NELLY
Nelly
Nelly Lorenzo: Transforming Industrial Space Into a Hub for Contemporary Mexican Textile Art
Artist and Cultural Pioneer Creates Studio and Gallery at La Fábrica, Challenging Hierarchies of Value in Contemporary Art
Nelly Lorenzo is a textile artist working at the intersection of traditional Mexican weaving knowledge and contemporary conceptual practice. Based at La Fábrica - a converted industrial factory space in San Miguel de Allende - she creates three-dimensional textile installations, collaborates with other artists, and hosts exhibitions that position Mexican textile and visual arts alongside international contemporary work.
Her work emerged from a deliberate apprenticeship with maestro Félix Pérez, learning traditional weaving techniques and fiber knowledge, then expanding into three-dimensional textile art that challenges what textiles can be. Her studio at La Fábrica functions as both creative workspace and cultural platform - a space where textile artists work alongside painters, sculptors, ceramicists, and other artists, where Mexican creativity is valued and exhibited at the same level as international contemporary work.
From Traditional Learning to Contemporary Practice
Nelly began her artistic journey learning to cut and work with fabric and textiles in a more traditional context. Her understanding deepened through apprenticeship with maestro Félix Pérez, one of San Miguel's great weavers, where she learned the techniques, fiber knowledge, and conceptual dimensions of traditional textile work. This foundation gave her the technical expertise and cultural knowledge that informs her contemporary practice.
But rather than remaining within traditional forms, Nelly asked a fundamental question: what else can textiles be? Her answer is three-dimensional textile installations - pieces that move beyond the flat tapestry into space, combining different fibers, exploring how textile materials can function in contemporary art contexts. She combines traditional knowledge with contemporary conceptual approaches, creating work that honors Mexican textile heritage while speaking to current artistic conversations.
La Fábrica: A Space for Mexican Contemporary Art
La Fábrica is not just Nelly's studio - it is a cultural platform. The converted industrial factory space hosts a gallery and exhibition space where paintings, sculptures, ceramics, stained glass, and textile art are shown alongside one another. Crucially, Mexican artists and Mexican work are positioned as equal to international contemporary art, not as "local" or "crafts" or "folk art" but as sophisticated contemporary practice.
This positioning is not accidental. Nelly is acutely aware that Mexican art and artists face a particular kind of devaluation in the global art world - that there is an assumption that Mexican work is less sophisticated, less valuable, less worthy of serious contemporary exhibition than North American or European work. By creating a space where Mexican textile artists, painters, and sculptors are shown with the same curatorial rigor as international artists, she challenges these hierarchies.
Textile Art as Contemporary Art
Many people assume that textile work is craft, not art - or that it belongs to folk tradition, not contemporary practice. Nelly's work directly challenges this assumption. Her three-dimensional textile installations are contemporary art - conceptually rigorous, formally innovative, addressing contemporary concerns about materials, labor, culture, and presence. Yet they emerge from and honor traditional Mexican textile knowledge.
By working this way - combining traditional apprenticeship with contemporary conceptual practice - Nelly demonstrates that there is no contradiction between honoring heritage and creating innovative contemporary work. The two can be, and must be, integrated.
Building Community
At La Fábrica, Nelly has built community among artists - especially textile artists working in Mexico. She knows many practitioners working in fiber and textile arts across Mexico, and has created a space where they can work, exhibit, and be seen. This is cultural infrastructure work - the unglamorous but essential labor of creating platforms where undervalued artists can be visible and appreciated.
By hosting exhibitions that include painting, sculpture, ceramics, and textile art, La Fábrica also challenges the artificial separation of disciplines. Textile artists are not segregated into a "crafts" section - they are part of a full contemporary art conversation.
Nelly Velorenzo
Textile Artist | Cultural Platform Builder | Contemporary & Traditional Practitioner
Nelly Velorenzo is a textile artist and curator based at La Fábrica in San Miguel de Allende. Trained in traditional Mexican weaving with maestro Félix Pérez, she has expanded into three-dimensional textile installations that challenge conventional understanding of what textiles can be. At La Fábrica, she has created a gallery and studio space where Mexican textile artists and visual artists work and exhibit alongside international contemporary practitioners - a platform that insists on the sophistication and value of Mexican contemporary art.
