Daanzho, My name is Nicola Vigil I come from the Homelands of the Jicarilla Apache in Dulce, New Mexico.

I am a member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation with some mixture of Jemez and Santa Clara Pueblo from my mother and father respectfully.

I am a part of the Ollero or white clan for our annual harvest footraces, Go-Jii-Ya, our annual harvest footraces held at Stonelake.

My family has lived on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation for generations, although I call various other places home from my life’s adventure. During my middle school and high school years I attended the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, graduating as the valedictorian for my class. My summer home during high school was Phillip’s Academy located in Andover, Massachusetts for a very intensive but rewarding, math, science, and college preparatory program called MS² or Math and Science for Minority Students. For college I was privileged to call the Bay Area my home. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 2021. Currently I am on the homelands of the Jicarilla Apache doing what I love at the Jicarilla Cultural Arts and Heritage Center taking gap year(s) before undertaking a master’s program.

I started at the Jicarilla Cultural Arts and Heritage Center February 2023 for a year fellowship under the College Employment Program for the Jicarilla Apache Department of Labor.

I am the Sales Manager for our shop and have the joy of being the first point of contact for our guests while simultaneously completing various projects ranging from Traditional Dolls, Basketmaking, Micaceous pottery making, bead work, moccasin making, and other traditional arts and crafts. On top of that, I am starting to connect our presence on the social media sphere.

Depending on the type of craft I am working on, it can take weeks to months to complete a project. A plethora of meticulous detail is weaved into our craftsmanship including generations of historical knowledge is engraved into every item we create at the Jicarilla Cultural Arts and Heritage Center.

A typical day can range from helping our customers at the shop while working on a Traditional Barbie doll where she wants to add more detail like a loomed Beaded Apache belt. I could be organizing the showroom or taking a trip to the boonies to collect materials for baskets with my coworkers. Some of which have prestigious legacies in basketry, pottery, and beadwork. I could be working on display cases for the tribal building, working with other departments like the Jicarilla Game and Fish, or making beaded moccasins. No day is never the same and going with the flow takes top priority.

What I like about working at the Jicarilla Cultural Arts and Heritage Center is the feeling of humbleness connecting to centuries of knowledge within oneself through ancestors. I feel a profound sense of presence creating Traditional, Avant Garde Jicarilla art that harkens a deep feeling of gratitude. Creating sacred arts is a tool of mindfulness that is inherently weaved into the very fabric of who we are as Jicarilla people. Native American culture has systematically been eradicated and erased from this country’s history since 1492, this is why it is important to continue to pass down our historical knowledge to our progeny. Art teaches peace in the midst of chaos. From boarding schools, Broken Government Treaties, domestic violence, drug abuse, and poverty, our stories and creation of art remind us we are connected to a higher power much deeper than resilience. There is nothing that will stop us from enjoying the gift of life.

My artistic style follows a traditional framework while adding flavors of Avant Garde elements, like a Lady Gaga spectacle, to bring the piece into the present-day conversation, while still being inherently Jicarilla. What I love about working at the center is no idea is never too big, ingenuity is always in constant motion, and nothing is ever too much. Jicarilla Artistry considers the items we create have a life of their own, I can’t force an item to be how I want because it never turns out how I want. I have to go with the flow with a good mindset and listen to what the being tells me what it wants to be.

The traditional arts passed down to me thus far is beadwork, loom work, pottery, leatherwork, moccasin making, and sewing. I am currently learning how to create baskets. There is not an art in which I dislike, each project is just a new teacher.

I love all traditional crafts equally, however most special in my heart is pottery. As a child my uncle and Grandma would babysit me and play with the clay. When I said I was bored, my uncle Shelden taught me how to make pottery at the age of seven. They encouraged me to compete in shows such as the Heard Market, Santa Fe Indian Market, and the State Fair. I have won many distinguished awards as a result such as first place in the youth division, Best of Pottery Category several years in a row and the Youth Artist Fellowship at SWAIA . I also traveled with Shelden to teach classes in Texas, the Raton Mandala Center, and the Santa Ana Senior Center.

Two pieces of advice offered to me by my mentor’s is “patience is a virtue” and “Never Settle, Stay Hungry, Stay humble.”

One memory of working with my mentor Shelden was spending my childhood doing something I loved that taught me things I wouldn’t otherwise notice while having fun. Persistence, patience, and soul kept me focused to complete things I did not think was possible.  If your good to the craft, it will be good to you.

My favorite color is the rainbow, no one color is better than one another. I do like experimenting with texture such as opalescence, shininess, and vibrancy.

I get inspiration from everywhere including nature, my loved ones, pop culture like Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift.

My most sacred designs are found in traditional and origin stories passed down to generations, and in our ceremonies. Everything I do has intentionality and purpose.

What motivates me to create is interacting with the spiritual wisdom of the ether. It teaches you important life lessons in the failure and happiness. To be content with solitude in the face of worldly chaos, there is an anchor because you are never alone.

I try to teach others about what I know when I want to give back to the people who have helped me.