Arts

Welcome to the Arts page of the Eldorado Daily. On this page we will present and explore the works and lives of local artists.

UPCOMING AND CURRENT EVENTS

“PLEIN AIRE AND MORE” a light-filled art show for January and February, 2013…to lighten up the cold winter’s days and nights. The colorful works will be featuring eight local artists in Eldorado and Santa Fe area.

Artists Reception is on Friday, Jan 18 from 5-7 pm.
Gallery Hours for the 4 weeks are: Wed-Sat, 11-6 pm.
The art closing is on Saturday, Feb 16, 5-7 pm.

RECENT EVENTS
Galisteo Studio Tour 2012 (story below)
Eldorado Studio Fall Art Tour (story below)
Madrid & Cerrillos Studio Tour (story below)

Friday, November 9, 2012 – 5 PM to 7 PM – “Light, Wood, Wax, Fire” – Art opening and reception – La Tienda Exhibit Space Nine Santa Fe artists use elemental materials and methods to create with light, wood, wax, and fire. This exhibition is an elegy to the organic. These artists understand what it means to be of this world, to be comfortable with the materials and methods they have chosen, and to be greedy for their own moments of alchemy. Each in their own different ways, these artists live inside light, wood, wax, and fire.

Saturday, November 10, 2012 – 1 PM – Poetry Reading – La Tienda Exhibit Space Special Event in conjunction with the group exhibition at the La Tienda Exhibit Space. Barbara Rockman and Lauren Camp

Barbara Rockman is the author of Sting and Nest, winner of the 2012 National Federation of Press Women Poetry Book Prize. She is the editor of the anthology, Women Becoming Poems.Recipient of two Pushcart Prize nominations, she has been recognized with the New Mexico.Discovery Award, Southwest Writers Prize, The MacGuffin Poets Hunt Award, and the Baskerville Publisher’s Prize. Her poems appear widely in journals and anthologies. Barbara’s poems explore the domestic themes of motherhood, marriage and family in an unsentimental and oftensurprising voice.

Lauren Camp is motivated by the mysterious worlds of visual art, poetry and sound. She is thehost of KSFR 101.1 FM’s”Audio Saucepan” show on Sunday evenings, and an acclaimed fiber artist. The author of the poetry collection,This Business of Wisdom, she has also guest-edited special sections for World Literature Today on jazz poetry and for Malpais Review on the poetry of Iraq. She will be part of the upcoming Earth Chronicles documentary and exhibit, spotlighting creative thinkers in New Mexico. Lauren writes frequently for Which Silk Shirt, a blog about poetry and other fine writing.

The exhibition runs from November 10 through December 8, 2012 in The La Tienda Exhibit Space at Eldorado, Santa Fe. Gallery hours: 11 am to 5 pm, Wednesday through Saturday.

Saturday, November 17, 2012 – Artist Exhibit & Reception – David Friday (Acrylic Painting) – Eclectics Art Gallery – La Tienda

Wichita artist David Friday, creates uniquely luminous and unique worlds on canvas – rich in texture and vibrant in color – covering a generous range of themes.
David, who lives in Albuquerque and owns a ‘one-man’ barbershop, has his paintings hanging on all of walls and even has painted a colorfully exciting mural on the floor of his establishment.
From what David has told me, his shop is a unique hybrid of painting studio, art gallery and barbershop, which serves as an after-hours hub, for his “Friday Art Factory”.
The “Factory,” is a social gathering of friends and acquaintances, whereby David conducts a painter’s forum, as part of an Artistic socialization network.

Paintings by David Friday hang in homes across the U.S. and in Europe, and they chronicle his experiences over a lifetime filled with color and emotion.
His childhood, youth and higher education in Kansas (Wichita State University) have developed his depth of expression with wry humor and simplicity.

From his life on the beach in San Diego, and his retreats to the Catskills in upstate New York, to his new stimuli in the mountains and desert of New Mexico, have had a profound effect as emotional and aesthetic influences, concerning his use of color, as well as their vibrancy, which seem to erupt on his all his canvases.

From a large wall fresco of the Nile, to miniature glimpses of wheat in the Kansas wind, you’ll see the influences of Picasso and O’Keefe, even Grant Wood and WPA projects of the 30’s, but what you really see is the soul of David Friday, a true ‘original’.

Destiny Allison Fine Art presents Francisco Benitez and Emila Faro’s Brilliant exhibition, “Vulnerabilities.”

There is probably nothing else that can trigger an emotional resonance in us more readily than looking into the face of a fellow human being. For centuries artists have been trying to capture the ineffable quality that a face has to move us. The face has been rendered by artists in thousands of ways through the centuries, exploring the emotions we are capable of eliciting with our facial expressions. Destiny Allison Fine Art is hosting a group show, “Vulnerabilities”, in which three artists, each in their unique style, use the face as a conveyance to interpret their own musings about what being human entails.

