Artscapes

5 GREAT HIKES IN THE ORGAN MOUNTAINS–DESERT PEAKS APRIL 2015

MAGAZINE

LIVING 1 ADOBE RENOVATION FURNITURE ARTISANS BUILDINGS WE LOVE

2 3 100 ROSES IN

MRS. BOBBS’ GARDEN

OTTMAR LIEBERT

& THE NM PHILHARMONIC

Artscapes |

Inlaid Wood

|

BY DOROTHY NOE AND CANDACE WALSH PHOTOS BY MINESH BACRANIA

Embedded in the Heart Furniture artisans who embody the essence of New Mexico.

Andy Sánchez and his sons (from left) Daniel and Aaron in their Algodones studio.

nmmagazine.com | APRIL 2015 17

Artscapes |

Inlaid Wood

ANDY SÁNCHEZ HAS a royal claim

to fame unlike most custom furniture builders. Not only did King Carlos of Spain sip tea at one of his five tables in Patrick Mavros’ London gallery, but so did England’s Queen Elizabeth herself. Sánchez, however, has garnered so many accolades that such occurrences are just the icing on the cake.

Sánchez’s pieces range in size from a nightstand to a boardroom conference table. His artistic blending of sliced gemstones and fossils inlaid in knotholes is one distinguishing feature of his style.

“As an artist,” Sánchez reflects, “my canvas has been painted. My job is to orchestrate—to bring the slabs of wood and stone together in the right proportion.”

Sánchez describes his inlaid pieces as “a delight to touch. They feel like satin.”

Customers often specify particular inlay designs—an elk head silhouette, a deer footprint—which he creates with stone and copper. Other times, the stone determines the design, such as the agate sea turtle in a coffee table that graces a Placitas home.

“As you work,” Sánchez adds, “the slab and stones can change your vision. It’s exciting to see what will happen. Another thrill arrives when a piece is finally oiled— to actually see what it will look like. When I first started, my entire family would gather for the final oiling, just because that’s when the beauty of the wood appeared.”

Like any artist, Sánchez was influenced and inspired by the work of others. George Nakashima was, according to Sánchez, “the first furniture artist bold enough to do live edge,” allowing the natural contours of the wood slab to define the piece. James Krenov inspired Sánchez to work with split slabs of wood joined to form a larger slab with mirror-image grains, and spalted wood, intricately patterned by bacteria.

However, one of Sánchez’s strongest trademarks is his frequent use of burled redwood and alligator juniper. He says that a hundred years ago, there was no market for redwood burls, so they were used as fill for logging roads—buried and ultimately stained as mineral-filled water 18 NEW MEXICO | APRIL 2015

seeped through the soil. Today, these dark are stacked outdoors. Local and out-of-state customers are encouraged to visit the studio burgundy burls are repurposed by Sánchez so that they can select the stones, slabs, and for exquisite furniture. Some burls are bases that appeal to them—a level of wish two thousand years old. fulfillment fit for a king.

Half as old are intricately swirled —Dorothy Noe dead alligator juniper slabs from the Gila National Forest. “It’s like being given Andy and Aaron Sánchez Furniture a trust,” says Sánchez, “to work with 4 Archibeque Drive, Algodones something over a thousand years old. The (505) 385-1189; andysanchez.com history they represent gives me a thrill.”

Sánchez’s work has garnered awards at IF YOU’RE WALKING around Taos art shows in Sedona, Arizona; Indian Wells, Pueblo, freshly blissed out by the beauty of California; and Cody, Wyoming. He also the adobe village and the mountain vistas, travels to Tucson’s annual Mineral, Fossil & you may think you are completely incapable Gem Show to stock up on the jewelry-grade of taking in one more mesmerizing experigemstones and fossils that embellish his ence. But you should try. Because as you Western-styled work. walk past the House of Water Crow Studio His work is fulfilling, but his deep New Gallery, Carpio Bernal might come out Mexican roots keep him grounded. On and say hello—and he just might be one of his paternal side, an ancestral grandfather, the most interesting people in New Mexico.

Remaldo, fled the Spanish Inquisition in When Carpio was five years old, tourists the early 1700s to settle east of Belén. His who heard him singing a song gave him two mother’s father was half Isleta Puebloan, nickels each. “It opened my eyes on how and her mother was half Comanche. to make money,” he says. Soon after that, as he walked across the Pueblo with a bow Sánchez moved to the East Coast in and arrow and a tomahawk that he’d made, 1986 to begin his career as a cabinetmaker. tourists asked if they could buy them, and It wasn’t until he spent two years working on a home in Maryland with no time or budget limits that he realized he had the patience and attention to detail needed to build custom furniture. He moved back to Belén in 1989, and then to Algodones 11 years ago.

Two of his four sons, Aaron and Daniel, have been inspired to work alongside their father in his spacious shop. A diamond saw for slicing gems and fossils sits near boxes of turquoise and agates. In between are high tables supporting works in progress, along with chisels, copping A piece by Andy saws, and calipers. The Sánchez of alligator rafters hold entwined elk juniper with stone inlays, including an horns, while the marble, ammonite fossil, redwood and juniper slabs, turquoise, and marble. and twisted roots for bases

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“Indolent Dreamers”

by Georgette Evans Grey

he sold them, happily. He made them with his grandfather, who, along with his grandmother, raised him. “I grew up traditionally, and speak fluent Tiwa,” says Carpio. “My grandparents were my teachers and inspired me to grow. I have a lot to thank them for; it’s embedded in my heart.”

