Nazafarin Lotfi: The Distance to the Horizon
A conversation with Arizona artist Nazafarin Lotfi, whose multidisciplinary work explores the experience of bodies out of place.
Feb 08
Feature
Feb 08
Catherine Czacki: Write a Poem, Make a Sculpture, Do the Wash
Catherine Czacki, who is based in Portales, NM, finds radical healing in making her art—objects, sculptures, paintings, talismans, and wall hangings from a variety of different materials— and enjoys the subversive side of indulging in material.
Feb 08
Hong Hong: Before Earth and Sky Were Separate
Artist Hong Hong works in papermaking, an art she defines as improvisatory choreography. Her latest work seems to connect earth and sky.
Feb 08
Holding the Knife by the Blade
Musician Patrick McGuires writes that while the internet is a proven tool for putting distance between human beings, it's also been a lifeline for humanity.
Feb 08
Margaret Neumann: I Just Like the Cherry
Colorado artist Margaret Neumann's paintings are rooted in the human experience as it is translated through time, through the body, and through our many coping mechanisms.
Jul 31
Virtual Until Further Notice
New Mexico arts organizations bring us together in the era of social distancing.
Jul 31
2020 Anniversaries in New Mexico Arts
A number of arts institutions across New Mexico celebrate significant anniversaries this year, including photo-eye, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Santa Fe Workshops, Turner Carroll Gallery, and the Santa Fe Art Institute.
Jul 13
The Annexation of Art, Empathy, and the Future
From thermal surveillance imaging to maps of the dead to stories and visions of survival, the work at two imminent Santa Fe exhibitions invites you to come closer to some of the millions of humans who have lost, fled, or been chased from their homes and countries in the past three decades.
Mar 26
Studio Visit: Nora Wendl
Nora Wendl applies diverse talents to equally diverse examinations of place, of being a woman moving through the world, and the “poetics of inhabiting things.” Her recent cycles of work examine the Farnsworth House in Illinois—an iconic glass and steel International-Style house.
Mar 26
A Heavenly Instrument for the Ages: The St. John’s College Armillary Sphere
The armillary sphere is a modern, artistic, and accurate interpretation of a historic scientific tool, located on the St. John’s College campus in Santa Fe.
Mar 26
A Window into the Mythos of Georgia O’Keeffe
At Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiu, New Mexico, new research about the enigmatic sitting-room window provides unexpected insights into the artist’s life and creative practice during the 1960s.
Mar 26
Letters on the Future of Indigenous Design
Two Indigenous architects take a look at issues in architecture and consider the future of Indigenous design in New Mexico and beyond.
Mar 26
Challenges in Preserving Santa Fe’s Past
Preservationist Rachel Preston Prinz explores shifting ideas about architecture, design, and historic preservation in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Mar 26
Authenticity, Belonging, and Becoming Real in Santa Fe’s Historic Districts
An examination of what authenticity means for historic preservation in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: c marquez
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
“The intention of this work is to honor vulnerability, impermanence, and cycles of life on our planet,” c marquez says of their work, which includes two-dimensional pieces, sculpture, installation, and the results of a daily sketchbook practice.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Rapheal Begay
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Intensely thoughtful, Raphael Begay sees significance in objects and quotidian scenes and is able to begin a conversation with the viewer through his lens. With installations and discussions about his work, he adds a further dimension of storytelling that engages community...
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Joe Ramiro Garcia
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Garcia, an Art Institute of Chicago–educated artist who moved to Santa Fe from his native Houston in 1987, developed a unique transfer procedure: he creates an image or pattern on paper that’s soaked in gum arabic and water, which is then hand pressed onto a painting surface.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: MK
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Currently residing in Albuquerque where they are pursuing an MFA in photography, MK began the recent series The Pain Is Just an Annoyance Now as members of their family began to pass away and they witnessed the grief of their mother. These losses spurred an exploration of the complications of family relationships, as well as obscured histories through the physical remnants of the past that shore up the present—family photo albums.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Cedra Wood
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Looking at Cedra Wood’s paintings feels a little like finding a secret door to enchanted lands. Wood understands a connection between the outer wild terrains and the inward ones. Her art celebrates both realms as essential and beautiful, linked by mythos. The worlds she depicts evoke something of the hero’s journey.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Eric-Paul Riege
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Eric-Paul Riege’s (Diné) elaborate and beautiful fiber works not only connect him with his ancestral and artistic centers, but also envelop viewers in an everyday Navajo worldview, one that the artist believes should be communal.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Andrea Pichaida
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
The shapes of Andrea Pichaida’s sculptural works in clay are at once spare and suggestive, their lines and colors inspired by nature, their content speaking to experience both personal and universal.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Danielle Shelley
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Danielle Shelley, who earned critical acclaim as a painter, has found similar success as a textile wizard. "My artistic concerns didn’t change when I morphed from a painter into a fiber artist,” writes Shelley in her artist statement. “I am still a passionate colorist, in love with shapes and lines. But I also find satisfaction in being part of the movement that has reclaimed stitch work, a long-dismissed women’s medium.”
