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The Aspen Art Museum takes an egalitarian approach to exhibiting exciting contemporary art. By Susan H. Bell Photos by P eter Ogilvie
104 Queen of Interesting The life, loves, and lasting impact of gallerist Riva Yares. By Devon Jackson Photos by K ate Russell
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Port of Call A full cast of characters, each a master of craft, found a calling in the quest for a meditative home. By Christina Procter Photos by P eter Ogilvie
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Best with Food A quarter century of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta showcases our region’s unique culinary culture. By Anya Sebastian Photos by Kate Russell
PETER OGILVIE
features Fall 2015 TREND
90 Breaking Down Barriers
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FROM THE EDITOR
38
CONTRIBUTORS
42
Passion of the Palate
178
Chefs and foodies go back to the basics. By Nancy Zimmerman Photos by Kate Russell
FLASH Polestar of printmaking, Taos holds a citywide exhibit; Chatter events make music worth talking about in Albuquerque; a nonprofit sparks conversations about the role of women in the arts and social change.
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BITE & BUZZ Tucked away in some unlikely places, several rustic but sophisticated eateries celebrate New Mexico’s bounty. By Nancy Zimmerman Photos by Kate Russell
SHUTTER In digitized wet-plate portraits, Will Wilson’s Indians are anything but vanishing. By Devon Jackson
71 NEW MEDIA Steina and Woody Vasulka create fresh realities with media old and new. By Gussie Fauntleroy Photos by Kate Russell
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ARTIST STUDIO John Vokoun bends corrupted digital data into fields of wondrous color. By Devon Jackson Portrait by Jamie Hart
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ENTREPRENEUR As Vinaigrette restaurant expands, Erin Wade hopes to change the relationship between farm and table. By Rena Distasio Photos by Sergio Salvador
Q&A Local chefs share some lively talk about Santa Fe’s place on the culinary map. Photos by Kate Russell
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BITE & BUZZ Hitting the high notes with a mixology restaurateur By Natalie Bovis Photos by Doug Merriam
222 ECOSOURCE A zero-carbon New Mexico by 2065? Possible. By Jim O’Donnell Illustrations by Christie Green
230 ECOSOURCE There’s an art to landscaping sustainably. By Susanna Space
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OUTLOOK A Taos visionary promotes a new dynamic among art, agriculture, and the built environment. By Nancy Zimmerman Portraits by Bill Curry
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HIGH ALTITUDE
Fashion peaks at the Taos Ski Valley. By Michele Potter Portraits by Bill Curry
ON THE COVER: Paula Castillo’s the boat (2015), aluminum with patina.
TOP: KATE RUSSELL. BOTTOM LEFT: BILL CURRY. BOTTOM RIGHT: BONCRATIOUS
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Susan H. Bell, Natalie Bovis, Rena Distasio, Gussie Fauntleroy, Stephanie Hainsfurther, Devon Jackson, Jim O’Donnell, Keiko Ohnuma, Michele Potter, Christina Procter, Anya Sebastian, Susanna Space, Nancy Zimmerman CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATOR Bill Curry, Christie Green, Jamie Hart, Doug Merriam, Peter Ogilvie, Kate Russell, Sergio Salvador NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION Disticor Magazine Distribution Services, disticor.com
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NEW MEXICO DISTRIBUTION Andy Otterstrom, 505-920-6370 ACCOUNTING Danna Cooper, 505-988-5007 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING Knock Knock Social SUBSCRIPTIONS Visit trendmagazineglobal.com and click “Subscribe,” call 505-988-5007, or send $24.99 for one year (four issues) to Trend, P.O. Box 1951, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1951. PREPRESS Fire Dragon Color, Santa Fe, New Mexico PRINTING Publication Printers, Denver, Colorado
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Manufactured and printed in the United States. Copyright 2015 by Santa Fe Trend LLC. All rights reserved. No part of Trend may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from the publisher. For reprint information, please call 505-988-5007, or email santafetrend@gmail.com. Trend art + design + architecture + cuisine ISSN 2161-4229 is published 4 times a year, with Spring (circulation 25,000), Summer (25,000), Fall (25,000), and Winter (35,000) issues distributed throughout New Mexico and the nation at premium outlets. Ask your local newsstand (anywhere worldwide) to carry Trend. Find us on Facebook at Trend art + design + architecture + cuisine magazine. Editorial inquiries to editor@trendmagazineglobal.com. Trend, P.O. Box 1951, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1951 505-988-5007, trendmagazineglobal.com
34 TREND Fall 2015
PHOTOS: KATE RUSSELL
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from the editor
Still We Rise
36 TREND Fall 2015
contributions. Yet a challenge we share is that we live in a land of disparity, one that is powered by coal and currently experiencing a fracking boom. This year, battles rage in opposition to the status quo: the Navajo Nation is divided between selling rights to drilling companies and protecting their lands; groups are rallying to protect Chaco Canyon; a coalition has formed to set a new energy course for New Mexico. It is fitting, then, that this fall we bring back our publication EcoSource: A Guide to Sustainability in Action, as a component of Trend. It kicks off with “Zero Carbon 2065” (p. 222) by Jim O’Donnell, who consulted experts across industries to see how the state could get to zero carbon emissions in 50 years. Christie Green took on illustrating this fine future, one in which, if the boldness of those who fill these pages is any indication, we will most certainly rise. —Christina Procter, Editor
CECE PALASKI PHOTOGRAPHY
I
n summer we make fall. The moving rush of energy, afternoon rains, and native and non-native plants bursting like a tropical façade in the desert were always headed for fall’s release. Not dissimilar, the making of this issue has been a rarity of chemistry among our core team, writers, photographers, and the incredible subjects of the articles that follow. This time, their stories have taught me that it really is possible to do what you want with your life. Anything that suggests otherwise is weaker than the human will. As Maya Angelou says, “Still I rise.” What’s striking about the artists, artisans, entrepreneurs, and restaurateurs in these pages is how they went boldly through the days and nights to make a life and living out of doing what they love. Some rolled into destiny with apparent ease, like Riva Yares, a self-made art dealer who took the art scene by storm when she left Tel Aviv and opened a gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, in the ’60s (p. 104). Others were career changers, people who stumbled upon passions in a more wayward manner—such as John Vokoun, who creates color-field paintings derived from corrupted digital data (p. 78), or Erin Wade, whose farm-to-table restaurant chain is expanding to Austin this fall (p. 83). Many of their efforts, especially those of Taosbased architect, artist, and sustainability guru Matthew Thomas (p. 158) or the pioneering digital work of Steina and Woody Vasulka (p. 71), involve and impact wider communities. Then there are the multiple driving forces who created Santa Fe’s Wine & Chile Fiesta 25 years ago, and the involvement of many more since, who put Santa Fe on the culinary map with a high-level restaurant involvement here (p. 181). It was meeting the artists, artisans, and construction managers who collaborated in crafting one contemporary custom home who really got me thinking about the power of people’s will. Many of those interviewed had abandoned former careers to start their own businesses or create art full-time. These conversations are some of the most motivating I’ve had, and they make up the backstories of “Port of Call” (p. 120). Of course, it is not uncommon to meet interesting people in Santa Fe. From teens to millennials to those who were well into their careers before the Internet was born, we make varying
from the publisher
A
lways ahead of the curve, Trend strives to reflect important cultural and societal changes just as they hit the mainstream. Our team is dedicated to bringing you the stories of current and future innovations in art, design, architecture, cuisine, and fashion, as well as shedding compelling new light on stories of historical significance. I am passionate about exploring the cutting edge of what is possible in both the print and online magazine formats, including bringing to you a new concept in fashion editorial with the winter issue of Santa Fe Trend, available December 2015 through December 2016. Less a traditional magazine than a large-format LOOKBOOK, Trend Winter 2015 will reflect the one-of-a-kind art, jewelry, and accessories made by the many talented artists, designers, and craftsmen that live and create in our region. Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos are meccas of authentic finds unique to our area but treasured by collectors and tastemakers worldwide. Through sophisticated international fashion photo essays composed by fine-art photographers from around the globe, together with top-notch advertising showcasing rare art, treasures, designs, and collectables, Trend Winter 2015 proves that we are a world-class shopping destination. I am grateful that you read and subscribe to a magazine that matters and that has reflected the vitality of our region for more than 15 years, and I would appreciate your passing us along to friends, family, and colleagues. As great changes unfold before us, I stand tall and embrace my life lessons with even more dedication and commitment to excellence. —Cynthia Canyon, Publisher and Founder
— CREATED 4 PLAY — 56 wood pcs • 112 images • 1000’s of things to say
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trendmagazineglobal.com 37
contributors natalie bovis
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devon jackson
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jim o’donnell
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douglas merriam
5
bill curry
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WRITERS Founder of theliquidmuse.com and New Mexico Cocktails & Culture, our state’s first mixology festival, Natalie Bovis grew up in Santa Fe. She has authored three cocktail books, including Edible Cocktails: Garden To Glass. She also is the co-creator of OM organic liqueurs, pens the column “Kiss My Glass” for the Santa Fe Reporter, teaches cocktail classes, consults for liquor companies, trains bar and distributor staff, hosts videos, serves as vice president of the New Mexico chapter of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, and recently launched weekly Sunday evening pop-ups of The Liquid Muse Cocktail Club at Skylight.
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38 TREND Fall 2015
Devon Jackson has worked as a freelance writer and editor for publications such as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Village Voice, Sports Illustrated, New York Newsday, and Entertainment Weekly. His book Conspiranoia! (Dutton) came out in 2000. He is the former editor of the Santa Fean and a writer with Outside. He has had short stories and poems appear in various literary journals, from The Mississippi Review to Nimrod. Award-winning author and photographer Jim O’Donnell is fortunate enough to call Taos home. That said, his wanderings have taken him to more than 40 countries on five continents and are to blame for the five languages he can stumble through. O’Donnell is the author of Notes for the Aurora Society and Rise and Go. He is also to blame for numerous articles, sordid tales, odd observations, halffinished novels, angry letters-to-the-editor and
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kate russell
7 peter
ogilvie
TOP ROW, FROM LEFT: DOUG MERRIAM, DEVON JACKSON, ISABELLA O’DONNELL. CENTER ROW, FROM LEFT: DOUG MERRIAM, GILLEAN MCLEOD. BOTTOM ROW, FROM LEFT: KATE RUSSELL, PETER OGILVIE
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Douglas Merriam splits his time between Santa Fe and Portland, Maine, shooting lots of locations in between. He says, “Sometimes I wake up and have to think about where I am because I travel so much.” Upcoming assignments have him shooting in New Hampshire, Maine, and Florida, as well as his beloved Santa Fe. Bill Curry is a photographer constantly in awe of the light in Northern New Mexico. Formerly in front of the camera as a top model and a film and TV actor, he was able to learn much about on-location photography and production from some of the top photographers and producers in the business. He has traveled worldwide seeking exotic locales to find the defining moment in a photograph. His main focus has been on resort photography, fashion editorial, high-end weddings, and portraiture. He currently resides in Taos, New Mexico. Peter Ogilvie was raised in Southern California and studied art and architecture at Berkeley. He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started making documentary films. Filmmaking led to still photography, both fine art and commercial. Pursuing his career in advertising, fashion, and fine art, he’s lived in San Francisco, Milan, Paris, New York, and now New Mexico. He has traveled the world on assignments and won numerous awards for his work with clients like Saks Fifth Avenue, The Gap, AT&T, Sony, Macy’s, Vogue, Marie Claire, and GQ. R trendmagazineglobal.com 39
Distinctive Products Available in Santa Fe Visit our website at www.statementsinsantafe.com
Photo: Richard White
S TAT E M E N T S
PHOTOGRAPHERS Kate Russell is a nationally recognized photographer based in Santa Fe, known for her ability to create evocative images and elevate simplicity to an art form. Her work is seen in The New York Times, Western Interiors, Santa Fean, and Su Casa, among others. She’s also featured in The Restaurant Martín Cookbook: Sophisticated Home Cooking From the Celebrated Santa Fe Restaurant by Martín Rios with Bill and Cheryl Jamison, Old World Interiors by David Naylor, and Designers Here and There by Michele Keith. Her images can be seen at katerussellphotography.com.
TILE / LIGHTING / KITCHENS / FLOORING
other scribblings. He is currently the Jack Williamson Endowed Chair for Literature at Eastern New Mexico University.
THE PREMIER SOURCE JEWELRY FASHION RUGS
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news, gossip, and innuendo press-proud
Press Here A polestar of printmaking celebrates its artists Abby Salsbury, Sitting in The Garden (2013), silkscreen. Above: Ink tests, Tamarind Institute
42 TREND Fall 2015
COURTESY OF ROBERT PARKER, PRESSING THROUGH TIME. ABOVE: PETER OGILVIE
P
rintmaking has long been a kind of stepchild in the art world. Because prints are made in multiples, they’ve been considered something less than fine art, which is about singular works. But that thinking is changing, with more attention paid and appreciation expressed for the lines, tones, and colors and the complex techniques using stone, copper plate, glass, solar plates, and silk screens. Somewhat surprisingly, Taos has served as a center for printmaking for more than 150 years, attracting printmakers for the same reasons that painters and other artists are lured there. “Most of the printmakers I know and print with have something to say about the light in Taos and how it affects their creative juices,” says Robert Parker, an architect, artist, and teacher who is also a printmaker. “It’s a spiritual environment, and many artists make a deep commitment to personal growth while continuing to hone their skills.” The first printing press in New Mexico arrived in Taos in 1834, and the makers followed, all with intriguing personal stories to tell of what brought them to the secluded valley, and today they number more than a hundred. Parker and co-curator David Farmer, a collector, teacher, and writer, sought to honor the profession and the artists by drawing attention to the area’s rich history and prolific present, digging deep into private collections, museums, and university resources all over the country to map the breadth of Taos’s printmaking tradition. Thus an idea they cooked up over lunch a few short months ago has led to an unprecedented, citywide exhibition of prints made in or with a connection to the Taos Valley.
eidos
COURTESY OF ROBERT PARKER, PRESSING THROUGH TIME
contemporary jewelry
Jan Dorris, Woman with a Pot (2011), monotype.
Running through February 13, 2016, “Pressing Through Time: 150 Years of Printmaking in Taos” showcases historic and contemporary prints. Parker and Farmer selected the historic works, and a jury of nationally recognized authorities culled the entries from contemporary printmakers. “Virtually every technique is represented here,” says Parker of the lithographs, woodblocks, etchings, monotypes, and linocuts selected for the exhibition.
This marks the first time an exhibit in Taos spans several museums and prominent galleries, which was necessary because the scope of the project exceeded the capacity of any single venue. Among the participating museums are the Millicent Rogers Museum, the Harwood Museum of Art, the Taos Center for the Arts’s Encore and Stables galleries, the Taos Art Museum and Fechin House, the Blumenschein Home and Museum, the Doel Reed Center for the Arts, continued on page 45
eidos contemporary jewelry 500 Montezuma Avenue inside Sanbusco Center Santa Fe, NM 87501 505 992 0020 www.eidosjewelry.com
trendmagazineglobal.com 43
symphony sounds
news, gossip, and innuendo
P
art coffee klatch, part poetry slam, part classical music concert series, Chatter is one of the best reasons Burqueños have for getting up and out of the house on Sunday mornings. Established in 2008 as Church of Beethoven by New Mexico Symphony Orchestra cellist Felix Wurman and his friend, violinist David Felberg, Chatter is a secular experience inspired by religious worship. The story goes that Wurman, who had just finished playing a church gig, realized that the congregation found the music as inspirational as the sermon. He also realized that, religious or not, most people liked getting together on Sunday mornings, and they liked doing it over coffee. Thus, the format was born: arrive a little
The renovated blacksmith shop at the Albuquerque railyard made for great acoustics at a Chatter event last year.
44 TREND Fall 2015
James and I think is compelling, whether old or new,” says Felberg. “Mainly, it’s about showcasing variety.” Which means classical to modern, short pieces to long, from the Baroque to the present day. The annual calendar includes 50 Sunday morning concerts, six evening cabaret performances at a local venue, four concerts at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, and one or two special concerts held in nontraditional venues. While Chatter has garnered national attention, Shields is most proud of what they have accomplished at a community level, as the majority of their musicians are local, and even the out-of-towners maintain ties to the city. “We’re not engaging divas,” says Shields. “The people who come here make friends, make connections, and carve out a little of their life in New Mexico.” “Felix really nailed it when he came up with the format for the show,” says Felberg. “An hour of music. With coffee. What a way to awaken the senses.” chatterabq.org —Rena Distasio
COURTESY OF CHATTER: MUSIC WORTH TALKING ABOUT
Music Worth Talking About
before 10:00 a.m., sip an espresso, nosh on some baked goods, maybe work the room. Then at half past, sit down to 20 minutes of spoken word, 40 minutes of music, and two minutes of silence. The format stuck, even beyond Wurman’s death in 2009. Felberg took over artistic directorship, with clarinetist and Toronto Symphony member James Shields invited to assist. When they learned that Wurman’s sister had trademarked the name Church of Beethoven, they petitioned the board to change the name to Chatter, a tongue-in-cheek reference to lively talk about lively music. Otherwise, Chatter maintains Wurman’s original mission to keep the music eclectic, intimate, and accessible. The warehouse performance space at Las Puertas on 1st Street near downtown, for instance, not only allows for plenty of onsite parking but ensures a casual vibe—no dressing up necessary, and nearly every seat puts you up close and personal with the performers. As for the programming, “It’s whatever
Italian Farmhouse Kitchen Santa Fe, New Mexico Since 1996
TOP: COURTESY OF JENNIFER LYNCH. BOTTOM: PETER OGILVIE
Have you joined us for LUNCH lately? Lynch in her studio. Above: Fractal #28 (2002), solar-plate etching on steel.
Press Here
continued from page 43
and the Couse-Sharp Historic Site. Gallery participants include David Anthony Fine Art, Robert L. Parsons Fine Art, Mission Gallery, 203 Fine Art, Hulse/Warman Gallery, and Chimayo Trading del Norte in Ranchos de Taos. The exhibits will be augmented by lectures, video presentations, demonstrations, and workshops for children and adults. “It’s a huge opportunity for art lovers to understand what printmaking is all about,” says Jennifer Lindsley, a founding member of Pressing On, a group of 17 printmakers exhibiting their work at Stables Gallery and offering demonstrations of their techniques. pressingthroughtime.com —Stephanie Hainsfurther
11:30-4:30 Wednesday— Saturday ilpiattosantafe.com Open til 10:30pm Daily
505-984-1091 95 W Marcy St.
trendmagazineglobal.com 45
civil conversation
#Flash
news, gossip, and innuendo
Attendees at the 2014 symposium “Risk and Reinvention: How Women Are Changing the World.”
An archival society strides into the digital present across a bridge of art, feminism, and social change
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TREND Fall 2015
“W
hat would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?” The great feminist poet Muriel Rukeyser famously asked this question in 1968. Her answer: “The world would split open.” If you are a woman who has spent her life listening to the wisdom of men, it may come as a revelation to discover that when accomplished women get together in a room to talk about
their lives, they invariably split open the truths of the world outside. The funny, smart, wise revelations that tumble forth have come as a reassuring reward to the founders of the Women’s International Study Center (WISC), whose academic name belies the group’s far-reaching ambitions. A studied effort that emerged from the historic Acequia Madre House in Santa Fe, WISC seeks to honor three women who were Santa Fe
JANE BERNARD / COURTESY OF WISC
Girl-Talk (nØt)
#Flash cultural muses by establishing a scholarly institution that aims to advance the cause of women everywhere. While the mission seems broad, the output is sharp and relevant. Founded in 2013, WISC not only works with its partner nonprofit, the Acequia Madre House, and its collections to award residencies and prizes but also organizes conference-like symposia. The first, held last year, featured a keynote speech by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Joined by dozens of panelists representing the group’s four-pronged focus of arts, sciences, business, and cultural preservation, the speakers tend to bring to their presentations the nimble contemporary currency reminiscent of the TED talks. It is this sharp social relevance that is becoming the hallmark of WISC events, aided by insider knowledge of who is working at the leading edge of women’s issues, from both academic and activist angles. Inspired by comments from Ginsburg last year, this year’s conference opened with a look at unconscious bias, addressed from a neuroscience perspective by Dr. Jennifer Raymond of Stanford University. (Anyone who missed it can try an online test of unconscious bias at implicit.harvard.edu before downloading the talk online.) Art is another focus of the summerlong EDGE Series (Engaging Dialogue on Gender Equity), especially as it relates to cultural activism and social change. Visual art was central to the lives of the three women, according to board member and WISC founder Revell Carr. Each showed a forwardthinking recognition that cultural expression goes beyond ornament, grounding a community’s sense of well-being and identity. Leonora Frances Curtin Paloheimo, for instance, the youngest, lobbied the federal government to include traditional crafts in Work Progress Administration vocational training. Not only did her actions help sustain hundreds of local families through the Great Depression, they also launched a renaissance in Spanish Colonial art, elevating homespun New Mexican religious crafts to the status of fine art collected worldwide. “They did not just sit back and write a check,” Carr says. “They were activists and got involved.” The matriarch, Eva Scott Fenyes, rode
muleback to remote locations in order to document adobe architecture that was in danger of being lost. Despite their wealth and privilege, Carr says, they would continually get their shoes and hands dirty trying to preserve culture and the arts, especially in its proletarian manifestations. Social activism is thus a thread running through WISC explorations, igniting intellectual passion in what might otherwise become a purely archival mission. Younger women are special targets, since many of these “digital natives” born in the postfeminist era often have not been exposed to a high caliber of discourse that is among and about women. In early August, WISC brought together New Mexico artists Harmony Hammond, Rose B. Simpson, and Meridel Rubenstein— all known for their feminist themes—in conversation with Susan Fisher Sterling, director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the world’s only major museum dedicated to cultural contributions by women. Fisher Sterling outlined the museum’s mission to explore how art by women drives societal change. An event at The Lensic in Santa Fe in September will further address the role of women in social justice movements, with attorney Anita Hill in conversation with African-American women’s studies pioneer Beverly Guy-Sheftall. Hill, now a professor at Brandeis University, opened the dialogue on sexual harassment in America 24 years ago with her accusations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Sheftall and Hill will discuss the transformative legacies of the civil rights and women’s movements in the United States, as well as take on such timely concerns as Title IX, sexual harassment on college campuses, African American civil rights, and police brutality. The latter is a topic explored by artists in a concurrent exhibition curated by the UNM Art Museum, Necessary Force: Art in the Police State (through December 13). As recordings from past events (available online) make clear, gentlemen might be among the smartest eavesdroppers into what is shaping up to be, with the 2016 presidential election, the Year of the Woman. For event information, visit wisc-amh.org. —Keiko Ohnuma
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West Palace Avenue: An Artful Meander Through Time Even back in the days when West Palace Avenue sported a vacant lot and the last gas station heading north out of town—think late 1930s—it was a place to buy art. Ivan Barnett, co-owner and director of Patina Gallery at 131 West Palace Avenue, points to a historic photo of booths set up by Spanish Colonial artists inside the long, wood-floored building that now houses his gallery. “The original pressed-tin ceiling [still there] had a skylight!” Barnett says. It was there that Santa Fe’s first Spanish Market, then called Native Market, helped sustain more than 200 Hispanic families during the Depression. Later the space held various shops until, in the mid-1970s, legendary art dealer and gallery owner Elaine Horwitch moved in and helped definitively turn the focus of West Palace Avenue toward fine art. Today this end of Palace, beginning at the New Mexico Museum of Art and continuing away from the Plaza for a block, is a short but art-packed stroll that can fill an entire day.
