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.
July 21, 2020
Jodie Herrera is an Albuquerque-based artist. We spoke with Jodie about activism in art and Nuevo, her new exhibition with Frank Blazquez.
July 21, 2020
A monument to Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War against “savage” Indians is now the site of a community art project organized by the Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department, in which city residents are invited to “create messages of reconciliation.”
July 13, 2020
Santa Fe Art Tours was founded in 2015 by Elaine Ritchel. Known for a creative, in-depth approach to arts education, Santa Fe Art Tours specializes in themed tours, multi-day experiences, and is currently offering online studio visits. We caught up with Elaine to discover how her business is navigating the lockdown.
July 08, 2020
In lieu of a fair in the flesh, IFAM organized a virtual festival taking place this week with streamed presentations and artist talks, culminating in a virtual gala and auction presentation Friday evening that will help fund the Market, artist education programs, and year-round public programming.
July 07, 2020
Catch up on local arts headlines from April, May, and June! People are on the move at local institutions, grants and scholarships have been awarded, archives collected, and more.
July 01, 2020
516 Arts in Albuquerque, a partner in the Regional Regranting Program of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts through its Fulcrum Fund, pivoted its 2020 grantmaking to provide emergency relief to 66 artists and thirteen artist-driven visual arts spaces experiencing economic instability during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 29, 2020
“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.”
June 24, 2020
Farm & Table is an Albuquerque restaurant with a strong ethos grounded in local food and sustainable practices. Like many in the food and beverage industry, Farm & Table was heavily affected by the COVID-19 restrictions. The week we spoke, the restaurant was fully reopening to the public for the first time since March. We spoke with Cherie Montoya, owner of Farm & Table.
June 22, 2020
In New Mexico, twelve organizations are the recipients of NEA grants totaling $1,007,000. Among them, Wise Fool New Mexico received an Art Works award of $30,000 for circus arts training and performances. SITE Santa Fe received $20,000 for a major retrospective exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Regina Silveira.
June 22, 2020
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 […]
June 16, 2020
Ramona Sakiestewa grew up in the American Southwest where the land and sky informed her artwork. Over 30 years ago her artwork began in tapestry weaving. In 2009, Ramona began focusing on constructed works on paper as a new medium. Using printing, painting, and drawing, the artist layers shapes, colors, and textures to form a dimensional lexicon for the constructions.
June 10, 2020
Keith Grosbeck and Leland Chapin work in marketing at the Poeh Cultural Center in Pojoaque, NM. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Poeh swiftly organized a Facebook group called the Native Artist Marketplace, where Native artists are invited to sell their work. At the time of publication, the group has over 1,500 members. As part of their efforts, the Poeh has offered their team’s knowledge and experience to help artists in their community make the transition to selling their artwork online.
June 02, 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.
June 01, 2020
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.
May 29, 2020
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, 2020
“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 […]
May 26, 2020
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.
May 26, 2020
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 […]
May 26, 2020
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.
May 22, 2020
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 […]
May 22, 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!
May 20, 2020
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
May 19, 2020
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.
April 17, 2020
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."
May 12, 2020
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.
May 06, 2020
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.
April 09, 2020
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.
May 06, 2020
"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
May 06, 2020
"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.
April 29, 2020
