EVOKATION | art + culture + inspiration | May 2023

EVOKATION

A Note from EVOKE

—Jane Austen

What a viewer sees by an artist is nearly always ‘what they do’—exclusively. Evoke will host an exhibition that shares much more this summer. Art in the Making is an exhibition featuring the work and words of sixty artisans, conceptualists, painters, photographers, sculptors and artists of a variety of media. This exhibition came as a result of a recently released book, Art in the Making: Essays by Artists About What They Do, which delves into the creative process through the words of the artists’ themselves. Surprisingly, this is a rare perspective. Artists’ work is more frequently described and critiqued by curators, arts writers and other art professionals such as ourselves. These artists put forth the inspiration, process and thoughts involved in making what they make with essays and excerpts paralleling their artwork throughout the exhibition. This is a generous gift they share with us in this extraordinary exhibition that will be on display for two months. In addition to the essays, there will be supporting events taking place throughout the duration of the show. Contact us to receive updates on all related lectures, demonstrations and performances taking place throughout the summer.

CONTRIBUTORS

Michael Abatemarco is a freelance writer and amateur photographer with a passion for New Mexico’s culture and history. He lives in Santa Fe.

Christopher W. Benson is a painter and arts writer who has worked and exhibited in Santa Fe since the late 1980s. As owner/director of The Fisher Press, he has also designed and published numerous books about art.

Mara Christian Harris is a marketing and communications professional who recently retired from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. She has been associated with Evoke since its inception.

Richard Lehnert is a poet, music critic, and freelance copyeditor who for 40 years has edited arts copy for many New Mexico publications. After 30 years in Santa Fe, he now lives in Ashland, Oregon.

OUR NEXT ISSUE

In September Evokation presents a robust series of interviews and exhibitions focusing on deep-rooted subjects that touch all of us including environmental matters to the human condition. Please watch for this compelling issue to learn more about the significant impact artist voices have on highly relevant subjects.

It’s not what we say or think, but what we do that defines us.

Kathrine Erickson + Elan Varshay Owners and Publishers

CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2O23

All events take place at EVOKE Contemporary, 550 S. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501. Visit evokecontemporary.com to sign up for special previews and for further information.

May 26 SlowMagic | Soey Milk presents new paintings in this highly anticipated figurative exhibition.

On display through June 24, 2023.

Jun 30 ArtintheMaking | Exhibition, Santa Fe book launch, and lecture series by the contributing essayists from the book co-published by The Fisher Press and The John Stevens Shop.

On display through August 19, 2023.

Aug 25 LynnBoggess | A solo exhibition of the artist’s tribute to our majestic wooded landscapes.

On display through September 23, 2023.

Aug 25 LordsburgProject | Esha Chiocchio uses her photography to document grassland restoration in Southwestern New Mexico.

On display through September 23, 2023.

Sep 29 LostProphets | Thomas Vigil explores the idea that every individual, well-recognized or not, has a powerful voice within them in this solo exhibition.

On display through October 21, 2023.

Oct 27 Autumn Glow | Group exhibition savoring the turning leaves, cooling temperatures and longer nights.

On display through November 18, 2023.

Nov 24 Retablos | Patrick McGrath Muniz solo exhibition using traditional Spanish retablos as the platform for his contemporary reflection on social and environmental injustice and indifference.

On display through January 20, 2024.

Nov 24 Aron Wiesenfeld | Solo exhibition of Aron’s narrative paintings and etchings illustrating the freedom and loneliness of youth.

On display through January 20, 2024.

Slow Magic: Soey Milk

Soey Milk’s figures are at once enticing and alluring, with a beauty that enchants like that of fairies, or sirens of the sea. These figures can be mysterious, with a challenge in their stare that says, “Dare or don’t dare.” They can be innocent or coy, tamely or ferally feline, purring one moment and biting the next.

Even if at other times her sensual figures turn from the viewer to the intimacy of their private thoughts, eyes closed, Milk’s drawings and paintings often convey a sense of the dynamics of human interrelationships. Though not always or even often, this dynamic can be sexually charged, and suggest relationships of power and control, surrender and consent.

Opposite: Soey Milk in her studio with her painting Slow Magic, oil and acrylic on canvas, 60” x 48”. Photo by Dorian Qi.

Above: Soey Milk, Slow Magic, Study, graphite and watercolor on Bristol, 29” x 23”

Most viewers take for granted that paintings of women, particularly young women depicted nude or seminude, in certain poses and with certain manners of expression, have come from the brushes of men. The traditional image is that of a male artist painting a nude female subject, as PierreAuguste Renoir did of Andrée Heuschling in more than a hundred works. But in Milk’s paintings the dynamics of the relationship between artist and subject continue beyond the traditional, and it’s also one of power and control.

Or is it one of love and sharing?

Soey Milk, Ho Rang, graphite on paper, 17” x 14”.

Soey Milk, Iri Nari (wolf lily in Korean), oil on canvas, 36” x 24”.