Along with the museum’s changing and permanent collections, there’s everything from jewelry to fine crafts, contemporary and traditional painting and sculpture, and antique American Indian artifacts and art. Around the corner and little more than a block past is the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, an international destination. Harking back to its days as a cooperative market for handcrafted Spanish Colonial arts, the gracious space that houses Patina Gallery offers artisan-created works that seem infused with soul. Distinctive studio jewelry by world-renowned artists is presented along with masterful creations in clay, wood, fiber, and other mediums. Sharing the same space, these diverse artworks are in “aesthetic dialogue,” as Barnett puts it. An artist himself for the past 30 years, Barnett brings a highly discriminating eye to the gallery’s selections, as does co-owner Allison Buchsbaum Barnett, an authority on artist-made jewelry. The couple opened Patina in 1999
and then transformed the historic building into a contemporary art space. Two doors to the east, Sorrel Sky Gallery carries on the legacy of notable regional and contemporary art begun on West Palace some 40 years ago. After opening her first Santa Fe gallery in the space now housing Patina, Elaine Horwitch expanded into what is now Sorrel Sky. Following her death in 1991, the Horwitch LewAllen Gallery was owned and run for a number of years by Arlene LewAllen, another powerhouse of the contemporary art scene. The building’s stunning second floor, designed by the acclaimed architect Jeff Harnar, became Santa Fe’s first contemporary loft-style art space. Gallery owner Shanan Campbell Wells purchased the building in 2014 and then established Sorrel Sky’s location. Art and history also come together beautifully across the street. Lacuna Galleries occupies the Delgado House, which was built in the mid-1870s and owned since 1980 by the Historic Santa
Back in 1934, artisans sold their weavings and other Spanish Colonial crafts at Native Market in the building that now houses Patina Gallery. 48
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trendmagazineglobal.com 48
HARMON T. PARKHURST, FENYES-CURTIN-PALOHEIMO COLLECTION, COURTESY OF ARCHIVES, ACEQUIA MADRE HOUSE, SANTA FE.
WEST PALACE AVENUE
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JEWELRY AS ART
“Jungle Suite” by Christie Sugarman
Hollow Fabrications by Michael Sugarman
Connect-The-Dots by Michael Sugarman
“Amazon” by Christie Sugarman
SUGARMAN-PETERSON GALLERY
130 WEST PALACE AVE. SANTA FE, NM 505-982-0340 www.sugarmanpetersongallery.com sugarmangallery@gmail.com
WEST PALACE AVENUE
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Fe Foundation. Originally a pair of one-story residences, the structure was consolidated and an upper floor added in the 1890s by Felipe Delgado, grandson of a prominent supporter of merchant trade along the historic Camino Real and Santa Fe Trail. The building is a well-restored example of Territorial Style, a blend of earlier Spanish/Mexican and East Coast American architectural elements that began arriving in Santa Fe after New Mexico became a U.S. territory in 1848. After the turn of the 20th century, Delgado House served as a family residence and later held a series of shops. It was purchased and restored by acclaimed New Mexico architect John Gaw Meem in the 1970s, and for a number of years housed First National Bank. Today its rooms provide a handsome backdrop for a wide range of classic and contemporary works by artists of international renown. The yard behind Delgado House where household chickens and vegetables were once raised is now a courtyard with tables for sipping coffee, and the outdoor space is available for weddings and other events. Owners Olaf and Sheryle Moon hail from a long line of artists with roots in Scotland and Australia. “Our portfolio is designed to bring some of the finest artists from around the world to Santa Fe,” says Sheryle Moon. Head back out Lacuna’s doors, turn west and you’ll see fine craftsmanship from an even earlier era among the authentic antique Native American artifacts at Sherwoods Spirit of America. A few steps on, Sugarman Peterson Gallery represents a captivating “marriage between fine art jewelry and fine art,” in the words of Michael Sugarman, co-owner with his wife, Christie Frantz-Sugarman. Nationally collected jewelry designers, the Sugarmans offer work by some of the world’s top jewelry artists, along with exceptional
contemporary paintings and sculpture by such American artists as Christopher Thomson and Giuseppe Palumbo. Having relocated from Canyon Road in 2011, Sugarman Peterson adds another interesting venue to the array of distinctive West Palace galleries. Filling out the selection is sculpture, painting, and jewelry at Manitou Galleries and Western and wildlife art at Huey’s Fine Art. One last West Palace stop is the legendary Palace Restaurant and Saloon. Here the meander through art and history drops you into the red velvet lap of mid-19th-century Santa Fe. Once a gambling house and brothel overseen by the powerful and infamous Doña Tules, the popular establishment now serves dinner and drinks. All of this on one short but engaging block in downtown Santa Fe. 50
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BOTTOM: COURTESY OF PATINA GALLERY. TOP: LISA WILSON
Sorrel Sky Gallery was designed by architect Jeff Harnar. Left: A recent opening at Patina Gallery, Drawn to the Wall.
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shutter BY DEVON JACKSON
Will Wilson’s Indians are anything but vanishing
COURTESY OF WILL WILSON
I
f you were to form your impression of Will Wilson mainly through his photographs and the interviews he’s given the media, you’d probably fancy him rather serious and academic, perhaps overly so. In one series, he’s the gas-masked survivor in a post-apocalyptic landscape; in another, a two-panel selfportrait, he’s a Native American on one side and a cowboy on the other. And in numerous encounters with journalists he’s tossed off heady nuggets like “relational aesthetics” and the “liminal space between two cultures.” In person, however, Wilson, 46, is downto-earth, funny, relaxed, and fluid. He’s been navigating a shifting path through the ways in which Indians in general and
Navajos in particular have been represented in American imagery. He’s equally comfortable as an artist and as an academic, having taught since graduate school and just finished his first year as head of the photography department at the Santa Fe Community College—and yes, he’s as comfortable among white folk as among Navajos. Which is not a judgment but an observation, and so to shy away from this impression, which likely has as much to do with class as ethnicity, would be dishonest, for one, and would do a disservice to what gives Wilson’s work such depth. He is, after all, Navajo by his mom and Welsh-Irish by his dad. And it’d be silly and disingenuous to think that this hasn’t shaped him and his art.
“In terms of the ‘moving between worlds’ thing, it was kind of like that and not,” Wilson comments via email from Sitka, Alaska, where he spent part of the summer with his wife, a violin teacher, and their two kids. (He taught Photoshop there to middle school students). “I felt very much at home in both spaces. I grew up in translation and that really expanded my consciousness and taught me to be extra observant, and by default it made me a very empathetic person. I am not a fan of the ‘living in two worlds’ perspective. For me, it was very much one complicated, multifaceted world. That idea of the two worlds is a subtle privileging of one culture over another. If anything it was a very rich upbringing.” trendmagazineglobal.com 53
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But as an artist, and a photographer no less, Wilson has had the advantage of figuring out his identity—and that of fellow Natives, and especially that of his fellow Navajos—through a twice-over lens: first through the lens of history, then as captured through the lens of early 20th-century photographer Edward Curtis. Or as Paul Chaat Smith, essayist and associate curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, stated unequivocally in his essay “Every Picture Tells a Story” in the 1992 book Partial Recall: “So it should hardly be a surprise that everything about being Indian has been shaped by the camera.” Now as infamous as he is famous for his sepia-toned photogravures and his book The North American Indian, Curtis is the man perhaps most responsible for reinforcing the image of Native Americans as “noble savages” of a tragically vanishing race. It’s largely in response to Curtis’s work that Wilson has forged his own path, both for himself and for Native photographers and Natives as subjects. Thus came the ongoing series that cemented him as a reckoning force: The Critical Indigenous Photographic Exchange 54
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(CIPX). In this project, Wilson essentially re-appropriates Curtis’s legendary images along with a quasi-ethnologist’s process— using an 8-by-10-inch view camera with a 140-year-old, hand-ground, brass-barreled lens from the wet-plate collodion era of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The method requires mixing ethyl ether, ethyl alcohol, nitrocellulose, iodine, and bromine, which are then poured onto a metal or glass plate, placed into a silver nitrate bath, and exposed in a camera while still wet. Hence, wet-plate. This makeyour-own-emulsion process also means it’s have-darkroom-will-travel. Wilson develops his images on the spot as tintype photographs, which are made by creating a direct positive image on a blackened sheet of metal. These thin negatives are then viewed as positives after collodion processing. The difference is that Wilson also digitizes the plates to make large-scale digital negatives from the scanned images, which he manipulates in Photoshop. The whole deal points out the manufactured nature of all photographic images. As critic Eve Tushnet wrote for The American Interest in 2014, “These subjects maintain their
individuality and aren’t forced to embody somebody else’s idea of the Indian.” One fascinating discovery Wilson made is that during the wet-plate process, the red and orange pigments don’t come out as clearly as the blue. This is illustrated in his CIPX photo of a red-haired woman whose freckles are barely visible in person but look like an outbreak of measles once put through the emulsion process. “That got me to thinking of those images of Indians that Curtis is known for—were they really that dark?” says Wilson. “I don’t think they were. It was the process that made them that dark.” Largely taken in the early 1900s, Curtis’s portraits of indigenous subjects were artistic but one-sided. There was little to no exchange between the photographer and the photographed—which is what Wilson is getting at when he brings up “relational aesthetics.” Unlike Curtis, Wilson is very aware of the power and currency of photographic representation, and he acknowledges it. Also unlike Curtis, he presents the wet-plate portrait created during their exchange to his subjects, keeping only the digital scan for himself.
COURTESY OF WILL WILSON
Will Wilson’s Auto Immune Response no. 4 (2005), archival pigment print. Previous page: How the West Is One (2013), archival pigment print from original tintype. Right: Wilson’s portrait of Nakotah Larance, citizen of Hopi Nation and six-time world champion hoop dancer and member of Dancing Earth: Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations (2012), archival pigment print from original tintype.
COURTESY OF WILL WILSON
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“Not only does the process make it more real—and it’s a process that gets me back in the darkroom, which I love—but it’s also a way of working that is more real, as opposed to the blink-you’re-done aspect of digital photography,” explains Wilson. “There’s a real exchange going on. Whereas Curtis took his pictures and moved on. But I’m thankful for Curtis,” he adds, “and I’ve got a lot to say about him. He was a man of his time.” Wilson was born in San Francisco, the only child of a Welsh-Irish orphaned father who was raised in a New York Catholic convent, no less, and who later became a labor leader and union rabble-rouser. His mother was a Diné from Tuba City, Arizona, who went through beautician school before earning her degree in art education. After his parents separated when he was 9, Wilson spent his early school years at one of those formerly nasty boarding schools on his mom’s reservation and summers with his dad in the Bay Area. “I was out of the house from when I was nine years old,” he notes. “So I learned pretty fast to be very independent.” Even so, he says, “I had all these crazy opportunities.” One was through A Better Chance, a nonprofit program that, since 1963, has helped provide young people of color with educational options they might not have had otherwise. Wilson was able to attend Northfield Mt. Hermon prep school in Massachusetts. “Nelson Mandela’s daughter was there, Uma Thurman was a student,” he recalls. “And my dance teacher once 56
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brought in Merce Cunningham. Crazy.” That’s also where he got into photography, through a friend’s photojournalist mom, who took him to a Joel-Peter Witkin show at San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art when he was 15. “Witkin is why I’m a photographer,” says Wilson. “I was horrified and captivated. I couldn’t believe it. And then I read that he’d gotten his MFA from the University of New Mexico. I said, ‘That’s where I’m going.’ That’s what I ended up doing.” After getting his degree from Oberlin College in Ohio, he went to UNM for graduate school and then bounced around from the University of Arizona to the Institute of American Indian Arts and the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, all the while working on his photography. He took over SFCC’s photography department last fall, and spent the past summer working on more CIPX pictures at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ekaterinburg, Russia. “I’ll be billing myself as a proto-socialist photographer, and I hope to photograph indigenous folks, but it’s open to anyone,” he says about the project. In the spring of 2017, the Denver Art Museum, where Wilson’s work was exhibited in 2013, will pair a hundred of his images with a hundred of Curtis’s. Then there’s the ongoing collaboration he has with his mother for weaving postmodern family-based rugs; the greenhouses and botanical gardens he’s been working on in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and elsewhere; and the many and varied projects he takes
part in with other artists, both locally and abroad. These non-photographic endeavors reflect his interest in other media, and in the environment and sustainability. He often casts himself in his pictures, frequently as a gas-masked survivor, “a post-apocalyptic Navajo guy roaming through the early toxic beauty of a land that’s been blown apart by some nuclear explosion.” Wilson excels at subtlety in Photoshop manipulation, even while recalling the techniques of David Hockney and the black-and-white wet-plate works of Sally Mann and Jill Enfield. Only he’s more selfconsciously narrative and gritty without being preachy or pessimistic. Unlike the “anti-photographs” of Navajo photographer Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, who makes photographs for her fellow Native Americans, not as any attempt to woo Westerners or whites to her “cause,” Wilson’s photos are snarkier, more playful. As anthropologist James Faris says in his 2003 book Navajo and Photography, almost as a bookend to Chaat Smith’s statement about Indians having been shaped by photography, “In that it is politically critical of Western social relations with Native Americans, Navajo photography forces the West to look, if it will, at these relations and to examine its own categories, obsessions, and drives.” Wilson, though, is not interested in “the bad things happening to you, but in agency. How do you move forward? I’m interested in how art can create ideas and create change. Real change.” R
COURTESY OF WILL WILSON
Auto Immune Response no. 5 (2005), archival pigment print.
PETER BUREGA New Work September 18 – October 12, 2015
Hunter Kirkland Contemporary 200 – B Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501 phone 505.984.2111 fax 505.984.8111 www.hunterkirklandcontemporary.com PETER BUREGA
The Long Way Home, 2015, oil on panel, 60 × 88 inches
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Canyon Road
a magical mile
Since its early Native American and Spanish roots, Canyon Road has been a trail of abudance—initially as a farming community, later as the site of an art colony, and today as the country’s top art destination with more fine art galleries and studios in one short mile then any other place on earth. Nestled into the foothill of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Canyon Road is a magical place that invites exploration. More than 100 galleries, artist studios, and sculpture gardens occupy the gracious adobe buildings that line the road and offer an incredibly diverse array of art by established and emerging artists. Enjoy exceptional food at gourmet restaurants and cafes, artist demonstrations, cutting-edge galleries, and art ranging from blown glass and works on canvas to pottery, sculpture and exquisite, hand-crafted jewelry. Boutiques and shops feature unique fashions and wearable art, textiles, hand-made furniture and exceptional one-of-a-kind items.
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LA MESA
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“Blue Landscape”
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Diana Pardue
Suzanne Betz
Ceramic Sculpture
Russ Vogt
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Vicki Grant
Richard Mole
Melissa Haid
Handcrafted dinnerware, pottery, glass art, lighting, furniture, and fine art by more than fifty contemporary artists
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Art at 225 Canyon Road It’s one of those bad-luck-to-brilliant transformations, and visitors and locals can reap the benefits every day. In the early 1980s a developer planned and began building a townhome complex near the entrance to Canyon Road. It would have been a wonderful place to live. The compound was well designed with ample parking, sidewalks, lovely landscaping, and tucked-away outdoor spots. But then the project went belly up. That’s when the brilliant part came in. A group of visionary Santa Fe investors decided to purchase the half-finished property and transform it into retail space. Today, all the features originally intended for easy, graceful living are melded into one of the most exciting and enjoyable strolling and shopping experiences in the heart of Santa Fe: Art at 225 Canyon Road. It’s easy to find, quick-to-park, and wonderfully convenient, close to the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe and accessible by car or foot. It’s rimmed with 12 galleries and shops filled with
fine art, exquisite handcrafted jewelry, magnificent art-to-wear clothing, artisan-made items for the home and garden, museum-quality antiques, hand-painted furniture, and a wide range of accessories and gifts. “The grounds at 225 are always beautifully kept. It makes people feel welcome,” says Mary Larson, owner of La Mesa of Santa Fe. First opened on Johnson Street in 1982, La Mesa has been a cornerstone of 225 Canyon for almost 28 years. It’s the compound’s go-to gallery for colorful outdoor pieces by New Mexico ironwork artist Christopher Thomson and sculptor Russ Vogt. Representing more than 50 contemporary artists, many from New Mexico, La Mesa of Santa Fe also features quality handcrafted tableware, ceramics, sculpture, fine furniture, paintings, and glass art. For those with an eye for exceptionally fine handcrafted jewelry, the Karen Melfi Collection is a must-stop. Founded in 1989, the gallery specializes in 22-karat gold and natural
A walking entrance for 225 Canyon starts at the west end of the gallery-road.
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colored diamond necklaces, rings, earrings, and bracelets by Melfi, a jewelry designer for 35 years. Karen Melfi also showcases magnificent adornments in a wide variety of styles, materials, and price points by some 30 artists, the majority of whom live and create in New Mexico. The 225 Canyon Road experience is rounded out by contemporary art at Karan Ruhlen Gallery; traditional and contemporary art at McLarry Fine Art and McLarry Modern; colorful art-to-wear clothing at Dancing Ladies de Santa Fe; Art of Russia Gallery; traditional representational painting and sculpture at Meyer Galleries; contemporary representational art at Meyer East; Scarlett’s collection of antiques, vintage jewelry, and other collectibles; and folk art, furniture, and gifts at Leslie Flynt. Across the street are two cafés. And of course, the rest of Canyon Road rolls out beyond the entrance to 225, with dozens of galleries, restaurants, and shops.
KAREN MELFI collection
Photography by Wendy McEahern
225 Canyon Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 505.982.3032 karenmelficollection.com
DELGADO STREET
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Tripping Through Time InArt Gallery owner Mike McKosky may be referred to as the mayor of Delgado Street, but even he acknowledges that this unofficial crown sits best on the head of his 80-year-old father-in-law, Edward “Gonzo” Gonzales. As earthy and warmhearted as McKosky is, it’s Gonzo who epitomizes Delgado Street’s neighborliness, civic pride, and ties to Santa Fe’s past and present. That’s because Gonzo is a font of local history. He’s the youngest and only survivor of 64
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the 12 children born to Leopoldo and Elizabeth Gonzales, whose family roots date back to the early settlements of Santa Fe in the 1600s. Gonzo still lives on the property of his grandmother, Agrapina Delgado, just off of Delgado Street. Having served on the board for the restoration of the Santuario de Guadalupe for 25 years, he was a key player in creating the arts and crafts fair for the Santa Fe Fiesta Council. He’s also a raconteur’s raconteur—able to spin yarns for hours.
While this stretch of Delgado Street runs a mere block, from Canyon Road to the south to Alameda and the Santa Fe River on the north, what it lacks in span it makes up for in generosity and grace (and probably the widest stretch of pavement downtown). Nestled in the Gonzales family’s renovated 1918 house, InArt is now the oldest gallery on the block, having just celebrated its tenth year. “We offer a range of sophisticated work—from Tom Blazier’s contem-
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP: CECELIA GONZALES; CYNTHIA CANYON; COURTESY OF GVG CONTEMPORARY
Clockwise, from top: Corpus Christi procession at the 200 block of Delgado Street, circa 1937; Barbara Meikle at work on her first lifesize bronze sculpture; Represented by GVG Contemporary, Jeffie Brewer’s Bee Bum (2014), enamel over steel, complements the gallery neighborhood’s sense of humor.
