Skip to main contentBiographyLongtime Santa Fe tinsmith Bonifacio Sandoval died at 88 on Christmas day in Albuquerque.
His work has been displayed by the Spanish Colonial Arts Museum and the Smithsonian. In 1999, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.
In an interview with The New Mexican at that time, Sandoval explained how he learned the trade at 12 or 13 from his uncle, Francisco Sandoval, a roofer who kept a tinsmithing shop at La Fonda.
"I would make trinkets and sell them for 50 to 75 cents," Bonifacio recalled.
He said he would stop by his uncle's shop after class to fashion tin into ashtrays and mirrors.
Sandoval joined the National Guard at age 17 and was given a medical discharge, but he was drafted into the service after the United States declared war in 1941, and served in the Pacific and on the Marshall Islands.
After he returned to Santa Fe, he inherited his uncle's tools and continued the tinsmithing as a hobby when he went to work for the U.S. Postal Service to support his and wife Beatrice's eight children at their Casa Solana home.
Sandoval displayed his tinwork at the first Spanish Market in 1973 and continued in subsequent markets, specializing in candle holders and chandeliers, which he often donated to churches. He also taught two of his children — Victor and Christine — the art.
When Sandoval retired from the Postal Service in 1977, he began to do tinwork full time. In 1993, he won the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. He created the Archbishop Michael Sheehan Installation Cross for which he won the 1994 American Institute of Architects' Religious Art and Architectural Design Award.
His widow said her husband continued his tinwork until about four years ago when he lost his sight due to diabetes.
In addition to Beatrice, Sandoval is survived by seven of his eight children — Bonnie Bea Gibbons of Virginia; Julie Roybal of Albuquerque; Christine Sandoval of Seattle; Jean Burt of Albuquerque; Linda Sandoval of Albuquerque; Roberta Marquez of Albuquerque; and Victor Sandoval of Albuquerque.
A funeral Mass is planned for 10 a.m. March 3 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, with burial to follow in the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/nationally-renowned-s-f-tinsmith-remembered/article_7eb22a04-fc42-52da-bcde-0d33796d3a28.html
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for Bonifacio Sandoval
Bonifacio Sandoval
American, 1922 - 2011
His work has been displayed by the Spanish Colonial Arts Museum and the Smithsonian. In 1999, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.
In an interview with The New Mexican at that time, Sandoval explained how he learned the trade at 12 or 13 from his uncle, Francisco Sandoval, a roofer who kept a tinsmithing shop at La Fonda.
"I would make trinkets and sell them for 50 to 75 cents," Bonifacio recalled.
He said he would stop by his uncle's shop after class to fashion tin into ashtrays and mirrors.
Sandoval joined the National Guard at age 17 and was given a medical discharge, but he was drafted into the service after the United States declared war in 1941, and served in the Pacific and on the Marshall Islands.
After he returned to Santa Fe, he inherited his uncle's tools and continued the tinsmithing as a hobby when he went to work for the U.S. Postal Service to support his and wife Beatrice's eight children at their Casa Solana home.
Sandoval displayed his tinwork at the first Spanish Market in 1973 and continued in subsequent markets, specializing in candle holders and chandeliers, which he often donated to churches. He also taught two of his children — Victor and Christine — the art.
When Sandoval retired from the Postal Service in 1977, he began to do tinwork full time. In 1993, he won the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. He created the Archbishop Michael Sheehan Installation Cross for which he won the 1994 American Institute of Architects' Religious Art and Architectural Design Award.
His widow said her husband continued his tinwork until about four years ago when he lost his sight due to diabetes.
In addition to Beatrice, Sandoval is survived by seven of his eight children — Bonnie Bea Gibbons of Virginia; Julie Roybal of Albuquerque; Christine Sandoval of Seattle; Jean Burt of Albuquerque; Linda Sandoval of Albuquerque; Roberta Marquez of Albuquerque; and Victor Sandoval of Albuquerque.
A funeral Mass is planned for 10 a.m. March 3 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, with burial to follow in the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/nationally-renowned-s-f-tinsmith-remembered/article_7eb22a04-fc42-52da-bcde-0d33796d3a28.html
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