Milk, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1989 and raised in the United States, is a meticulous draftsperson who works from live models, all of them her friends. Her latest exhibition at Evoke Contemporary, Slow Magic, derives its title from a showpiece of the exhibition.

A popular artist and influencer with a whopping 288,000 followers on Instagram, and whose work speaks to the generations raised on anime, Milk creates paintings that seem to boast of fantasy while remaining classical in composition and recalling an era of so-called Orientalism. They’re also rooted in what’s real—even if it’s only the artist’s studio, where colored textiles are lovingly draped for the model to sit, and a wallpaper-like aura of abstract gestural brushstrokes envelops her, the background layered in a silhouetted pattern of florals.

Slow Magic, which is among Milk’s most recent paintings, conveys all of this. But the subject, a young woman in pink fetish lingerie, is posed in an open,

inviting stance that’s still somehow defiant, our expectations of submission and control upended when we realize that she embodies both. Colored tendrils of ribbon or rope lie beneath her seat. If these ropes once held her back, she is now unfettered, holding in her right hand a rope like that used in shibari, or Japanese rope bondage. But here it dangles freely, knotted only to itself.

Shibari ropes are a persistent motif in Milk’s oeuvre, stretching back to her days as a student at the Pasadena Art Center, from which she graduated in 2014. “They’re frequently portrayed in my work, partially because I love the fact that I can have fun with them,” says Milk, who still lives in California. “As an artist, they’re a challenging enough thing to paint when they’re not even tangled. Symbolically, I’ve been using them in my work as analogies to relationships and life.”

Milk’s larger works in oil—e.g., Slow Magic, Sonagi Sowing, and Phantom Skin—begin life as drawings or studies. Each is then rendered with careful attention to detail, even in the abstraction. Milk works steadily, taking her time, weaving her magic to convey a fluid interplay of the abstract with the representational, background with foreground.

Beauty, in the form of Milk’s subjects, including her self-portraits, often verges on innocence, perhaps because her love for those subjects is pure and uncorrupted. But Milk faced controversy when, at the age of 32, she posted a nude self-portrait that wrung cries from her fanbase. They protested that she was posting child porn simply because she had a youthful face and a petite frame.

“I was really humbled by all of these women, or people who identify as women, who are often called childlike or cherublike or are flatchested, come out and say, ‘How dare you say that to an artist who can paint her own body?’ ” she says.

Soey Milk, Phantom Skin, found silk embroidery, polyethylene chips, resin and oil on panel, 48” x 36”.

When viewing Slow Magic, it’s best to check your assumptions at the door. Look closely. Look slowly. The lure of innocence fades and the subject’s experience remains. It was always there.

“Nobody has an easy life,” she says, stating that relationships rarely flow easily and loosely, but, like ribbons and rope, “have knots and tangles in them. Nobody has a simple life. I wanted to convey that.”

Implicit in the tender ways Milk paints and draws her circle of friends is her outpouring of empathy, compassion, and love.

“Because I know these subjects, and I’m also starting with a very traditional white piece of paper, it’s a first step in falling in love with that person. In this case, I think I’m kind of cheating, because I’m already in love with them.”

—Michael Abatemarco

Soey Milk, Mei in April, oil on Claybord, 12” x 12”.

Art in the Making J

une through August, 2023, Evoke Contemporary will host a group exhibition for a selection of the work and writings of the artist-essayists who contributed to the new book Art in the Making: Essays by Artists about What They Do.

Katie Pasquini Masopust, Pentatoni-Five Notes, quilt, 46” x 43”.

The aim of the exhibition

This summer we are pleased to showcase a wide range of the works of the contributing artist-essayists who have made this book a rich resource of practical first-person narratives. Evoke Contemporary, together with us, the book’s publishers,

are assembling and curating a diverse selection of artwork throughout the gallery, showcasing many examples of the works discussed in the book. Each work will be accompanied by wall text excerpted from its creator’s essay.

The origins of the book

The book grew out of the long artisanal tradition within the family of its copublishers, the artist brothers Christopher and Nicholas Benson. Their grandfather, John Howard Benson, purchased the John Stevens Stone Carving and Lettering Shop in 1927. The shop was founded in 1705 in Newport, Rhode Island and was owned by the same family for 220 years; it produced some of Colonial America’s finest gravestones and other stonework. Early in the 20th century, the new partners of the shop published numerous books and pamphlets on the practices and philosophies of art and craft. Theirs was a local, American tributary of the Arts and Crafts movement, which had been launched in Britain in the 19th century by John Ruskin and William Morris.

Each of the shop’s owners—Benson, Arthur Graham Carey, and Adé Bethune—contributed to these publications. Others whose writing appeared in the series included the English sculptor, typographer, and letterer Eric Gill, as well as Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, the Sri Lankan art historian and curator of Asian arts at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

This collection of essays continues that tradition. It has been assembled, edited, and designed by Christopher Benson—a painter, arts writer, book designer, and publisher living in Santa Fe—and co-published by his company, The Fisher Press, and The John Stevens Shop. Christopher’s brother Nick, a renowned letter carver and a 2010 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, is the current proprietor of the Stevens Shop, and both are grandsons of John Howard Benson.

