Artes

Artes

2 0 14 T R A D I C I O N E S | T H E TA O S N E W S

2 | Artes

Tina Larkin

Artes A celebration of Taos’ creative spirit

Taos Volunteer, Anthony Martínez, in the room of the Taos Volunteer Fire Department that houses an impressive are collection. See the story on page 14.

P

eople from near and far know of Taos’ reputation as a world-class art destination. Even if they know very little about our corner of the world, the notion of Taos as an art colony is one kernel of knowledge tucked away in their brains.

And while art is not all we should be known for, it’s valid that the connotation exists throughout the planet. After all, we’ve had more than our share of great artists in Taos. Still do. That’s why Artes is one of the four pillars of Tradiciones, The Taos News’ four part series of publications that annually honors our place and history.

And while landscapes that celebrate our natural beauty are a big part of the art world in Taos, it’s also far from being the only thing people do here. Art of all kinds can be found in Taos. From impressionism to surrealism and large installation pieces to small, traditional retablos, the art world of Taos reaches into the past and usually brings those old ideas kicking and screaming into the future.

For instance, the sculpture of John Suazo is at once traditional and abstract, giving new lines to the ancient forms of Taos Pueblo. Teresa Dovalpage profiles Suazo on page 4.

Sometimes the life of the artist is worth as much of a discussion as the art itself. Such is the case of the late Bill Gersh, an idealistic and uncompromising visual artist, commune starter and dreamer. Virginia L. Clark looks back on Gersh’s life and work on page 18.

Other times, we wonder how the art got where it is. That’s why Yvonne Pesquera examines the impressive art collection at, of all places, the Taos Volunteer Fire Department on page 14.

And while visual art is certainly at the fore of Taos’ art colony reputation, as a group we certainly don’t shy away from the written word or the performing arts. The Brodsky Bookshop proprietor has been pushing the former on a mostly receptive populace for two decades. Joan Livingston discusses the so-called glamour of book store life, and the various modern-day pitfalls with Rick Smith on page 8.

Keeping with the written word, author William deBuys has honed his craft over four decades in his El Valle home.

Taking inspiration from the Northern New Mexico landscape, deBuys spoke with J.R. Logan about the author’s role as one of the first writers to tackle what is now known as

environmental history. See the story on page 12.

Speaking of our environment, Taos County would no doubt be a different place if not for the New Deal policies of the Franklin D. Roosevelt-era. Though we often don’t realize it, there are traces of New Deal architecture in our midst, including the Old Taos County Courthouse and its famous murals. Andrew Oxford digs through time on page 16.

And finally, what would we be without great performance art? Sakti Rinek has been blazing her own trail through life as a belly dancer extraordinaire. Her skills have taken her to Cairo and Syria and all over Europe, but her heart always remained close to Taos. Teresa Dovalpage has the story on page 6.

So while our reputation as an art destination is certainly deserved, it could also be argued that it’s also often misunderstood. The true depths of our artistic inclinations as a community can’t be explained easily. That’s why there can be no shortage of opportunities to celebrate the Artes. ­— Andy Jones, special sections editor

Art of all kinds can be found in Taos. From impressionism to surrealism, and large installation pieces to small, traditional retablos, the art world of Taos reaches into the past and usually brings those old ideas kicking and screaming into the future.

Artes | 3

Photo by Geraint Smith

Contents 6 4 Sakti Rinek:

Master sculptor John Suazo celebrates 40 years of art

8

Rick Smith: The art of book selling

From Arcadia to Cairo

By Teresa Dovalpage

By Teresa Dovalpage

By Joan Livingston

12

14

William deBuys: Crew chief at the El Valle ‘sentence factory’

Firehouse art: An important collection in the safest of hands

By J.R. Logan

By Yvonne Pesquera

16

18

By Andrew Oxford

By Virginia L. Clark

New Deal Era left more than memories in Taos

STAFF Robin Martin, owner • Chris Baker, publisher • Joan Livingston, editor • Chris Wood, advertising manager • Andy Jones, special sections editor Michelle M. Gutierrez, lead editorial designer • Ray Seale, production, technology and digital director • Ayleen Lopez, digital administrator • Katharine Egli and Tina Larkin, Virginia L. Clark, Joan Livingston, J.R. Logan and Andrew Oxford, staff writers CONTRIBUTORS Teresa Dovalpage,

writer •

Yvonne Pesquera,

‘Outlaw artist’ Bill Gersh: He did what he did to be a free spirit

photographers

writer

On the cover Page 1: John Suazo works with a file to bring a piece of sculpture to life. Page 11: A wall of impressive art pieces at the Taos Volunteer Fire Department. Photos by Tina Larkin

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4 | Artes

Tina Larkin

Artist John Suazo steps back to examine his work.

Master sculptor John Suazo celebrates 40 years of art

honor roll three times.”

“It will be quite a sight,” Suazo said.

Though he didn’t pursue a career in education, Suazo is still He also carves ancient villages that have been abandoned interested in teaching and preserving his ancestral culture. for centuries. aos Pueblo sculptor John Suazo has received “I welcome those who want to come to my studio and multiple awards and distinctions. His “I use my intuition and add ghost dancers and other watch me work,” he said. “I have gone to many schools sculpture “Waiting for Grandfather” was figures from the past,” he said. and talked to the students about the art business and the installed at the University of Arizona in Giving voice to stones importance of creativity.”

