Aric Chopito
- Traditional Pueblo weaver
- Enrolled member of Zuni Pueblo
- Creates sashes, back capes, belts, and more
- 2010 Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow
- Pueblo of Isleta Award of Excellence at the 2nd Annual Pueblo Market 2014
- 2017 SWAIA Indian Market 2nd Place Sprang, knitting, finger weaving, braiding, crochet
Aric Chopito is a weaver and member of Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico. He is one the few active weavers in his community today. He is a self-taught weaver who strives to follow in the footsteps left for him by his forefathers. Aric was formerly an Indian Arts Research Center intern, where he completed an internship in Pueblo textiles. Most recently he held the Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellowship in fall 2010. This allowed him to live and work at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe and create several woven pieces, such as a semi-brocade dance kilt and rain sashes.
Aric views his work as an act of revitalization that strengthens Zuni textile traditions while incorporating them into the world of modern materials and trade. As he explained during his SAR fellowship in 2010, “Weaving tapestries is not just an art form; it’s a way of life. For weavers, our ability to create pieces for our people to use in ceremonies is part of where we’re going to be because we’ve already become a part of their lives as they wear these garments.”
Part of his traditional approach to weaving includes the incorporation of prayers into the creative process. “We pray when we start, we pray when we’re weaving, and we pray when we finish so our people will be blessed with those particular hopes, dreams, and desires that we put into our tapestries.”