José María Apodaca

Apodaca was born in Mexico in 1844, immigrated to Santa Fe County, and settled in the small village of Ojo de la Vaca (now abandoned), where he produced tinwork for more than forty years, before his sight failed in 1915. New Mexican tinsmiths adapted and altered old Spanish leather-working punches to decorate the surface of the tin, stamping it from the front of embossing it from the back. Some of the dies were sharpened and used to cut scalloped edges, and a dull knifelike tool was used to score straight lines on the tine. Judging by comparisons of die-stamped elements, scoring details, painting, and over-all design, the vast majority of surviving tinwork in New Mexico was produced by a dozen master craftsmen or major workshops.2 Geographically, these makers represent a large part of New Mexico, stretching along the Rio Grande valley from Taos in the north to Mesilla in the south. Some were incredibly prolific; in a few instances several hundred examples by the same hand survive. To date, the only two individuals who can be identified as tinsmiths are Higinio V. Gonzales and José Mariá Apodaca. (http://fineartsofthesouthwest.com/Fine_Arts_of_the_Southwest/Jose_Maria_Apodaca_New_Mexican_Tin_Retablo_Frame_with_Glass_and_Wallpaper.html)