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Justin Richel
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
Justin Richel infuses his paintings and sculptures with incisive, humorous, and exacting layers of commentary. He studied the technique of icon painting at the Franciscan monastery in Kennebunk, Maine, in 2004. This thoughtful Franciscan attention to color and the creation of signifiers informs his work, but his use of these methods is unique.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: Frank Blazquez
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
“My photos illustrate the blood pumping through Albuquerque,” Frank Blazquez told the Guardian in 2018. The portraits—largely captured along the east-west belt of Central Avenue—capture human faces, yes, but each carries a story in and of itself.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: William T. Carson
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
William T. Carson’s work brings a unique perspective to the adage “The medium is the message.” He works with coal to explore a multitude of significations. Beyond the economic, political, or environmental meaning of the substance, Carson reminds us that coal is prehistoric, born of ancient metamorphosis.
Jan 28
12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now 2020: David Gaussoin
FeatureNew Mexico Artists to Know Now
David Gaussoin, a Santa Fe jewelry artist of Picuris Pueblo, Navajo, and French descent, comes from a long line of creatives, ranging from silversmiths and painters to rug weavers, sculptors, and woodworkers.
Jan 28
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
Studio Visit: Bonnie Lynch
Lynch makes hand-built, smoke-fired vessels, some as large as five feet tall, others small enough to fit in the hand. Her color palette is minimal and plays the whiteness of the clay against the deep graphite blacks achieved by saggar firing, a process that sometimes also deposits hues of blue and brown. Her work is simple to describe but is not necessarily easy to talk about...
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand. You can find all of them on Instagram and at local markets.
Dec 01
Justin Favela: The Original
Southern Nevada–based artist Justin Favela’s work embodies the qualities of Las Vegas by affirming the startling originality of smart near-copies. Last spring, I visited Favela in his temporary studio at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Reliably buoyant, Favela can shed light on seemingly any aspect of the folklore of contemporary Las Vegas...
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico: Monique Carr
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand.
Dec 01
A Year in Review and A Crystal Ball
We asked nine curators, critics, and makers in the state to look back, in hindsight, at the vibrant art scene here as experienced in the past year, and to look forward as through a crystal ball at the year to come. They were asked to answer two questions: "What was your favorite exhibition in 2019: the most compelling, beautiful, or thought-provoking show?", and "What shows are you looking forward to in the next year?"
Dec 01
Technology and the Evolving Craft of Dance
“I want my students to understand that their embodied knowledge and way of consciously moving in space, as dancers, is special. My goal is to give them vocabulary and tools so they can be part of the creative force that invents whatever comes next.”
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico: Dryland Wilds
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand.
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico: Christine Hernandez
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand.
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico: Percy Stith
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand.
Dec 01
Made with Hand & Heart: Craftspeople to Know in New Mexico: Murphy Thiel
Craft is alive and well in New Mexico. The home of Pueblo pottery and colorful Diné tapestry, this part of the world has a heritage of craft and design that continues to inspire artisans to practice old trades or create something entirely new. Often some mixture of the two. These are just a few of the craftspeople in New Mexico who are creating one-of-a-kind goods by hand.
Oct 01
Studio Visit: Erin Mickelson / Broken Cloud Press
Erin Mickelson’s book-based artwork plays with translation, in every sense of the word. In LIMINAL betwixt/between, her series of work displayed in form & concept’s Superscript show in 2018, text is translated to sound, sound to image, and image fed into an algorithm, chopped up, and assembled into new images. Her collaborating artists are Twitter bots and long-dead authors, and her process a visible part of the product. In everything she makes, there’s a degree of absurdity and flux: how many times can you translate something and still call it the same thing?
Oct 01
Impressions From the Past: The Rich History and Modern Processes of Printmaking
The evolution of the art of printmaking is practically a human inheritance of knowledge from which we all benefit. We experience printmaking in our daily lives, from the clothes we wear and the books we read to poster advertisements for performances we attend and the money we spend. Printmaking is a three-thousand-year-old art form that reveals within itself an intimacy probably only found in the throes of a fight: gouging, biting, scraping, pressure, scarred surfaces, trenches dug. Years of battling the grain to carve images into wood leave the artists’ hands bent and curved like tree roots, maybe even burned from caustic processes that can scar the hand in the effort of creating visual landscapes.
Oct 01
Master Printer Valpuri Remling Doesn’t Stand on Ceremony in Life or Lithography
Unlike most other traditional printmaking technologies, the invention of lithography can be traced to a specific person and time. Like most artists before and since, German actor and playwright Johann […]
Oct 01
Still in Print: ABQ Zine Fest 9 and Local Lit Destinations
As ABQ Zine Fest 9 approaches, we take a look at how print media has endured and the spaces that are building culture through the celebration of zines, books, and comics.
Aug 28
All Work and All Play: At Home with Artists Cannupa Hanska Luger and Ginger Dunnill
We took a seat at the table in the center of the warehouse-turned-home (turned-“work, brainstorming, and studio space”) where artists Cannupa Hanska Luger and Ginger Dunnill live in Glorieta, New Mexico. Taped to the kitchen cabinet was a wall-size paper schedule of impending deadlines for numerous projects. Every line was filled out, and notes were made in black marker, even in the margins. “Welcome to my life,” Dunnill laughed as, never skipping a beat, she outlined their individual projects—while the couple’s two children ran in one door and out the other...
Aug 28
Studio Visit: Ted Larsen
The tone of my studio visit with Santa Fe artist Ted Larsen was set early when he declared that he would likely be both circumspect and like a blowtorch when talking about his thoughts on his studio practice, life, and work. Now fifty-five, the trained painter has been showing his art since before he graduated college. By the time he was twenty-two, he had already exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, making big strides early on in a career that has now spanned decades.