Tucson in 2013. His work is in numerous For his outdoor pieces, Suazo uses limestone from museums and galleries throughout the The Rockefeller connection country and has also been exhibited in Russia and France.

Colorado, Texas and Kansas. For the indoor ones he prefers Suazo’s great-grandfather, Rafael Gomez, was Taos Pueblo gray, pink and white alabaster from Colorado and orange war chief in 1924 when John D. Rockefeller and his three Art runs in the family alabaster from Utah. sons came to visit the Pueblo during the summer. Gomez and Suazo’s grandfather, Jim Suazo, inspired the novel “The He likes to make knives and swords. The blades are carved other Pueblo men took them to the mountains and they all Man Who Killed the Deer” by Frank Waters. But this isn’t out of Moroccan selenite, a translucent stone that is supposed had a picnic. the only book about the Suazo family. “Pueblo Boy,” a to have healing properties. children’s book by Sylvia Starr and Joseph B. Wertz published “They also sang some Indian songs for them,” said Suazo. in 1938, contains pictures of Suazo’s mother and grandparents “When Rockefeller went back to New York, he wrote a “As a kid, I collected the knives that my father and uncles and details of their everyday lives in the Pueblo. would give me,” he said. “That went along with being a thank-you letter to my great-grandfather and sent him a man. Now they are used mostly for decoration. I have fun turquoise ring and a silk handkerchief in appreciation for “All this is part of my history,” Suazo says. “And what experimenting with them, but I prefer to focus on larger the wonderful time they had had. About five years ago, his motivates me to do my art.” grandson David Rockefeller came to visit Taos and I showed pieces.”

Suazo went to college expecting to become a teacher. He him the letter.

He ended up buying a mountain lion that I had excelled in sports and considered being a coach.

One of his larger sculptures is called “Eagle Shield” and had just carved.” weighs close to 300 pounds. Another, “She Walks Elegantly,” “But I kept changing majors,” he said. “I really didn’t know represents a Navajo woman with her hair done up in a classic what I wanted to do until one day, during my fourth year of Sources of inspiration Navajo bun. college, when I came home on a Christmas break and started Suazo’s inspiration comes from his ancestors’ history, carving. Right then, I knew I had found my true calling. My his personal experiences and surroundings, and his three “It took me about four days and 40 years to make it,” uncle Ralph encouraged me to follow that path. ” grandchildren.

Suazo said. “Forty years to learn how to complete it in four His uncle Ralph Suazo was also a sculptor who had “I see the smiles on their faces and they never fail to inspire days.” promoted the Native American art movement in Taos in the me,” he said. “I love to reveal through my sculptures this He never draws or plans his work in advance. ’50s and ’60s. feeling of security, peace and happiness that my grandkids “The stone talks to me,” he said. “And then we work radiate.”

“Our whole family is artistic,” said Suazo. “Around the together creating a story that fits it.” same time I began carving, first in wood and then in stone, Though Suazo has done many traditional pieces, today he “She Walks Elegantly” is a sheepherder who lived in the my mother, Juanita DuBray, started to do clay figures too.” tends to use a more abstract and experimental approach in his 1800s and is proud of her life and herself. art.

In 1985, DuBray was invited to do a show at the “The beauty of life makes her walk gracefully,” Suazo said.

Smithsonian Museum. She has also exhibited at the Heard “I am giving it a more modern feeling,” he said. “I even Museum in Phoenix, the Museum of New Mexico, the carve aliens now. There is something attractive and mysterious “I reflected that on the sculpture. When you see my pieces, I want you to think of a particular time and place, and how life Wheelwright Museum, and the Institute of American Indian about aliens; most people love them.” was back then.”

Art in Santa Fe. Suazo’s niece, Dawning Pollen Shorty, is also One of Suazo’s collectors just ordered 18 sculptures of known for her micaceous clay creations.

To see Suazo’s pieces in person, call him at (575) 758-1275 aliens, four to five feet high. They will be partially buried into or visit the Taos Pueblo Shops and the Jane Hamilton Fine “My son Warshaw is a great carver too,” said Suazo. “Now the ground to make them look as if they were coming out of he is going to engineering school in Gallup and has made the the hills.

Art Galleries in Tucson and Santa Fe.

T

By Teresa Dovalpage

Artes | 5

Tina Larkin

Clockwise, from top left: John Suazo’s toolbox; Suazo works on a piece in his studio.; Suazo walks out of his studio toward a sculpture; Suazo displays a portrait of a piece of stone; and Suazo chisels a new piece.

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6 | Artes

Tina Larkin

Sakti Rinek teaches belly dancing and still performs at special occasions and other events.

Sakti Rinek from Arcadia to Cairo

B

By Teresa Dovalpage

elly dancer Sakti Rinek chose her own first name. It is a Hindu concept that roughly translates to “feminine cosmic energy.” It’s from Sanskrit, and she totally identifies with it.

In spite of the Indian origins of her name, Rinek says she always felt an unexplainable attraction for Egypt.

“I grew up as far from Egypt as you can get, in Arcadia, California, and yet, when I was a little girl, I became fascinated by that country,” she said. “I knew I would travel there someday, maybe as an archeologist, like Indiana Jones, but I ended up going as a belly dancer.”

The path that would take her to Egypt started in 1976 in Lama, New Mexico. Rinek had first moved to a commune in El Rito, and later settled up on the mountain with her two young children, Eli and Adam.

“I was suffering from severe back pain when I found a newspaper ad about belly dancing classes,” she said. “I didn’t know much about the dance then but was inspired to take them. I somehow knew that they would help me heal. It was a godsend.”

Her instructor was Maggie Kress, who used the Jamila Salimpour technique. The discipline of the dance gave Rinek spiritual and physical relief.

“I noticed a difference in my back in less than five

months because belly dancing works on your inner core,” she said. “It also had a therapeutic effect on my emotional health. I feel freer, happier and ready to take on more challenges. I was ready to start a new life.”

As part of her new life, Rinek started performing with Kress’ group, Troupe Sahda. After a year with them, she went solo, traveling to Japan and Taiwan.

“In the early ’80s, I performed in many night clubs and theaters there,” she said. “It was a fantastic experience.”

When she came back, Rinek wanted to stay closer to her teenaged children, so she got into the art business.

“I am a natural sales person and I love art,” she said.

“I worked in galleries here in Taos and in Scottsdale, Arizona, for 11 years. I kept performing, too, but I longed to devote more time and energy to my dance.”

She finally did.

“All good things happen in life if you focus on the positive side if it,” she said.

Dancing in Cairo

In 1991 Rinek moved to Cairo and signed a contract with Casino El-Nahr, where she hired her own band of musicians.

“I also had a great manager, Ahmed Khalil, because in Cairo, impresarios and night club owners don’t like to deal with women,” Rinek said. “Ahmed was like a guardian angel; he accompanied me to my tours and negotiated my contracts wisely.”

Rinek traveled all over the country and performed in different five-star clubs, ships, hotels, and private parties, especially weddings, until 1995.

“I was a headliner,” she said. “I did Egyptian style dancing, the double sword, which was a hit at the officers’ clubs, and my signature candle tray dance.”

Another act, candelabra dance is often performed as part of the bridal reception. Rinek would balance a threetier candelabrum on her head, while all the candles were ablaze.

“It can be a little dangerous,” she admits. “But, just like everything else, practice makes perfect. I never had a problem with it.”

Rinek took lessons from well-known Egyptian teachers like Nadia Hamdy, Mahmoud Reda and Raqia Hassan.

She began to tour Europe while still based in Cairo.

“I went to Germany and was impressed by the great respect they had for belly dancers,” she said. “Here it was just a seductive dance but there, they appreciated its artistic values. The same happened in Switzerland.”

What is belly dancing?

“It is a woman-empowering dance,” Rinek said when I asked her to define it. “It is a body, mind and spirit awareness experience. When you are belly dancing, you are moving energy in your chakras. Some people who come to my classes have energy blocks and dancing helps them to remove the obstacles.”

Artes | 7 “In Egypt, the movements are accompanied by refined music,there is an orchestra with violin, drums, and flutes, and the dance itself is quite intricate. In Turkey, the music and the dance are bouncier, more athletic and playful.” —Sakti Rinek

B

elly dancing is characterized by fluid and sensuous movements that keep the body in continuous motion. It started as women dancing for women, Rinek said, and later evolved as a performance and social art.

“At first, all the movements were symbolic,” she said. “By dancing and seeing others dance, women learned how to give birth, for example, since belly dancing movements require great abdominal muscle control.

When a woman was in labor, the others danced around her, helping her push. Later it became an enticement for men, but that was not what it used to be.”

There are different styles of belly dancing, depending on the region. Rinek favors the Egyptian technique, but has studied many others.

“In Egypt, the movements are accompanied by refined music,” she said. “There is an orchestra with violin, drums, and flutes, and the dance itself is quite intricate. In Turkey, the music and the dance are bouncier, more athletic and playful.”

Still moving

Today Rinek continues dancing but she also wears many different hats. She is the director at Ouray’s Fine Arts gallery and an enthusiastic farmer as well.

“I have a beautiful organic garden,” she said. “Farming has been a very important part of my life.”

She also teaches belly dance classes, workshops and private lessons.

“You have to keep moving in order to stay supple,” she said. “I offer beginner, intermediate and advance classes where students learn everything — finger cymbals, veil work, steps and combinations, and choreographies.”

She has a dancing studio at home and a troupe, Sakti and the A La Nar Dancers, which is available for parties and special occasions.

Rinek has also taught through the Taos Youth Ballet during its summer program, and a series of classes at Taos High School.

“All the girls loved it,” she said.

To find out more about Rinek, visit her at sakti-international.com.

Courtesy Sakti Rinek

Rinek refers to this as her “bliss shot,” taken at Casino El-Nahr in Cairo. While performing for a shiek, this photo was shot by an adoring fan.

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8 | Artes

Tina Larkin

Rick Smith blows the harp during an informal jam session he hosts for friends at Brodsky Bookshop.

Rick Smith The art of book selling

I

By Joan Livingston

n what is a common scenario at Brodsky Bookshop, a customer will walk in requesting a touted mustread.

But then bookseller Rick Smith will talk with the person, learn their tastes and make a recommendation he feels would make for a more rewarding reading experience.

“The fun of this is that people come in with one idea and they leave with a totally different book,” he said.

It’s this sense of discovery that makes small, independent bookstores like Brodsky a personal and — given most of the store’s books are used — a serendipitous experience.

The shop, located at 226 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, is a refuge for book lovers. It is also a visitor center where Smith dispenses directions and local lore. Every other week, it hosts a jam session for local musicians, some of whom are authors.

Smith says a network of readers open to exploration is at the core of the book business. “We’re still discovering new

books. New books are being written,” he said. “I learn from my customers. They learn from me. We share. It’s really kind of perfect.”

Smith and his wife, Morris Witten, and their sons, Ryland Witten-Smith and Kirby Witten-Smith, moved to Taos in 1992 after visiting it numerous times.

At home

Like many Taos transplants, Smith and Witten quit their jobs, sold their home, gathered their assets and moved to Taos.

Smith grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. He graduated in 1971 from Louisiana State University, where he majored in speech but concentrated on radio and television.

He worked for Louisiana public TV for 20 years as a cameraman, director, editor, and executive producer.

One of his memorable projects was a documentary on the “Louisiana Hayride,” a live radio show based in Shreveport from 1948 to 1960 — when country music exploded in popularity from its hillbilly roots. Many stars such as Hank Williams, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash got their start on the show.

He worked three years on a documentary about the author Ernest J. Gaines. Smith calls Gaines an outstanding American story — a black man who grew up on a Southern plantation and became a noted writer with such works as “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”

“We would come here and feel so much at home without being able to explain it,” Smith said. “ It was just the feel of the place.”

He and Witten bought Brodsky Bookshop, which was for sale following the death of Lee Brodsky, who founded it in 1977. Witten, who has a background in history and worked at Taos museums, is technically the store’s owner.

“It grows out of a love of books,” Smith said. “The reality behind the curtain is that it’s a business. Fortunately my wife is really good at organizing and being able to think things through in a logical way.”

“The fun of this is that people come in with one idea and they leave with a totally different book.” — Rick Smith

See SMITH, Page 10

Artes | 9

Tina Larkin

“The Lost Boys” get together for their jam session that takes place at Brodsky Bookshop every other week. Rick Smith, the store’s proprietor, can be seen playing guitar at the center of the photo.

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1 0 | Artes

They play music and swap stories.

He says they’ll take a song and find another way to play it like a recent bluesy rendition of “Viva Las Vegas.”

“I looked at her and said ‘it would be easier to pay you’.”

From SMITH, Page 8

S

Is Smith cynical? A bit, he admits. He says fortunately his friend, Nichols, keeps steering him a positive direction.

mith says Witten is also well read. Willie, Brodsky’s resident cat, is named for Willie Stark, the protagonist in her favorite novel, “All the King’s Men,” by Robert Penn Warren.

After-hours jam

Smith’s hobby is music. He plays guitar, some mandolin and harmonica. He says he’s a decent blues slide guitar player.

Harsh realities

A map on the front window lists 11 bookstores once open in Taos. Eight are crossed out. It’s a statement about the harsh realities these days for independent bookshops.

When Smith and Witten took over Brodsky, about 80 percent of the books then were bought in independent bookstores. Now, it’s about a quarter of that amount.

Mega-chains and Internet sales, which Smith admits many indie bookstore owners didn’t take seriously, took their toll.

“We didn’t see the train or hear the train,” he said. “A lot of us just got run over.”

The next wave brought electronic books.

But he says people who like bookstores, love them.

Bookshops are refuges, houses of discovery, community centers and more.

“I don’t know how many people over the years have said ‘Oh, you’re living my dream.’ I give them a funny look and say ‘you know I can make dreams come true’,” Smith said.

While Brodsky is a local bookstore, Smith counts on tourists. Many are return customers.

“They remind me of the last time they were in, the book I recommended,” he said. “It is really affirming. They are refreshed by the experience of being here 30 to 40 minutes,

Every other Monday he hosts an after-hours jam at the bookstore with Nichols and author Sean Murphy — both on guitar. Others sit in like author Craig Smith, on accordion and mandolin, and Jim Bradley who plays bass for the band The Rifters.

Tina Larkin

From left, John Nichols, Jimmy Killingsworth, Morten Nilssen and Craig Smith are regulars at the jam session that happens every other week at Brodsky Bookshop.

sometimes longer. They love the cat.”

Most of the shop’s stock is used. The only new books are by regional authors such as John Nichols.

“My chances of having a specific book at a specific time are really small,” he said.

Now another fun part: virtually all the store’s books are from locals. Many are traded for store credit; others are outright donations.

They play music and swap stories. He says they’ll take a song and find another way to play it like a recent bluesy rendition of “Viva Las Vegas.”

“I call it a card game with guitars,” Smith said. “There’s no cigar smoking but there is whiskey drinking and beer drinking. It’s becomes sort of like a men’s group in a way. It’s an interest for me who sells books to listen to writers share ideas, which they inevitably do.”

Smith is a reader but not a writer. He keeps his tastes wide although he likes a good novel. He is a fan of Gaines “People bring them in and literally say this: ‘I want you to and Larry Watson — “Montana 1948” is a favorite. As for local writers, he enjoys the writing of Nichols and Rick have these books. I want you to stay in business’,” he said.

