Andrew Garcia, Grand Prize — Best of Show winner at this weekend's Spanish Market, remembers distinctly how he fell in love with woodworking.

"My father, Daniel Garcia, used to give us hammers and nails and pieces of wood, and we would see what we could do with them," said Garcia, 56, who grew up in Peñasco and lives there today. "We made a lot of rabbit houses."

Garcia has come a long way from those rabbit huts.

On Friday, Garcia was honored with the top award for his approximate 5-foot-by-20-inch ponderosa pine Bufete de Hojas, which he described as a sideboard typically used in a hallway to store towels, linens and sometimes dishware.

Other artists in the juried exhibition included tinworkers, textile makers, bulto carvers, furniture carvers and retablo painters, to mention but a few categories at the 2009 traditional Spanish Market organized by the Spanish Colonial Arts Society.

Among the bultos were Jesus nailed to the cross, angels making announcements to holy people, an angel plowing a field behind two oxen, saints delivering food to prisoners and Jesus blessing fish and being baptized by John the Baptist.

The five judges who selected Garcia for the top prize, which comes with a $1,000 reward, seemed overwhelmed by the quality of this year's furniture pieces, which were the talk of the sneak preview for museum members Friday evening at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

"The furniture (about 20 pieces up for judging) is the finest I have seen in 15 years here," said Edward Connors, a retired art teacher and author from the Denver area who was one of the judges.

Connors and the other judges also were struck by the variety of colors and the way the artists used them throughout their pieces in all the categories.

Vikki Tejada of Nambé, a former museum board member, commented on the strong presentations among the straw appliqué artists.

The judges also noted that Our Lady of Guadalupe, always a popular subject at the market, seemed to be making an increasing number of appearances this year — among the bultos, the embroidery, the retablos, the tinwork — most anywhere her image could be painted, carved or stitched.

A major sponsor of the market, Qwest Communications, announced Friday it was donating $30,000 to the market this year.

Garcia's wife, Lorrie, won the Archbishop's Award for her bulto of Jesus greeting fishermen.

Garcia grows his own trees for his carvings and furniture and mills and treats the lumber before transforming it into furniture and other artwork.

He said he hopes the prize will increase the market value of his winning sideboard, but he never worries if his work occasionally doesn't sell right away. "If I don't sell it, I don't mind taking it back home and sharing it with the family."

Contact Dennis Carroll at 986-3091 or dcarroll@sfnewmexican.com.