Collectors Item WPA Art License Plate "Governor Greets Tourists" by Pablita Velarde

{Part of the New Mexico Foundation Community Art Plates Series.}

Add a bit of color and class to your car with New Deal Front License Plates and at the same time help NNDPA continue its good works to preserve New Mexico’s New Deal public art.

States That Allow Decorative Front Plates: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia

These colorful, decorative plates depict New Mexico scenes created by New Mexico artists during the New Deal years from 1933-1943. The selected images are part of a vast body of work completed under various New Deal Art Programs. Our beautiful plates are durable, long lasting, and printed on metal.

If you know someone in any of the 19 above states that don’t require a front license plate, why not surprise them with this special gift from the Land of Enchantment? They also make wonderful wall art or exterior placements.

This paining is located at Bandelier National Monument, NM. It is one of 84 art works created by Velvarde at this site.

Pablita Velarde was born on Santa Clara Pueblo near Española, New Mexico on September 19, 1918. After the death of her mother, when Pablita was about five years old, she and two of her sisters were sent to St Catherine's Indian School in Santa Fe. At the age of fourteen, she was accepted to Dorothy Dunn's Santa Fe Studio School at the Santa Fe Indian School and was one of the first women students.

In 1939, Velarde was commissioned by the National Park Service, under a grant from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to depict scenes of traditional Pueblo life for visitors to the Bandelier National Monument. Following her work at Bandelier, Velarde went on to become one of the most accomplished Native American painters of her generation, with solo exhibitions throughout the United States, including in her native New Mexico, as well as in Florida and California. Her mural commissions were funded by the WPA.

* We are a 501(C)(3) Non Profit. All Proceeds go towards our efforts to preserve New Deal sites around the country and educate the public about this American history.