Hillary Riggs

Riggs grew up in Mexico City, the daughter of American artists who owned a business employing craftspeople in hand-dyeing and weaving textiles and rugs. As a child she was immersed in a colorful, magical, pre-plastic world. She remembers hand-crafted dolls and tiny painted ceramic dishes, spirited local festivals, and the lively realm of ideas that flowed among her parents’ artistic and intellectual friends.

She studied art in San Miguel de Allende at the Instituto Allende, a branch of the University of Guanajuato. During that time she spent a year in Europe in an intensive, independent study of art history. But her interest has always extended to the scientific world as well; in high school, she recalls, her aspirations were almost equally divided between neurosurgery and art. Her current work reflects both the disciplined thinking of science and the passion of art.

After spending most of her first 30 years in Mexico, Riggs, her then-husband, Graham Nugent, and baby Alex moved to New Mexico in 1981 and started Sombraje, producing twig- accented panels, screens, and furniture. The highly successful and influential business established her position in the world of southwest furniture design, and also began a model of creative collaboration which she has continued throughout her career. Riggs’ team, for all forms of her work, includes woodworkers Dan Stubbs and Steve Sovelove, carver Carlos Rascon, and “right-hand person” Desideria Rascon. The artist notes that her son, Alex Nugent, periodically contributes carving skills, ideas, and inspiration.