Collignon, whom he says owns a roofing company and He recalls the time a woman brought him a stack of writes half of his book in his truck. books, some valuable. She told him, “I don’t want anything “I really like that sense of discovery,” he said. “When the for them. I want two things. I want you to stay nice and I want you to stay in business.” chips are down, I will read a book about music.”

Artes

Artes | 1 1

2 0 14 T R A D I C I O N E S | T H E TA O S N E W S

Tina Larkin

Over the year, Taos artists have shown their appreciation for the work of The Taos Volunteer Fire Department by donating what they have, art.

1 2 | Artes

William deBuys Crew chief at the El Valle ‘sentence factory’

By J.R. Logan

W

hen you ask author William deBuys why he’s spent four decades holed up in the tiny village of El Valle just south of Peñasco, his first inclination is to start talking about geese.

In the 1930s, Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz discovered that newly hatched goslings will “imprint” on the first large animal they see, forming an inviolable bond with what it perceives to be its natural caregiver. DeBuys, a Maryland native, says it’s a phenomenon to which he

can relate.

“I feel as though I came out here and I finally hatched,” says deBuys, now 64. He cradles a cup of black tea and stares out his dining room window, across a pasture of waist high grass, past yellow-tipped cottonwoods that line the river, toward the gray peaks in the distance. “I finally grew up. It took me longer than it should have. But when I did, I imprinted on this. On Northern New Mexico.”

DeBuys first took in that view in the early 1970s when he talked himself into a research assistant gig with Harvard professor Robert Coles. DeBuys was tasked with observing and writing about the people he met in the

J.R. Logan

William deBuys on his porch.

ancient hamlets there. His first assignment was the rough and tumble village of Truchas. But to an East Coaster still wet behind the ears, the place and the people were too alien to pretend to comprehend.

“I was so stunned by this landscape. By these mountains,” deBuys remembers. “I had never been west before, and Truchas is a pretty exposed location. You feel the power of the mountains everyday. I came to believe that it was absurd for me, as green as I was, to try to write about people here because I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t understand the land. And I had an intuition that I couldn’t write about the people until I understood something about the land.”

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Artes | 1 3 “My rule of thumb is that I have to make a good sentence before 8:30 in the morning.

If I do that, then I’ll have a productive day.” ­—William deBuys

T

hat intuition was something of an epiphany that directed much of the work deBuys has done since — dissecting the relationship between man and place. In fact, his first book, “Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range,” was meant to give him the foundation he needed to get his bearings in this strange new world. “‘Enchantment and Exploitation’ was trying to understand the land, and through that, to understand the cultures that are here,” deBuys says. “I needed the whole thing to answer my question, which was: ‘Where am I?’” The book is a comprehensive look at the human and natural history of Northern New Mexico, and the connection between the two. Today, the book is considered a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the region. But deBuys says it almost wasn’t published.

“I was fortunate that the book saw the light of day because it was a little bit too different for the tastes of senior people in the history profession back then,” deBuys says. While he realized people were inextricably linked to the land, scholars asked to peer review drafts of the book were left confused. DeBuys says many of them couldn’t figure out why a history writer spent so much time writing about the land.

“At the time, the phrase ‘environmental history’ was pretty much brand new,” deBuys says. “And the book came out and not many people paid attention to it, but slowly it became recognized as a significant work in environmental history, and it just built a readership over time.”

Now, for the book’s 30th anniversary, deBuys has been asked by the publisher to do a revised edition.

DeBuys is currently re-editing parts of the book, and he has added a chapter and a half to the book, primarily addressing the effects of climate change on the region. It’s an entertaining exercise — the seasoned writer in his 60s revising the work of (he jokes) a “brash, inappropriately self-confident young man.”

“It’s not that I reject the fellow that wrote that book,” deBuys says, careful to point out he’s proud of the work.

“But every chapter or so, there’s a place where I want to take him aside and say ‘You know, kid, we can do this a little better.’”

After completing his self-imposed study of Northern New Mexico 30 years ago, deBuys says he was much better qualified to tackle his next book. “River of Traps: A Village Life” is something of a memoir that began as a memorial to deBuy’s friend and teacher, Jacobo Romero.

“I had known Jacobo about as well as I had known anybody who was not blood kin to me,” deBuys says.

“We just spent an awful lot of time together.”

Romero introduced deBuys to life in the mountains when he first arrived. He taught him the art of irrigating by acequia, and spent hours telling stories and describing life as it was before the modern world crept into the isolated valley. In the winter, they would pass the time chatting at the kitchen table while Romero kept a fire burning hot in the wood stove.

“River of Traps”included many photographs by Alex Harris, who came to New Mexico and El Valle as another assitant to Coles. The book was well received and was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.

(The award that year instead went to a massive work by

E. O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler — “The Ants”).

More recently, deBuys has broadened the scope of his efforts beyond the narrow valley he calls home. His most recent published book, “A Great Aridness,” is a series of vignettes that describe the current and predicted effects of climate change on the American Southwest (spoiler alert — the outlook isn’t good).

