…Drumroll, please! I am very excited to present our “12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now” of 2020 in this special artists issue. This special program, now in its second year, has grown in its reach and I’m honored that we received over 400 artist submissions from every corner of the state, from artists working in so many styles, media, and techniques. I was beyond impressed this year, and it was more difficult than ever to whittle down the selection to only twelve. We were grateful to have Andrew Connors, director of the Albuquerque Museum, lend his eye this year as our guest juror. Much of this issue is dedicated to profiles on each of the twelve artists (beginning on page 30), you can see more of their work online at southwestcontemporary.com, and you can see selections of their work in person in the group exhibition opening at Southwest Contemporary in Santa Fe on Friday, March 6, 5-8 pm. The show will be on view through April 25, 2020, and is generously sponsored by Maestro Financial Partners and form & concept gallery.
Another important piece of this issue is our 2020 Readership Survey! We love to hear your feedback year-round, but our Reader Survey is incredibly important and useful to us! We use your feedback to directly improve Southwest Contemporary and The Magazine. Gathering some info about you, our readers, is also critical to securing advertisers (which keeps this publication free!). You can find the survey at southwestcontemporary.com/survey, and on page 72 of this issue.
New in this issue is a reformatted Art Calendar (beginning on page 24), which offers a more curated selection of events with more information on each. As always, you can find (many more!) events on our website, and submit your own (completely free!) at southwestcontemporary.com/events. If you want to submit an event for consideration for the print calendar, just submit your event online no later than the first of the month preceding publication (that would be March 1 to be considered for our April-May issue.
Also new in this issue is the debut of a regular column called “One on One” by Albuquerque contributor Robin Babb. In this new fixture, Robin will introduce one local food authority on the ingredient that matters the most to them. In this first edition, Paul Gallegos of Cutbow Coffee Roastology speaks to the many nuances of the beloved coffee bean.
So, settle in with your favorite coffee and enjoy the issue. I hope to see you at the opening of 12 New Mexico Artists to Know Now on March 6!
Thanks for reading,
Lauren Tresp
editor + publisher, Southwest Contemporary + The Magazine
lauren@southwestcontemporary.com
1415 W Alameda St, Santa Fe, NM 87501