“Why does a modern young man practice the exacting, antique art of carving rocks? At thirty-six, Benson does it for love, money, and the ‘the old pleasure center—the sexual rush’ that comes with creating or contemplating something of rare beauty. He is quite serious about the Pleasure Center Principle, citing neurologists who say that both aesthetic excitement and sensual feeling occur in the same part of the human brain. He also quotes Veronese: ‘Given a large canvas, I enriched it as I saw fit.’”

Right: John E. Benson, aged twenty-five, hand painting the layout for the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Arlington, VA —1965

Excerpt from interview with Johh E. Benson by Quest77 Magazine four decades ago.

Why make a book about what artists do?

Academic and critical discourses about artworks and art movements can be quite informative, but can also seem remote and lofty to the layperson, written in language that feels distant from our daily lives. Also, most such writings are created by people who do not themselves make art. They may be critics, historians, or trend-conscious hangers-on to the fashionable carnival of the art market—but they are seldom artists.

Our aim in assembling this collection of essays was to offer the reader, and the viewing public, an entirely different perspective: one not so dependent on the interpretations of outside commentators, but that instead would present, direct and unfiltered, the ideas, methodologies, and creative drives of the artists themselves.

Practicing craft that exists in so many forms, all of which are connected by a common methodoligical thread, and all under threat of extinction form technological change and globalization, is a weight that I do not carry lightly. I feel driven to produce finely crafted work in an aesthetic sense, but also to preserve the skills and traditions of such a noble craft, and to be able to pass them on to the next generation of young blacksmiths.

The deeper I go into the process (of creating), the more I am listening and the less I am speaking. It tells me what it needs. This “It” is what informs and guides the craft. This happens through familiarity with my materials— but also, importantly, through unfamiliarity: letting go of preconsceptions, my own fickle likes or dislikes, and any identification with what I’ve done in the past, as I remain open to what is unfolding.

—Carola Clift

Carola Clift, Rocks Undone, watercolor on board.

—Caleb Kullman

Caleb Kullman, Railroad Rail bench sandstone, steel and reclaimed historic railroad rails, 60”x 29.5”x 24”

Collage and Abstract Expressionistic painting are inventions of the twentieth century that have formed my aesthetic and my structural process. Creating and controlling accident, combining historical idioms into heterogeneous imagery and expression are my driving visual concerns. For me painting is a conflict between analysis and intuition, control and surrender, desire and love.

—David Frazer

—I woke up to “It Paints”— that out-of-body experience where some inexplicable force takes over the production. Fellini described it this way: “When I direct, a mysterious invader takes over and directs the whole film for me.” Philip Guston put it like this: “You go into the studio and everybody is there — your friends , the art writers and the museum people and you’re just there painting. And one by one they leave until you’re really alone. Then Ideally, you leave.” It paints.

—Patrick McFarlin

Patrick McFarlin, Botanical Boat #2, mixed media on panel, 20” x 16”.

David Frazer, Last Embers of Daylight, oil on canvas, 36” x 30”.

After all these years, every new piece I make feels like a plunge off a cliff where knowledge, certainty and security are gone. Although I am not religious, I have come to understand that creativity in the arts is a pure act of faith. As I leave the realm of the unknown to f ollow the piece where it wants to take me there is literally nothing to hang my hat on. It is surprising to discover just how much faith art-making requires. It’s a number that encompasses both zero and infinity.

—Judith Schaechter

Judith Schaechter, Odalisque, stained glass lightbox, 22” x 30” x 4”. Courtesy: Claire Oliver Gallery.

My compositions and palettes evolve during my experiments in the studio, conflating and referencing many historical movements and tendencies from Modernism to Abstract Expressionism, Color Field to Minimalism and beyond—creating my own language out of many forms of abstraction. I try to open up visual possibility, painting expansively, regardless of the size of the visual field, laying down broadly described areas of color, painterly gesture, defined contour, combinations of texture, scratch and scribble, and geometrically defined hard edges. My paintings layer and illustrate a visual history of the medium’s evolution while simultaneously concealing it, transforming the image into something altogether new.

Much of my creative process begins with a sudden movement or recognition. I’ll be walking down a sidewalk whe some tiny detail of form, a subtle movement, or an abstract sensation grabs my attention with an unmistakable poke to my gut. I’m compelled to stop, look, and capture it, ideally before my mind gets busy interpreting or labeling—as if I’d encountered a bubbling spring and made a connection between the everyday world and a hidden aquifer deep beneath.

—Will Clift

Phillis Ideal, Blue Icon, acrylic, spray paint, collage on panel, 14” x 11”.

—Phillis Ideal

Will Clift, Curving Over in Four Parts, Sapele wood, 27.5” x 55” x 2”. Courtesy: Gerald Peters Gallery.

Zöe Zimmerman, Pandemic # 122, archival pigment print, 25” x 21”.

William Benson, Weehawk Planarian, stainless steel and titanium, 1” x 10” (open).