His next project is entitled “The Last Unicorn: A Search for One of Earth’s Rarest Creatures.” The book, scheduled to be published next March, recounts a 2011 expedition into the jungles of Laos to search out an animal called a saola — an incredibly rare creature whose closest relative is wild cattle, but which looks more like a stocky deer with long, straight horns. DeBuys spent three weeks in the deep bush searching out the animal, and testing himself in some demanding conditions. DeBuys says the trip was challenging, but it paid off.

“It is the best work I’ve ever done,” deBuys says of “The Last Unicorn.” “It’s the best writing. It’s the best story. So I’m kind of eager.”

As he gets older, deBuys says it’s getting easier to finish a book. He refers to his office casita as the “sentence factory,” and he’s developed a strict routine to ensure he’s productive.

“My rule of thumb is that I have to make a good sentence before 8:30 in the morning. If I do that, then I’ll have a productive day,” deBuys says. “You learn how you operate as a writer and what it takes to get the words to flow. A lot of that is just what disciplines you need to follow to be in the right place so that you’re not sitting around waiting for the muse to tap you on the shoulder.

But you can sit down and summon the muse and say, ‘OK. Let’s get to work.’”

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1 4 | Artes

Tina Larkin

Taos Volunteer, Anthony Martinez, in the room that houses the collection.

Katharine Egli

The Taos Volunteer Fire Department poses with the art collection inside the station.

Tina Larkin

The New Deal-era firehouse is a nice setting for such an impressive art collection.

Firehouse art An important collection in the safest of hands

S

By Yvonne Pesquera

tate-of-the-art Pierce fire engines line the station bays of the Taos Volunteer Fire Department on Camino de la Placita. A 75-foot ladder truck, a 2,500-gallon tanker, 4-by-4 brush truck, engine, and even a highly compartmentalized heavy rescue truck are among the immaculately maintained vehicles that stand ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

And behind the gleaming firefighting apparatus, in the 1,200-square-foot Ross Hall, the Taos Volunteer Fire Department houses a uniquely Taos art collection.

Ever since the Fire Department was established in 1933, Taos artists have dropped by to donate a piece of artwork or two. The result? Hundreds of locally inspired paintings, photographs and sketches cover the walls from ceiling to floor.

The artwork is done in all styles and across time periods, with media ranging from oils to watercolors to pastels. There are additional pieces of sculpture and hand-carved dioramas in the collection.

“I am very proud of this unique art collection in our firehouse,” says Eddie Joe Abeyta, president of the board of directors. “We have all of these different people who come by and look at the art.”

At the turn of the last century (when no fire department existed), there was no viable option for saving burning houses.

Volunteers would show up and form a bucket brigade.

Taos artist Blanche C. Grant (1874-1948) was personally moved by these community tragedies. In her self-styled history book, “When Old Trails Were New: The Story of Taos,” Grant writes about the great fire which “swept away the whole north side of the plaza” on May 9, 1932. In fact, it was after this particular fire that she pushed to establish a volunteer fire department.

With the creation of the Taos Volunteer Fire Department, this showed a need for a unified water system –– which led to the creation of the municipality we know as the town of Taos (1934).

Grant’s peer set included the Taos Society of Artists, so she likely encouraged them to donate. Among the collection in the firehouse, one can find many of the same names found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Blumenschein, Berninghaus, Gaspard and Phillips. And more modern celebrities also grace the walls, including R.C. Gorman and Ray Vinella.

“The nature of the collection is amazing,” says Jina Brenneman, curator of exhibitions at the Harwood Museum of Art. “That’s because artists are often terrible editors. They give away pieces they don’t think will sell. But what they give away are ‘uniques’; pieces that are so different from their whole body

of work. Some of that you see at the firehouse.”

Today, the Taos Volunteer Fire Department has a long tradition of honor and pride serving the community. The team is made up of 32 firefighters; eight of whom are paid staff during business hours. But even for those salaried individuals –– after five o’clock, any time they serve on fires is all volunteer.

The Taos Volunteer Fire Department only holds one fundraising event a year: The Annual Fire Drive, which takes place on Oct. 10 this year. Known informally as “the boot drive” (because of the dollar bills motorists stuff into a fireman’s boot), this single annual drive raises enough funds to cover expenses for the whole year.

Capt. Brian Levine acknowledges, “The community really takes care of us, and shows us a lot of love.”

And the donations go right back into the community. For example, call volumes are going up. The Fire Department responds to structure, grass and vehicle fires, as well as medical assist, rescue and hazmat situations.

In addition, they test the 400 fire hydrants within town limits. They teach a fire safety program to over 1,200 Taos schoolchildren a year; seeing some of the same kids come back every year as they advance from grade to grade.

“We are on call all the time,” says Levine. “We have walked away from holiday meals and have spent time away from our families. But we take a lot of pride and honor in what we do.”

The artwork is done in all styles and across time periods, with media ranging from oils to watercolors to pastels. There are additional pieces of sculpture and hand-carved dioramas in the collection.

Artes | 1 5

Tina Larkin

The Taos Volunteer Fire Department boasts a serious art collection.

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1 6 | Artes

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-DIG-fsa-8b27337

New Deal era left more than memories in Taos

An Arroyo Seco farmer participating in an agricultural rehabilitation program, as photographed by Arthur Rothstein in April 1936.