DELGADO STREET
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porary landscapes of the West and Mark Yearwood’s architecturally abstract paintings to Zimbabwean Stalin Tafura’s expressive stone sculptures and Robert Livesy Wells’s abstract renditions of music,” says McKosky, who ran a construction company in the Bay Area before relocating to Santa Fe. “In my previous work, I dealt with a lot of architects and designers, and that experience, along with art classes in college, gave me a strong aesthetic sense of scale and composition. Everything that’s in here, though it seems eclectic, has a continuity and a balance.” McKosky also has a strong connection with his artists. “It’s important that these artists are taken care of and shown properly,” he says. It’s an approach he carries over into his relationship with his customers, collectors, and neighbors as well—one of whom is Philip Baca, a descendant of the Spanish Delgado family, the merchants who owned much of the area between Canyon and the river since the 1700s. Baca grew up in the family home at 222 Delgado, and he remembers when people referred to the street as the “ranchito,” the little ranch. Despite the fluctuations, Delgado Street has maintained a sense of itself that is relaxed, inviting, and inclusive. The other two anchors on the block are Karen Walker Real Estate and Barbara Meikle Fine Art. Walker, known as a historic adobe specialist because of her familiarity with the city’s Byzantine building regulations and historic 66
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design codes, has been in her converted 1911 house since 1998. The biggest difference between today and when she moved in are the added sidewalks and curbs. “It’s a delightful mix of uses here between homes and galleries,” says Walker. “I love the ambience. You can walk anywhere from here, and the nice thing about Delgado is that people still live in their art spaces. So you can walk up and down the street here and talk to the owners and the artists, sometimes even while they’re painting or sculpting.” Meikle not only paints in her gallery, she holds events of all kinds—especially those involving her signature animals: donkeys. “I’m constantly raising money for horses and donkeys and mules,” she says. “I have donkeys out here, and I have people from the Santa Fe Raptor Center come out here with their injured hawks and owls. And I’ll bring in live animals and paint them. I have the space to do those kinds of things.” Another equine-friendly artist is sculptor Siri Hollander, who opened the Hollander Gallery two years ago with co-director and business collaborator, sculptor Chuck Waynick. Well known for her public installations and monumental steel, concrete, bronze, and aluminum sculptures of horses, Hollander’s work is featured alongside the internationally recognized abstract expressionist paintings of Gino Hollander, her father. The Hollanders’s past is not dissimilar to many of those who end up in
Santa Fe; from New York, the family of artists established themselves in Andalusia, Spain for 50 years prior. “Delgado has a draw all on its own, which tells you something about how well it’s doing,” says Blair Vaughn-Gruler, who runs GVG Contemporary with her husband, Ernst Gruler. The latter is known for his sculptural, functional, comfy chairs and tables and tree-bole floor lamps; VaughnGruler prefers the white of snow and the steppes of the Midwest, and canvases that are less abstract and more mathematical. They exhibit their own work plus that of a half dozen or so others. Wherever you go, there’s parking. McKosky runs the lot across from InArt, and if you tell him you read about it in Trend, he’ll let you park there for free. “We appreciate our little community,” says Vaughn-Gruler. “It’s pretty solid.” McKosky agrees. “We’re a pretty tight group of galleries. We want each other to succeed—that’s only good for all of us. Plus, the artwork is so different it makes it a fun place to visit.” “We’re not very serious here. When you paint donkeys, you can’t be that serious,” laughs Meikle. “So it’s a lot more fun. There’s an ease on Delgado, and that’s a big, big part of what we do.” “I myself like to go on the path less traveled, which is kind of what Delgado is,” says McKosky. “People will be pleasantly surprised with what we’re doing.”
LEFT: COURTESY OF HOLLANDER GALLERY. RIGHT: DANA MCINTOSH
At Hollander gallery, a lineage of art is articulated through sculptures by Siri Hollander and within, paintings by her father, Gino Hollander. Right: InArt Gallery exterior, where within a smorgasbord of contemporary art was curated by Delgado Street’s most veteran gallerist, Mike McKosky.
PHOTO: JIM HOLLANDER
HOLLANDER GALLERY
Siri Hollander
Flamenca, bronze, 8’ x 6’ x 4’
225 Delgado Street | Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 sirihollander.com | sirihollander@gmail.com | 505.927.2072
InArt SANTA FE
Gallery of Fine Art
Celebrating our
10th year! 219 Delgado Street (on Canyon Road)
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BY GUSSIE FAUNTLEROY
new media
COURTESY OF WOODY VASULKA
Playing With Perceptions New York City’s Lower East Side in the late 1960s was electric with the energy of a culturally subversive, “open source” lifestyle. Ideas were not proprietary. Art was not a commodity. Generosity was the universal code. In fact, the goal in those heady, anti-capitalist days was to live well on the least amount of money possible. This meant being rich in resourcefulness, friendships, humor, and perception-altering experiences, legal and otherwise. For Steina (pronounced Stay-na) and Bohuslav (Woody) Vasulka—young, radically creative, and exceptionally intelligent artists who had recently arrived from communist-controlled Eastern Europe via Iceland—it was paradise. In 1971 they set up what became known as The Kitchen in the kitchen of an old hotel. It began as a place for creating and sharing some of the earliest expressions in electronic and video art, and morphed into one of the first avant-garde free performance spaces in the city. This marked the start of their 45-plus years of innovative exploration of what is now known as new media—although for many of the early pioneering years it was an analog realm. “Welcome to Vasulka Circus! You’re entering a completely different world!” says Woody, smiling and offering a hug as he opens the back door of the couple’s modest, bordering-on-funky adobe house and studio on Agua Fria Street in Santa Fe. It’s a greeting he has doubtless offered hundreds of times over the years, as an almost constant stream of artists, musicians, students, intellectuals, and new-media adventurers have made their way to Santa Fe and this door. Inside, it’s clearly an electronic media toy box, although mysterious and intriguing to the uninitiated and those who’ve known nothing but sleek, prepackaged Apple design. Cement-floored rooms are stacked with vintage computer monitors and tangles of black wires and cords, rows of hard drives, tall metal shelves filled with boxes, and piles of miscellaneous analog and digital equipment. Much of the raw material was salvaged from the Black Hole in Los Alamos, which Steina calls a “treasure trove” of surplus items from Los Alamos National Laboratory. They’ve put this trove to good use. Woody’s major 1998 installation in Tokyo, The Brotherhood, incorporated salvaged material in an assembly of six media constructions—projectors, speakers, screens, lights, sensors. These interact around the central theme of the “dilemma of male identity,” as Woody describes it. Among Steina’s creations over the years are several based on the elemental landforms of her home country. The three-screen projected video environment Lava and Moss (from 2000) presents digitally manipulated imagery from Icelandic lava fields in which visual and otherworldly acoustic components seem to be conversing with themselves.
Steina and Woody Vasulka create new realities with media old and new trandmagazineglobal.com
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At the moment, the Vasulkas’s main studio activity is sorting, organizing, and taking stock of voluminous amounts of material from the past several decades in preparation for having it archived at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Much of it needs to be digitized, an enormous task for which the Vasulkas have received funding to hire assistance. A basement storage room holds vast numbers of past works on film, small and large video formats, and hard drives. These reach back to video records of groundbreaking experimental works, including Steina’s 1976 installation AllVision, which was composed of interconnected cameras as well as tilting mirrors that captured a continuous image of the entire installation space from all angles at once.
Playing with the way we perceive has always been a central element in the Vasulkas’s work. Woody, born in 1937 in Moravia (part of the Czech Republic), studied engineering and film in Prague and produced short films there and in New York before discovering small, lightweight Japanese video equipment. He soon abandoned film. As he and Steina began experimenting, they became fascinated with the possibilities inherent in the analog audio and video signal: their electronic pulses could be subverted, distorted, and experimented with using early computer technology. “Woody was making thousands of tiny solder points to build instruments to take the signal and change it, to develop a syntax that hadn’t been seen before,” says
Clockwise from top left: Steina transferring videotape archives; Woody in his studio with an old portrait; a remaining U-Matic ¾” video cassette machine Steina uses to clean old tapes; a violinist, Steina meets weekly with a string quartet. Previous page: Woody Vasulka’s Time Energy Triad.
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TOP: COURTESY OF STEINA AND WOOD VAULKA; BOTTOM: RICHARD LOWENBERG
Robert Campbell, a video artist and founder and co-director of the Institute of Emergent Technology + Intermedia at Cornish College of Art in Seattle. Campbell has known the Vasulkas since the 1980s, when he was a grad student at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where Steina and Woody were once visiting artists. Steina, born in Iceland in 1940, arrived at the electronic playground through music. She was a classical violinist when she met Woody in the early 1960s while she was studying on scholarship at the Prague Conservatory. They married
there in 1964, but it was when they moved to New York that their creative energies merged, fueling a nonstop exchange with each other and those around them. “They are not artists who were asking for recognition,” says Campbell. “They have a wonderful devil-may-care attitude toward the entire art world. They look at it with humor.” Yet recognition came to them. As they interacted over the years with the morphing potential, parameters, and forms of technology, Steina and Woody went on to exhibit their work around the world, serve as artists in residence (both are
Top: One of Steina’s contributions to CURRENTS New Media Festival, a work in progress titl ed New Zealand Set in Motion. Bottom: Steina’s five-screen video composition, Qaqortoq (2015), refers to a village in Greenland.
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Woody and Steina by their semi-truck storage unit filled with installation components, previous show relics, old equipment, and project parts.
Guggenheim Fellows), and earn international awards. This past June, Steina was recognized with her home country’s highest honor, the Icelandic equivalent of the national Medal of Honor. It follows the 2014 opening of the Vasulka Chamber at the National Gallery in Reykjavík, which is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the couple’s many cultural achievements. In May, Woody was honored with a similar award from his birth city of Brno. Recognition takes other, unofficial, forms as well. “There’s a strange phenomenon—people like to steal our work and post it on YouTube. It’s a great service because we wouldn’t do it ourselves. We don’t have the time or interest,” Steina says,
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acknowledging that they also don’t do Twitter, Facebook, or have iPhones or iPads. Sometimes the posted videos give no credit to the Vasulkas, “but it’s okay,” she says. “I like the part of it that’s anarchistic, the jungle, and that our work is out there. Anything that engenders creativity, I like it.” For as long as he has known the Vasulkas, Campbell says, countless admirers have made their way to Santa Fe to pay homage, collaborate, or seek feedback on their own work. In fact, he believes that Santa Fe’s international CURRENTS New Media festival “owes its being to the Vasulkas and all the people coming through to visit with them.” As some of the “true and original practitioners” of the open-source mindset,
TOP: RICHARD LOWENBERG; BOTTOM: EDDY COLLOTON
Above: Steina’s AllVision (1976) exhibited at Germany’s ZKM Center for Art and Media in 2006. Below: Geomania (circa 1987), a four-channel video arranged for synchronized projections.
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Steina and Woody have helped establish what Campbell calls the “Vasulka tradition—loose, playful, yet focused and concentrated. People get inspired here.” Among the many artists using the Vasulka approach is the duo of David Stout and Cory Metcalf. As NoiseFold, the two create immersive electronic sound and visual experiences generated “semi-autonomously” in real time. Setting up the complex conditions in which audio and visual components alter each other has roots in Steina’s explorations with violin, well before the digital era. First with an acoustic violin and later a more specialized instrument, she explored the ways that playing the violin could move and distort visual imagery. “When I went to digital I was able to be much more precise, playing a tone and a specific image came up,” she says.
Still, with both analog tools and digital software, glitches are bound to happen—and the Vasulkas love it. In the old days, videotape got stretched, machines could be hooked up wrong, electronic signals got crossed. “Steina would look at what came out of those things and go, ‘Wow!’” Campbell relates. In fact, for years the Vasulkas have worked with software writers whose products were not meant for commercial markets and sometimes are not aligned with an operating system, and which therefore often contain a desirable element of unpredictability. “You don’t necessarily know what it will do,” Steina says. “It’s out on the fringe—that’s what’s interesting about our approach to this. “The whole motivation is play. We wouldn’t want to do art or make things for any other reason.” R
The Vasulka home/studio, filled with computers, hard drives, and a sculpture on the wall by Erika Wanenmacher, The Unmoved Mover.
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artist studio BY
DEVON JACKSON PORTRAIT BY JAMIE HART
1s + 0s = Art John Vokoun bends corrupted digital data into fields of wondrous color
GLITCHES. SMEARS. CORRUPTIONS. All terms familiar to the computer programmer, and of interest to Santa Fe painter John Vokoun. Just as Cezanne made us rethink our perception of a bowl of apples or Rembrandt compelled us to reregard reflections of ourselves and Georgia O’Keeffe caused us to rethink what it means to be a black iris or calla lily, Vokoun finds artistic integrity, beauty, and even spirituality in what goes awry: corrupted computer data, digital photos gone haywire, and scanned images that didn’t translate as expected. “People are always asking me, ‘What is it?’” Vokoun says of the reactions to his paintings, most of which are pigment prints on aluminum panels. “They’re corrupted computer data. Arrangements of bits of information that I got by hacking into scanners and cameras and computer files. They’re compositions about the technology in our lives and what it’s done to us.” Not that it’s done anything particularly nefarious or irreversible for Vokoun. Or that he sees all this zeros-and-ones machinery as some kind of soul-sucking evil. On the contrary, he finds color and shape and limitless possibility in the randomness of these systems’ failures. Until this past summer’s show at William Siegal Gallery (and an installation piece the year before at Art Santa Fe), he hadn’t really shown his work anywhere since 2005. But, being a self-described “child of the personal computer era. . . fascinated with the computer as an art medium since programming camp at age nine,” Vokoun, now 38, has been
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painting and drawing and creating art out of corrupted data for decades. Alternately classified as digital art, computer art, and multimedia art, what Vokoun creates lies closer to what’s known as glitch art: art fashioned out of the bugs and errors found in software, video games, digital devices, and digital data. Vokoun, though, takes glitch art a little further. He doesn’t just aestheticize these technological mistakes; he filters them through his love of Color Field painting, thereby updating, in a way, the abstract works of Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly, Hans Hofmann, Josef Albers, and others. As Vokoun explains, “The quest in my art is to find some moment of quiet or solace rising from the bubbling pool of chaotic data in our lives. I try to find the essence of meaning by decomposing information to its base—data point, pixel, byte, language—discovering the source and then rebuilding into form. I’m fascinated with the artifacts of technology and the effects of the information age on society.” A native of St. Louis, Vokoun did indeed go to programming camp as a kid, where the supervisors let him experiment on an Apple II. But he liked nature—and art— just as much, if not more, than technology. (He was also a Boy Scout.) Still, when he got to the University of Missouri, where he majored in art and philosophy, he also toyed with computer art and photography, and because there were no computers in the art department he’d go to a computer lab on campus and tinker there, too. After getting his degree, he found work at photo labs and printing companies, where he played with technology even more—all
while still painting and drawing. When he and his girlfriend drove his little sister out to New Mexico for her gig as a social worker at Jemez Pueblo one summer, they decided soon after to give Santa Fe a twoyear shot. That was in 2002. It was shortly after moving here that a friend gave him a digital camera. He took it with him to Abiquiu “and it freaked out on me,” he remembers. “The images were destroyed. But they were these amazingly beautiful accidents. And I thought to myself: How deep can I dig into this and find a level that’s serene?” As it turned out, very deep. Vokoun’s diverse interests and background—in nature, in Color Field painting, in chaos theory, in programming—all converged into a most rewarding artistic and philosophical endeavor. It was a happy chance if a computer crashed. He’d sit with the results and find “chaos happening and creating its own art.” Back then his work was based more on biological forms and chaos theory. He liked looking at rocks and mulling over the decay in nature, then painting what he saw on his computer. In time he got into archetypes and mnemonics. After a while, it seemed his literary heroes, like Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan, seemed to be after the same thing as his artistic heroes, Kelly, Albers, and Rothko. Namely, says Vokoun, they were “breaking things down into their simplest forms and still finding that spiritual element.” Not that he considers himself particularly John Vokoun’s Divine Line (2014), laser-etched acrylic paint on panel, is a drawing made from corrupted computer data, part of his Linear Functions series.
artist studio
TOP (2) AND PREVIOUS PAGE: COURTESY OF JOHN VOKOUN
Elements of Duplicity (2014), 42 computer sublimation panels. Vokoun notes that the piece references a book by Swiss painter and color theorist Johannes Itten. It’s also, “in a distant, abstract way, a copy of one of his paintings. In color data only.” Below: John Vokoun in his studio.
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spiritual. “However, I do try to tap into the subconscious. I believe that’s where all true art comes from,” he says. “Perhaps spirituality and the buried layers of our minds are inseparable. “Organized systems have accidents that grow and reciprocate and take over the system—and in chaos theory, systems have to rebalance,” adds Vokoun from inside the temporary studio he’s set up in Fire Dragon Color, his eight-year-old business that specializes in photography and scanning of original art, color correction, retouching, and prepress services. He founded Fire Dragon after having done similar work for so long for others at all those photo labs and printing companies. “I’ve got stacks of books that I’ve worked on, so there’s definitely a pride in product,” he says of his day job, which often involves working on other artists’ publications. “Plus, I’ve been able to meet some of my art heroes.” Soon after he discovered the beauty in corrupted data, he started to crash his computers on purpose. “I put information into the system—into my glitch-corruption machine—and I have no idea what’s going to come out. It’s sort of an open-ended experiment.” Because he works primarily with physical hardware for base-imaging components (such as camera sensors, CCD chips, or scanners), on which something has to be added, he can input a visual reference to something scanned, photographed, copied. “Mostly, I work with found objects— photos of famous works of art, images gathered from the Internet, copies of a copy of a copy,” says Vokoun. “I’m lucky that while making art books during the day, I run across all kinds of influential imagery.” Images he can subject to his glitch-making machine. “The thing about glitch-based art is that you have to be ready to be amazed at any point into time,” explains Vokoun. “If you go in to the process with too much expectation, you will be constantly fighting the chaos. You have to approach it as “let’s experiment. Let’s see what happens.” You learn over time how to influence the process, but you never gain full control.”
Nor is everything just churned out by his computer. “I try to interact with the computer even when I purely paint by hand,” says Vokoun, who adds that even the computer art is mostly fabricated through some sort of printing process. “Sometimes I will make the drawing in the computer and then paint it. Sometimes I start the painting, scan what’s painted, use the scan to redraw it in the computer, and then repaint it. Lately, I am making computer drawings, printing them, and then painting over them.” He particularly likes the ones that reference some of his Color Field idols. Color Field painting, which originated in the 1940s and ’50s, was characterized by its focus on large fields of flat, solid color. Vokoun, too, loves color, and the way colors react to one other, and the effects of their arrangements on perceptions and emotions. In one of his pieces, he glitch-fielded Josef Albers, the Bauhaustrained artist whose Homage to the Square series explored chromatic interactions with nested squares. In another, he did a painting based on Hofmann’s squares. “I decided I’d start to refer back to where the data came from for [Hofmann’s squares],” he says. “It’s an homage to the homage.” Lately, Vokoun’s been working on a series of small, square, grayish-brown pieces—laser-edged panels in acrylic paint. “They’re monochromatic, really,” says Vokoun, “which is cool, because I’m known for the crazy color thing.” And while there’s plenty of theory and philosophy in his art, the core of his work comes down to what makes nature so appealing and comforting: pattern, rhythm, and repetition born of chaos. Spirituality. “Sometimes technology seems cold and nonspiritual, but it’s like any complex system,” observes Vokoun. “The only way we can sometimes fathom terabytes is through spirituality. Because nature is so raw at times, we really like pattern and rhythm. And so that patterning and sense of movement in art can be very meditative. “And art,” he concludes, “is really the only meeting point to resolve issues of logic and spirituality.” Visit johnvokoun.com. R
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Entrepreneur
BY
RENA DISTASIO PHOTOS BY SERGIO SALVADOR
Entrepreneur
ERIN WADE DOESN’T LOOK LIKE A FARMER. Or like someone who parlayed a certain penchant for digging in the dirt into a concept restaurant, even if that restaurant happens to be the casually chic salad bistro Vinaigrette. With her long tumble of sun-streaked hair, tawny eyes, and petite frame clothed in T-shirt, skinny jeans, and boho sandals, the early-30-something Wade instead has a decidedly urban Cool Girl vibe, less soil-science geek and more, say, lifestyle or fashion blogger. But Wade’s entrepreneurial spirit runs deeper than the surface of a computer screen flashing pretty pictures. It goes all the way down into the land she has cultivated for the past eight years, and from which she drew knowledge for a healthier, more positive way to nurture people. In many ways, Vinaigrette is Wade’s remedy for a world that—despite all the ballyhoo about sustainability and eco-responsibility—still has issues with food. She’s spreading that 84
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remedy. By late this fall, Wade will expand her ambitions beyond the boundaries of the Land of Enchantment. Not that it didn’t take time to discover this calling. After receiving her undergraduate degree in English from Harvard, the Bellingham, Washington, native spent a year in Milan studying fashion design, with the promise of a job at Harper’s Bazaar waiting back in the States. But in the second of what she calls a “gestalt-shifting” moment of clarity (the first had been to ditch pre-med studies at Harvard in favor of a liberal-arts education) Wade realized that fashion was not her destiny. So she did what many bright and ambitious young people have done when struggling with the pressure to figure it all out by the time they hit 30. She went back to the land. “I had been living in cities, and feeling like a fish out of water, for five years,” she says. “My childhood had been about running around in the woods, being outside. I
missed space and quiet and the beauty of a more natural landscape.” What she calls her initial “vague, nagging craving” soon turned into an action plan. A vacant ten-acre parcel of familyowned land in Nambé, complete with an old adobe home, outbuildings, and three acres of water rights, was hers for the asking. “I realized that what I really wanted was to get my hands in the dirt,” she says. “My mom made me read Wendell Berry when I was about ten, I think. There’s a legacy of environmental stewardship in my family that started with my mom’s dad. So in a sense, a commitment to taking care of the land is in my blood.” Its airy, light-filled atmosphere makes Albuquerque Vinaigrette a regular stop for visitors to nearby Old Town as well as locals working and living in downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods. Preceding page: Wade wearing her trademark red boots, working a section of the farm that includes tomato and lettuce beds interspersed with volunteer sunflowers. “Diversity is our main method of pest control,” she says.
Originally, Wade had also planned to convert several of the outbuildings into agritourism vacation rentals. Then another concept emerged. “I was hugely, life changingly inspired by my time in Italy, but in ways that had nothing to do with fashion,” she says. “Italians just don’t have the baggage about food that we Americans do. They don’t feel guilt about the pleasure of eating, and they don’t separate it from health.” Raised in a foodie household, Wade instinctively knew this—but Harvard had shocked her system. “The food was so unbelievably shitty,” she says, laughing. “I think I ate cereal with frozen yogurt the entire time.” Another thing she noticed: her contemporaries either starved themselves or overindulged, a theme reflected in American culture at large. “We equate health with deprivation,” she continues. “No wonder our appetites are so big—people always talk about the supply side, but what about the demand?”
Wade wanted to help change this yo-yo dynamic. She already had the means growing on her farm, but it wasn’t until she drove by a vacant building in Pojoaque that she thought about opening a restaurant.“I thought to myself, ‘I could have a little salad shack there.’ There’s infinite creativity with salads. They’re the perfect vessel for this idea that eating healthy should be easy and not a deprivation.” Ultimately, she decided that Santa Fe would be better suited to her concept, and in 2008 she opened the first Vinaigrette, in a historic adobe on Don Cubero Alley, just off Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. Located next to Santa Fe Vinaigrette, Modern General was conceived by Wade as a store/café hybrid, where you can pick up a juice or breakfast sandwich and peruse the selection of books, garden tools, and household items. Offering free WiFi and ample seating, Modern General has also become a popular hangout, where people can gather at either the community table or at the counter, with its Piet Hein Eek up-cycled scrap wood bar stools and vintage 1930s factory lights.
KATHLEEN LANGLOIS
Wade’s goal was to return her family’s property to its agricultural roots and farm it organically in high-yield crops like salad greens, arugula, kale, mint, parsley, cilantro, and scallions. To learn the art and science of farming, she drew on her background in science, math, and the environment. (Her original pre-med major had been environmental science and public policy.) She also read books on soil science and agro-ecology, including organic farmer Eliot Coleman’s classic how-tos. Then she just got out there and started doing it. “I rehabilitated the soil first,” she explains. “We have really delicate, fragile soils in New Mexico in general, and people are always talking about what a bummer it can be to grow food here. And it can be. But you can also take a piece of degraded land and make it better, leave it more diverse. The feeling of having improved that property from a biological and ecological standpoint is something I’m really proud of.”
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Entrepreneur
Although she was untrained as a chef, or in the restaurant industry as a whole, Wade had faith in the menu she developed from a mix of family recipes and her own instinctive palate. “We don’t serve what you’d normally think of as a salad,” she says. “I’m thinking about the flavor balance and the texture and the perfect amount of acid and salt and the little bit of creaminess and the crunch. All those different aspects that any chef is thinking about when making a sauce or dish. We put a lot of time into the architecture of a perfect bite.” Part of that bite can also include meat. “I think there’s a sustainable, respectful way to eat and source meat,” comments Wade, “but the proper portion size has been blown all out of proportion. We make salad the center of the plate, not the meat.” Carni86
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vores can add their choice of lemon-herb chicken breast, grilled flank steak, grilled pork tenderloin, or duck confit to any of two-dozen salad offerings, many with clever names like The Beet Goes On, The Nutty Pear-Fessor, or All Kale Caesar. Like the farm, Vinaigrette also operates as a sustainable system: all organic waste produced by the restaurant is composted and fed back into the soil, which grows the produce that feeds customers. But while the farm-to-table ethos is central to her vision for Vinaigrette, Wade also urges a more nuanced understanding of the meaning of terms like sustainability and organic— often misinterpreted. “People want every last shred of everything to come from [the farm], but I have a responsibility to my land as well. I can only push it so far.” As such,
roughly 70 percent of Vinaigrette’s produce comes from the farm. The rest she sources from farm-owned brokerages like Albuquerque’s Agri-Cultura Network. Neither is she certified organic, which is nothing more than a stamp of approval from the USDA. She does, however, grow organically, using compost instead of chemical fertilizers, employing companion plantings instead of pesticides, and undertaking extensive soil and water conservation methods. Her mission clearly resonates with diners, and not just in Santa Fe. Since it opened in 2012 on Central Avenue in the Country Club neighborhood, Albuquerque Vinaigrette does a thriving business. This past February Wade debuted her take on a modern-day general store next door to her restaurant in Santa Fe. Part hardware store,
BOTTOM RIGHT: NARRATIVE MEDIA
Clockwise, from left: The farm’s flock of chickens includes Araucanas, a variety known for blue and green eggs; One of Vinaigrette’s popular salads, the All Kale Caesar, has Marcona almonds, parmesan, anchovies, and lemon-anchovy vinaigrette; Vinaigrette mills its own flour, sourced from wheat produced at small heritage farms in Arizona. Opposite: Wade designed Vinaigrette’s outdoor patios as oases from the summer heat. The patio at the Austin location will be centered by a 500-year-old oak.
part grocery, part breakfast cafe, Modern General is an airy space filled with carefully curated items ranging from gardening books and supplies to kitchen items and locally produced food stuffs. Late this fall Wade will also open a third Vinaigrette—this one in Austin, Texas—for which she is purchasing a ten-acre farm. “I’m not interested in expanding beyond our quirkiness,” she comments, “but my intention was always that Vinaigrette would be a concept, with multiple locations. I believe in what we’re doing . . . that this way of eating is relevant and powerful. Why Austin? “I want to go where we’re needed,” she explains. “I had looked at California and obviously the concept is a great fit, but it’s very much done there. Plus, I had a lot of
customers come in and tell me, ‘This would be great in Austin.’ You start to listen, you know? With Austin, you have this teeming economy and locus of activity, but you also have this astonishing paucity of healthy places to eat.” For now, the Austin location will follow the Santa Fe and Albuquerque blueprint: same menu, with different interior design. It will also be an important spoke in the wheel of Wade’s overall mission. “All businesses are modeled after the military, but I’m really interested in how we can be competitive and collaborative in the way that nature is—like an ecosystem. I think it involves the multiple concepts working together and based around a farm. That’s the next wave for me. That’s what I’m most excited about right now.” R
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Breaking Down Barriers The Aspen Art Museum takes an egalitarian approach to exhibiting exciting contemporary art
BY SUSAN H. BELL | PHOTOS BY PETER OGILVIE
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U Above: The commons of the Aspen Art Museum, located in the core of downtown. Opposite: The museum’s grand stairscase provides an easy detour for pedestrians. Previous page: Cardboard tubes between the lobby and gift shop are a signature use of everyday materials by Shigeru Ban.
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nlike many 19th-century Rocky Mountain pioneer towns that eventually slipped into obscurity, Aspen, Colorado, continues to bustle. For decades it attracted an eclectic mix of part- and fulltime residents, from countercultural dropouts to ski enthusiasts. Today it is also famous as a playground for the global glitterati. But it’s not all glam, all the time. A core of about 6,000-plus residents live fulltime in Aspen, and many of them consider their high-altitude home to be a vital cultural locus for the communities in the surrounding Roaring Fork Valley. One standout organization is the Aspen Art Museum, which opened in 1979 as the Aspen Center for the Visual Arts to showcase the work of prominent and emerging contemporary artists. While the museum’s art is of the caliber one would expect in this enclave of entrepreneurs, celebrities, and billionaires, it has adopted an inclusive stance to bring its exhibitions to the broadest possible range of people. Its reach includes Aspen Valley’s entire population, not just the moneyed elite. “I really wanted to try to do things a little differently,” says museum director Heidi Zuckerman, who acknowledges that contemporary art can be challenging, even intimidating, for some. Her goal, she says, is “to break down the barriers, the intimidation factor—to create a sacred space for the consideration of art.” One of those barriers is the cost of visiting a museum, so Zuckerman early on secured two donors to underwrite free admission to the museum in perpetuity. She also developed workshops, outreach programs, and public events to make cutting-edge art accessible to the entire community. Lectures by the exhibiting artists and key figures in the international art world attract standing-room-only crowds, and free movies and musical events are conducted year-round. Zuckerman also established workshops led by professional artists and educators; in the summer of 2015, for example, the museum offered 32 one-week children’s programs geared
Mountain light streams through the building’s exterior screen woven from an amalgam of paper, resin, and veneer, illuminating Roni Horn’s cast glass sculpture and the grand staircase (opposite). Ximpor re doluptas nimaiorepuda incte odigent re iliqui offic totat omnisque perat. Ut vollum, cus pa trendmagazineglobal.com
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An undulating ceiling of cardboard tubing above Everything Is Going To Be Alright by Martin Creed (2008). Opposite, bottom: The commons abuzz with art and people (top); Director Heidi Zuckerman with Shigeru Ban.
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to specific age groups and provided scholarships for kids whose families couldn’t afford the $300 fee. These innovative activities aren’t limited to the museum itself: specially trained educators have developed programs that travel to classrooms, senior centers, local libraries, homeless shelters, and even the county jail. “If people can’t come to us, then we need to go there,” says Zuckerman. The successful Exhibition in a Box, begun in 2008 and targeted at third-graders, visits schools within a 100-mile radius to give kids direct access to contemporary art through interactive presentations. Students are also brought to the museum to experience it firsthand. Zuckerman points out that within seven miles of affluent Aspen, 65 percent of all schoolchildren receive lunch assistance, so the museum provides lunch for all participants free of charge. Another program, Active Art, brings art appreciation classes to the local senior center, supporting brain fitness and socialization while providing residents the opportunity to access and engage with contemporary art. The museum also hosts tours of the facilities tailored for these older adults. Several successful programs serve marginalized populations in surrounding Pitkin County; one goes to the county jail and the other to a hospital recovery program for at-risk teens. Both are process- and projectcentered and related to ongoing exhibitions. Another, Arte in Español, is a new undertaking focused on the county’s Spanish-speaking community. AAM educators used the local Spanish-language radio station to solicit input from the community, and they created a debut event that drew a few hundred people one Sunday afternoon to the museum’s rooftop terrace to enjoy refreshments and a local band, far exceeding the expected attendance of 75. To make the museum still more accessible, instead of merely offering lectures about specific works, the staff members, referred to as guides rather than docents or teachers, greet visitors individually and encourage interaction as a way for them to understand the art. Zuckerman, who came to AAM in 2005 from the Berkeley Art Museum at the University of California, has mounted 41 solo exhibitions in her career, and she continues to seek out a broad range of artists, themes, and mediums to keep the exhibitions fresh and exciting. “I’m drawn to work that surprises me or catches me off guard,” she says. “And we do more solo exhibitions by women artists and artists of color than any museum
TOP: COURTESY OF MARYSUE BONETTI. BOTTOM: COURTESY OF BILLY FARRELL AGENCY
in the country, except for maybe an ethnically specific museum. I think that we are a contributor to the global dialogue on contemporary art.” AAM’s ceremony in August 2014 to commemorate the opening of its stunning new building, for example, featured the boundary-breaking work of Cai Guo-Qiang, the artist who designed the fireworks for the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and whose installation of lifelike tigers pierced by arrows took SITE Santa Fe by storm back in 2006. For AAM he used Aspen’s dramatic blue skies as a backdrop for Black Lightning, a pyrotechnic event that produced a 700-foot-high black lightning bolt accompanied by a loud clap, designed to emphasize the connection between the museum and the surrounding environment. Another exhibitor whose work has made waves is British artist Chris Ofili, who became a household name in 1996 when Rudolph Giuliani unsuccessfully sued the Brooklyn Museum for showing Ofili’s Virgin Mary, a mixed-media piece painted in oil and elephant dung. Ofili didn’t think he’d ever exhibit his work in the United States again, but he was so taken by the beauty of AAM’s new building that he agreed to create new work for his show, which runs through October this year. Remarkably, AAM is funded entirely by private donors. Its new building, designed by famed architect Shigeru Ban and built at a cost of $43 million, was completed in 2014 after an eight-year fundraising effort. Ban is no stranger to museum design, having undertaken the Centre Pompidou in Metz, France, but he is trendmagazineglobal.com
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The roof deck serves as an active exhibition, screening, and event space with views of Ajax Mountain. Visitors are invited to ascend directly to there via the exterior grand staircase and visit galleries on the three levels below on the parallel inner staircase or via the glass elevator.
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probably best known for his humanitarian work constructing shelters for victims of natural disasters using unconventional materials like beer crates, sandbags, and resin-infused paper tubing, which allow for inexpensive structures that can be erected quickly by volunteers and the refugees themselves. His work took him to Rwanda in 1994, after which he founded Voluntary Architects’ Network to build housing after earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and wars—everywhere from Japan to Turkey to Louisiana and the Philippines. He was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014. The same cardboard tubing that Ban uses for emergency housing also adorns AAM’s main building, forming benches and the gift shop area. Because AAM is a non-collecting museum with no mandate to acquire art for a permanent collection, there was no need to provide storage space. Ban was able to devote the maximum amount of square footage to exhibition galleries—in this case some 17,500 square feet in six galleries. These needed to be flexible enough to accommodate art of various mediums, free from the intrusion of architectural elements. “Museums have to be very practical,” says Ban. “They can’t just be sculpture.” That said, his stunning design does evince a sculptural essence, with a grand, glass-enclosed staircase protected from the intense morning light by a woven screen that still allows stunning views of the surrounding mountains. “I wanted to create a site-specific sequence that took into account the mountain views and the building’s purpose as an art museum, and to open the building to the outside so visitors could appreciate the beauty of Aspen from inside the building,” says Ban. Zuckerman believes the building’s design is key to advancing the museum as a civic space where people can experience the joy of discovering exciting art, with as few distractions as possible. There is an emphasis on the viscerality of the experience—from the building to the art. “While everyone else is creating apps and digital feedback from visitors, we don’t even have any screens in the museum,” she says. “I wanted to create a sacred space for the consideration of art and to use the museum as a site of retreat and potential transcendence.” For information on current and upcoming exhibitions, visit aspenartmuseum.org R
Above: Photographs by Ann Collins are hung in one of the simple, spacious galleries. Opposite: The resin-infused cardboard tubes bring natural light to the ground floor.
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LAIRD HOVLAND Laird Hovland’s bronze, steel, and aluminum sculptures combine a profound connection to nature with spiritual influences based in both Eastern and Western traditions. Free-flowing but patterned, abstract and grounded, hard-edged but mellifluous, his creations range from large public works to ones small enough to fit on a desk. He’s shown at galleries in Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and Bozeman, Montana, and as a foundry technician by trade, his own methods are informed by the pieces he helped produce for artists such as Bruce Nauman, Kiki Smith, and Maya Lin. The sacred geometrical rhythms of nature, nature as it creates and comes into being, are reflected even in his roughest, hardest-edged pieces. There’s balance and interplay between order and chaos, coarse and consonant, nascent and senescent. It makes for a minimal aesthetic, soothing as it is musical— what Hovland calls, “a mandala for the viewer.”
Laird Hovland holding Double Arch 18” x 18”. Bottom left: Hexipod, 18” x 17” x 18”. Bottom right: Rocket, 23” x 19” x 19”. All pieces are cast bronze.”
JENNIFER ESPERANZA
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Les Origines Verve 5, mixed media and mahogany, 40” x 150”
PASCAL PIERME
PASCAL PIERME For sculptor Pascal Pierme, the dance of artistic inspiration these days incorporates “three steps forward and one step back.” The step in reverse means reaching deep into the reservoir of his creative past, where fragments of earlier ideas call out to be combined with the new. It’s an artistic treasure hunt that yields unexpected discoveries, which Pierme deftly shapes into compelling abstract forms in metal or wood. Much of the French-born artist’s current expression emerges as large outdoor sculpture in aluminum or steel. Created both for private collections and public spaces, these are first conceived as maquettes in wood enlarged in metal, often powder-coated in rich hues or allowed to achieve the warm patina of rust. Pierme’s wall and tabletop pieces in mahogany and other precious woods feature the artist’s precisely formulated finishes that contain oxidized metal pigment for a patina-like feel. On any scale, his
sculpture is born of engaging elements that echo organic and architectural forms. In recent years Pierme has seen his broadly collected, award-winning work selected for a growing number of international exhibitions, including Art Olympia 2015 in Tokyo, the Royal Academy of Arts’s 2014 Summer Exhibition in London, and the Royal Scottish Academy’s Open Exhibition 2014 in Edinburgh. Locally, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs’ Art in Public Places program purchased a piece for installation on Museum Hill, and a solo show set for September 2016 at GF Contemporary celebrates the sculptor’s 20-year anniversary of living and working in Santa Fe. “In a way that a painting cannot, Pascal’s artwork integrates into its environment. Accentuating not only the aesthetic, but another level that only his exquisite artistry can reveal.” —Deborah Fritz
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queen
of interesting
The life, loves, and lasting impact of Riva Yares
Riva Yares likes big. Big men. Big cars. Big spaces. Big personalities. She herself is not big. She’s got big hair, but she stands at five foot four. Nor is she demonstrative or overbearing; at least, not so much anymore. And while she can do demure, she’s hardly shy. Owner and director of the Riva Yares Gallery in Scottsdale, she has curated major exhibitions for many important artists of the 20th century, from Milton Avery and Morris Louis to Jules Olitski and Roberto Matta, among many others. This fall, her son, Dennis, opens a new Yares gallery in downtown Santa Fe. It’s a new chapter for the Yareses in Santa Fe, as Riva ran the former Yares Gallery, which opened in 1991 and had to give its space back to the O’Keeffe Museum several years ago. Committed now to her Scottsdale gallery— she built herself a penthouse atop it—her focus lately has been film. She’s adapting her 2011 quasi-memoir Sleeping with Dogs into either a full-length feature or a TV series. One she hopes to direct someday. In person, she will welcome you into her lovely high-ceilinged home in Santa Fe, where she can watch Zozobra burn in the fall and listen to the crack of Fuego’s semi-pro baseball bats during the summer. She will offer you a drink. A tour. A bowl of cherries. She’ll look you in the eye and show you pictures of Just Seconds Apart, a threemember band consisting of her son’s two sons and daughter. She will dote on India, her tennis-ball-hawking poodle, who is her most recent love in a long line of canine companions. She will show you Tutu, her massive brass elephant in the backyard, a dignified-looking East Indian artifact that’s so big it had to be airlifted into place. Then she will show you some one-of-a-kind furniture, particularly four chairs designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. “When I was in Paris I visited his studio,” she says. “If I had my life to live again, I’d be an architect.” And she will show you the casita where her
BY DEVON JACKSON PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL
son and daughter and their respective families stay whenever they visit, which is also where E.L. Doctorow and his wife stayed when she had them out for the premier of her film, Jolene (based on a Doctorow short story). Meanwhile she’ll answer whatever question you ask, offering up not so much judgments or opinions but information and statements that are brief and self-aware, but never dwelling, with no regrets. In a moment you’ll catch the faintest hint of a little girl brush across her face, followed by a stern earn-your-mother’s-love matron the next. But here’s the thing: you may be big as all getout (in size, stature, self-importance), but if you’re not interesting, Riva Yares may not remember you the next time you meet. Because Yares isn’t so much a size queen as she is an interesting queen, and why shouldn’t she expect others to be interesting? She’s been interesting since she was three years old—when she was chosen as the poster child for the newly constructed port of Tel Aviv, the city of her birth in Israel. As the only child of Sala and Fishel Kilstok, Zionist emigrants from Poland who moved to what was then Palestine in the early 1930s, Yares seemed destined if not for greatness then for interestingness. By age 11, she’d been recruited into the Irgun, Israel’s paramilitary Zionist group whose tactics, according to historian William Cleveland, “appealed to a certain segment of the Jewish community that believed that any action taken in the cause of the creation of a Jewish state was justified, including terrorism.” As Yares states in Sleeping with Dogs, when she was asked by a friend how she could have been brainwashed to become a terrorist at such a young age, she said: “Children of 11 or 12 believe that when they are asked to give the last drop of blood for their country—they really believe that the blood comes out of their body—that you sacrifice yourself for your country.” By 15, though, the oldest allegiance of all took hold, and it was one Yares would succumb to trendmagazineglobal.com 105
Opposite, clockwise from bottom left: Riva Yares Gallery in Scottsdale, with Fletcher Benton’s Folded Circle Ring (2008), painted steel. Paintings from left to right by Graham Nixon, Sarah Frost, and Gene Davis. Previous page: Yares with India. In front of a painting by Jim Davis are Manuel Neri’s sculptures, Bull Jumper II (2001), bronze and oilbased cast enamel, and behind it, Prietas I (2001).