We also hoped to showcase as wide a diversity of types of art as possible. Another characteristic of the art criticism of our time has been the tendency of critics to elevate one form, genre, or medium over another as “the latest” or currently “the most important.” We passionately believe that there is no such thing as a right or best or most important way to make art. There are only greater or lesser examples of any given kind.

It has been accepted for some time that the “fine” arts are no longer limited to painting and sculpture, as they were for so long. But living as we do in an age in which handmade things are becoming vanishingly rare, we can also reasonably add any practice done by hand with care and at a level of mastery. In fact, a great many ancient artifacts now found in museums and regarded as works of high art were, when created, the products of a fully mostly utilitarian sort of craft.

David Frazer, Walking in Solace, Composition I, linocut, 45” x 66.5”.

Howard Newman, Scavenger, bronze, 22” x 8” x 16”.

Patricia Lagarde, Ars Combinatoria, polyptych of 25 individual pieces ChromaLuxe printing on aluminum, 4” x 5” each.

What is considered art today therefore includes a far wider range of thoughtfully made things, from ceramics and furniture to musical instruments, handmade books, clothing—even cooking. It includes the disciplines of music, dance, and theater, of poetry and prose, and the many technological methods a contemporary maker might bend to a more handcrafted ethos. The camera, computer, LED screen, and digital printer can all be the tools of artists, as much as the pen, brush, and chisel, the violin or the saucepan. In short, it is no longer the tool that qualifies any given practice as an art, but the skill and understanding of the person who wields it. That kind of direct, practical understanding is the sole focus of these essays.

We feel that one of the most pleasant surprises about the texts presented in Art in the Making: Essays by Artists about What They Do is how down-to-earth and relatable the drives and motives of artists can be. Far from dwelling in remote ivory towers of abstruse philosophy and theory, artists are, for the most part, much like anyone else: they have to earn a living; they have spouses and children, houses to clean, lawns to mow. But they’ve chosen a path in life that takes a rather unconventional approach to looking at, talking about, and reflecting on the qualities and characters of the wide range of experiences shared by all humans. There is no reason to be intimidated by what they do.

Brian Rego, Heathwood Hall, oil on linen, 14” x 18”.

The exhibition at Evoke presents a selection of 60 of the artist-essayists’ work. Paintings, sculpture, ceramics, furniture, photography, conceptual art will be on view until August 19, 2023. In addition to the essays and artwork, there will be supporting events taking place throughout the duration of the show. Contact the gallery to receive updates on all related lectures, demonstrations and performances taking place throughout the summer.

Burning Books, Twice Through the Maze-Street Level, archival pigment print, 16” x 52”.

Paula Wilson , Eye Spots, two color lithograph with chine-collé , 27.75” x 22”. Courtesy: Tamarind Institute.

Gage Opdenbrouw, Redwood Tangle, oil on canvas, 30” x 30”.

There’s no clear benfit to spending your life as an artist. It’s a ridiculous process to participate in: a real roller coaster ride. But I think if you approach it in a scientific spirit—where there are things to discover, and that conversation with the unknown is a thing you just want to involve yourself in—that becomes addictive. You’re no longer just making an image that’s recognizably yours like some fashion line; you’re after making something that’s different today from what it was ten years ago. An evolution of your own spirit takes place in the work. I always think that while you can have an idea that you want to seek as a painter—the idea isn’t where you want to end up; you want to FIND something.

—Michael Scott

Michael Scott, Fire Orb, oil on canvas, 80” x 57”.

John Beerman, Burnt Cove Summer, Rowboat and Dock #1, oil on linen, 16” x 24”.

I see myself as an excavator. The substance and final imagery in my work can be somewhat schizophrenic, varying as it does from a kind of psychological landscape to portraiture, albeit of the darker kind, but the process of my work is always the same,. I find myself discovering the painting through process and through allowing any elements of chance, accident and circumstance to dictate the revealing of the imagery therein. It is often only in restrospect that I understand, or see, the personal emotional relevance of any particular painting.

So, the effort, the struggle, the challenge—that is the art. Painting is my craft.

As my most favorite thing to do, the process of painting seeps into every part of my life and it is what makes me a whole person. One of my favorite people in the world was my aunt, Sister Eleanor McNally. She and I talked about the concept of a ‘calling’ many times. Although I am not a religious person, being an artist is my calling; she and I both agreed upon that. So why do I do it? Because it’s what I am.

Painting gives me the freedom to explore my own mind and forget about the world’s crushing problems. And when—after I am done—I realize that a particular painting has not turned out well, the trashcan is at my feet. It turns out that watercolor paper tears in half very easily, with a satisfying sound. And so, I begin again . . .

Sue McNally, Fuzzy Western Tree, oil on canvas, 36” x 32”.

—Sue McNally

Sarah Shaw, Diableries VIII, oil on wood, 11” x 11”.

—Sarah Shaw

John Seed,Moonlight, watercolor, 6.25” x 9.5”.

—John Seed

Maurice Burns, East Village Collage, modified found art assemblage collage, 90” x 62”.

Courtesy: Gerald Peters Gallery.