By Andrew Oxford

W

hen a writer working on a guidebook to New Mexico traveled through Taos in the 1930s, they described their emergence from the high road’s canyon in romantic terms:

“...the ascent is almost as thrilling as Prometheus’ cerulean adventure must have been to him when he climbed up into the land of the gods. The freshness and purity of the rarified atmosphere, the clearness of the light, making all colors pure and luminous, and the quietness, with the little villages lying peacefully, seeming asleep, the tall, blue mountains, screen-like, behind them.”

As beautiful as the trip may have been, it came during an ugly time in American history.

The Great Depression left rural communities in particularly poor economic shape.

The author was among many “on relief,” one of approximately 60 out-of-work writers dispatched across New Mexico by the Federal Writers Project to create a guidebook that would — it was hoped — entice tourists and boost local economies.

Their work, published in 1940 as “A Guide to the Colorful State,” endures as a nifty guide to local history and an interesting snapshot of the community approximately 70 years ago.

It is also a reminder of the New Deal’s legacy in New Mexico which, like a yellowing Social Security card, is easy to overlook.

But New Deal projects such as the Works Progress Administration, in many respects, shaped Taos and its surrounding communities.

As part of relief efforts during the Depression, the federal government paid for buildings that have now become familiar to local residents, blending in with newer and older styles of architecture.

Building for the future

Perhaps the most prominent example of the New Deal’s impact on Taos architecture is the Old County Courthouse, completed in 1934 with partial funding from the federal government. Ten frescoes in what was once the courtroom exemplify public artwork of the era.

The tempura-on-plaster works were created by the Taos Fresco Quartet comprised of Emil Bisttram, Ward Lockwood, Victor Higgins and Bert Phillips. With sand from Rinconada, work began in the fall of 1933 and concluded in the summer of 1934.

Each piece keeps to the theme of law and justice, the influence of the era’s politics evidenced by titles such as “Avarice Begets Crime,” “Justice Begets Content” and “Obedience Casts Out Fear.”

The largest fresco, created by Higgins and titled “Moses, the Law Giver,” was positioned over the judge’s bench.

Each painter went on to fame for other works but the Public Works of Art Project job, which paid $56 a month, was an economic lifeline for artists who were fortunate to have a job when few were buying their work.

In addition to the courthouse, the federal government funded a slew of building projects throughout Taos and communities around the county during the New Deal era.

New Deal programs built schools in Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco, Cañon, El Prado, Llano Quemado, Questa, San Cristóbal and Talpa. Some, such as the schoolhouse in Talpa, have since become community centers. Others, such as parts of the Enos García Elementary campus, continue to serve as schools.

New Deal-era buildings still line what is now known as Civic Plaza Drive. The UNM-Taos building at the corner of Hinde Street, for example, was built in 1937 with $22,406 of Works Progress Administration money to serve as headquarters of the Carson National Forest.

Recognize granddad?

Approximately 175,000 images from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information can be viewed online by visiting loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa. Try searching the collection with terms such as “Taos” or “Questa.”

Artes | 1 7

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW3-018760-C

A school in Questa, as photographed by John Collier in February 1943.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW3-015256-C

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Collection, LC-USW3-014456-C

School children find Trampas on a globe. Photographed by John Collier in January 1943.

Dedication of a clinic in Peñasco, as photographed by John Collier in January 1943.

In Taos County, the photographers captured not only images of Northern New Mexico’s villages and towns but slices of their residents’ lives.

Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales

State Representative District #42 Democrat The Light, the Land and the People of our Community Make Taos a World-Class Arts Destination State Representative Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales District 42, Democrat

Several series of photographs follow the work of the Taos County Cooperative Health Association, including the trials and tribulations of serving patients in rural New Mexico.

Capturing “problem” photographs of challenges facing rural communities and “solution” photographs depicting the New Deal’s work, the unit’s work is part anthropological study and part propoganda.

Today, removed from the political context of Rooseveltera politics, the approximately 175,000 images depict a nation in transition. In the pictures of local school children standing outside new schools and nurses tending to patients at a clinic in Peñasco, you could see where Northern New Mexico was coming from and where it is going.

Quick Draw

The New Deal did not just leave a legacy of bricks in Taos, though. There is lots of film, too.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, communities throughout Taos County were the subject of close study by photographers from the federal government.

A unit of photographers fanned out across the country during that time to document life in rural America for an agency founded as the Resettlement Administration in 1935, renamed the Farm Security Administration in 1937

the duties of its priest.

John Fullbright

Images of the past and future

and known as the Office of War Information in 1941 and 1942.

Some of the unit’s photographers, such as Dorothea Lange, created iconic images of the Great Depression.

While Lange worked in Río Arriba, Santa Fe and Harding counties, she did not visit Taos.

John Collier, who went on to become a prominent anthropologist, did. Arthur Rothstein and Russell Lee, who became well-known photographers in their own right, did as well.

In Taos County, the photographers captured not only images of Northern New Mexico’s villages and towns but slices of their residents’ lives.

One series of images, for example, documents a day in the home of Trampas’ majordomo.

Another series depicts services in the village’s church and

Geraint Smith

T

he Forest Service has since moved to Paseo Cruz Alta. Around the corner on Camino de la Placitas, however, another New Deal project — the Taos Volunteer Fire Department’s first station — continues to serve its original purpose.

Taos, where art is everywhere Indoor, outdoor, counter-culture, high-brow, on the walls, off-the-wall, on stage, in the parks, in your ears, projected on the sidewalks.

