Juanita Jaramillo Lavadie

Juanita Jaramillo Lavadie (born 1949) is a contemporary weaver, textile scholar and muralist based in New Mexico. Her art is centered on the acequia system in Taos County, Northern, New Mexico and is influenced by traditional Hispano and Indigenous cultures. Her work primarily focuses on water rights in Taos County.

Early life and education Lavadie grew up in Northern New Mexico in a family of weavers, and four generations of family members involved in education. She is the eldest child of Eliseo and Amelia Jaramillo, who were educators. She studied music in high school and was a member of the youth choir at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. She traveled to Mexico to study mural making in Mexico City. In 1980 she studied with Master Weaver Norma Maestas.

In 1977 Lavadie and Chicano Movement activist Enriqueta Vásquez, who had met when they attended the same panel of Chicano Movement speakers, created the mural Un Puño de Tierra which reflects the cultural values of Taos and the deep ties the people of the region have to the land. "Un Puño de Tierra" was restored in the summer of 2020.

Jaramillo Lavadie's work was included in the 1987 National Museum of Mexican Art exhibit The Barrio Murals. In 2016 her work was included in the Ciboleros, Comanchero and the People Back Home exhibit at the Gutiérrez Hubbell House and Cultural Center, in the village of Pajarito, Albuquerque, NM.

Awards and fellowships Among the honors which Jaramillo Lavadie has earned are a National Endowment for the Arts Award

Collections Jaramillo Lavadie's work is held in permanent collections including:

Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM. Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM.

Personal life She was married to Eduardo Lavadie until he died.