Cherylin Atcitty's jewelry store honors the cultural heritage of Taos Pueblo and its people. Atcitty grew up in Bodaway/Gap, Arizona, near the Grand Canyon. The beads were popular because they were local, authentic works, unlike knockoffs or imports.
It helped me by allowing me to attend shows on weekends. I would attend shows in the summer to pay for school. I saw a need for environmental understanding, not just activism, by studying the science behind it. Atcitty and her husband moved to Taos Pueblo to care for his grandmother, a 102-year-old World War II veteran.
Atcitty wanted to open a store to give herself credit for her early work. She contacted the Small Business Development Center at the University of New Mexico-Taos to set up an LLC. Kaelin said it was a result of timing. Kaelin noted that families couldn’t sell their arts and crafts off the reservation. Atcitty opened her shop in June 2020, the first day it was allowed to reopen. Atcitty said she has to be more inventive to stay in business. Atcitty feels a greater responsibility to maintain and grow her business. Atcitty is taking online courses to learn marketing, investing, and business mastery.
The shop is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Sundays, and occasionally on Mondays and Tuesdays. Atcitty commissions other artists from the pueblo to create works she features in the store. The carved animals, like beavers and bears, sell well because they are small-ticket items. Atcitty established a profit-sharing scheme with each artist she works with. Atcitty finds it significant to be on Kit Carson Road, next to Kit Carson’s house. Atcitty feels it says, ‘Despite everything, we’re still here and thriving.’ For more information, see Wikipedia’s entry on Taos, New Mexico. Image: img0. Image: img1. Image: img2. For further reading: Taos, New Mexico — Wikipedia