Bambi Ellis, 86, is a native Santa Fean whose father was one of the great impressionists

Zozobra's size and popularity have grown considerably since the celebration first began in Santa Fe in 1924. As Bambi Ellis, 86, remembers, "Back then it was 3 feet tall and it was just people in the neighborhood that knew about it." During the past 84 years, Zozobra has grown to 49 feet, and 20,000 people gather to watch the burning of this effigy of gloom to commemorate the Fiesta de Santa Fe.

Bambi Ellis, born May 12, 1922, at the family home on Camino del Monte Sol, is the daughter of artist Fremont F. Ellis and Lorencita González. Fremont Ellis, along with Zozobra creator Will Shuster, Walter Mruk, Jozef Bakos and Willard Nash, became renowned as Los Cinco Pintores. These five artists helped to define American Impressionism during the first half of the 20th century and did their share to shape Santa Fe's burgeoning art colony.

When Los Cinco Pintores held their first exhibit at the Museum of Art in Santa Fe in 1921, the town had 7,000 people. The group who chose to work together also chose to live side by side and built their adobe homes next to each other on Camino del Monte Sol. For Ellis and her younger brother, Fred, 84, living among these five artists was truly memorable. "In the evenings, we would have get-togethers at each other's houses. During Prohibition they made moonshine in their bathtubs. Somehow the authorities got wind of it, and an inspector came by and had them drain it," says Bambi.

Los Cinco Pintores influenced Ellis greatly. "I wanted to be an artist just like them, so one day — I must have been about 6 — I went into my father's studio and began painting. I painted everything in the house, including the icebox. My father gave me such a spanking after that incident that it quelled my desire to be an artist," she says.

Although Ellis didn't follow in her father's artistic footsteps, as a young woman in the 1940s she did study flamenco in Mexico City and in Hollywood. During World War II, she married and had her only daughter, Anna Karen Turner Evans. Her daughter has blessed her with four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

In the 1960s, after raising her daughter as a single mother, Ellis worked exclusively as her father's art representative. "I traveled around the country to museums and to the homes of private collectors," she says. "I would hang my father's paintings on their walls to give them a perspective of how the painting would look in their collection."

Ellis' diligent work paid off. The art of Fremont F. Ellis, who died in 1983, is featured in several national museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. At the Museum of Art in Santa Fe, his piece Adios Amigo, depicting the funeral of Will Shuster, is on display.

"Of the group, my dad was closest to Will Shuster. He was a wonderful person and his son, Don, and I also became great friends. We used to go around the neighborhood collecting junk for his playroom," she says.

Ellis also has fond memories of the Fiesta de Santa Fe. "We all used to get dressed up in fiesta outfits. We'd have parties at the house where we would sing and dance. All of the women wore mantillas as we walked in procession to the Cross of the Martyrs," she recalls.

Like Zozobra's size, things have changed drastically for Ellis at fiesta. This year, for the 296th annual celebration, she plans to attend the opening Mass at Rosario Chapel on Friday, but other than that she won't be reveling in any of the other festivities. "People don't get dressed up anymore," she says. "They don't seem to have the same spirit that they had in the old days. Besides, most of my friends have died, so there's no one left to celebrate with."

Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine (www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800). Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday.