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RAWHIDE AS ART
Edward Borein and Luis Ortega posed for this photograph in 1934 outside Borein’s art studio in Santa Barbara, California. Ortega delighted in retelling the story of the time Borien asked him, “What do you want to be, a rawhide butcher or a rawhide artist?” It was this bold criticism from a respected member of Santa Barbara’s art community that convinced Ortega to assume a new goal in his braiding career - rawhide artist.
In 1932, Luis Ortega broke his arm in a horse corral. While in Santa Barbara seeing the doctor, he showed Western artist Ed Borein his braiding. Borein advised him to quit the footloose life of the vaquero and braid horse equipment full time. The artist admired the quality of Ortega’s work and encouraged him to braid rawhide on a more artistic level. He invited Ortega to share his studio, an opportunity Ortega took advantage of for seven pivotal years. This encouragement from a respected member of Santa Barbara’s art community convinced Ortega to pursue a new goal in his braiding career—rawhide artist. During this period he started braiding with finer rawhide strands and may have been the first California braider to interweave colored strands into his hackamores, reins and quirts.
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Rawhide as Art