Luis Palacios Kaim, China 1,400,000,000, Chinese paper, 15.5” x 10.6” x 4”.

I have always had a painterly approach, with brush and knife marks clearly evident in my surfaces. The slick stylizations of much of the work proliferating today across the internet and at the art fairs and galleries does not interest me much. We’re so neurotic about artistic novelty now that much of the contemporary art of the past few decades feels quite superficial to me. Somewhere along the line, painting especially became more of a product line than the sort of probing visual poetry that first called me to this path.

There’s nothing wrong with modernity. I want to be modern too. And, if we’re honest, we don’t have a choice, do we? We live in the modern world and anything we do here will inevitably reflect it, even when we try to hide from it by re-inventing the past. But I often think how Edouard Manet ( a leading innovator of early Modernism) was so startlingly contemporary in his own time while yet tipping his hat to the masters who had preceded him. That was part of what made his work so rich and complex. For me too, new works that can’t comfortably retain some of the hoary residue of painting’s past offer a pretty thin soup; I just find myself wanting more to eat.

—Christopher Benson

Christopher Benson, Knuckle Sandwich, oil on linen, 48” x 36”.

Krista Elrick, The Conflict of new economies on the Ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilius Principallis) and the trees that support them, archival pigment

print, 14” x 22”.

Collage Insets: John James Audubon, Ivory billed Woodpecker. (Havell Plate No. 66). Watercolor, pastel, black ink, graphite, and gouache. Source: Collection of the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, New York.

Arduina Caponigro, Red Dress Jump, White Sands, NM, archival pigment print.

Robert Benjamin, Walker at Pawnee Grassland, color C-print, 14” x 14”.

John Paul Caponigro, Global Warning I,archival pigment print.

Jack Craft, Being, from the single work Being and Circumstance—two cubic feet of iron, a 15” diameter, 450lb cubic foot of cast iron

The World Comes to Santa Fe

INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET

Wednesday–Sunday, July 5–9, 2023

Since its inception in 2004 on Museum Hill, the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) has brought the world to Santa Fe with a dazzling array of artists and artwork from more than 100 countries and has become the largest market of its kind in the United States. This year, the Market moves to the Santa Fe Railyard Park for easier access, more room, and enhanced amenities for visitors. There will be 168 artists from 52 countries in 2023.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the Market is the opportunity to meet and talk directly with the artists. They have been through

a lengthy process of applying to the market, making their goods, and traveling, often long distances, to Santa Fe to the eager audiences the market provides. “Market artists can make maybe 70 percent of their yearly income at this market in one weekend,” says Adrienne Murray, director of marketing and communications for IFAM. “People take that money back to their communities, and they build schools or put in irrigation lines for their crops. It ends up having this ripple effect.” In addition, many booths represent collectives of dozens of artists, increasing the impact of the Market across communities.

Be sure to be at the free Community Celebration on the Santa Fe Railyard Plaza, where artists will attend a welcoming procession often in traditional regalia, followed by dancing to world music.

PHOTO: GABRIELLA MARKS.

With a $1,000 donation, you can attend the Opening Night celebration on Thursday, July 6. The Folk Art Market does charge admission for all events at the Railyard, and premium Early Bird tickets for 9 to 11 AM on Friday are worth the additional cost if you’re a collector or want a less-crowded atmosphere. Other than the Japan Stone Circle this year, artists are not organized by country or medium, but instead by neighborhoods that focus on specific themes. Expect to explore a swirling bazaar of color, community, and artwork. Head straight for the Best of the Best booth (consult the map when you enter the grounds) to get an overview of the market in one concentrated area. You can buy there or go meet the artists of your favorite pieces in their booths. There is an entertainment stage with world music, food booths representing many culinary traditions, and art activities and demonstrations.

For the second year, the Saturday Night Market (6–9 PM, July 8) is a can’t-miss event—shopping, live performances, a Saturday Night Concert Performance by Delgrés, food trucks, and a festive atmosphere. Sunday is Community Day, with activities geared to families; also on Sunday, some artists may discount their work after 2 PM.

To get the most out of your visit to the Market, pick up a copy of the Santa Fe New Mexican’s supplement, which publishes on Sunday, July 2. Copies are available at the IFAM office (620 Cerrillos Rd.) or at the Market.

For complete details and to purchase admission tickets, visit folkartmarket.org.

Wednesday, July 5 7 PM Community Celebration, Santa Fe Plaza, free Thursday, July 6 6PM–9 PM Opening Night Party, Railyard Park by invitation only (Contact Carrie Marsh at 505-992-7602 for more details)

Friday, July 7 9 AM–11 AM IFAM Early Bird Market, Railyard Park, admission required 11 AM–6 PM IFAM Market, Railyard Park, admission required

Saturday, July 8 11 AM–6 PM IFAM Market, Railyard Park, admission required

6PM–9 PM IFAM Saturday Night Market, Railyard Park, admission required

Sunday, July 9 11 AM–6 PM IFAM Market and Community Day, Railyard Park, admission required

PHOTO: GABRIELLA MARKS.

