Santa Fe Arts Journal

Theater of Death, an annual show of horror and comedy produced by singer/songwriter Joe West and his troupe of performers, presents “The Marijuana Morality Plays” at the Engine House Theater in Madrid.

This year’s production, Theater of Death’s fifth show, features three tongue-in-cheek, one-act plays about marijuana from a neo-conservative point of view written by West, Timothy Willis and James Hayes. West functions as the show’s music creator and narrator and is an organist in the production’s three-musician ensemble along with Lori Ottino (melodica) and Tim Arnold (electric guitar). Actors in the show are from Madrid, Cerillos and Santa Fe. [Read More…]

New Concept Gallery presents a 20-year retrospective of paintings by Aaron Karp, an Albuquerque-based artist whose body of work spans 45 years. An opening reception for Karp takes place on October 13.

“I’ll feature six different series of work in the show,” explains Karp, who has exhibited paintings in galleries and museums throughout the United States, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.

“I always work in series. Often, I will start a new body of work during an artist-in-residency. I’ve been part of 10 residencies through the years, including one in Costa Rica and another in Spain.” [Read More…]

Andrew Fisher, who had studied sculpture, drawing and metal arts at the California College of the Arts, blends his love of metal and sculpture into his gold gilded wall tapestries and tabletop sculptures.

Patina Gallery showcases Fisher’s recent work, along with bead crochet necklaces and bracelets by jewelry designer Claire Kahn, in a new show titled “A Friendship Forged in Gold” that opens on October 13.

“Claire and I both share a love of handmade objects, in particular intricate handmade objects,” says Fisher, who lives and works in San Francisco and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and has been Kahn’s friend for many years. [Read More…]

Art and technology are harmonious bedfellows in Rik Allen’s metal and glass sculptures.

A fan of science fiction who has read many works by Jules Vern, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clark and Isaac Asimov and thought about their influence on the scientific world, Allen is inspired by spacecrafts, rockets, scientific apparatus and most recently marine exploration. Allen’s 3D works often appear to be interplanetary vessels ready to investigate the mysteries found in outer space.

“Rik Allen: New Glass and Metal Sculptures,” which opens on October 13 at Blue Rain Gallery, features spaceship-like works as well as pieces that remind Allen, an avid sea kayaker, of the ocean. [Read More…]

In “Terraforms: New Paintings,” which opens at David Richard Gallery on October 13, Chicago-based artist Adam Scott showcases work inspired by month-long visits to Joshua Tree National Park in California.

“My wife and I have been traveling to Joshua Tree every winter break since 2011 to get some sun in our lives,” explains Scott, a professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago who earned his bachelor’s degree at California State University Long Beach and moved to Chicago 20 years ago to work on his master’s degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “We grew up in California so we’re really West Coast people. The West is in our hearts and minds.”

An abstract painter who describes himself as an artist who was “weaned on modern painting,” Scott has always been fascinated by landscape and place. [Read More…]

Twenty-three year old violinist Alexi Kenney, a recipient of the 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, is the Santa Fe Symphony’s special guest for two October programs.

On October 15, Kenney collaborates with the orchestra led by Guillermo Figueroa in a performance of works by Haydn, Dvorak, Berlioz and Shostakovich.

“The Santa Fe Symphony allowed me to choose the repertoire, which was really wonderful,” says Kenney. “Although I have a diverse repertoire, I particularly like playing Baroque and Classical music. I find it so fresh, joyful and emotionally raw. I feel a kinship between Haydn and Dvorak, which is why I wanted works by those two composers on the program.” [Read More…]

Scottish Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis performs selections from “Alterum,” her newly-released and fifth studio album, and her previous four albums during her appearance with Performance Santa Fe on October 18.

“This is the first album I’ve made where all the songs are not entirely sung in Gaelic,” explains Fowlis, who also sings in English and Galician, a Romance language spoken by approximately 2.4 million people in the northwest corner of Spain.

“Most of the songs on the album are either traditional tunes or were composed in the 1960s.”

Éamon Doorley (guitar and bouzouki), Duncan Chisholm (fiddle) and Tony Byrne (guitar) accompany Fowlis, an award-winning singer who learned to speak Scottish Gaelic during her early childhood on the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist. [Read More…]

Quilts tell many stories. They often contain information about a culture’s traditions, migration patterns, communities and individuals. Quilts may be part of women’s dowries, decorate their wedding beds and welcome the birth of a child. Designs and symbols used in quilts draw on local beliefs.

The Museum of International Folk Art’s exhibit “Quilts of Southwest China” showcases a selection of old and new quilts from the southwestern part of China that, until recently, have received little attention from scholars, collectors and museums. With the influx of commercially manufactured textiles and clothing into rural communities, the art of quilt-making has declined.

“There’s been very little research to date on quilts from southwestern China,” explains Carrie Hertz, Curator of Textiles and Dress at MIFA. “Part of the problem is that it’s difficult to find old quilts intact. The wet climate has broken down many of them through the years.” [Read More…]

David Solomon has been an integral part of Santa Fe’s art community for many years, so when he left town in 2015, his friends and collectors took note.

An abstract painter who has shown his work at the Gerald Peters Gallery and David Richard Gallery, Solomon also has been active as an independent curator, gallery director, framer and art conservator and restorer.

After more than a year’s absence, Solomon returned to Santa Fe last fall to rededicate himself to his work. “In the space of about 18 months I experienced two major moves, a marriage and divorce and the death of my father,” he explains. “I felt so much stress. I needed to come back to Santa Fe to be with my friends.” [Read More…]