Before producing fine inlay custom furniture (which features animal imagery, abstract designs, and geometric shapes formed by turquoise, coral, lapis, and sugilite), Bernal was part of the first Native American theater ensemble in New York City, at La MaMa Theatre in 1970, and moved to Washington State as a woodworking apprentice under his “spiritual father and teacher,” Bruce Miller, until 1984. He met his wife, Rose (a singer—and not just of Carpio’s praises), in the Pacific Northwest and returned with her to Taos Pueblo.

In between New York and Washington, he came home and acted in a comedy film called The Human Highway, starring Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, and Neil Young. He acted in other films with Kris Kristofferson and Kenny Rogers.

His father, Paul Bernal, “was the first Native to ever win land back for Native people—he fought for Blue Lake.” As council secretary, Paul and Taos Pueblo’s

religious leader, Juan de Jesus Romero, worked to negotiate an agreement with the federal government—48,000 acres were returned to the Pueblo as a result.

The lineage of movers, shakers, and makers continues to this day. “We have a family business,” he says. Four of his children contribute artwork to the gallery, which sells silver jewelry, baskets, drums, and Carpio’s furniture. The family also has a recording studio, where Rose is working on an album.

One of his more popular pieces is a slim, angled “chakra chair” that encourages the sitter to lean back, align his or her spine and neck, and relax. “People love it— they’re healing,” he says. “I often inlay an eagle figure, because the eagle is a powerful healer. Everything I do is from my heart. I catch my artwork from the wind, put it in my mind, use it, then let it go into the wind again and pass it on.”

Sitting in the chair, wind gently blowing your hair as you stare at Taos Pueblo’s buildings and blue sky, it all makes perfect sense.

—Candace Walsh House of Water Crow Studio Gallery 133 White Rock Rd., Taos Pueblo (575) 770-7856; on Facebook

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Bodega Burger–an upscale burger joint.

Steaks, Seafood, Gourmet Burgers and Sandwiches. 606 N. California Street, Socorro, bodegaburgerco.com, 575-838-2087.

New Mexico Tech Performing Arts Series at the Macey Center Music | Dance | Theater | Family nmtpas.org 575-835-5688

Trinity Site–Open House, Saturday, April 4th 2015, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm.

For more information, please call 575-678-1134.

for more information visit: socorro-nm.com or socorronm.org 575-835-0424 nmmagazine.com | APRIL 2015 19

ART IN NEW MEXICO | ARTESIA EXHIBITIONS

Image courtesy of JMZ Arquitectos

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW New Art Center Grand Opening Spring 2015

Exhibiting the latest and greatest from the Artesia Quilters Guild through June 2015

Open Tuesdays-Fridays 9–noon & 1–5 and Saturdays 1–5

ARTESIA HISTORICAL MUSEUM AND ART CENTER 505 WEST RICHARDSON AVE, ARTESIA NM 88210 (575) 748-2390; WWW.ARTESIANM.GOV

APRIL 3 WHAT’S IN A NAME? The Roswell Museum and Art Center asks visitors to ponder what exactly is behind the name of an artwork, or rather the lack of a name. Running through September 27, Untitled is a diverse assembly of works from the 50,000-square-foot museum’s remarkable permanent collection that all share one common trait: Each lacks a title. In some cases, the artist chose not to name the work, and in other instances the title has simply been lost or forgotten. (575) 624-6744; roswellmuseum.org APRIL 4–28 FREE SPIRITS Just over a century ago, the remaining prisoners held captive for two decades at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill were released, among them members of southwestern New Mexico’s Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apache tribes.

Throughout the month, beginning with an April 4 opening reception, the Deming Arts Center will show 100 Years of Freedom, artwork created by direct descendants of many of those who were forcibly removed from their homelands and confined at Fort Sill.

Works include bronzes by late sculptor Allan Houser, as well as jewelry, paintings, and pottery created by the progeny of Geronimo, Cochise, and Mangas Coloradas. (575) 546-3663; demingarts.org APRIL 17 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ Santa Fe’s venerable New Mexico Museum of Art launches Selections from the Joann and Gifford Phillips Gift (through August 16), a fascinating trove of paintings, many of them depicting California from the 1950s through the ’80s, including works by Richard Diebenkorn and John McLaughlin. A second portion of the collection is devoted to New Mexico painting from the 1980s.

Running concurrently, NMMA mounts Art on the Edge 2015, a juried exhibition of contemporary works by artists who live in New Mexico and bordering states.

(505) 476-5072; nmartmuseum.org —Andrew Collins

20 NEW MEXICO | APRIL 2015

EXPLORE THE PAST. EXPERIENCE THE PRESENT. Experience arts and culture at the Carlsbad Museum & Art Center, Halagueno Arts Park and galleries featuring local artists.

Carlsbad main street

Take a walk through historic downtown Carlsbad and view buildings from a variety of architectural eras.

Enjoy delicious food and wine at one of downtown Carlsbad’s popular fine dining restaurants.

Visit the Carlsbad Downtown Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings from June through late September for fresh produce, handmade crafts, entertainment and more.

visit historic

Farmers’ Market Opens June 2015!

Produce • Crafts • Entertainment Games and Prizes WIC and SNAP accepted

DOWNTOWN c a r l s b a d

CarlsbadMainStreet • CarlsbadMainStreet.org • 124 N. Canyon Street • Carlsbad, NM 88220 • 575.628.3768

Paid for by Carlsbad Lodger’s Tax