In his latest series of encaustic portraits, Santa Fe-based painter Francisco Benitez seeks to have the contemporary viewer reflect upon the past’s presence in our psyches. His figures have an almost sculptural mass to them, and their countenances seem like distant cousins to those shown in the encaustic funeral portraits done during the first century in Egypt’s Fayum Basin area. His subjects seem to have a knowing of the world they’re looking out at, from a distance devoid of time. Benitez actually uses the same technique as the ancient artists of the Fayum period, working with a tetrachromy (four-color palette) of waxes and heated tools, to create his contemporary “historicized” portraits.

Benitez’ work in the show is opposed beautifully by the ephemeral and delicate quality of the work of Sicilian artist Emilia Faro, who Benitez met during his solo show in Syracuse, Italy in 2006. Impressed by her work, Benitez contacted the Kaudia Marr Gallery, and Faro was subsequently invited to have a solo exhibition in Santa Fe in 2007.

Faro has created a series of masterful watercolor portraits of ethereally lovely females and young girls, whose faces seem to be either gently dissolving away or coming into form. What is highly resolved in each is an introspective moment of thought that mostly comes through the subject’s eyes. The models are in certain instances based on fashion magazine images, others are personal acquaintances. The images as a group carry a certain message as well, rendered in the pales of watercolor, an art form once considered a “lady’s activity”. Using that particular medium and her particular subject matter, Faro’s paintings both occupy and critique themselves, nudging the viewer to understand that some gender-related notions could and should segue into a more enlightened view.

RECENT EVENTS

Friday, October 26, 2012 – 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Victor M. Vigil – Alabaster Sculpture – ECLECTICS Art Gallery – La Tienda
The Artist will be present – light Refreshments will be served.

Victor M. Vigil, a World Renowned Sculptor from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, is a self-taught Artist who has been sculpting since 1978. Born in San Francisco, California he returned to the Pueblo when he was 15 years old.

Victor’s images in stone are of traditional men, women and wildlife.
His chosen medium is alabaster from Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, although he also works in marble and limestone.

A prize-winning Artist, Victor has won awards 13 times at the prestigious SWAIA Indian Market competition in Santa Fe, including Best of Show in 2007 and Best of Show at the New Mexico State Fair in 2008. His work has been exhibited in New York City,New York, Scottsdale,Arizona, Nevada City,California, Taos,New Mexico and Florence,Italy. Victor’s sculptures are in numerous collections throughout New Mexico and the world. Victor was chosen to tour South Korea, to represent Native American Art! He is currently exhibiting at the ECLECTICS Art Gallery, here in the La Tienda Shopping Center.

Saturday, October 6, 2012 – 5 PM to 7 PM – 2 Art Openings – La Tienda Exhibit SpaceThe Exhibit Space presents Africa: The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan. Both shows run through November 3, 2012.

Text and images from La Tienda at Eldorado newsletter

Africa: The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan is a color photographic essay with a text by Lucian Niemeyer. The exhibit first appeared at The Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. The exhibit has since appeared in many other venues with the last being at the Maxwell Museum at the University of New Mexico, where over 160 images were displayed over a year. A book by the same name was published by The University of New Mexico Press in 2005. It was followed by the book Darfur in 2007. The book Africa was nominated by the University for a Pulitzer Prize. Though it did not win, a copy of the book was given to every United States Senator by a foundation in Virginia. Recently Mr. Niemeyer gave lectures to students at the University of Alberta and CalgaryUniversity in Canada. He was made an honorary citizen of Calgary and presented a white hat for his work. Recently this honor was given to the Dalai Lama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Africa: The Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan tells the story of ten years of genocide in Africa. The first chapter reveals by image and story the terrible genocide and aftermath in Rwanda where over one million innocent people lost their lives in a horrible massacre. The images were taken in 1994 in the refugee camps. The second chapter illustrates the slaves taken in raids by Arabs wanting slaves in Northern Sudan. The slaves were being traded back by a non-governmental organization for $35 each, or the price of a goat. The third chapter is the story of the proclaimed Holy Jihad on the south and demonstrates the conflict between Islam and Christianity. The fourth chapter takes place in the NubaMountains. Thousands of years of migration by the Nubians to flee the tyranny of Egypt, then the Arab onslaught resulted in 30 different tribes and languages to the mountains up the Nile. The Arab government has determined that they want these people to practice radical Islam and to adopt the Sharia law. Over 2.5 million people have lost their lives in this genocide which few people know about.

