Looking Back: Southwest Contemporary’s 2022 in Review
Lauren Tresp, publisher and editor, looks back at 2022, a year of growth, engagement, and relationship-building for Southwest Contemporary.
Dec 31
Lauren Tresp
Oct 26
Documenta 15: What You Need to Know About the History-Making Quinquennial
Documenta 15, the globally significant quinquennial, was both an exercise in decentralized curation with a focus on the Global South and a show riddled with unrelenting controversies.
Aug 26
Review: Wo/Manhouse 2022
New MexicoReviewVol. 6 Rooted: Poetics of Place
Wo/Manhouse 2022 reconsiders the relationship between gender and domestic spaces on the fiftieth anniversary of the seminal feminist installation Womanhouse in Belen, New Mexico.
Jun 30
The Results Are In: Southwest Contemporary’s 2022 Reader Survey
Southwest Contemporary's 2022 reader survey results are in. Here is what we've learned so far. Plus, meet the feline members of our team.
Feb 25
Cherish Marquez
ArtistsColoradoVol. 5 Collectivity + Collaboration
Cherish Marquez is a Denver-based artist who uses videos, animations, still images, and installations, to animate the subtleties of desert life near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Nov 04
Your Weekly 5×5: Lauren’s Picks for Horror and Poetry
We’re back with a staff contribution of the 5×5! This week, SWC’s publisher Lauren Tresp shares her top five picks for horror and poetry.
Oct 29
From the Editor: Vol. 4
From the EditorVol. 4 Winter 2021
Southwest Contemporary Vol. 4 travels across the region to meet artists, brewers, climate-change activists, and DIY-ers to have in-depth conversations about significant and inspiring issues.
Aug 06
10 Southwest Art Exhibitions Worth a Road Trip Before Summer Ends
From Land Art in Nevada to abstraction in Denver, from demons in Dallas to the legacy of Elaine Horwitch in Santa Fe: visit ten art exhibitions across the Southwest before summer ends.
Jul 30
Sara Hubbs
Vol. 3 Inhale ExhaleArizonaArtists
Artist Sara Hubbs creates blown-glass sculptures that examine concepts of value, temporality, and care.
Jun 10
Your Weekly 5×5: Lauren’s Picks
Lauren Tresp takes over the 5x5 this week with her five picks of things she's been reading, listening to, watching, or otherwise inspired by.
Apr 30
From the Editor: Vol. 2 — Flights of Fancy
From the EditorVol. 2 Flights of Fancy
Welcome to Southwest Contemporary Vol. 2, Flights of Fancy. This issue explores the complexities involved in defining—and staying tethered to—what’s “real."
Apr 27
Desert X 2021 and Bombay Beach
Desert X 2021 offers large-scale, photogenic works that, while politically charged, lack a distinct impact.
Feb 24
Spring 2021 Exhibitions in the Southwest
Take a look at Spring 2021 art exhibitions coming to museums throughout the Southwest.
Feb 08
From the Editor: Vol. 1 — Bodies//Boundaries
SWC Vol. 1: Bodies//Boundaries is the first publication of a new journey and an expanded mission: to bring curated, critical arts and culture publishing to the American Southwest, in print and online.
Feb 08
Saskia Jordá
Vol. 1 Bodies//BoundariesArizona
Phoenix artist Saskia Jordá’s practice engages in an iterative mapping and remapping to explore concepts of cultural identity, bodies in space, and sense of place.
Oct 26
Announcing our 2021 Publication Schedule and SWC Memberships
Whether you've valued our content over the last 28 years, or the last 28 days, now is the time we need your help the most.
Jul 21
Announcing the Field Guide 2020
The inaugural Field Guide—a guidebook to arts and culture across northern New Mexico —drops in print and online on July 31! To receive an issue delivered to your door, you can pre-order a copy now from our online store.
Jun 24
The Arts and the Black Lives Matter Movement
“It’s really brought home to me the way in which literature can connect us to each other and foster and express our shared humanity. Our experiences in this country might be specific, but through art we can interrogate universal truths about what it means to be human. This is why it’s so important for our arts, culture and society to be inclusive of everyone.”
May 26
From the Editor: The Future of Southwest Contemporary
After careful consideration, and much initial heartbreak, I have decided that Southwest Contemporary will publish one final print edition this year: our new Field Guide publication. We will suspend print publication of The Magazine for the remainder of 2020, with strong and sincere plans to return to print in 2021.
May 26
ReVisioning History to Imagine the Future: Architecture in Santa Fe
In an effort to bring multiple perspectives into conversation, Friends of Architecture Santa Fe has organized an in-depth series of public discussions termed “ReVisioning History” to take place May through December this year. Each installment of the ReVisioning History series will bring together a group of architects, planners, allied design professionals, and policymakers to make expert presentations, engage in panel discussions, hold Q&A sessions, and structured visioning exercises.
Apr 29
Navigating the Noise: Exhibitions Online
The current state of virtual exhibitions is rather disappointing, but there are a few promising gems out there in the cacophonous landscape of the net. In this essay, Lauren Tresp tries to make some sense of the noise of art online.
Mar 23
Support SWC + The Magazine
Southwest Contemporary will continue to serve our community by sharing information, resources, and connections, and supporting arts businesses, organizations, and artists as best we can during this time. However, we need you, our readers and community members, to help us weather this storm.