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Yves Klein, Torso (c. 1960), plaster in Yves Klein blue.
again and again. She’d fallen in love in with a bodybuilder nearly twice her age, and he ran a “big gym,” as she put it, in Tel Aviv. As she points out in her memoir, no doubt in her typically flat Joe Friday voice (in a line that becomes almost comical because of the number of men it applies to throughout her life): “He was married and had three children.” Two years later, she met Sam, the first of her three husbands. Still a teenager, she’d taken a summer job at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Sam, whose last name she forgoes in both the book and in person, was an economics advisor and a Rutgers University professor. To Yares he looked like Alan Ladd. “I liked the power he had,” Yares recalls. “And I liked that he drove a big white Ford.” (There weren’t a lot of Fords in Israel back then.) Sam, though, was married with three children. Ba-dump-bump. No matter. He divorced his wife and married Yares. She was 18, and he was 38. Their marriage lasted six years, but out of it came a son, Dennis, and daughter, Shelli. “I’d commute to art school in Jerusalem,” says Yares of that period, “so I didn’t have to be married all the time.” Eventually eager to get a divorce, even if her mother said she’d kill herself if she did, Yares decided that a move to the U.S. would be the easiest way to do so. After seeing a copy of Arizona Highways at someone’s house in Israel, she says, “I thought that that would be a good place to move to. If I went there, not New York, I thought nobody would ever really know.” So the family moved to Phoenix, and Yares got her divorce, along with custody of the kids. Suddenly a single mom, she realized she needed money, so she took a job as head of a Hebrew school, part of a reform synagogue. As Yares says, again with her typical anti-flair, “I liked the rabbi. I slept with the rabbi. He was fired. I was fired. And they closed the synagogue.” Of course, the rabbi was married and had children. Again jobless, Yares found refuge at the Phoenix Little Theater, where she could take the kids, who hung out onstage while she was acting or working on set design. “There was a group of about ten of
us who were very interesting,” she says. “They helped me a lot.” One she became especially close to was Nick Nolte, who was still a decade or so away from acting in Rich Man, Poor Man, The Deep, and 48 Hours. Back then the two became close enough that it was a serape-clad Nolte who served as her witness at her swearing-in ceremony for U.S. citizenship. All she’ll say about him now is, “How sad,” and she leaves it at that. Which is true, and respectful. Not long after, she would meet Clare Yares, a single father of four boys and at the time the studio manager for Phoenix’s KPHO-TV. (He’s now a master
collectors and museums want.” Or, as British gallerist Maureen Paley tells Rawsthorn: “Art is one of the last unregulated markets. There are no male gatekeepers and you are not confined to traditional alpha-male values. That makes it very attractive to a certain type of woman with a strong personality. “It attracts,” adds Paley, “larger-than-life figures, individuals, and eccentrics.” In other words: the interesting. As for being a woman in a profession still dominated by men—male artists, male museum directors, male curators, male gallery owners—Yares waves off such issues. “I don’t
“My dealings with artists and collectors are very intuituve. One cannot go to school to learn how to be an art dealer.” jeweler). Aside from taking his name permanently, Yares opened the Yares Gallery in Scottsdale with him in 1964—which was the one thing she wanted when they divorced. It was, as she writes, her past, present, and future. Along with the scare of having her children briefly taken from her by her first ex-husband—which required a dramatic flight back to Israel to reclaim them from him—it’s this period that probably galvanized the determination Yares is known for. Not that she had any idea how unthinkable it was to want to run a contemporary art gallery 2,400 miles from New York City. “I was at the wrong place at the wrong time, but I had no idea, and I did it anyway,” Yares says of opening the gallery. “But I’m not interested in what other people do. I do my own thing.” As the astute British design critic Alice Rawsthorn observed in The Guardian several years back, female gallery owners are largely allowed to be themselves. “The cutthroat economics of the market,” writes Rawsthorn, “make contemporary art dealing one of the few truly meritocratic industries. A dealer’s success is determined not by gender or ethnicity, but by their ability to source the work that
care if it’s women or men. I never had a problem,” she says dismissively. “I didn’t play a woman or a man, just a gallery owner.” What she played, and what she has, is charisma. Especially when she finds you, or your art, or whatever you do interesting. What interests her, she pursues. What doesn’t interest her, she passes by. But don’t think her merely lucky, or naïve. Yares may not have had the traditional education, or the aristocratic upbringing, but she is smart, sophisticated, and informed—in addition to having a great eye, charm, and, well, chutzpah. “My father collected art,” she explains, reiterating what she’s written in her book. “My dealings with artists and collectors are very intuitive. One cannot go to school to learn how to be an art dealer. I never worked in a gallery or art institution. Growing up with paintings and going to art school in Jerusalem were my education. All this led me to have great respect for art. “You don’t have to know how to do it; you just have to have one good eye,” she says matter-of-factly. “And the artists trusted me because I was an Israeli, tough and pretty.” She also wasn’t in New York, which worked in her favor. “I didn’t know any different,” she says. “I didn’t know Arizona trendmagazineglobal.com 109
Yares’s penthouse, above her gallery, includes such rarities as a chess set made by Max Ernst. The paintings, from left to right, are Balthus, Young Girl With Mandolin (1996), oil; Jim Davis, Berlin Bar (c. 2000), oil; Armand Arman, Paintbrushes (c. 2000), multimedia.
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“It is almost entirely due to Riva Yares that Matta saw the revival of his career in America.” wasn’t the place to have a gallery. And some of the really interesting, the great, great artists didn’t want to show in New York,” explains Yares, who also speaks Hebrew, Arabic, Polish, and German. “But out here it’s the Wild West. So, I went after international artists.” These include Jules Olitski, Roberto Matta, Milton Avery, Kenneth Noland, and Jean Tinguely. As her son, Dennis, succinctly puts it in her memoir, “She has said that the secret of her success lies not in selling paintings, but rather in her ability to obtain great paintings, for great paintings sell themselves.” Which was only sort of true. Because, as the art critic Edward Lucie-Smith stated in the book’s introduction: “It is almost entirely due to Riva Yares that Matta saw the revival of 112 TREND Fall 2015
his career in America.” Back then, though, the art world was different. For example, Yares tells the story of visiting the art dealer Andre Emmerich in New York. He told her: “You can have anything you want in my gallery. When you sell it, pay me.” While the Scottsdale gallery boomed, she decided to make a go of it in Los Angeles, with the Riva Yares Gallery of Israeli Art on La Cienega Boulevard in the early ’70s, but between the earthquakes and what Yares describes as the duplicity of the Angelenos, she left after a year. “Unless you’re from Los Angeles, it’s very hard to get along with people there,” recalls Yares. “I was lucky it didn’t work. I put the tail between my legs and left.” Nevertheless, she opened the Yares Gallery in Santa Fe in 1991, shortly after
buying the house she’s in now. Her son ran it, closed it while working on Jolene (he wrote the script), and is now building a new one downtown. She also gave marriage another try—not for love but out of sympathy—to a younger man who was HIV-positive. Through the years, Yares has been active philanthropically, in particular with organizations dedicated to those who are HIV-positive or who have AIDS. “I must have turned into Mother Teresa,” she wrote. They divorced within a year. Surrounded by art, most of it from artists in her gallery, and splitting her time Thomas Browning, Grid 9 SARNAC (1971), acrylic. Opposite: Yares in her gallery with three Jim Davis paintings, including The Eel, right, and on the left, a painting she sold in the ’70s and bought back recently. “Sometimes I buy back things I really like, but I like everything I sell. I do,” she muses.
between Scottsdale in the winter and Santa Fe in the summer, Yares has neither retired nor settled on her next incarnation. She still oversees her Scottsdale gallery, and she’s intrigued to see Sleeping with Dogs take to the screen. As for her gallery, and art in general, “Most artists I have any interest in,” she laments, “aren’t alive anymore.” About the tastes that drove her interests over the years, in art as much as music and literature, she comments: “It was very personal. But the art business doesn’t interest me anymore.” Her home in Santa Fe feels like a cross between a conservatory and a gallery, populated with plants, paintings, and sculptures. Light-filled, colorful, and high-ceilinged. Many doors and windows create the illusion of the outdoor garden entering within.
“I like Santa Fe because people leave me alone,” says Yares, who’s been entertaining friends in her home and enjoying the Santa Fe Opera. “I feel good in Santa Fe. I like the air, the trees. I can breathe. It’s a very special place.” Jolene may have soured her somewhat on filmmaking—“I liked making the movie,” she admits, “but I didn’t like the side effects. I put $8 million into that, and I lost $8 million.” But not entirely. Who knows? She could end up making a movie about the French novelist Marguerite Duras. Writes Yares: “I thought about making a film called Marguerite Duras and Me. I was so intrigued by her. . .I wanted to. . .maybe become her.” Doubtful. What’s not doubtful is that Yares will remain interesting, and
interested. She seems to be biding her time until the next project. Meanwhile, the flowers that fill her living room were bought specifically to complement each art piece. The dark-pink gladiolas on the long table beneath the gigantic, mostly gray, 15-by 25-foot Olitski painting match the faint streaks of purplish-pink in the upper left corner of the canvas. “I live with dead people,” she says, uncharacteristically dramatic. She’s talked enough. She’s ready to move on. Yares sets her glass of water on the large Plexiglas table, which contains a two-inch layer of Yves Klein’s patented blue paint powder, and ushers you to her front door. “I buy flowers for their paintings.” Brief, self-aware, charming, and firm. Interesting. Visit rivayaresgallery.com R
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BY CHRISTINA PROCTER | PHOTOS BY PETER OGILVIE
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ho could fault Odysseus if, in the end, he relished the journey as much as his arrival home? For a custom home design that took more than five years and the ranging expertise of more than 150 hands, the result, observes one of the home’s owners, “is quiet. And if it’s quiet, then it’s really about the people in the room, not the house.” The house seems humbled enough by the mountain ranges on either side of the foothills where it was born on a two-plot property in northeast Santa Fe. It was a vision forged to form by dedicated individuals from various companies, although as one of the owners points out, “Companies don’t build houses; people do.” What they built is a contemporary expression of unique contributions from their creative dozens; whether tiler, painter, or layer of land, just about everyone involved seemed swept into the aesthetic. Not that the task was without its share of challenges and demands. Yet when Calypso warns Odysseus: “If you only knew, down deep, what pains / are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore, / you’d stay right here,” the epic hero retorts: “Add this to the total— / bring the trial on!” In a house built for simplicity, any miss is an eyesore. It’s not that they were watching over anyone’s shoulder for the caulking gun to slip, but the project was managed by two first mates: site supervisor, man of all crafts, Ramón Márquez, and the fiercely downto-earth and congenial, no-nonsense 120
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Molly Prewitt, who recently started a new construction business. Under their leadership, which was especially necessary while the owners were still living in Melbourne, Australia, the site maintained a pace of expectation and innovation. With permit plans first drawn in 2010, construction starting in 2011, and finishes completed this year, the project was an ideal port of call for the inspired— a journey, like any custom home, composed of subcontracted and seemingly disparate parts, but ending with a single note, still and clear. Quiet. From the earth-colored concrete drive leading to the property, a path to the house is flanked by LED-lit reclaimed steel sculptures created by Taylor Mott. “In a strange way they are kind of like sentries, and they’re lights, so they’re guiding, defining, directing a space.” Mott, whose sculptures the owners first noticed at Ten Thousand Waves, articulates something about the house that may explain why fireplaces and shower cubes look like art. “Sculptures, all objects, have mass, but also a sense of mass,” he says. “It’s a strange thing, because it’s on a subliminal level. If you go up to a sculpture made out of very thin steel, say an eighth-inch of steel welded in a box, that would give you a very different feeling than if it were a solid box of steel, even if the outside surfaces were the same.” Mott was inspired to reference water when he visited the site. “Those pieces are untitled, but they are supposed to be waves—or mountains or rocks. They’re organic, natural shapes, together.” The sculptures guard a set of sliding
gates of smooth metal and glass by Clay Howard. These glide open noiselessly with the tap of a touchscreen that is part of the smart-home system. Satin-finished on both sides, the glass reflects the light anew from each angle, as if the chance to enter were fleeting, or the gate itself a hologram. This is offset by a set of enormous bronzeclad walnut entry doors, and within the front hall is the relief of horizontal lines to either side—an aluminum piece forged by Cordova-based artist Paula Castillo titled the boat. It has an understated patina, as if the roughness of memory could settle in the calm of metal. “I wanted to call it the boat because that’s kind of the metaphor I use for the house,” explains Castillo. “I was thinking about displacement and how beautiful that is. That, combined with being in that space, reminded me of one of the strongest spiritual experiences I’ve probably ever had. I was 12, up in the Manzano Mountains. I thought: I’m on a planet. It was almost orphanlike, but it was a beautiful, empowering vulnerability.” Castillo may be getting at the root of what custom design is all about, and why the act of arranging a home is such an expression of self and culture. Cubes of open, communal spaces sculpt the home’s center, with the living room and kitchen like a compass with mostly glass walls. From the kitchen, a small yard and grill area with Sangre de Cristo mountain views makes it look, in a trick of the eye, as if the entire outside were briefly in a glass room. Wide halls extend north and south to either end of the house, where
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Castillo’s the boat (2015) sets the tone in the home’s entry, along with a triptych by Chris Richter, Reveal White, Reveal Orange, Reveal Black (2015), oil. The walnut front doors are clad with bronze on the exterior. Previous page: The license plate wall designed by metal artist Diego Velázquez and lighting designer Michael Cornelius is dedicated to those who worked on the home.
The pivot wall allows for curtains to stack behind while displaying Peter Burega’s oil painting alongside the Italian basalt fireplace. Below: The view to the kitchen, with Australian aboriginal art by Minnie Pwerle.
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the rooms are modestly sized, each an act of exquisite restraint. On one end are two guest rooms, an office, and a wood-paneled audiovisual room with an entertainment system and the technology that powers the home. The other has another office and the master bedroom suite, where at night the glass walls make a fine canvas for the Big Dipper to traverse. The palette is taupe, and the materials were chosen as much for texture as tone. The living room has a pivot wall with a painting by Peter Burega, whose abstract landscapes evoke movement stilled, something he achieves with layering and a sometimes violent stripping back. “The house has been like an odyssey,” he says. “It’s this ongoing thing, years in the making, and different people have come and gone.” His husband, David Cofrances, for instance, is an architect who had input on initial plans, described by others as creative and contemporary.
“I asked [the owners] how they collect work and they said it tended to be people they had a relationship with. For them it’s not just about acquiring artwork,” comments Jesse Blanchard, who painted the oil piece that hangs over the master bed. A distorted bird’s-eye view of the property based on compiled Google Earth images, it was lightheartedly titled after the couple’s dog: Chucho’s Yard. Perhaps this is why, in the gym next to the main house, a telling art piece runs floor to ceiling. Composed of license plates from the various home states and countries of those who worked on the home, the idea originated with lighting designer Michael Cornelius, who was hanging out with metalworker Diego Velázquez when he noticed a pile of license plates in the artist’s yard. Velázquez torched the paint off the plates, treated them with a unique patina, then cut them to fit square plywood pieces of varying thickness, which Cornelius and
“I wanted to call it the boat because that’s kind of the metaphor I use for the house. I was thinking about displacement and how beautiful that is.” —Paula Castillo
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The walnut paneling in the audiovisual room renders great acoustics. Here the equipment that runs the home’s smart features is stored (opposite, below). The walnut cabinetry in the office echoes that in the kitchen (opposite, above). 126
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Márquez then placed like tiles with varying depth and illuminated. Having demonstrated his particular creativity, Velázquez was assigned various tasks. It was the same for furniture designers Jonathan Boyd Katzman and Damian Allister Arndt. When the owners noticed their work at a restaurant in town, they hunted them down. “We’ve tried to embody the anti-industrialized process, because the whole point is that you have somebody, us, sitting there deciding which piece of wood is going to go where,” says Arndt. The same was true for every aspect of the home, many of which were collaborations between artisans. When it was decided that the furniture makers’ custom kitchen table would have aluminum legs with a patina that matched Castillo’s entryway sculpture, for instance, Velázquez achieved it. “These are people with real depth and breadth and humility, and a true sense of themselves,” says one of the owners. “It’s partly those characteristics that get trendmagazineglobal.com
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On the left, back row: Diego Velázquez (Santa Fe Metal Design), Paula Castillo, Jesse Blanchard; middle row: Spin Dunbar (Dunbar Stained Glass), DY Begay and Jonathan Boyd Katzman (Boyd & Allister); front row: Rebecca Bluestone and Damian Allister Arndt (Boyd & Allister). On the right, back row: Michael Cornelius (MCL Design), Molly Prewitt (co-owner of Buffalo Builders with Eric Tetrault), Ramón Márquez (Wolf Corporation) and Allison Moore (Wilder Landscaping); front row: Kathy Fennema (Santa Fe By Design), Greg Reid (Plan A Architecture), Greg Woelfel (Applied Tile), Tim Nielsen (Constellation Home Electronics), Bob Schwarz (Santa Fe by Design) and Richard Wilder (Wilder Landscaping). Not pictured: Peter Burega, David Cofrances (Plan A Architecture), Rina Cohen (Rina Cohen Interiors), Jesus Coronado, Guy Domínguez (Guy’s Painting), Jim Harris (J Harris Marble & Granite), Clay Howard (Clay’s Welding & Fence), Gil Lujan (Oso Electric), Michael Moran (Wood Design), Taylor Mott, Scott Mutz (Advanced Concrete Design), and Chris Richter.
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The project was an ideal port of call for the inspired— a journey, like any custom home, composed of subcontracted and seemingly disparate parts, but ending with a single note, still and clear. Quiet. ref lected in their work, and that’s why the house looks like it does.” In the hall outside the master bedroom is a four-panel tapestry by local weaver Rebecca Bluestone, who was tasked with creating a piece that could weather UV exposure from the opposite glass wall. Bluestone used mostly natural colors of silk, which vary depending on the silkworm’s diet. The few red squares on the tapestries follow the Fibonacci sequence. “It’s like how visual art is defining for a space,” she says. “The geometric shapes are grounding. They bring us back down 130
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to the essentials.” Craftspeople of every skill composed the home, including the individuals responsible for the plumbing downstairs, which resembles something futuristic suspended above white hallways, more like a contemporary museum than a cellar. Tiler Greg Woelfel toiled in the living room, for example, until the striations in the basalt fireplace lined up in precise abstraction. Jim Harris, another true artisan, did much of the masonry, including the pale quartz used for kitchen counters and the large shower slabs. The cabinetry was designed
by Rina Cohen in Australia and built in Santa Fe by Michael Moran. The home achieved a vernacular so cohesively personal yet universally contemporary that it makes visiting the other buildings on the property feel like crossing into other countries. Paths of pebbles wind through the land’s pinkish earth past a modest orchard and through the many piñon and juniper trees and flowering crannies created by Allison Moore and Richard Wilder. One leads to “The Annex,” a northern New Mexico–style, pitched-roof guesthouse with yard walls of stone that was hand-chiseled after it was extracted from the main home’s foundation. Next door, where a family member lives, a traditional adobe was remodeled to include a rooftop deck providing some of the most unexpected, stunning views on the property.
The spa is an extension of the master bedroom suite, where the bed frame and bedside tables were custom designed, along with the teak bench by the hot tub.
There’s a small greenhouse, and finally, closer to the main house and attached to the gym, a Batman-like garage with photovoltaic panels on the roof that supply most of the power for the main home. Greg Reid, the architect who saw to the nuts and bolts of the project, explains that one challenge was the extent of the home’s automation features. Another was the expansive clay-based soil that required special treatment to build the foundation; instead of pouring a standard concrete slab, they drove micropiles, or rods, 20 feet into the ground (hence all the crawl space in the basement). While Márquez was there to take the plans to three dimensions, Prewitt represented the owners. Often she was the only woman on site. “I have a well-suited personality for this,” she says. “I take the heat. I’m goofy.” An effective manager, she
had a lot to do with ensuring the project’s aesthetic consistency. Prior to joining the project in 2012, Prewitt was the construction manager for Ten Thousand Waves during renovations there, so she took a particular interest in the spa designed outside the master bedroom. The spa includes a walk-in cold plunge, a hot tub with jets placed at heights specific to the owners, and an infrared sauna, all of which can be controlled remotely with a smart phone. Every part of the house, says Prewitt, was collaborative. “The owners fostered this environment by actively seeking opinions from those working on the project,” she explains. It helped that Márquez is someone people don’t mind taking direction from. A self-made foreman, he grew up between Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico, where it was quickly noticed that he could fix any-
thing that broke. His ethic is: “If I can understand how to do something, I will do it.” If he doesn’t? “I haven’t had that problem,” he says. On this job, Márquez was recognized for his ability to identify an aesthetic and see it through. Back in the entry hall, for example, a triptych by Chris Richter was hung on a wall adjacent to Castillo’s piece. Originally intended to be a diptych, that did not seem to work. “So Ramón, the foreman, went and got a new piece of wood and we started cutting and putting up boards,” says Richter. “It went from being two 20-by-60-inch pieces to these three 18-by-88-inch pieces.” Such an exercise was repeated in a thousand little scenes. The sheer force of talent put into creating the home is enough to leave one, as Homer says, “spellbound down the shadowed halls.” > trendmagazineglobal.com
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Airplane hangar bi-fold doors open at either end of the garage (viewed below from the basketball court outside). Within, a commercial-size roller separates garage and shop, where a compressor, car lift, and welding equipment are put to good use. R 132 TREND Fall 2015
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TRENDsource DESIGN PROFILES Insipired partnerships inform Santa Fe’s built environment
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Ancient Modernity B U C H AN RE SIDENCE | ST. GEORGE , UTA H
The design challenges were great but the payoffs even greater with this exceptional home. Covenants required Spanish Pueblo Revival style, while the spectacular red rock cliffs called for undivided attention and a sense of privacy, even with other houses around. Architect Jon Dick’s solution was a contemporary take on the ancient courtyard home. Carefully placed windows and doors, including seamless corner-wrapped windows, maximize views from all the primary rooms. Lines are strong and clean, yet the architecture humbly defers to the primacy of the views. The result, exceeding even the owner’s expectations, is a feeling that nothing exists but the house and the land. 1519 Upper Canyon Road, Studio A, Santa Fe 505.820.7200 | archaeoarchitects.com 134 TREND Fall 2015
ROBERT RECK (3)
ARCHAEO ARCHITECTS
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ROBERT RECK
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ARCHAEO ARCHITECTS SUBCONTRACTORS GENERAL CONTRACTOR: Greg Ence Construction, Ivins, UT STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Luchini Trujillo Structural Engineers, Inc., Santa Fe CIVIL ENGINEER AND SURVEYOR: Rosenberg Associates, St. George, UT LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Corey Kealiher Landscaping PLASTER: Gustavo Duran of Santa Lucia L&P, Inc., Santa Fe FINISHES: Allbright & Lockwood, Santa Fe PLUMBING FIXTURES: Ferguson EXTERIOR LIGHTING: Alchemy Lights, LLC, Santa Fe CASEWORK: Green Valley Cabinets, St. George, UT WINDOWS AND EXTERIOR DOORS: Windsor CONCRETE: Rose Concrete Coatings, St. George, UT
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Personality Plus P RIVAT E R ESIDENCE | SANTA F E
For some, a perfect interior contains the potential for changing things up. With this in mind, Paul Rochford and Michael Violante conceptualized an artisan-made walnut nesting coffee table for the living room of this contemporary full-house remodel by Woods Design Builders. At the homeowners’ discretion, the table and seating—including a leather and linen tête-àtête chaise—can easily be rearranged to create a fresh look. The library features a relatively rare mid-century Danish sofa and chair in original green mohair. In the dining area, a classic mid-century Saarinen table comfortably juxtaposes an ornate family heirloom mirror and chandelier. The home’s design, Rochford says, suits the clients’ personality and how they live.