PHOTO: GABRIELLA MARKS.

CURATORS WE LOVE

National Museum of the American Indian, where she met or was mentored by a number of Native American museum professionals, scholars, artists, and others in the field. She returned to the Southwest to work for several institutions and nonprofit organizations, including the Heard Museum, that were devoted to Native American art and causes.

Andrea Hanley

NATIVESCAPE

As Chief Curator at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Andrea R. Hanley (Navajo) works to connect the history of the museum with what’s important to its community, to Native artists, and to contemporary Indigenous art and narratives.

Growing up in Window Rock, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, Hanley knew how important the arts and culture were to her family and her people. Her parents have always been connected civically and artistically—her father, Benjamin Hanley, was a prominent politician and lawyer, and her mother, Joy Hanley was president of Dineh College and executive director of a Native American nonprofit. Growing up, her family was always surrounded by scholars and artists (many of them relatives), as well as collectors, musicians, and others.

Hanley has devoted her 30-plus years of working in the arts to contemporary Indigenous art, community engagement, and social practice— she defines that last term as a “medium that showcases artists using community as their clay.” She began her career at the Smithsonian’s

But, she says, “I always wanted to move to Santa Fe.” She took a job at the Institute of American Indian Art as the public program manager of their Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which gave her an extensive overview of the cultural scene and audiences in Santa Fe. There, she curated significant exhibitions including Akunnittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait: Pitseolak Ashoona | Napachie Pootoogook | Annie Pootoogook. The exhibition followed a sequential study, arranging the exhibition by three generations of Indigenous women: grandmother, mother, and daughter. “As a Navajo woman, I am drawn to this very strong family voice within a tribal context, which started in 1904 and ended in 2016. Coming from a matriarchal tribe myself, I feel this exhibition accurately represents contemporary Indigenous feminist discourse at its finest.” The exhibition traveled to several museums in the United States, including the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.

“Becoming Curator at the Wheelwright has been an exciting continuation of the work I love best—creating community and connectedness between this long-standing institution and contemporary Native art and culture,” Hanley says. Founded in 1937 by Mary Cabot Wheelwright, in collaboration with Navajo singer and medicine man Hastiin Klah, the museum first functioned as a private repository for recordings of Navajo cultural practices, sand paintings, and tapestries. Later, renamed the Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, it exposed the public to the beauty and dignity of the Navajo religion. In 1977 it was given its present name, the Wheelwright

Museum of the American Indian—a nod to expanding Indigenous stories beyond Navajo ceremonial practices.

The Wheelwright’s growing, world-renowned collection now comprises more than 12,000 objects documenting Southwest tribal art and culture from 1850 to the present. The Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry is a permanent exhibit of the history and practice of Native silversmithing in the Southwest; other galleries present changing exhibitions of traditional and contemporary Navajo and other Native American arts. Eliza Naranjo Morse’s (Santa Clara Pueblo) charming mural All Together. Making our Way. Every day. follows the staircase from the ground level to the lower level, which also features the Case Trading Post—a reconstruction of a historic trading post on the Navajo Nation complete with squeaky wooden floors and a world-class selection of Native art and jewelry for sale. The Wheelwright also contains nearly 500 linear feet of important archives, including the papers of many noted artists and scholars.

“The museum has a long history of showcasing contemporary Native art by artists such as Pablita Velarde (Santa Clara Pueblo) T. C. Cannon (Kiowa Caddo), Fritz Scholder (Luiseño), and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation),” says Hanley. “In my curatorial practice, it’s always trying to do something that is personally important or relevant to Native American people. Being a Navajo, I want audiences to understand that reality. The programs and exhibitions I curate all support and reflect both contemporary issues and core tribal values.”

The current exhibition California Stars: Huivanius Pütsiv explores the impact of multiple generations of first Californian artists. Loosely translated from the language of the Chemehuevi people of the Great Basin of southern California and Arizona, huivanius pütsiv means “stars with us/ around us.” The exhibition seeks to show the connections that these artists have among the Wheelwright Museum, New Mexico, Santa Fe, and other state institutions, and the roles these places and institutions have played in elevating contemporary Native American art and narrative.

In addition to her curatorial work, Hanley hosts Nativescape, a monthly radio show on KSFR FM 101.1 that connects Santa Fe audiences with Native American creatives from throughout the country. She serves on a number of boards,

including the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, Santa Fe Indian Market, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Roswell Artist in Residence Foundation, and the mobile gallery Axle Contemporary, among others.

“At the Wheelwright, I have appreciated the opportunity to be thoughtful, and the flexibility to be really creative in how we present ideas and really dig deep. I love being able to connect with visitors and audiences who aren’t familiar with Native American art about how amazing it is, how important it is, how relevant it is to issues of policy, self-determination, and the land—issues everyone can relate to.”

California Stars: Huivanius Pütsiv is on display through January 14, 2024.

The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian 704 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe wheelwright.org

Harry Fonseca, Coyote. Photo: The Wheelright Museum of the American Indian.