October 26 – Eldorado Studio Tour – Fall Show – 2 PM to 7 PM, October 27, 2012 – 9 Am to 5 PM- St. John’s Methodist Church – 1200 Old Pecos Trail in Santa FeThe Eldorado Arts and Crafts Fall Show is an opportunity to see the work of many member artists at one venue. This year we are once again taking our art and traveling to Santa Fe. The work of fifty-eight artists will be for sale at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 1200 Old Pecos Trail at Cordova Road. The weekend will begin Friday , October 26 from 3:00-7:00 pm followed by an all day event on Saturday, October 27 from 9am-5pm. FIND OUT MORE

Saturday and Sunday, October 6 and 7, 2012 and Saturday and Sunday, October 13 and 14 – The Madrid Cerrillos Studio Tour 2012 – 29 artists at 21 studios VISIT THE WEBSITE

Saturday, October 20 and Sunday October 21, 2012 – 10 Am to 5 PM – Galisteo Studio Tour – Galisteo, New Mexico

(From the official website : http://galisteostudiotour.com/ ) “Just a few minutes south of the historic city of Santa Fe is the village of Galisteo centered in the magnificent Galisteo basin.

This all-adobe village of some 250 residents boasts of an incredibly diverse artist population. These artists, drawn by the natural beauty of our high desert surroundings and breathtaking sunsets, have made Galisteo their home.

As you wind your way through the many studios of Galisteo, you’ll see photography, paintings, pottery and ceramic art, retablos, jewelry, bronze sculpture, weavings, many hand crafted local arts as well as tasty local fare.

For over 25 years, these artist residents have participated in one of New Mexico’s premier studio tours. This annual event is virtually the only time the public is invited to tour the private studios and meet the artists that call this classic New Mexican Village home. Much of the tour can be done on foot. The ancient cottonwoods that line the Galisteo River give portions of the tour a special ambiance rarely found in New Mexico.

We hope you’ll enjoy your visit to our beautiful village.” FIND OUT MORE

On October 5th, at 7 PM, the Madrid & Cerrillos Studio Tour will kick off a two weekend revival with an auction and preview party at The Engine House Theater on the grounds of the Mineshaft Tavern. The studio tour will offer open studios at 21 stops featuring the work of 29 artists on Friday and Saturday, October 6th & 7th and October 13th & 14th from 10 AM until 5 PM each weekend.

The Madrid & Cerrillos Studio Tour celebrates its 7th season after a seven year hiatus. There are more artists than in previous years and in some studios, there will be several artists sharing space. Mediums include: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture in mediums such as wood, steel, stone, clay and mixed media, jewelry, ceramics, two-dimensional mixed media, wearable fiber arts, glass, gourd art, encaustic, and more. The tour will begin at the north and south ends of Cerrillos and Madrid at two sculpture sites. At the first stop on the south of Madrid is Mike Wright’s steel sculpture studio and on the north of Cerrillos, near the ‘Garden of the Gods’, is Kevin Box’s new studio and a world class sculpture garden. This area, now the heartland of arts outside of Santa Fe, is home to several new restaurants and the renewed Mine Shaft Tavern, complete with an outdoor venue, The Old West Saloon. Musicians, visual artists, writers and art enthusiasts have moved to Madrid and Cerrillos making it a world class destination. The new Cerrillos State Park Center is open and the park, with horseback riding and beautifully articulated historic trails, is also an important stop. During this tour, visitors can see the artists in their studios, visit the many galleries and shops of Madrid and Cerrillos, listen to music, while enjoying the local cuisine.

The Madrid & Cerrillos Studio Tour was founded in 1999. Its mission is ‘to promote Madrid & Cerrillos artists creating art in their own local studio space’. Tour maps and brochures will be available at all studios, including the Kevin Box Studio on the north end and Mike Wright’s studio on the south end of Highway 14, the national scenic byway Turquoise Trail. Look for the numbered studio tour signs at each location. For more information contact Jane Cassidy at 505-470-1346.

August 31 – September 25, 2012 – La Tienda Exhibit Space

The Northern Nine group show opens on Friday, Aug. 31 and runs until Sept. 25.

Aristotle wrote that the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. The current exhibit in La Tienda Exhibit Space touches on Aristotle’s view in interesting ways. The artists who will be featured in the month-long exhibit express the inward significance of their work with a variety of media and styles. New works by the nine talented women from the Las Vegas, NM area go from wildly colorful to restrained reflection, flamboyant verve to subdued simplicity. The pieces reflect statements about life, peace, expectation, humor and harmony. The curve and flow of sculpture, the subtle boldness of the painters’ brushes, the use of technique in photography, and the skill of the weaver’s hands all bring out the distinctive talents of each artist.