405 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe | 505.983.3912 | vrinteriors.com
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KATE RUSSELL
VIOLANTE & ROCHFORD
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Sleek and Sociable P R I VATE RE SIDENCE | SANTA F E
This chef’s kitchen lives up to its name. Part of a full-home remodel for a working chef, it mixes pleasure with professionalism for cooking at home. On a generously sized island, an undivided stainless steel sink with a seamless integral drain board overlooks the open-concept living/dining area. The result is a sleek, contemporary space where cooking and entertaining are one. Main and prep sinks feature electronic touch faucets that let the homeowner opt for a directed flow and can be turned off and on with just a gentle touch. Santa Fe by Design provided all fixtures, sinks, and tubs for the baths and the kitchen fixtures. Kathy Fennema, the firm’s co-owner with Bob Schwarz, calls the kitchen a “wonderfully social space.” 1512 Pacheco Street, D101, Santa Fe | 505.988.4111 | santafebydesign.com
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KATE RUSSELL (2)
SANTA FE BY DESIGN
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An Eye for Beauty O CULUS/ B O TW IN EYE GROUP | S AN TA F E
DAVID NAYLOR INTERIORS
111 North Saint Francis Drive, Santa Fe 505.988.3170 | DavidNaylorInteriors.com
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KATE RUSSELL (2)
Who says an optical showroom needs to be clinical-looking and white? Why not a space with a mood that suggests, instead, the dashboard of a Bentley? Walnut burl. Black granite. Polished chrome. When Oculus/Botwin Eye Group opened its Water Street location, the owners envisioned a look that spoke of worldly, well-traveled glamour yet was anchored in the natural materials of Southwest style. The two-story rock wall/business icon centerpiece features Anasazi stacked stone, polished river rock, mirrors, and steel and is illuminated by a 25-foot hanging fixture of blown glass globes. Interior designer David Naylor notes that Oculus’s extensive eyeglass lines are “beautifully featured, not overwhelmed by the space—but the space is something to behold.”
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Light Conversation P U SH K IN G ALLERY | SANTA F E
A more inviting gallery space, huge savings, and protection of valuable artwork from ultraviolet and infrared light: what’s not to love? Kenneth Pushkin, owner of Pushkin Gallery on Canyon Road, is more than pleased with the transformation facilitated by Dahl Electric, which replaced 125 halogen lights with low-wattage LED track lighting throughout the gallery. The change reduces total electrical usage by 5,000 watts and eliminates the frequent expense of replacing burned-out halogen bulbs, notes Dahl’s Greg Miller. It also means lighting is cleanly focused on the artwork itself, rather than flooding the rooms. With Dahl, the transition was easy and smooth Pushkin adds. 1000 Siler Park Lane, Suite A, Santa Fe | 505.471.7272 | dahllighting.com 144 TREND Fall 2015
KATE RUSSELL
DAHL ELECTRIC SUPPLY AND SHOWROOM
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Pueblo-Idiosyncratic P R I V A T EE RRE E SSIDENCE I D E N C E | S| ASANTA NTA FE FE PRIVAT
KATE RUSSELL
ALLBRIGHT & LOCKWOOD Having worked with the clients before, Allbright & Lockwood’s team knew the world-traveling couple had idiosyncratic tastes, enjoying pops of color and hints of a modern, slightly industrial look, but also a deep respect for their older, Pueblo-style home. In the breakfast area hangs an enormous, wow-inducing pendant light of charcoal-gray hammered iron. It’s counterbalanced by the Tabarka tile behind the stove, a striking design hand-painted in charcoal, burnt sienna, and cream. Allbright & Lockwood co-owner Arthur Reeder notes that the firm, which provided design consultation, tile, lighting, and kitchen and bath hardware, helped create a home with an eclectic, distinctive look that still honors its architectural roots. 621 Old Santa Fe Trail, #5, Santa Fe | 505.986.1715 | allbrightlockwood.com trendmagazineglobal.com
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Territorial Reborn
P R I VATE RE SIDENCE | SANTA F E | 20 1 5 G R A N D HA CIEN DA WIN N ER
It was a small, faux-Territorial house on a large lot on a beautiful quiet street just off Canyon Road. Now, after a major remodel by Woods Design Builders, the home’s charming, low-ceilinged entryway—maintaining the original home’s proportions—opens into an expansive, light-filled great room and kitchen with views of the spacious, private grounds. New construction also added a hearth room, master wing, and attached garage to the home. The great room’s fireplace was built with reclaimed antique limestone from France. With dividedlight windows, white trim, and authentic brick coping replacing a 1950s-era overhang, as well as a full measure of contemporary amenities, the home now reflects its true birthright in classic Territorial style. 302 Catron St. Santa Fe | 505.988.2413 | woodsbuilders.com
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WENDY MCEAHERN
WOODS DESIGN BUILDERS
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Simply Sophisticated P R I VAT E RE SIDENCE | S ANTA FE
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DANIEL NADELBACH
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SAMUEL DESIGN GROUP A truly inspired interior designer is like a conductor guiding the vision of clients, contractors, and artisans to achieve a seemingly effortless effect. While attentively leading this full-home Las Campanas remodel, Lisa Samuel added her own artistic touches. She designed flowing, layered plaster relief embellishments for kiva fireplaces in the dining room and master bedroom, and designed much of the home’s furniture, including a sofa table that repurposes a carved wood panel from the end of an island in the original kitchen. Integrating artwork and furnishings from the owners’ Houston residence, she masterfully merged classic Southern elegance with inviting Santa Fe comfort. The result, as Samuel puts it, “exudes the simple sophistication of a grand hacienda style home.” 428 Sandoval Street, Suite B, Santa Fe | 505.820.0239 | samueldesigngroup.com
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Housewarming in Style P R IVAT E RE SIDENCE | SANTA F E
In the design of his spacious new foothills home, the owner told Destination Dahl he wanted the most energyefficient heating and cooling system available, and he got it. The geothermal system Dahl designed, in collaboration with Trey Medlin of Medlin Mechanical, provides 100 percent of the home’s heating and cooling requirements with no need for backup. Closed-loop circulation through boreholes deep in the ground draws warm air into the house in winter and cool air in summer, explains sales manager Julio Ortega. The cool air enters living areas through quiet, concealed mini-ducts, while in winter radiant heat rises through tile and wood floors. As such, the design also meets the homeowner’s aesthetic needs, combining year-round comfort with beauty. Dahl Plumbing of Santa Fe | 1000 Siler Park Lane, Santa Fe | 505.471.1811 | dahlplumbingsantafe.com 150 TREND Fall 2015
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Soft Palette
WOOD S D E SIGN BUILDERS REMODEL | S A N TA F E | 2 0 1 5 G R A N D HA CIEN DA W I N N E R
RICHARD WHITE
STATEMENTS IN TILE/LIGHTING/KITCHENS/FLOORING The best of both worlds: a classic Territorial-style Eastside home, completely remodeled and restored. Key to the home’s welcoming ambiance are accents and materials that are fresh and elegant while honoring traditional Santa Fe style. Statements provided thoughtful tile selections for the kitchen and baths, complementing and enhancing a palette of soft silvers, creams, and golds. The bold pattern in the hand-painted Tabarka backsplash tile, for example, is comfortably balanced by subtle hues. The master bath floor features a micro-mosaic of brushed Carrera marble with hints of polished marble that glint when touched by the sun. Statements’s owner, Kim White, describes the home as a “warm, inviting space.” 1441 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, NM | 505.988.4440 | statementsinsantafe.com trendmagazineglobal.com
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Uninterrupted Views PRIVAT E RE SIDENCE | S ANTA FE
The “infinity edge” design of this home’s deep portal creates the sense that nothing exists beyond it but endless panoramic views. So how to furnish the outdoor living space without disrupting those views? Moss Outdoor, in collaboration with Teresa White Design, met the challenge with thoughtful selection and placement of low-rise lounge and entertainment seating, a bar in the outdoor kitchen area, and a teak outdoor dining table and chairs. In pale creams and dark gray, the outdoor upholstery and rugs are a visual complement to the smooth natural stone underfoot. It’s a perfect formula for outdoor entertaining that steals nothing from the view. 530 South Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe 505.989.7300 | mossoutdoor.com 152 TREND Fall 2015
BILL CURRY (3)
MOSS OUTDOOR
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Inside Out
B RO O K S/ H AU PERT RES IDENCE | S A N TA F E
Sometimes inner beauty is equally reflected in the outer. In this case, a whole-house remodel inspired an update of all existing outdoor living areas with an eye to enhancing the classic Moorish feeling of the home’s design. Among other revitalizing changes, Clemens & Associates replaced old flagstone with tumbled brick, graced a tiered fountain with rich blue tile, and created an eye-catching wall grouping of Cameroon water jugs. Each of the U-shaped home’s rooms opens onto a pool courtyard, redesigned for functionality, beauty, and flow. 1012 Marquez Place, #202, Santa Fe | 505.982.4005 | clemensandassociates.com 154
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39 Camino De Vecinos
Minutes from Santa Fe in the fashionable neighborhood of Aldea. This stunning home is all on one level with custom finishes in every room. An open living room, dining area and kitchen present commanding views of the beautiful gardens and frame the breathtaking vistas of the Mountain Ranges. Price: $657,000 MLS: 201503085
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Wonderful Artists/horse-lovers Retreat, this custom designed quality built passive solar home is on 16+ acres, with an 800+/– sq. ft. guest house and a 4 car garage turned studio. With custom features throughout including a lovely kiva fireplace, bancos and vigas with split cedar. All this and it has 360 views! Price: $647,000 MLS: 201501738 505.982.6207 sothebyshomes.com/santafe Sotheby’s International Realty and the Sotheby’s International Realty logo are registered (or unregistered) service marks used with permission. Operated by Sotheby’s International Realty,Inc., Equal Housing Opportunity.
outlook BY NANCY ZIMMERMAN PORTRAITS BY BILL CURRY
ARCHITECTURE PROGRESSED
A Taos visionary promotes a new dynamic among art, agriculture, and the built environment
OPPOSITE: COURTESY OF MATT THOMAS
I
n a place known for rolling up the sidewalks not long after the early-bird special expires, it was an unprecedented sight: people by the thousands strolling along Taos’s main drag well into the night, enjoying a variety of outdoor installations and performance art that brought the electronic age smack up against the town’s centuries-old aesthetic. It was the Paseo, an interactive festival that coincided with the 2014 Taos Fall Arts Festival, and it marked a new kind of art fair for this old art town. Matt Thomas, mastermind and director of the event, rode his bike up and down the route, smiling broadly as he surveyed the throngs of people happily immersing themselves in the avant-garde scene. An architect by training and a humanitarian at heart, he had spearheaded the volunteer organization that brought national and international artists to town to share in the same creative vibe that has lured artists and seekers to Taos for hundreds of years, and he was gratified to see such an enthusiastic response. “My original plan for the Paseo began with a question: How can we bring art to the people who don’t usually go out to galleries and art openings?” says Thomas. “The Fall Arts Festival had lost its home at the convention center, so when I heard they were going to put it in five locations around town, I knew I had to help. The Paseo was intended to reinforce the idea of community, to link the different venues and introduce new forms of art to entice a more diverse audience to come out. Although we brought in artists from elsewhere, it was still about 50 percent local artists, and it’s all about celebrating and sharing what we have here.”
At work in his studio, Matt Thomas uses the tools of an architect—such as a T-square and X-Acto knife—to apply a pattern atop a prepared surface for his painting PY001 (2015), reclaimed paper and paint.
That’s what Thomas is all about too, and he uses his unique skills and experience to reinforce—and reinvent—the notion of community. Raised in Jefferson City, Missouri, he studied architecture at Kansas State University before settling in Taos some 12 years ago, which he says was a choice based on serendipitous invitations to visit there and a strong sense that this was where he was meant to be. He applied for a job with an architecture firm upon his arrival in town and was hired immediately, a promising start, and within five days had already met the man who would become his husband. “But a few years later the Great Reces-
sion hit,” he says, “and I needed to make a new plan. I enrolled in Columbia University’s architecture and urban design program and got my MS degree, taught there for a while, then went to Beirut, Lebanon, where I taught architecture at the American University. My great-grandfather had emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon, and I wanted to explore those roots.” It was there that Thomas experienced a kind of epiphany. “Living in the Middle East and traveling to places like Dubai, I had a little falling out with architecture,” he explains. “Dubai, with its high rises and ultramodern buildings, is surreal, and our cities are striving to become more like trendmagazineglobal.com 159
these artificial places. I thought, ‘This isn’t saving the world.’ It’s important to me to create something in the community, to help people come together and share in the pride and excitement of where they live.” With that in mind, he assigned his urban development students a project that would change their thinking about how a community and an economy can grow. “One unifying factor in any community is the food,” he explains. “I worked with one of the only organic farmers markets in the Middle East outside of Israel, and they partnered with me on a design studio. We challenged the students to look at food as a mechanism for development, rather than real estate or oil. Food is the one thing that brings people together, so what if we used food as the design engine to create housing and community?” 160
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It began with simple fattoush, the Levantine bread salad that is popular throughout the region. “People there take a lot of pride in their fattoush, with a whole sense of identity based on the food,” says Thomas. “My students were furious to learn that the ingredients in their local specialty—cucumber, feta, tomato—were not produced locally. They responded by designing a community based on how things grow, the water needs, agriculture principles generally, so that residents could grow some of their own food and reinforce their identity.” Once back in Taos, he took that inspiration and established Studio Taos, a projectoriented endeavor committed to interdisciplinary design, research, and community. One of its projects, the Food & Shelter Lab, was inspired by Thomas’s experiences in
the Middle East, and it explores the role of food and shelter in contemporary society to facilitate a built and grown environment that supports healthy communities. “We conduct research and seek out design innovations to build capacity for architects, planners, and agriculturists,” he explains. Thomas points out that in contemporary society a divide has developed between food and shelter, with agriculture removed from our built environment despite the fact that the core of any sustainable community is access to both food and shelter. “We’re just getting started,” he says of the two-year-old initiative. “I’m doing a podcast that looks For the first Paseo event in 2014, Thomas organized students from the Projecting Particles workshop for a performance connecting iPads and projectors. Right: Sabrina Barrios’s immersive 3D drawing for Paseo 2015, How to Build a Portal for a Hidden Dimension, will be displayed under a portal on the Plaza.
COURTESY OF MATT THOMAS (2)
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at the collisions of food and shelter historically, through time. How did we get so distant from where our food comes from? It’s my geeky hobby of exploring different times from our past, seeing what’s changed and what’s impacted our approach to food and shelter. We need some form of resilience, so that’s what the local movement is all about.” In keeping with his commitment to the idea of community, Thomas, along with his husband, Richard Spera, created the Pecha Kucha Night Taos to facilitate the sharing of artistic output and ideas. Started in Japan by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham in 2003 and now taking place in locations around the world, Pecha Kucha lets participants present 20 slides of their work or ideas and gives them 20 seconds to discuss each slide, a format
that prevents people from running on too long and which allows large numbers of people to share their creative output with one another. Now in its fourth year, Pecha Kucha has become a much-anticipated fixture on Taos’s arts calendar. Another of Studio Taos’s initiatives is the ToolBox, a maker space that organizers hope to equip with computers, 3-D printers, electronic work areas, sewing machines, a metal fabrication and machine shop, woodworking tools, and workbenches. “People were asking me about collaborating on creating a maker space, and the ToolBox is what we came up with,” says Thomas. “My role is to rally the local stakeholders and supply the strategic planning to get this thing going. We’ll be offering classes, workshops, and training on the equipment, and the Tool-
Box Gallery will exhibit work produced by our members.” They’re also planning to add a cafe, which will function as a meeting place. It will have a large window so that the public can see the maker space, and it will serve simple, healthy food. Proceeds will help to support the operations of the ToolBox. “All of these projects are about sharing, collaboration, leading by example,” he continues. “We want to bring together education, agriculture, economic development, the creative economy. Art matters, creativity matters.” Thomas also keeps busy with his business, Matt’s Bakery, which specializes in gluten-free cookies made with quinoa and other natural ingredients. “I have a staff of three people,” he says, “and we use the community kitchen through the business trendmagazineglobal.com 161
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incubator to make cookies two days a week. We have three flavors and distribute to 30 locations around New Mexico, and I just shipped my first order to a cafe in New York City. It’s going well.” He hasn’t abandoned architecture entirely, however, although he rarely takes on large projects anymore. Working with the firm LDG Architects (the initials stand for Living Designs Group), he designs smaller structures like guesthouses or does remodels that reflect his and the group’s commitment to sustainability and natural materials. “I like to keep my hand in, and I have to earn a living,” he says. “These other projects are mostly volunteer efforts, so I still need a job.” When he’s not baking, organizing festivals, teaching classes, exploring food and shelter ideas, designing houses, or overseeing the ToolBox, Thomas likes to create his own art. His geometric paintings on reclaimed paper are mesmerizing studies of texture and shape whose dynamic
contours appear to shift with the changing light, their architectural quality consistent with his overarching worldview. “I’m obsessed with geometries and patterns, so my work is a collision of material and texture because I’m an architect,” he says. “I like to build up my canvases with different materials like paper and found objects. That way I create a new surface for the canvas, and then I use knives and rulers and scales and put on a highly structured pattern. “I really do see the world architecturally, whether I’m building a painting or a business, a cake or a festival,” he continues. “Everything I learned in architecture school comes to life. There are ways you can impact people’s lives through good architecture using space and light. Taking that skill set, I’ve given myself permission to explore. I see structure everywhere, and I see people and business in that context.” Busy as he is, Thomas still finds time to relax at home with his husband. Spera is a
Matt Thomas with his husband, innkeeper Richard Spera, by the acequia that runs near their home. Opposite: Patterns found in quilting, Arabic design, and sacred geometry inspire Thomas’s sketches.
transplanted New Yorker who studied hospitality management at Cornell University and now runs Casa Gallina, a charming inn in a rustic setting near the couple’s home. Thomas worked with him to refurbish and redesign the five fully equipped casitas, although the vision and labor were Spera’s, and the management duties are exclusively his. “Richard is the heart of the inn,” says Thomas. As he continues his efforts to build a sustainable community at a variety of levels, Thomas is optimistic about his town’s prospects. “If you have a great community with interaction and communication, like we have here in Taos, that’s the most important. I want to create something that will help people come together and feel pride and excitement in knowing that they live here.” R trendmagazineglobal.com 163
high altitudE BY MICHELE POTTER PHOTOS BY BILL CURRY
Local vendors take interest in styling mountain adventurers. From BootDoctors (Taos): ARC’TERYX jacket, SPYDER athletic fit pants, CAMELBACK backpack, DYNASTAR skis, SCOTT PRO poles, LANGE boots From Alpine Sports (Santa Fe): RAYBAN sunglasses, OBERMEYER sweater
Peak of Fashion Ski wear has come a long way over the past five decades
Taos Ski Valley has always prided itself on its highclass ski school, jaw-dropping steeps, big altitude, and a rebellious attitude toward fashion (read: anti-glitz). This is slightly paradoxical, like skiing itself—that homegrown, consumerist, somewhat ridiculous sport that we so love. We like to think we’re above it all, and we are: the gleaming, beloved, iconic new lift that we all wanted to hate rises to 12,450 feet before dropping through expert runs. And in your new-age techno fabrics you never want to come in out of the cold (or wet or wind). Taos is an artists’ community as well as a ski community, and we can’t stop expressing ourselves, even through what we wear. Here, then, is a little of our ski history, as seen through the changing fashions through the years. In some ways, it’s back to the future. Welcome to the new era at Taos Ski Valley. >
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any bemoaned the bittersweetness of it all: after half a century of Blake family ownership, Taos Ski Valley (TSV) was sold to hedgefund owner Louis Bacon, who loved to ski here and came with deep pockets. This enabled newfangled stuff like the installation of that iconic quicksilver lift that accesses Kachina Peak, a sacred place that we heretofore had so righteously accessed by an hour’s hike. Soon enough, we were on board with the convenience of taking our oxygen-starved guests—the ones who nearly died trying to hike there—to the top in five minutes flat. Once there, we take them to the highest vantage point to check out the soul-expanding, mind-boggling views against a bulletproof blue sky. First-timers especially want their pictures taken there, so I style them a little—open the jacket a bit so the red shirt pops, ditch the neck gaiter, trade out the glasses. A little style never hurt anyone, and I know that our guests are here to make memories. I like to think that Ernie Blake would have liked this. Ernie met his wife, Rhoda, on Christmas Day of 1940 at Mt. Mansfield, recounts Rick Richards in his book Ski Pioneers. Always very resourceful, he was using his friend Count Haugwitz-Reventlow’s butler to press his pants. “We looked very elegant each morning,” he says. It must have worked. By 1942 there’s a Sun Valley honeymoon photo with Rhoda (in a chic gabardine jumpsuit). They look fit and happy, the hallmark of great sportswear. Then WWII broke out, changing everything. Ernie and many famous racers wanted to join the ski troops training at Fort Hale, the ones with the all-white suits, white hats trimmed in fur, and matching skis. But Ernie was too German; they would not let him in. He ended up working for the Americans in England, interrogating Nazis. By 1957 the Blakes had opened Taos’s impossibly far-from-everything ski area. Ernie was known to line up his instructors and inspect them to make sure their turtlenecks were clean. (Perhaps he had been an interrogator too long.)
