Jason Younis y Delgado's website celebrating Spanish Colonial tin and tinwork, a folk art unique to New Mexico which he does in the Delgado family tradition.
tinwork in New Mexico
The story of tinwork in New Mexico is as rich and unique as the state itself. Tinwork, like so many of New Mexico's folk arts, is the product of geographic isolation, creativity and simple ingenuity.
Don Juan de Onate arrived in Mexico from Spain to plant a strong foothold in the new world for the crown and to spread Christianity. He brought with him skilled craftsmen to support the building of the missions. Among these craftsmen were silversmiths. Using fine metalworking techniques handed down from the Moors, they intended to create pieces for the missions from raw materials in the new world. As Onate continued north, he found there wasn't as much precious metal or resources as hoped for. By the time his band had reached what was to become the New Mexico territories, many people settled in to make a life with what they found in the new world. Onate took most of the men on long expeditions in search of silver deposits and pearls. The remaining colonists were kept busy just trying to scratch out an existence in the harsh and geographically remote territories.The silversmith's skills lay mostly dormant, waiting for raw materials.

The U.S. Army garrisons arrived in the New Mexico territories around 1840. They brought with them supplies from the east across the Santa Fe trail. Supplies not found in the west. Among these supplies were mirror, wallpaper and foodstuffs in tin containers. The tin used for the containers was shiny and appeared like silver. Additionally, fragile items were often packed in wooden crates and the packing materials were separated by sheets of tin. The metalsmiths used any discarded containers and materials to craft pieces representing silverwork originally made in Spain. It's for this reason that tin is sometimes referred to as poor man's silver. In the beginning, most of this work was produced to supply the missions with items. Eventually, enough work was available to allow pieces to end up in family homes. These pieces were still mostly inspired by faith. Items such as a frame for a retablo, or a nicho to house a bulto were commonplace. There were many fanciful shapes and sizes. Many of these shapes were chosen to maximize use of relatively precious resources while creating a pleasing design.

By the turn of the century, the modernization of the west made many of the items created by local craftsmen obsolete. Many of these early crafts were soon to die out with the last generation of craftsmen. At this time, a band of artists and volunteers set out to preserve and document these arts. My great, great grandfather, Francisco Delgado, was one of these artists. He documented the tinwork of the time and began to produce work of his own. Eventually he would open a shop in the front room of his home at the corner of Delgado Street and Canyon road. It was here that one of the most descriptive photos of his work at this time was taken. Eventually that band of artists became what we know today as the Spanish Colonial Art Society.

The Spanish Colonial Art Society continues to support and revive traditional New Mexican arts through the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, in Santa Fe, New Mexico and through the production of the Annual Summer and Winter Spanish Markets, also in beautiful Santa Fe.