Artistic Practice
Nelly's work combines traditional Mexican textile knowledge with contemporary conceptual practice. Her three-dimensional textile installations move beyond flat weavings, exploring how fibers can function in space, how traditional materials can speak to contemporary concerns. She works with multiple fiber types and creates pieces that are simultaneously rooted in Mexican textile tradition and formally innovative within contemporary art discourse.
Her apprenticeship with maestro Félix Pérez provided deep technical knowledge - the foundation that allows her to work with authority in textile media. From that foundation, she asks: what else is possible? How can traditional materials and knowledge be expanded into new forms?
La Fábrica
La Fábrica is Nelly's studio, workspace, and a gallery platform for Mexican contemporary art. The converted industrial factory space hosts exhibitions of painting, sculpture, ceramics, stained glass, and textile art - positioning all disciplines as equally valuable. This curatorial stance directly challenges hierarchies that position Mexican work as less sophisticated or valuable than North American or European contemporary art.
The space functions as cultural infrastructure - a place where Mexican artists can work, exhibit, and be taken seriously. It is also a community hub where Nelly collaborates with other textile artists, painters, sculptors, and creators working in Mexico.
Challenging Hierarchies
Nelly works to challenge multiple hierarchies: textile as craft vs. art; Mexican art as less valuable than international work; traditional knowledge as separate from contemporary practice. By creating sophisticated contemporary textile installations rooted in traditional Mexican knowledge, by curating exhibitions that position Mexican artists as equal to international practitioners, she insists that these false separations end.
TEXTILE ART IN MEXICO: NELLY VELORENZO ON VALUE, TRADITION, AND INNOVATION
On Mexican Art, Textile Art, and Claiming Value
Nelly Velorenzo works at the intersection of traditional Mexican textile knowledge and contemporary art. At La Fábrica, she has created a space that positions Mexican artists and textile art as equal to international contemporary work. Here is her perspective on value, tradition, and the future of Mexican creative practice.
On Learning Traditional Weaving
"I learned to work with textiles traditionally - cutting and working with fabrics and fibers. Then I had the privilege of learning from maestro Félix Pérez, one of the great weavers. He taught me traditional techniques, fiber knowledge, the deep understanding of textile work. That foundation is essential. You must know the tradition before you can expand it.”
On Contemporary Textile Practice
"Once I understood traditional weaving, I asked: what else can textiles be? I began working with three-dimensional textile installations - pieces that move beyond the flat tapestry, that exist in space. I combine different fibers, explore how textile materials function in contemporary art. I want to show that textiles are not just craft or folk art - they are contemporary art, capable of the same conceptual rigor and innovation as painting or sculpture.”
On La Fábrica
"La Fábrica was an industrial factory - a place of production. Now it is a studio and gallery where artists create and exhibit. We show painting, sculpture, ceramics, stained glass, textile art. All equally valuable. All equally serious. This is important because Mexican artists face a particular kind of devaluation - the assumption that our work is less sophisticated than North American or European work. At La Fábrica, we insist: Mexican art is contemporary art. Mexican artists are serious artists.”
On the Value of Mexican Creativity
"People sometimes assume that Mexican work - especially textile work - is less valuable or less sophisticated. They don't understand that Mexico produces extraordinary contemporary art. That Mexican artists have knowledge and skill equal to any international practitioner. My work is to show this, to create platforms where Mexican art is visible and valued as contemporary art, not as craft or folk tradition. Both - tradition and innovation - are essential. They are not separate.”
On Building Community
"I know many textile artists working in Mexico - artists creating beautiful, sophisticated work. La Fábrica is a space where we can work together, where we can exhibit, where our work can be seen as contemporary art. Community is important. Platforms are important. When artists feel valued and can exhibit their work, the work gets better. The culture gets stronger.”
On Why This Work Matters
"It is important that people understand that Mexico creates art. That Mexican artists are contemporary artists. That tradition and innovation are not opposites - they work together. I want to be part of changing the conversation about Mexican art, about textile art, about what is valued and why. La Fábrica is one small space, but it is a space where these conversations happen every day.”