—Mara Christian Harris

HOW TO SANTA FE

Now You’re Cooking

With all the myriad restaurant choices in Santa Fe, from James Beard–nominated food trucks to white-tablecloth fine dining, why would you ever break out a saucepan? And yet, learning how to prepare the many wonderful foods that make up the culinary scene here is an excellent way to keep alive your memories of great dinings out. Take a cooking class, and dive deep into the food and stories that add so much to the culture of Santa Fe and New Mexico.

Santa Fe School of Cooking specializes in the foods and techniques of Southwest cooking in both demonstration and hands-on classes. Traditional New Mexican foods, contemporary Southwest cuisine, Native American cooking, making tamales or salsas, and many other classes are available in the School’s downtown location. Online classes too! The School’s store has all the spices and many of the tools you’ll need to replicate what you’ve learned at home.

Santa Fe School of Cooking

125 N. Guadalupe Street

santafeschoolofcooking.com

knowledge about kitchen equipment in hands-on classes at Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe and Cooking School in De Vargas Center. With humor and expertise, Chef Johnny Vee leads you through classes in salsas, international foods, or knife skills. Pick up that skillet, espresso machine, or cannoli mold from the vast selection of cookware, electronics, gadgets, tools, and tableware for sale in the shop just in front of the school kitchen.

Las Cosas Kitchen Shoppe and Cooking School

181 Paseo de Peralta (in the De Vargas Center) lascosascooking.com

Some limitations apply, and you must be at least 21 years of age to participate.

santafe.org—for complete information, search on “margarita trail”

Santa Fe Margarita Trail

Download the Santa Fe Margarita Trail Passport app from your app store and start tasting the best margaritas in nearly 40 venues in and around Santa Fe. The free version of the app provides an interactive map, but the $2.99 version also allows you to collect stamps to earn prizes, and get a $1 discount on each signature margarita at participating locations. You can also purchase a paper Margarita Trail Passport from Tourism Santa Fe visitor locations.

Santa Fe Bandstand

Put on your dance-all-night shoes and mosey on down to the Santa Fe Plaza most weekday evenings, mid-June through mid-August, to listen to an array of local, regional, and national bands playing music ranging from country, blues, and jazz through world, folk, mariachi, and rock’n’roll. This free music festival brings out the community to picnic in the grass, dance, and meet friends.

Santa Fe Summer Bandstand Music Festival

lensic360.org for schedule

PHOTO: SANTAFE.ORG.

PHOTO: SANTA FE COOKING SCHOOL

Road Trip

Get out into the country that inspired Georgia O’Keeffe with a road trip to Abiquiú and Ghost Ranch.

In late August, listen to music under the stars at Blossoms & Bones, the Ghost Ranch Music Festival—two days of music, camping, hiking, yoga, and great food and libations from New Mexico vendors in the spectacular landscape that inspired Georgia O’Keeffe.

Forty-five miles northwest of Santa Fe is the village of Abiquiú, once the northernmost outpost of the Spanish empire in New Mexico. Arguably its most famous resident was Georgia O’Keeffe, whose home and studio you can tour to see the modern way in which she lived. Visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Welcome Center, on the grounds of the Abiquiú Inn, to check in for your reservation for a guided tour of O’Keeffe’s house, see an exhibition about her world travels, and visit the well-curated gift shop. Stop for a bite at the Inn and enjoy the lovely patio shaded by ancient cottonwood trees, or stay a while and use the Inn as a base of operations to explore the countryside.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Welcome Center

21120 U.S. Highway 84, Abiquiú okeeffemuseum.org

Abiquiú Inn

U.S. Highway 84, Abiquiú abiquiuinn.com

Fifteen miles north of Abiquiú lies Ghost Ranch, a retreat and education center on 21,000 acres of spectacular countryside. Georgia O’Keeffe had a house here as well (it’s not open to the public, but is right in the middle of landscape that inspired her paintings); the area has been occupied by humans for thousands of years. You can stay at the ranch and attend workshops, or just visit for a day and do some hiking. We love the horseback ride—a slow walk through history and geology that will take your breath away.

Blossoms & Bones: The Ghost Ranch Music Festival

August 25 and 26, Ghost Ranch ghostranchmusicfest.com

Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center

280 Private Drive 1708 (15 miles north of Abiquiú on U.S. Highway 84) ghostranch.org

PHOTO: KRYSTAL JABCZENSKIGEORGIA O;KEEFFE MUSEUM.

PHOTO: ABIQUIU INN.

PHOTO: GHOSTRANCHMUSICFEST.COM.

SANTA FE RAILYARD DISTRICT

Once a desolate industrial area of muddy train tracks and warehouses just south of the Plaza, the Santa Fe Railyard is now a hip, bustling hub of art galleries, entertainment venues, bars, restaurants, shops, museums, a lush garden and performance space, and the twice-weekly Farmers’ Market. This 21-year transformation has been gradual but thorough as the development plan at last nears completion.