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A little black-on-black never hurt at the slopes. From Alpine Sports: TONI SAILER jacket, KINROSS sweater, FERA pants, HESTRA gloves, OPTIC NERVE sunglasses From BootDoctor: LANGE boots Jewelry by JADU DESIGN (Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos); Scarf by Kachi Head; Fabric wrap by Peruvian Manta (Andean Software, Taos)
From Alpine Sports: TONI SAILER jacket and pants, KINROSS sweater, ZEAL goggles, HESTRA gloves From BootDoctor: LEKI poles, SALOMON boots, SQUIRE skis Necklace from JADU DESIGN (True West Gallery, Santa Fe)
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From Alpine Sports: BOGNER jacket, OBERMEYER sweater, FERA pants, HESTRA gloves, OPTIC NERVE sunglasses From BootDoctor: LANGE boots Jewelry by JADU DESIGN (True West Gallery, Santa Fe)
From Alpine Sports: BOGNER jacket, KINROSS sweater, TONI SAILER pants, HESTRA gloves, ZEAL goggles From BootDoctor: DYNASTAR skis, SCOTT PRO poles, LANGE boots Jewelry by JADU DESIGN (Millicent Rogers Museum)
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At La Petite Cafe by the main lift, with vintage wooden skis, reminiscent of those used by Taos Ski Valley pioneer, Rhoda Blake (opposite). From Andean Software: Alpaca cardigan and skirt, TECNICA boots From Alpine Sports: KINROSS sweater, TURTLE FUR head wrap From BootDoctor: HESTRA gloves Necklace by JADU DESIGN (True West Gallery, Santa Fe)
Mountain Fashion
Suzy Chapstick (formerly Suzy Chaffee) is forgotten for being a great downhill racer and for fostering Title IX guarantees of equality in women’s sports, and is remembered instead for her sleek silver ski suits. She rises to fame by ballet skiing in lip-balm commercials wearing sexy white suits. She also wears ChapStick.
Through the Years
1100s
The Norwegian Birkebeiners save 2-year-old King Haakon by carrying him through the mountains on skis. It’s fashionable to wear birch leggings—hence the name.
1980s
This era’s contribution to ski fashion includes big hair, pink and purple suits, and rear-entry boots. Enough said? TSV Ski School Technical Director Jean Mayer (and wannabes) rock headbands inscribed “Big Dogs.”
1950s
Gold medal Olympian Stein Eriksen is the Norwegian ski star and hand-knit sweaters are the rage, as are his famous forward flips. Otherwise, wool jackets shift to synthetics and Willy Bogner invents stretch pants.
1990 s Environmental consciousness starts to seep in with the
likes of Patagonia and North Face sportswear, designed to be more holistic than mere skiwear. Functional designs and fabrics have long made “Patagucci” a TSV staple.
1960s
Emilio Pucci designs extravagantly colored jackets; then he makes similar tunics for “air hostesses.” Jean-Claude Killy stars in the Grenoble Olympics. Wearing white turtlenecks and three gold medals becomes chic. After Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, clothes take on a space-age look, making “moon boots” a part of ski wardrobes. Gore-Tex is designed.
If clothes make the man, they definitely make the woman. My own life changed when I got a gorgeous lapis-blue Bogner suit that I paid for after a year’s babysitting. Stretch pants, a sleek jacket and, take note, a matching cloth-covered helmet. I felt invincible. I became invincible. In short order, I—a girl from South Dakota who just a few short years before had never laid eyes on a mountain—joined the ranks of the few, the proud, and the underpaid: I became a Ski Professional. Never mind that I was the 80th instructor hired that year in Mt. Hood Meadows and that I only taught one lesson all season. I remember what I wore: a yellow jacket. The dyes ran when it rained. After some stints teaching in Germany and Aspen, a domestic incarceration in New Jersey for a few years, and finally two graduate degrees and three kids later, I was back in a yellow instructor ski jacket at Taos Ski Valley. It felt like I hadn’t taken a full breath in a decade. I traded in my ex-husband’s toobig parka for a racy red Obermeyer suit and all new gear, spending more than I made,
2000s Hell freezes over as snowboarders are no longer outlaws at the valley. The scariest new trend is baggy pants worn around the knees—a valuable fashion critique for skiers who take themselves oh-so-seriously.
but it was worth it. I felt reborn. I sent the kids out to ski; I went to work. Recently I bought a bright blue Aventura jacket (silver buttons, no zipper), nearly a replica of that vintage blue Bogner I so loved. I felt like I’d gotten an old life back—one where I was 19 again, hitchhiking to the mountain and sneaking onto the lift. As it turns out, I have gotten an old life back: I hitchhike to work and get on the lift on a free pass. My play clothes are my work clothes, and that says something. It also says something about ski fashion, as its vocabulary has gradually informed everyday wardrobes. The sense of joy that we hope we exude (because we feel it in our bones) is what skiing is about. What we want now is what we wanted when we were eight years old: good play clothes. I’ve also observed how my winter sports school comrades exhibit their own sense of style once out of the yellow bag. Fashionista Barbara shows up in a long mouton (sheepskin) coat and flip-flops. Stewart arrives in red flannel pants, aka jammies, and French instructor Madame Laleuf wears Russian fur hats. Francie wears her mother’s vin-
tage Bogners. My own trademark is a red helmet and matching red lipstick. It’s for protection. That’s why women get less skin cancer than men. Otherwise, I’m sponsored by the Lost and Found: nothing but mismatched black gloves for me, always interchangeable. Monica Brown, one of Bogner’s first models and, apparently, the only one who could ski, says in Ski Pioneers that she escaped from Poland on skis with the family’s belongings on sleds. Her mother told her to go to Taos. She’s quoted as saying, “to come to America, which I thought was slick, high-rises, consume and consume, a throwaway society, and you come into this little village where you don’t need a car and basically don’t need anything, everybody helps everyone. When it is dark and the skiing is over, you sit together at long tables and spin stories. Ernie was the greatest at that, he just was overflowing with them. I hope some things never change.” I, too, hope that some things never change, despite the plans to launch TSV into the future with new lifts, a new hotel, and shops paving the way. I believe we’ll trendmagazineglobal.com 171
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The view from the main lift down to the base.
keep the best of ski culture around. I want to continue sitting at one of those tables at the end of a great ski day, tired and happy, with half as many stories as Ernie. Martini in hand, I’ll soon start believing that all my stories are true ones, that I was witty and beautiful and skied all day like a goddess. I hope I look good. I won’t be wearing: a yellow jacket a onesie a Big Dog headband gloves that match birch leggings. R
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PRODUCTION CREDITS Model: Christy Howell Production Coordinator: Kaci Head Head Stylist: Gilda Meyer Niehof Makeup/Hair: Katie Douthit Special thanks to Jessie Keaveny, Jim Cox, and Jim Bradley from the Taos Ski Valley Ski Patrol; Reserl Chalker of Alpine Sports (Santa Fe); Andrea Heckman of Andean Software (Taos); and Bob Gleason of BootDoctors (Taos).
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Passion of the Palate
NEW MEXICO’S CULINARY INSPIRATION
Chef Cristian Pontiggia of Osteria d’Assisi prepares yellowfin tuna and New Zealand mussels with cucumber, brussel sprouts, and a balsamic vinegar braise. Sprinkled with sesame seeds and microgreens, the dish is topped with an edible orchid. | Photo by Kate Russell
MUSEUM HILL CAFÉ
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Chefs and foodies lead the way to reconnecting with our sources of sustenance—with delicious results
Back to Basics
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BY NANCY ZIMMERMAN | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL
ating is more than just a biological necessity, even more than a cherished social interaction. The cultivation, preparation, and sharing of food is a profound expression of culture—a source of pride and identity that has been reinforced for millennia through continuity and innovation. Prior to the 20th century, pretty much all food was grown and raised locally, and regional cooking styles were developed based on what was immediately available. It wasn’t until after World War II that this changed rapidly in the United States. Industrialized food production, processed meals, and globalized trade became increasingly dominant, while people looked to frozen foods, boxed mixes, and other shortcuts to reduce the time spent preparing meals, ostensibly to use that time to better avail. Eating seasonally went out of fashion as our supermarkets filled their produce aisles with fruits and vegetables grown thousands of miles away. Convenience foods became the norm, and our connection to fresh, local food became ever more tenuous. Industrialized factory farms rendered family farms unprofitable because of their economy of scale, in the process introducing hormones and antibiotics to animal feed, grazing their livestock on pesticide-laden grasses, and dousing their crops with chemical fertilizers in a bid to maximize their profits. Not coincidentally, the incidence of food
sensitivities soared and diet-related illnesses became rampant. A backlash began in the early 1970s when a number of people, mostly hippies and back-to-the-land advocates, began spreading the idea of going organic to achieve better nutrition and health. Then, in the mid 1980s, the Slow Food movement took root in Italy as an outgrowth of the protest against building a McDonald’s at the base of Rome’s Piazza di Spagna. The goal was to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourage the farming of plants and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem, and the movement has since spread to include 100,000 members in 150 countries. Concurrent with the push for organic, local food was the renaissance of American cuisine, and regional cooking styles once eschewed as unsophisticated were now exalted as authentic and culturally significant. Throughout the 1990s and beyond, innovative chefs led the way by preparing traditional ingredients in new ways to elevate humble dishes to fine-dining status and showcase regional specialties. Then came the locavore movement of recent years, which further stresses the importance of eating local, not only for our health but also for the environment and the economy. The ever increasing anti-GMO sentiment also underscores our desire to take control of what and how we eat.
Above: Chef Matt Yohalem serves hearty Italian farmhouse plates at Il Piatto. Fresh New Mexico peaches and beet greens flavor the slow-roast pork shoulder (opposite).
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And so the backlash continues, but these days it’s more a joyful embrace of all things fresh, local, and beautifully prepared than an angry protest. What began with hippies pushing granola and sprouts has gone mainstream—and delicious. Led by forward-thinking chefs and creative home cooks, our nation is slowly returning to its unique heritage, embracing foods once considered low-brow and exploring new ways to prepare indigenous ingredients with flair. We’ve gone from TV dinners and Betty-Crocker-in-a-box to CSA boxes and gourmet dining clubs. Cooking shows have become ubiquitous on television, and new food magazines arrive every year. Farmers’ markets have popped up pretty much everywhere, offering us produce, meats, and other products fresh from the farm. Even our architecture has changed, as homeowners increasingly favor an open-concept design that lets them entertain guests while preparing meals. Potluck affairs that once featured Jell-O molds and Hamburger Helper casseroles have turned into epicurean events, and chefs who used to toil anonymously in their hot kitchens away from the public eye have become honored celebrities. Here in Northern New Mexico, the raising and cooking of food takes on a spiritual dimension as well. Our ancient cultures have always considered food production and preparation a reverent act, and sharing a well-prepared meal with family and friends is an overt expression of love and hospitality. Gratitude for the earth’s bounty is a guiding principle here, as is treating food with respect. It’s no accident, then, that our region enjoys fame as a culinary mecca. With a wealth of foods to draw on, local chefs fuse flavors and techniques from around the world with the distinctive tastes of the Southwest to produce a cuisine that’s inventive, exciting, and unique. For those of us lucky enough to live here, and those discerning enough to visit, culinary adventures await. Survival never tasted so good. R Clockwise, from top left: Matt Romero delivers artichokes from his farm in Dixon, New Mexico, to chef Matt Yohalem; Local chanterelles are picked fresh in the morning; Assorted plates from Il Piatto, including tomato salad with squash blossom pesto, baked stuffed squash blossoms, and braised wild leeks with mascarpone cream and caviar.
A quarter century of the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta showcases the region’s unique culinary culture BY ANYA SEBASTIAN | PHOTOS BY KATE RUSSELL
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I
t was conceived, appropriately enough, over a good dinner accompanied by a few bottles of excellent wine. The brainchild of Mark Miller of Coyote Café, Al Lucero of Maria’s, and Gordon Hess, then general manager of La Casa Sena, the Chile & Wine Fiesta—as it was originally called—was intended to bridge the business gap between Labor Day and the Balloon Fiesta. “It was really a marketing tool,” admits Lucero. “September was always a slow time for Santa Fe restaurants and we wanted to do something to fill that void.” All three men were wine lovers, and they also wanted to highlight more sophisticated dishes and bring in national wineries, to take the public’s perception to a new level. “We wanted to show people that there’s more to New Mexico cuisine than tacos, burritos, and beer,” says Lucero, now president of the nonprofit fiesta’s board of directors, “and since September is chile harvesting month, and chile is what New Mexico was already known for, that seemed the obvious place to start.” Not long after, in a smallish tent in the far corner of that first fiesta in 1991, three of the founders of modern Southwestern cuisine—Miller, Rick Bayless from Topolobampo in Chicago, and Stephen Pyles from Routh Street Cafe in Dallas— took turns demonstrating their techniques cooking with chiles. That was 25 years ago. The first Chile & Wine Fiesta, held in the parking lot of the Sanbusco Market Center, was a modest affair, featuring 20 restaurants and 21 wineries that attracted about 300 people. Tickets were $10 and came in the form of a book of 10 coupons, each redeemable for a taste of food or a sample of wine. “I think we could have attracted more people,” says Greg O’Byrne, the Fiesta’s longtime director, “but some were confused by the name. They wanted to know what this Chilean wine festival was all about, which is why it was changed the following year to Wine & Chile.” This didn’t stop the event from attracting world-class wineries. The California pinot noir pioneer and owner of Calera Wine Company, Josh Jensen, was one of
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Mark Miller signs his cookbook (above) at last year’s grand tasting (previous page).
the individuals to feature their wineries at the inaugural event. So was Beth Novak Milliken, president of Spottswoode Winery, one of Napa Valley’s “first growths.” She says, “The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta has really evolved alongside the restaurant scene in Santa Fe. As I recall, when the Fiesta first started in 1991, Mark Miller’s Coyote Cafe was getting a lot of buzz and helped to put Santa Fe on the fine-dining map. There were other good restaurants in town, too, and all likely improved and got more notoriety as a result of the buzz. The Wine & Chile Fiesta has come a long way since the first year, and what I find so compelling is that the restaurateurs really support it and participate enthusiastically, making it a true community event.” Indeed, that initial one-day event has grown into a unique, five-day food and wine celebration that incorporates cooking classes, 40 winepairing dinners at local restaurants, guest chef demos, wine seminars hosted by master sommeliers, winery luncheons, silent and live auctions, and a golf classic. There is even a daylong bike ride from Santa Fe to Chimayó, a Gran Fondo spectacle that includes celebrity chef riders passing through historic villages, with gourmet food stops along the way. The final grand tasting event is now held on the grounds of the Santa Fe Opera and this year features 79 restaurants and almost 100 wineries. As for the visitors, they fly in from around the world. That $10 ticket is now $150, and with sales limited to 2,500, the festival always sells out well in advance. “We want to keep it small so as not to lose the feeling of a boutiquestyle event,” says O’Byrne. He remembers a moment from the 1997 festival, during the boisterous “reserve tasting” in the Eldorado Pavilion. Winery honoree Robert Mondavi walked in with his wife, Margrit Biever, and the 100 winery principals stopped pouring as a hush filled the room. O’Byrne recalls that master sommelier Robert Bath, midpour of a Shafer Hillside Select, turned to him and whispered: “My god, it’s Robert Mondavi. Without him and what he did for California wine, none of us would be standing here right now.” Hotels and restaurants are now booked for most of September, so the festival not only benefits the restaurant community but also provides a boost to the local economy. Proceeds from the Fiesta go back into the community as well, supporting causes like Cooking with Kids (which received $25,000 last year) and organizations with culinary connections, like the Santa Fe Community College cooking school. They also fund scholarships, sommelier classes, and Taste of Santa Fe, a walking food tour. “We think it’s important to support the food and restaurant industry in this town, to maintain the standards that keep Santa Fe a favored destination for sophisticated foodies,” explains O’Byrne. Both the lack of corporate sponsorship and the restaurant involvement set the fiesta apart from other wine festivals. “The culinary community in this town is unique in my experience,” says O’Byrne. “It’s involved and connected in a way that just doesn’t happen in other places, and that’s what draws in the wineries. I have to confess, I originally thought the event wouldn’t succeed, because September is crush time for them, when grapes are harvested and
Top: Awaiting the results for the Friday Wine Auction during last year’s Fiesta. Bottom: Sommelier and wine event–pro Toby Rowland-Jones (left) with Jack Galante of Galante Vineyards (center) and a friend. Opposite: One of the boards that steered the Fiesta’s development in recent years. trendmagazineglobal.com 183
crushed to make wine. Happily, I was wrong. Small wineries especially love being involved with Santa Fe restaurants, because there’s a real commitment here, as well as community support. No other town that I know of really compares.” Jason Haas, owner of Tablas Creek, a small, family-owned winery in Paso Robles, California, agrees. “We love the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta for how totally it is integrated into the culinary scene there. Nearly every great restaurant in Santa Fe, and there are a lot, participates, and not just in a token way. The result is that everyone involved, from wineries to sommeliers to consumers, wants to come back each year—not just to show off what they’re doing that’s new, but to reconnect with old friends.” Tim Duncan, of Silver Oak family winery in California, the Fiesta’s Honorary Winery of the Year, agrees. “We’ve been several times, and we love it,” he says. “Not only do we get to meet our wholesale partners and customers but we’re also surrounded by the top restaurants in Santa Fe, who are more likely to recommend our wines if there’s a personal connection. But beyond that, the event is unusual in being so inclusive. It seems to involve the whole town, which makes every restaurant and retail outlet a potential customer.” Other cities have tried over the years to produce a similar event, but—to take just two major examples—the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival (now in its twelfth year) and the Pebble Beach Food & Wine (nine years old) both depend on corporate sponsorship, as does the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, now in its 26th year and still attracting leading national culinary voices. Santa Fe is fortunate enough to be able to operate without having to solicit corporate sponsorship. The city also offers an innovative list of side activities, such as 184 TREND Fall 2015
the Gruet Golf Classic, held at the Towa Golf Course at Hilton Buffalo Thunder Resort in Pojoaque. The one-day event features gourmet food samples paired with a different sparkling wine at every third hole of a 27-hole course. “It’s wildly popular,” says Laurie Meredith, the resort’s director of golf. “Tickets always sell out well in advance. It’s like a big party. The food is handheld and the wine comes in small, four-ounce glasses. We’ve never had a problem with golfers drinking too much, but we’ve never had a hole-in-one, either!” As visitors to the Grand Tasting know, chile is, in fact, no longer a required ingredient in the festival’s food offerings, which range from tapas to desserts and everything in between. Two restaurants that take pride in maintaining the chile-infused tradition, however, are Cafe Pasqual’s and Tomasita’s. “It’s chile harvesting time,” says Katharine Kagel, founder and owner of Cafe Pasqual’s, “so it’s seasonal food. Why do anything else?” Ignatio Patsalis of Tomasita’s feels the same way. “Attendance has really exploded over the past ten years or so,” he says, “and the Fiesta is a great way for restaurants to put themselves on display. For us, chile rules. It’s what we’re known for.” As to where the Fiesta is headed, O’Byrne and the board of directors have been toying with the idea of adding a smaller version of the event in either winter or spring, because, says O’Byrne, “We would like to keep promoting Santa Fe as a culinary destination year-round.” But Patsalis isn’t so sure. “It’s already one of the culinary highlights of Santa Fe,” he says, “and, personally, I’d like it to stay just the way it is.” This year’s 25th anniversary Fiesta is September 23-27. For event and ticketing information, visit santafewineandchile.org. >
Clockwise, from top left: Cristian Pontiggia (Osteria d’Assisi); Louis Moskow (315 Restaurant and Wine Bar); Matt Yohalem (Il Piatto). Opposite: Participants in the first Gran Fondo rest in Truchas during the 65-mile ride (top), and Fiesta director gives a two-hand toast after completing the ride (center); Calera Wine owner John Jensen serves guests at a private party in the governor’s mansion (bottom). trendmagazineglobal.com 185
Top from left: Beth Koch (Zia Diner) Roland Richter (Joe’s Diner) James Campbell Caruso (La Boca; Mas; Taberna) Center from left: Charles Dale (Bouche Bistro) Fernando Olea (Sazón) Joseph Wrede (Joseph’s of Santa Fe) Bottom from left: Eric DiStefano (Coyote Cafe, Geronimo) Paul Montoya (Arroyo Vino) and Rocky Durham (Santa Fe Culinary Academy)
Top from left: Patrick Gharrity (La Casa Sena) Andrew Cooper (Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe) Ahmed Obo (Jambo Cafe) Center from left: Xavier Grenet (L’Olivier) Martín Rios (Restaurant Martín) Mark Kiffin (The Compound) Bottom from left: Iba and Ayame Fukuda (Shohko) Estevan Garcia (Hotel Chimayo of Santa Fe) R
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653 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 505-982-4353 | compoundrestaurant.com
I
n the 15 years since chef-owner Mark Kiffin took over this venerable Canyon Road institution, The Compound has shed its outdated ambience and reestablished itself as one of Santa Fe’s prime destinations for fine dining. Blending the classic appeal of traditional Santa Fe architecture with a sleekly minimalist aesthetic, Kiffin has managed to honor the city’s past while reflecting its hipper, more accessible present. In the coming year, the restaurant will celebrate its 50th anniversary in Santa Fe with a spectacular celebration planned for guests both local and from all over the world. In keeping with this intention, Kiffin has fashioned a menu that pays homage to classic Continental cooking while fusing fresh ingredients and flawless technique, yielding an updated take on contemporary American cuisine that has garnered some of the culinary world’s highest awards.
