being in that really lovely feminine energy was like an oasis, everyone was doing it because they wanted to, so they were light and happy. It was really great to have that community there.”   

In 2018, Christine left her hometown, moved to Santa Fe and started weaving full-time. She was pulled to the land in New Mexico after a road trip with a friend who had moved here a few years before. She visited every summer, when the nights were cool and the clouds were billowing with summer monsoon rains. “I’ve always known Santa Fe is this magical, sweet land.” 

Before moving, Christine went through a breakup, and San Antonio started to feel smaller than ever. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to heal until I moved out of San Antonio. It’s amazing that a lot of people move to Santa Fe to do some sort of healing. It’s been cool living and growing out here, knowing that a heartbreak was 50 percent – or more – of why I moved.” 

I saw weaving and I hadn’t considered weaving before. So, I tried it and I just fell in love with it after the first semester.

In Chimayo, Christine was elated to find a deeply rooted weaving culture, to which she is forming her own connections. She’s apprenticing with seventh-generation weaver Irvin Trujillo at Centinela Traditional Arts, who is a master of historical Rio Grande styles. “There’s not much weaving in San Antonio. There’s a lot of serapes and Mexican weavings, but as a culture, it’s not as present as it is here.” 

It’s easy to see the influence New Mexico has on Christine’s work, which has a traditional feel and borrows familiar motifs and geometric shapes. Her weaving is close-knit, like the textiles Chimayo is known for, and an average piece takes six to 10 hours to complete. She imbues her work with her own, modern aesthetic, weaving bold geometric shapes that look like yin-yangs, or a sprinkling of southwestern diamonds into her textiles.

She’s also inspired by the land, the mountains, the sky and all that is natural and present in the high desert. She says even two years into living in New Mexico, she still finds herself staring at the Sangre de Cristos in awe as she fills her car at the gas station. “I love it out here. It blows my mind to see the seasons and the land and how adaptable she is. It’s like she’s telling us these daily affirmations with her beauty.” 

I’ve always known Santa Fe is this magical, sweet land.

Moving to New Mexico has influenced and changed Christine’s work, making it a meditation on the dance between tradition and innovation. “It’s really amazing to have had such a good transition into where I am now. I feel like I’ve been welcomed into the community and onto the land, and I am just trying to show respect and trying to tend to it. It’s almost like there are channels here, and I am not responsible for the things that are coming out. I am just kind of receiving messages from the things I see on a daily basis.” 

You can contact Christine through her website, lilweavy.com, to set up a visit in her home studio and witness her spirit for yourself. You can also keep up with her on Instagram @lilweavy.