Wholly Rags

Wholly Rags provides free sewing classes and maintains the Taos Community Freebox. We advocate for expanded recycling provisions within Taos County, recycle tons of clothes, make patchwork products, and organize art shows featuring recycled materials.

At Wholly Rags Studio we use discarded textiles and piece them together into things of value. To conserve the culture of the future, we make space and materials available to all kinds of people and preserve the occupation of sewing. Along with the creative arts of making things, we educate about the story of waste. This way we unravel the current way of disposal and re-weave it into a more sustainable system for taking care of our refuse. We explore the cycles and circles together, to save resources and our land. We educate people to appreciate the qualities of the materials they use, and to not dispose of things haphazardly. Being connected to our environment, we see how all waste is a potential resource, and Earth is not a dumping ground for us to pollute.

New and innovative works are seen at Arte de Descartes, our annual juried recycled art exhibit. The show, held in the Stables Gallery has become a Taos tradition, inspiring many to create in unusual ways, working with discarded materials. Rag Made Quilts, is an annual show at the Taos Public Library. Both these shows are organized annually to show how discarded materials and scrap can be transformed into art without purchasing new materials.