Thank you Taos County for your ongoing support. If I may assist you please call 575-770-3178.

Paid Political Advertisement

Quick Draw

Quick Draw

Quick Draw

Geraint Smith

Paid for by the Committee to Re-Elect Roberto “Bobby” J. Gonzales, Marcos Gonzales Treasurer

For a list of events and happenings, visit TAOS.org/fall2014

1 8 | Artes

‘Outlaw Artist’ Bill Gersh He did what he did to be a free spirit

Taos News File Photo

Bill Gersh in 1980.

T

By Virginia L. Clark

aos doesn’t cater to cowards. That’s Georgia Gersh’s peremptory summation of her famous, and rather infamous father, “Wild” Bill Gersh and his contemporaries.

Though “ferocious” (his own preferred descriptor), “outlaw artist” Gersh was widely appreciated for an unmistakable gentleness and compassion, as noted by Stephen Parks, commenting after Gersh’s sudden death in 1994, at the golden age 50.

“As ferocious as he could seem on the surface, he was the most lovable person I ever knew,” Parks told Tempo, upon Gersh’s death May 1994. “Gersh is a symbol of a way of life for artists that prevailed in Taos in the ’70s and ’80s. There was an idealism and devotion to his work. I will mourn the passing of that kind of commitment.”

If the ’60s were the heyday of free love in the world, the ’70s and ’80s was a bonfire of the vanities in the Taos art scene, which toasted the talents of Larry Bell, Ron Cooper, Ted Egri, Gus Foster, R.C. Gorman, Paul Pascarella, Ken Price and Jim Wagner, to name just a few among many, many more.

“There was tons of art, tons of openings and it was so fun,” daughter Georgia Gersh recalls fondly, noting too, unmitigated joy and freedom growing up on Magic Tortoise commune in Lama, some 20 miles north of Taos. Last April, Georgia Gersh opened Magpie, an artisan store and quasi gallery in Overland Ranch, four miles north of Taos Plaza.

“Granted, my sister Rachel has a different opinion about it, but I think growing up here gave me a really unique perspective,” Gersh says about her take on Taos, both culturally and as an art colony.

Though he dedicated himself to the art of living for the

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first two decades of his life and finally established himself as a consummate artist by his late 30s, Gersh lived the artist’s way early on.

Raised in Kerhonkson, N.Y, he earned an art education degree from State University of New York at New Paltz and parlayed that into teaching high school art in upstate New York, before characteristically throwing caution to the wind in 1968 and moving to Berkeley, Calif., freedom-central of hippiedom. But the chaos of the flower children took its toll in short order.

Painting and unloading bags of cement, and packaging factory salad dressing wasn’t even close to the ideal of artful living Gersh sought. After a short stint as an art therapist in a mental hospital he hurried off to Taos in 1970, where he co-founded the Reality Construction Company commune in Arroyo Hondo, later moving up to Lama, co-founding and building the Magic Tortoise Foundation with like-minded idealists.

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Artes | 1 9

“W

e had four households living there on 40 acres that backed up to national forest, a communal garden, communal larder; we shopped at the old Amigos Co-op,” Georgia Gersh recalls. She and her older half-sister Rachel would leave the house after breakfast and come back at dinner. “It was a really wonderful, free, imaginative upbringing.”

And all the while Bill Gersh was building and adding on to the communal space, he was also avidly sculpting and painting and writing. His sketchbooks and journals have multiple entries daily — poetry and imagery, architectonics, ideas and found objects, all lying about in both psychic and physical creative tension. “I consider Bill the most dedicated all-around artist I know,” photographer and gallerist Chuck Henningsen is quoted in Tempo’s life review at Gersh’s death. “He was a poet and kept a journal.

His life was dedicated to art. Bill worked every day of his life. Better than anyone, he knew how to get in touch with creativity and knew what it means to inspire constant creativity.”

Taos News File Photo

“Native Fears,” an installation from Bill Gersh in 1991.

Taos News File Photo

Bill Gersh mingling with his art. Date unknown.

Painter, poet, parent and performance artist, Bill Gersh was an artists’ artist, dedicated to all aspects of creativity. Yet despite, or perhaps because of his rigorous standards, he did not enjoy widespread recognition or financial security from his art. Nonetheless, he worked his inner and outer lands of being-Bill, honestly and with integrity, in whatever mood or mind that suited him. He defined himself to Parks in a mid-’80s Artlines interview (artlinesarchive.blogspot.com/2011/07/bill-

Healt hy

gersh-outlaw-artist-goes-legit.html): “I want to make people more aware. Some people can deal with it, and we have a dialogue, others just call me crazy.

But I can’t categorize myself. If somebody wants to, fine. I build houses, I irrigate the alfalfa fields, I paint. I do whatever needs to be done so that I can be a free spirit.”

And Gersh’s legacy grows with each passing year, keeping Taos a cantankerous colony of creatives and other unfathomable dreamers.

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“Great Spirit, grant that I may not Criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.”

- Native American Proverb

Taos Mountain Casino is proud to honor those who both exemplify the best of the past and who help us weave it into the future. These people are our own links in what continues to be an unbroken circle of tradition at Taos Pueblo.

Photo: Rick Romancito