News

Reading List May 2020

May's Reading List, Southwest Contemporary's monthly compilation of worth-while writings from around the art-world internet, includes multiple takes on the question of how art, the role art plays in the world, and the mechanisms of the art world will have changed during and following the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Southwest Contemporary • June 01, 2020

Your Weekly 5×5: Lost Padre’s Record Recs Edition

George Casey, owner of Lost Padre Records in Santa Fe, has curated a list of five records to listen to now. A longtime record collector and DJ, George brings us a truly eclectic mix of bonafide jams. Lost Padre Records re-opened last week and are also offering curb-side pick-up and shipping. All the records listed here are available at Lost Padre. Put a record on, turn it up.

Southwest Contemporary • May 29, 2020

From the EditorNews

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.

Lauren Tresp • May 26, 2020

Uncharted: Russell Baker

“Uncharted” is a new interview series created in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re talking to people in the New Mexico arts world and beyond to see how the community […]

Daisy Geoffrey • May 26, 2020

NewsPreview

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.

Lauren Tresp • May 26, 2020

NM Art from Anywhere: Rania Matar, SHE

Rania Matar, SHE May 15–July 3, 2020 Reception: June 6, 6–8 pm Richard Levy Gallery is pleased to present a selection of nine photographs by Rania Matar from the series […]

Southwest Contemporary • May 26, 2020

Revisiting the Santa Fe Opera

One of the great fixtures of a Santa Fe summer is Santa Fe Opera, who recently announced the cancellation of its 2020 season due to the pandemic. Since we can't go see the stunning sets in person, we're revisiting our SFO behind-the-scenes series, which has profiled the champions who make up the Opera's scene, props, and costume shops, and detail the way they turn dream-like ideas into dream-like realities.

Southwest Contemporary • May 22, 2020

Your Weekly 5×5: Books Rule Edition

The Weekly 5×5 is Southwest Contemporary’s top five picks of things to do for the next five days. At least that’s what it was until our to-dos became homebound during […]

Southwest Contemporary • May 22, 2020

Art Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic May 2020

Southwest Contemporary has compiled a list of resources that may be useful to our community members at this time. This list will be updated as new information and new resources become available. Check out the most recent updates as of May 20!

Southwest Contemporary • May 20, 2020

Uncharted: Sarah Stolar

This week we chat with Sarah Stolar, an interdisciplinary artist and head of the art department at UNM-Taos. She shares how her students are coping, and the importance of supporting young artists whose voices we need most

Daisy Geoffrey • May 19, 2020

Your Weekly 5×5: Create Something Edition

In a letter author George Saunders wrote to his creative writing students at Syracuse University, he discusses the importance of paying attention and recording this time. That this is the time the world needs our eyes and ears, for later it is our records that will tell the stories of the 2020 pandemic. So, with that in mind, we've gathered some ideas to inspire and guide taking notes, processing, and creating. Making the records. Making some art.

Southwest Contemporary • April 17, 2020

Uncharted: Mira Burack

In this week's edition of "Uncharted," artist Mira Burack talks about the opportunity we have to reevaluate our relationships with time and space, with earth and rest as we enter into the third month of the pandemic in the United States: "Each person has to ask themselves, 'What is going to be most nurturing and comforting to me?' Everyone can respond to that in different ways."

Daisy Geoffrey • May 12, 2020

NM Art from Anywhere: Jeff Kellar, New Work

Richard Levy Gallery presents New Work: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture, a solo exhibition of colorful minimal pieces by Jeff Kellar. He creates beautiful surfaces through the application of many layers of acrylic resin and clay pigment onto paper, aluminum panels, and woodblocks. Each layer is methodically sanded and buffed leaving the surface smooth and modulated. Playing with illusion, ambiguity, and space, Kellar uses these ultra-flat surfaces to form dimensional compositions.

Southwest Contemporary • May 06, 2020

Your weekly 5×5: Kids Edition

The Weekly 5x5 is Southwest Contemporary's weekly email newsletter with our top five picks of things to do for the next five days. At least that's what it was until our to-dos became homebound during the COVID-19 pandemic. We're now sharing five things to enjoy from home, and this week we are focused on creative activities for kids in quarantine captivity.

Southwest Contemporary • April 09, 2020

VideosNews

NM Art from Anywhere: Tonee Harbert, Through the Static and Distance

This exhibition is the culmination of Tonee Harbert's first nine months at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program. A photography exhibition that shows the southeast New Mexico landscape with surreal and melancholy beauty, and is relevant during the pandemic, showing an absence of people, while referencing marks of humanity on the landscape.

Southwest Contemporary • May 06, 2020

Uncharted: Rachel Popowcer

"It’s that idea of, if not now, when? Weirdly, this horrible time has forced me to prioritize and get back to what I actually want to do and not worry about what’s going to happen with it." —Rachel Popowcer

Daisy Geoffrey • May 06, 2020

Uncharted: Merry Scully

"Uncharted” is a new interview series created in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, we catch up with Merry Scully, Head of Curatorial Affairs at the New Mexico Museum of Art about working from home, translating the work of the museum to the web, and her hopeful outlook.

Daisy Geoffrey • April 29, 2020

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.

Lauren Tresp • April 29, 2020

Uncharted: Pauline Kanako Kamiyama

"Uncharted" is a new interview series created in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. First up, we're talking to Pauline Kamiyama, Director of the Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department, to see how the Department is navigating this unprecedented health crisis and how it is working to serve the rest of the community.

Daisy Geoffrey • April 21, 2020

NewsFrom the Editor

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.

Lauren Tresp • March 23, 2020

VideosNews

NM Art From Anywhere: A Quiet But Not Empty Place at Trapdoor Projects

Jessica Zeglin: A Quiet But Not Empty Place March 6—March 28, 2020 The city of Albuquerque grows interlaced with the high desert grasslands it inhabits. These grasslands are not vacant […]

Southwest Contemporary • April 03, 2020

Art Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic

We know many artists, arts professionals, arts and culture organizations are in difficult situations now and facing uncertain futures in the coming months. Southwest Contemporary has compiled a list of resources that may be useful to our community members at this time. This list will be updated as new information and new resources become available.

Southwest Contemporary • March 23, 2020

Call for Videos: NM Exhibition Walk-Throughs

Call for videos! We can't visit your exhibitions, so we want to see them on video!

Editor • March 18, 2020

Arts-Related COVID-19 Closures and Postponements in New Mexico

Amidst this unprecedented time of change across the globe, we're tracking arts-related closures and postponements locally and nationally. In this post you'll also find resources for artists. For the most updated information, please contact each venue individually. Stay tuned for more from us on ways to enjoy the beauty of art—its release, its expression, its embodiment of joy—from wherever you may be.

Editor • March 16, 2020

NM Art From Anywhere: Visual Limits at 5. Gallery

As an invited guest of the family, Jan Butchofsky was asked to witness the Coming of Age Ceremony of two maidens during two separate celebrations and was honored to bear witness to these sacred and very private preparations and ceremonies.

Southwest Contemporary • March 27, 2020