When the railroad came to Santa Fe, in 1880, it effectively ended dependence on the overland trade routes, including the Santa Fe Trail itself. Trains brought welcome goods, such as bricks and other building materials that couldn’t previously be delivered. The railroad also brought tourists and new residents, and the Railyard became a center of activity for the community. After WWII, with the advent of the Interstate system and growing air transport, the Railyard began a long decline. By the 1980s, the City of Santa Fe recognized that the blighted area required development, and began work on a master plan that took years and involved hundreds of participants; the final plan was adopted by the city in 2002. Work began on developing the area to reflect its industrial roots while providing opportunities for business and community development. Today, the district has come full circle to its origins as a bustling center for residents and visitors alike.

SITE Santa Fe is a private nonprofit contemporary art space that sits adjacent to the garden at the south end of the Railyard district.

Through July 21, 2023

GOING WITH THE FLOW: ART, ACTIONS, AND WESTERN WATERS

Going with the Flow: Art, Actions, and Western Waters is a group exhibition exploring the vital role of water in the arid Southwest.

June 2–September 11, 2023

BRUCE NAUMAN: HIS MARK

SITE Santa Fe presents His Mark, Bruce Nauman’s first solo exhibition in New Mexico. It will include the premieres of new 3D video and self-portrait work.

June 2–September 11, 2023

RACHEL ROSE:

MOON

Thursday, June 22, 2023 at SITE Santa Fe and the Railyard Park

OFF THE RAILS: SITE Santa Fe’s Annual Benefit and Concert

Off the Rails is a community-centered concert and celebration that raises vital funds for SITE Santa Fe’s groundbreaking contemporary art exhibitions, Every Day: Free Admission initiative, transformative education initiatives, and dynamic public events.

SITE Santa Fe

1606 Paseo de Peralta sitesantafe.org

EATING OUT IN THE RAILYARD

So many options! Trusted favorites and exciting new restaurants make the Railyard a shopping, walking, and eating destination.

GOODNIGHT

Goodnight Moon, a solo exhibition by artist Rachel Rose, features sculpture, newly commissioned video work, and notable historical loans from the Yale Center for British Arts.

Second Street Brewery is the granddaddy of Railyard restaurants, having opened in 2010. The taproom has a full menu, a rotating selection of award-winning beers on draft, and an outstanding people-watching patio.

1607 Paseo de Peralta

secondstreetbrewery.com

PHOTO: MARA CHRISTIAN HARRIS PHOTO: SANTA FE COOKING SCHOOL

PHOTO: SECOND STREET BREWERY.

PHOTO: SITE SANTA FE.

Opuntia is a lofty space on the second floor of the Railyard parking garage (entrance across from Violet Crown Cinema). The restaurant’s seasonal menu, its large selection of teas, beer, cider, and wine, and its setting in an industrial space with an interior garden and pond make it a unique destination for brunch, lunch, or dinner. The outdoor balcony overlooks the Rail Runner tracks and lets you keep an eye on the action on the street below.

1607 Alcaldesa Street opuntiacafe.com

You don’t have to go to the movies to enjoy the food at Violet Crown Cinema. Grab a beer or a bite from the menu of small plates, pizzas, and salads and head into the theater, or just stay in the bustling seating area with your friends.

1606 Alcaldesa Street santafe.violetcrown.com

Tired of vanilla? La Lecheria craft ice cream will introduce you to a whole new range of seasonally available flavors: butterscotch miso, prickly-pear margarita sorbet, red-chile honey, vegan coconut miso, citrus basil, Cracker Jack, and lots more, along with classics like vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. This organic ice-cream maker sources ingredients from local vendors. Enjoy your icy treat on the sidewalk chairs, or take it with you and enjoy the views.

500 Market Street #110 lalecherianm.com

Occupying a 100-year-old warehouse, Nuckoll’s Brewing Company opens this summer with 64 New Mexico beers on tap, a 3,000-square-foot wraparound deck, a full menu, and a brewery on site. Nuckolls will also have a beer-garden outdoor stage for live entertainment and community events.

430 W. Manhattan Avenue nuckollsbrewing.com

While not technically in the Railyard, El Chile Toreado’s food truck is across Cerrillos and easily within walking distance. It’s so good that it’s been nominated for a James Beard award.

807 Early Street elchiletoreado.com

On Saturday and Tuesday mornings, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market and Café Fresh (both in the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market pavilion) serve up coffee, fresh pastries, and breakfast burritos. Grab some sustenance to give you the energy to shop the many local farmers’ booths.

1607 Paseo de Peralta santafefarmersmarket.com

New kid on the block Restoration Pizza offers classic pizzas (with vegan options), appetizers, salads, wine, and beer from Albuquerque’s Bosque Brewing Company. At street level, their patio provides great crowd watching.

1607 Alcaldesa Street restorationpizza.com

As Above So Below serves up exhilarating new concoctions featuring their signature craft spirits and cocktails. Botanicals, specialty grains, and new styles of distillation make for interesting blends available by the bottle or the glass in a modern lounge setting.

545 Camino de la Familia aasbdistillery.com

PHOTO: MARA CHRISTIAN HARRIS.

PHOTO: RESTORATION PIZZA.

PHOTO: LA LECHERIA.