Feb 02
Letter: February-March 2020
Welcome to the Artists Issue, featuring 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now, a readership survey, new features, and a new calendar.
Jan 28
Announcing the 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
All year long we share the stories of artists from across our state, but this special issue is our way of focusing on a sample of some of the premier talent continuously emerging from New Mexico. These are artists whose works are shaping the landscape of contemporary art in the Southwest.
Dec 01
Letter: December 2019-January 2020
This issue taps into contemporary craft. It wasn’t intentionally a choice informed by the season, but it feels right to contemplate our own crafts at the end of the year—a season of endings, reflections, and new opportunities. We approached this topic from many different angles, from traditional craft to craft and tech.
Oct 01
Have a Drink with Tom Leech of the Palace Press
Have coffee with Tom Leech, Curator at The Press at the Palace of the Governors.
Oct 04
Letter: October-November 2019
I love print. I love words on a physical page held in my hands. I love the texture of paper and the smell of old books. I love interesting editorial design that creates an experience greater than the sum of its parts. If you’ve ever been to Southwest Contemporary’s offices, you may have seen my collection of independent magazines from around the world, which is always growing (here’s an open invitation to come say hi and take a look!).
Aug 28
Letter: September 2019
This month we embrace our new name and traverse the southwest from Silver City, New Mexico, to Scottsdale, Arizona. In our features, we visit the studio of Santa Fe artist Ted Larsen, whose work we are honored to present as this issue’s cover art. Briana Olson takes us on a day tour of some of Albuquerque’s incredible murals. Rachel Preston Prinz gives us the lowdown on the art, architecture, and natural glories in and around Silver City, New Mexico. Maggie Grimason goes deep with artists Ginger Dunnill and Cannupa Hanska Luger at their Glorieta, New Mexico home, to talk about their individual and collaborative practices spanning art, life, community, and family.
Jul 29
Letter: August 2019
Welcome to the next chapter of The Magazine! In July, the beginning of The Magazine’s 28th year, I launched a new business: Southwest Contemporary. (If you missed this launch, sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page!) Southwest Contemporary is a new art media company that will serve as an umbrella over The Magazine while also carving out room for this company to evolve and grow.
Jul 01
Introducing Southwest Contemporary
The month of July introduces a season of sequels and new beginnings to The Magazine! On the cusp of The Magazine’s 28th year, I am excited to introduce you to […]
Jun 26
Have a drink with Stuart Ashman of the International Folk Art Market
"If there is a goal to sustain yourself as an artist, then innovation is a big part of that. Traditions have to change with the times, because artists are the chroniclers of our times."
Jun 26
Letter: July 2019
I am thrilled to usher The Magazine into its 28th year with this issue: Volume 28, Issue 1. I have some very exciting announcements that will be made in just a couple of weeks about the future of The Magazine and new offerings to look forward to, so please make sure you are signed up on our email list if you are not already!
May 24
Letters: June 2019
For a monthly magazine, it can be difficult to capture a theme throughout an entire issue. So much of our content is deliberately eclectic, covers a span of disciplines, and is a mix between in-depth and topical coverage. I’m delighted, therefore, that our “Landscapes” issue came together rather organically...
May 24
Have a drink with Kenneth Francis of Surroundings Studio
Tasting notes with: Kenneth Francis. Occupation: Landscape architect. Venue: Geronimo bar, Santa Fe. (Next stop: Paloma patio.) Drinking: Hendrix Martini.
May 11
Collectors Collect New Mexico I: Jugnet+Clairet, Christian Mayeur, Anne Poux
For the first panel-discussion Collectors Collect New Mexico I at The Magazine on May 9, 2019, we hosted collectors and gallerists Christian Mayeur and Anne Poux along with artists Anne-Marie […]
Apr 26
Tasting Notes: Elaine Ritchel of Santa Fe Art Tours
Have a drink with Elaine Ritchel of Santa Fe Art Tours.
Apr 26
Letters: May 2019
I can already tell from our overflowing calendar of events that the New Mexico arts season is soon upon us.
Mar 26
Letters: April 2019
Welcome to April. We have a great issue to present this month, but first, I want to introduce and welcome our newest team member, Rebecca Lynch!
Mar 18
Behind the Scenes: Printing the Magazine
Take a tour of the printing press where each issue of The Magazine comes to life! I know we make it look super slick and easy: content + design = printed […]
Jun 01
Studio Visit: James Drake
the micro- and the macrocosmic. Having recently opened the show Drawing, Reading, and Counting at Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans (May 7 – June 18, 2016), the Texas-born, Santa […]
Feb 12
Meet the Team: Lauren Tresp
Name: Lauren Tresp Location: Santa Fe, NM Writing for The since: 2013 1. Where are you from? Oshkosh, Wisconsin. 2. What is your favorite thing about New Mexico? It feels real. […]
Jan 30
Françoise Barnes: 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2019
New Mexico Artists to Know Now
Francoise Barnes’s titles give the viewer a quick point of entry to her abstract, mixed-media paintings on canvas, panel, or paper.
Jan 30
Nicole Cudzilo: 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2019
New Mexico Artists to Know Now
Nicole Cuzilo's photos contemplate the role of fashion and appearance as mechanisms that historically and continually both celebrate and constrain women.
