수상자

For more than 25 years, Charlotte Bell ’65 has helped turn art into opportunity for women and girls in rural Mexico. Using her talents as an artist, photographer and organizer, Bell has helped the women of Las Rancheritas reach new audiences, generate income for their families and create greater opportunities for the next generation.

Bell’s connection to Las Rancheritas began in 1999 in Agustín González, a farming village near San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. While creating a website for Mujeres en Cambio, an organization supporting economic opportunities for rural women and scholarships for girls, she volunteered to photograph local rug makers. Their colorful hooked rugs reflected the surrounding landscape and village life, but the artists lacked a reliable way to reach buyers beyond their community.

An independent artist since 1973, Bell understood the importance of that connection. She began bringing rugs to exhibitions in the United States and finding new venues in Mexico. A Texas folk art store purchased every rug from her first collection, while a 2004 feature in *Rug Hooking Magazine* brought wider exposure, conference invitations and donations of wool from across the country. Bell continued securing materials, organizing exhibits and connecting the artists with new markets without accepting commission or payment. Rug income helped families afford food, education, medical care and other necessities, while her support of Mujeres en Cambio scholarships extended that impact to girls throughout the region.

Bell also helped Las Rancheritas become more self-sustaining. The group became a cooperative in 2012, and in 2015, she helped establish village tours where visitors could meet the artists, see traditional crafts, enjoy a homemade meal and purchase rugs directly from the cooperative.

She documented the women and their community in her 2015 book, Rich Roots: Life in a Rural Mexican Farming Village as Told Through Photography and the Hooked Rugs of Las Rancheritas.

“To understand any culture, we must see it from the inside, as much as it's possible for an outsider to do that,” Bell wrote in her book. “Let my photographs and words open your hearts and minds to the world of our Mexican neighbors so we can all understand each other better.”