Spam as art
(Times photo - Leigh T. Jimmie)
Lisha Thomas, left, and Lauran Houland, both of Dulce, N.M., carve spam into a butterfly and the U.S. White House, respectively, at the 11th annual International Spam Carving Contest July 14 during the Little Beaver Celebration.
Nostalgia, irony highlight decade-old carving contest
By Erny Zah
Navajo Times
DULCE, N.M., July 28, 2011
(Times photo - Leigh T. Jimmie)
TOP: Judges look over more than 100 entries in the 11th annual International Spam Carving Contest at the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Senior Citizen's Center on July 14 in Dulce, N.M.
BELOW: Nina Zentz, of Dulce, N.M., holds a train engine she carved for the 11th annual International Spam Carving Contest July 14 at the Jicarilla Apache Tribe Senior Citizen's Center.
But on July 14, the sound of 80 cans of Spam being popped open did not herald a feast. Rather, they had been given to contestants in the 10th Annual International Spam Carving Contest, an event at the 52nd Annual Little Beaver Celebration.
The Spam contest appeals to all ages, and in this context is intended to help revitalize relationships between the older and younger generations.
"I like to see the kids hugging and kissing their grandmas and grandpas," said Frances Garibay, director of the senior center.
Her ambition seemed to be paying off as Dulce residents Journey Vigil, 14, and her grandmother, Viola Vigil, 59, sat across a table joking about Spam and the carvings Journey could've made. The two were not direct competitors - the contest is split into six age divisions.
The contestants are given 30 minutes to create their entry and since rules didn't restrict the tools used for carving, some people used small pocket knives, while others used plastic butter knives supplied by the senior citizen center.
"There are only two rules," Garibay said.
The contestant must be able to sign their name and open the can of Spam.
"It's fun," Journey said, adding that she won second in her division last year. This year she took first place by carving a two-dimensional deer head.
The entries were varied - there were trains, horses, teepees, a porcupine and even a sandwich sculpted in Spam.
Pamela Maestas, 56, of Dulce, said she's been participating in the contest since it started. This year, she entered a three-piece sandwich all made from Spam, which didn't earn an award this year.
Last year she carved a flowerpot complete with flowers, saying, "I thought I had it."
But, the judges were won over by another entry - a church complete with a steeple and cross.
This year an unexpected problem arose when one contestant brought an extra can of Spam, Garibay said. No do-overs, sorry.
Aside from that, she added, the only real challenge in the decade-long event was a change the judging format to reduce the potential for favoritism.
In the beginning, judges would watch the Spam carvers create their entries, but community members worried that family ties or friendship could sway the results.
So for the last several years, the judges have been confined to a separate room while the carvers complete their works of art.
"We try to keep things as honest as possible," Garibay said.
Once the judges are done, they submit their results to the tabulators, one of whom, pediatrician Yolanda Toya, makes an annual trip from Albuquerque to help tally the results.
"I come back every year to do the scoring," Toya said as she entered scores into a custom spreadsheet she developed just for the Spam carving contest.
While the results were checked and rechecked, about 150 people filed into the lunchroom and ate hot dogs and chili dogs, while Spam creations on paper plates filled the tables lined against the north wall.
Nina Zentz, of Dulce, showed the train engine she made out of Spam.
She said it commemorates the train station that used to be in Dulce, where a spur line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad had been built to open new areas to the timber industry. She used to take the train to nearby towns of Chama and Pagosa Springs, Colo.
"I remember the good ol' days and that's part of the good ol' days," Zentz said.
Her train won first place in the 66-and-older division.
Winners this year received various prizes, all bearing the Spam logo, which were ordered from the company's Web site, Garibay said.
But this year's winners also received small cash prizes from the Little Beaver Celebration committee as well.
Journey earned a foam Spam football and $20 for her efforts.
She said she plans to enter next year's carving contest, but doesn't plan on practicing like Maestas said she'd do.
"I'm going to have to really start practicing this year to see if I can come up with something," Maestas said.