TOP: BONCRATIOUS. BOTTOM AND OPPOSITE: DOUGLAS MERRIAM
The Compound
Expect favorites to be prepared with innovative flourishes, like roasted rack of lamb with chickpeas, heirloom carrots, and grilled ramps accompanied by salsa verde and romesco sauce; or a pan-roasted chicken breast stuffed with house-made chorizo, roasted sweet pepper, and cilantro alongside a fingerling potato stew. The wine list pairs especially well with the food, so don’t miss the opportunity to sample a new vintage. Desserts are inventive, ranging from decadent to refreshing, or both, such as ruby grapefruit granita with grapefruit-basil salad and poppy-seed cake, frozen passion fruit, and white chocolate mousse in a blueberry-ginger port glaze. Outside the elegant dining room is a flower-filled patio as well as a smaller garden patio for private parties. All private dining rooms can be reserved for groups of ten to 200 people, with special tasting menus available.
Organic Scottish salmon with chanterelle and squash blossom risotto, beurre blanc and fried kale. Opposite: The Compound restaurant interior; Veal porterhouse with ragout of chaterelle mushrooms, bacon and baby tomotoes, sauteĂŠd kale and Madeira jus.
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Q&a
Santa Fe’s dining scene is varied and always changing, with local chefs embracing new trends and inventing their own. Trend recently convened a group of food authorities at The Teahouse on Canyon Road to discuss Santa Fe’s place on the culinary map and its refreshingly collegial atmosphere, which is far more collaborative than competitive. Santa Fe entrepreneur and gastronomist Bonn Macy moderated the discussion, which ranged from topics like sourcing local ingredients to adapting to new technologies. A video of the full session can be found at trendmagazineglobal.com; here we present a few highlights from that lively conversation. wThe participants: Chef Cristian Pontiggia of Osteria d’Assisi, whose Italian upbringing and training informs
his take on fresh, innovative cuisine Charles Dale of Bouche French Bistro, what he calls “the anti-Southwestern restaurant” wChef Hue-Chan Karels of Open Kitchen, a culinary events company that offers diners a hands-on, interactive experience with the chefs and their ingredients wOwner-chef Rich Freedman of The Teahouse, which features Mediterranean dishes to complement its vast menu of teas wOwner-chef Josh Gerwin of Dr. Field Goods Kitchen, who added a butcher shop and bakery to his restaurant so he could ensure he uses the best meats and breads possible wChef Andrew Cooper of Terra at the Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado, whose menu showcases American regional cuisine with Southwest accents. >
w Owner-chef
KATE RUSSELL
Table alk
From left: Bonn Macy with chefs Rich Freedman, Hue-Chan Karels, Charles Dale, Josh Gerwin, Andrew Cooper, and Cristian Pontiggia
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Q&a
Macy: Does being part of an artistic community influence your restaurants?
openness in this city and a thirst for things like that that are new and unique and interesting.
Dale: Here we are on Canyon Road, one of the great art streets in America. Every couple of months I walk the road because there’s something about stimulating the visual sense that reverberates onto the other senses and helps me be more creative. There’s a point where you’ve stopped being stimulated by what you taste because you’ve tasted so much, so it’s cool to go and see someone’s artistic vision. There’s also a symbiotic relationship among gallery owners, artists, and restaurateurs. We go to their galleries, they come to our restaurants and recommend them to others.
Karels: I like to combine cultures through a fusion of colors. When you are true to the colors of the ingredients, you are eating seasonally, eating healthy, and creating a plate that’s beautiful as well as healthy.
Cooper: It’s funny you mention that. We’ve always done wine dinners and now there are art tours, art walks, culinary walks, so we’ve recently started doing art dinners. We’ll collaborate with an artist who, for example, will give me four pieces of work, or a rough sketch. As it progresses, I get inspired by that and come up with a menu based on the artwork.
Macy: What are the local characteristics that define Santa Fe food? We have red and green chile, for instance, and blue corn. Would you consider them defining characteristics of the cuisine here, or just part of the distinctiveness and diversity that’s here? Pontiggia: Coming from Italy, I had never tasted green chile before, and when a chef finds a new ingredient, it’s amazing. I made everything with chile—lasagna, ravioli—until my boss told me, “Enough with the green chile!” Karels: My inspiration for Open Kitchen came from sitting at the community table at Cafe Pasqual’s. I think the essence of
Roundtable at The Teahouse on Canyon Road
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Freedman: I’ve done a similar thing at The Teahouse where we take a gallery and five of their artists and match their artwork and personalities to a particular tea. The other thing is, I agree that the art community is part of the progressivism of this city. There’s great history and tradition, but there’s also a general
Pontiggia: Every chef is an artist. It’s not just about the food, it’s about the colors, the plate itself. And it’s different for a chef than for an artist; when an artist makes a painting, it’s just that one time. For us to create a meal, we have to create the same thing over and over.
Santa Fe really is the openness, the fusion, the seasonal use of ingredients. That’s my takeaway of what it means to be here. It’s really more of a spirit or attitude. Dale: Bouche is kind of the anti-Southwestern restaurant, I like to say. The only thing that has chile is the mussels, and it’s chile f lakes. But that’s not to say anything against green and red. I think that Santa Fe is in a great position to have different kinds of restaurants that have their own identity, rather than just being “Santa Fe restaurants.” Freedman: People want different kinds of food, which doesn’t take away from our traditional food. Everyone wants that, but both the local and tourist business appreciate the diversity. Macy: When it comes to local, hyper-local, and artisanal products, how do you go about sourcing them? Dale: I guess you can’t get more local than growing the food yourself, right? One of the reasons you guys don’t see me at the Farmers Market is that I’m growing it myself. It’s not only regional but also seasonal and timely. Sometimes we can’t use it all, so we do pickling, canning, preserving, and we make terrines and rillettes. Pontiggia: I just got back from Taos with chanterelles and porcini mushrooms. I use some at the restaurant, but most
TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: KATE RUSEELL; BOTTOM LEFT: CYNTHIA CANYON
Clockwise, from top: Chef Josh Gerwin and his Dr. Field Goods food truck; Chef Cooper selecting fresh produce at the Santa Fe Farmers Market; Chef Dale picks lettuce from his garden for the daily menu.
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Q&a I use them for myself. With porcini you can dry it and use it in winter. Cooper: In a lot of places, like New York, you can’t grow porcini mushrooms. Here you can go up to Taos or to the ski basin for a couple of hours and come back with tons of mushrooms. Gerwin: I use all local meats, artisanal charcuterie, fresh sausages, fresh bread, croissants, artisanal breads. I have my own butcher shop and bakery.
Macy: It’s been about 30 years since Mark Miller burst on the scene. That wave has probably crested now. Where’s the next wave coming from? Cooper: I think it’s going back to basics, real simple food. You go out to eat now and you don’t see all the frou-frou plates, the oils and foams. All that stuff is over and done with. Now it’s just giving people really good food, presenting it well, not overly touched or messed with. Karels: It’s also about being interactive. We have a great chef’s table right in the kitchen. People want to eat through their eyes and learn, so when they do eat a dish it’s much anticipated because they’ve already experienced the f lavors. It’s part of educating the guests. We always say we want slow food versus fast food, but slow food takes time. If people see that, they can understand and appreciate more what it takes to have good, homemade food. Macy: Andrew brought up shows like Top Chef and all the Food Network shows. Do they tend to homogenize food across the nation, or are there still distinctive elements? And, if so, what makes Santa Fe distinctive? Dale: This is something that I’ve grappled with. You’re in a region and there’s a preconception of what the food should be there. But if you go around the world to the best restaurants, it’s not so much about the region, but about that chef’s take on the food. Jennifer Cady So Box getting strolls back to where Santa Fe is going, I hope it’s through newly going the in couple’s all kinds of different directions. opened Turquoise Trail Sculpture Garden, where
Macy: So where then does Santa Fe fit into the national culinary scene? Do you see influences coming from places like New York or Los Angeles or Chicago? Gerwin: Those other places can draw inspiration from what we’re doing here. We’re all doing our own thing. I do what I do because I love it—my butcher shop and bakery, because I like my own bread. There are places in New York doing it, in California, so our place on the culinary map is that we’re in Santa Fe, not New York. Santa Fe is one of the great melting pots. There are so many people and cultures that are here. There’s a little bit of everything. Pontiggia: Wherever you work, it’s the same job. What changes are the ingredients and the expectations of the people. I also like all the different organizations here in Santa Fe. Cooking With Kids is my favorite. We go to the schools and teach kids how to cook and—more important—how to eat healthy. Macy: You’ve mentioned that working here is very collaborative. Is it really less competitive here than elsewhere? Dale: I think it might be more close-knit by dint of being smaller. You’re going to pass a lot of the clientele around. There’s a finite number of people who go to a certain kind of restaurant. Cooper: I think it’s all very friendly, not like competition. We all get along. In a large metropolitan area there’s going to be more than one French bistro, more than one resort, more than one osteria or teahouse—whereas here our restaurants are all completely different from each other but we all have the same clients. I’m more than happy to recommend any one of my colleagues’ restaurants. We’re all chefs, but we’re cooking completely different food. We see each other at the Farmers Market, we do things together with different organizations, and we partner up on events. It brings everyone together. R
w The full video can be found at trendmagazineglobal.com. Box’s Origami in the Garden 194 TREND Fall 2015
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Freedman: In the end I think it’s all about great local ingredients. We all want them. The issue is can we get them on a consistent basis? There’s a movement to improve the distribution, which helps tremendously for all of us who can get to the Farmers Market once a week, but we can’t do it every day.
The word sazón does not exist in English. In Spanish, it means both “just the right taste” and “the perfect moment.” Sazón, then, speaks of the ability of the chef. Originally from Mexico City, chef Fernando Olea has been enthralling savvy diners in Santa Fe since 1991 with his unique interpretation of contemporary and traditional Mexican cuisine. Olea creates sophisticated flavors using Old Mexico’s indigenous and culinary traditions alongside ingredients from around the world. Authenticity and creativity are the foundation of his cuisine. At Sazón, Olea has fashioned a sophisticated menu that pays homage to the traditions of Mexican cuisine while bringing his own personality, or sazón, to his creations. The restaurant offers the choice of à la carte or tasting menus. Every dish is prepared with attention to detail, such as the Popocatépetl, a twelve-ounce black pepper– crusted Angus beef tenderloin served with a cabbage and snow pea slaw. Or the lollipop lamb chops served with his Santa Fe mole, a sumptuously simmered sauce that was created for the city’s 400th anniversary and made with spices, nuts, chocolates, and Chimayo chile. The wine list pairs well with the food, with selections from Spain, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Inventive desserts range from the quiet concordance of the trio of flan—vanilla with shaved almonds, chocolate with a single raspberry, and golden tomato with piñon—to the magical “sweet symphony,” an avocado ice cream on a lagoon of ginger, paired with a beet foam and piñon. The restaurant houses a bar featuring Santa Fe’s largest selection of tequila and mescal, as well as a private dining room that can accommodate parties from ten to 100 people, with special tasting menus available. 221 Shelby Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-983-8604 | sazonsantafe.com
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Flavors of the North Tucked away in some unlikely places, several rustic but sophisticated eateries celebrate New Mexico’s bounty
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There are good restaurants to be found in the rural reaches of Northern New Mexico, but you have to know where to go. Ranging in atmosphere from casual to elegant, a handful of places stand out because of the quality of the dining experience and the passion of their chef-owners, all of whom share a reverence for garden-fresh herbs and vegetables and a desire to nurture their guests with simple but satisfying fare.
El Meze
“Fred’s back!” The happy news spread through Taos quickly in 2008 when Fred Muller, who had garnered an avid following in the ’90s with his fondly remembered Fred’s Place, returned to town after an eight-year absence. In the intervening years, Muller pursued a variety of vocations. He first ran away to Maui to chill out, then went to nursing school and served as an EMT, and ended up working with the US military to train soldiers in counterinsurgency during the Iraq war. Between gigs he traveled a lot, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, until his passion for cooking was reignited and he was ready to give Taos another go. A native North Carolinian who was raised primarily in Europe, Muller’s world travels, along with his training as a chef in Switzerland, inspired him to see local food as a unique repository of history and culture. “To understand regional cooking you have to understand the history of a place,” says Muller, who also considers himself a culinary historian. “American cooking is our heritage, and I wanted to create a place to preserve, or bring back, that heritage.” At his restaurant, El Meze, about two miles north of Taos Plaza, Muller does just that. Billing the fare as “la comida de las sierras,” or food of the mountains, he prepares simple but sophisticated dishes from fresh, organic, local ingredients like trout, corn, chile, and wild mushrooms. One of his signature dishes, trucha yerbabuena, was inspired by a hiking trip in the Gila Wilderness, where he noticed wild mint and watercress growing near a trout-filled stream. “I realized I had the makings
Fred Muller of El Meze
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of a meal right there,” he says. His menu now features a stepped-up version of that meal: grilled whole trout seasoned with preserved lemon, mint, cilantro, and garlic, accompanied by a watercress and shaved fennel salad. While many of Muller’s dishes showcase his contemporary take on hyper-local favorites like posole (his version simmers for three full days) and heirloom bolita beans, he also draws on New Mexico’s Spanish-Moorish legacy for Mediterraneanstyle small plates like jamón serrano, the famous Spanish cured ham, served
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with white nectarines, shaved Manchego cheese, olive oil, and cracked black pepper, or fried green olives stuffed with Spanish blue cheese. His herbed fried potatoes are dusted with thyme and lavender and served with horseradish aioli. The desserts, created by dessert chef and general manager Annette Kratka (Muller’s wife and business partner), include a lavender crème brûlée and mini cardamom donuts, while the wine list features offerings from Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. The restaurant’s physical setting is as special as the food. The cozy adobe
dining areas are part of the historic El Torreón Hacienda, built in 1847 as a fort to safeguard the residents from Comanche and Apache raiding parties. The patio offers a stunning view of Taos Mountain, a perfect reminder of the strong sense of place that informs this uniquely satisfying cuisine. 575-751-3337, elmeze.com
Clockwise from top left: Fred Muller and Annette Kratka in the restaurant’s garden; El Meze’s cozy interior; fresh trout on the plate and on the grill.
Sugar Nymphs Bistro When Kai Harper and Ki Holste settled in Peñasco along the High Road to Taos in 2001 and opened their bistro, people were a little unsure what to make of it at first. The local residents were baffled by the menu, which had nary a chile cheeseburger in sight, and people from elsewhere were surprised that two chefs with such fine culinary pedigrees would choose such an out-of-the-way place to open a restaurant. Holste, the owner, is the former pastry chef of the renowned Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, and Harper, who was the executive chef at Greens, has worked as a consultant at a variety of high-end restaurants in New Mexico and around the country. Fourteen years later, Sugar Nymphs has become a fixture on the High Road with their fresh, locally sourced produce and meats, and green-chile cheeseburgers are now a staple on the menu, which otherwise changes frequently according to what’s available. “We’ve established relationships with the local farmers, so I always check with them to see what they’ll be bringing me, then develop my menu for the week accordingly,” says Harper. Ultra-fresh salads and a variety of sandwiches are always on the menu, with a changing cast of entrees that might include local lamb chops in pomegranate sauce, chipotle-braised pork loin with caramelized red onions, or pasta with grilled vegetables. All breads and pastas are made in-house. Because of the restaurant’s previous incarnation as a pizza joint, Harper and Holste inherited a pizza oven, and local residents expected pizza to remain on the menu. “So although we weren’t planning to, we decided to offer pizza at dinner,” says Harper.” Given Holste’s background, dessert is a specialty. Even non–dessert eaters have been known to be tempted by the array of cakes, pies, and cookies on display, which are surprisingly light in texture and not overly sweetened—the mark of a gifted pastry chef. Carrot cake, triple-layer chocolate cake, chocolate maple pecan pie, and fruit crisps, all cut into slabs big enough to share, end the meal nicely and are conducive to taking a postprandial stroll around town. What still seems incongruous to many patrons is the funky setting for this upscale comfort food. Sharing its brightly painted building with an old theater, the bistro has an unpretentious decor that’s a spontaneous mix of local art and mismatched furniture, kind of like someone’s grandmother’s house. If the tables and chairs look as if they’ve migrated there from random people’s kitchens, it’s not an accident. “These old chairs need to be replaced periodically, so every few years we throw a party where you can get in free if you bring a chair,” says Harper. The outdoor seating area lets patrons view the small-town street action as they chow down. When not serving hungry guests, many of whom drive long distances to eat at the bistro, Harper works as an artist creating figurative “dreamscapes” and clay art, while Holste has branched out into archival framing. Artists at heart, they bring a creative spark to Sugar Nymphs that keeps it a fun and fresh experience. 575-5870311, sugarnymphs.com
Ki Holste’s triple-layer chocolate cake (top); the much-demanded greenchile cheeseburger (above); Holste, left, and Harper welcome diners.
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Arioso
When you first arrive at Arioso, tucked into a secluded compound just off US 84 in Hernandez, 32 miles north of Santa Fe, you’ll find chef-owner Julian Sibony’s cherished garden of herbs and vegetables, a greenhouse, and a lone chicken wandering the grounds. But step into the remodeled adobe building that houses the restaurant and you may gasp with surprise. The pastoral ambience gives way to the sophistication of a finedining establishment on par with what you might find in a major European city, with richly hued Asian and North African carpets, a striking gallery of life-sized portraits lining the walls, and romantic lighting supplied by elegant chandeliers. Moroccan-born Sibony lived in Israel, Vienna, and New York before moving to New Mexico in 1989, and he has worked as an artist—the paintings in the restaurant are all his—for most of his life. But cooking is a passion that was bred in him from an early age. “It started with my family—they’re all great cooks,” he says, “and I worked for many years in the restaurant industry while establishing myself as a painter.” Once he settled into his property and began cultivating his garden, Sibony, who is passionate about savoring meals in a leisurely fashion to fully appreciate the subtleties of the ingredients, sought ways to share his bounty with guests. “But I wanted to avoid the restaurant model,” he says. “Arioso is a restaurant by definition, but not by concept. The whole thing started as an experiment. I began by doing dinner parties once a week, and I continue to do that.”
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Sibony solicits no publicity and usually turns down press requests. He doesn’t accept reservations by phone, only online, and the restaurant only opens when diners reserve a table. “I prefer to get the full information from the customer about food preferences, allergies, health considerations,” he says, “so I can prepare a menu that suits their needs.” His prix fixe menus thus vary considerably, incorporating customer requirements and whatever is ripe and ready in the garden. Dinner one night could include an appetizer of fresh cucumber mousse or a duck dumpling accompanied by sesame-peanut-honey sauce, followed by an entrée of cod cakes with potato Dijonnaise or chicken wienerschnitzel and moscato-stewed green apples. The dessert choice could be chocolate cherry torte or French vanilla custard ice cream with strawberry-orange compote. Everything is made in-house, including the bread, and wine is included in price of the meal. A trained pianist himself, Sibony sometimes brings in musicians for recitals or chamber music performances to accompany a meal. “I see music, art, and cooking as all one,” he says. “Form, color, and flavor—they all work together.” ariosonm.com R
The bar at Arioso (opposite top); the elegant dining room (opposite bottom). Chef Julian Sibony in his garden (top); Sibony garnishes his appealing dishes (left); garden-fresh produce (bottom right); the deceptively modest entrance (bottom left).
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Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta
PHOTO BY KATE RUSSEL
Still Crushing and Roasting after 25 Years Thanks to all these Great Santa Fe Restaurants 315 Restaurant Agoyo Lounge Amaya Anasazi Restaurant Andiamo! Arroyo Vino Atrisco Cafe Artist Cafe The Bistro at Marriot Bouche Bistro Boxcar Cafe Pasqual's Casa Chimayo Club at Quail Run
The Compound Coyote Cafe Del Charro Derailed Dinner for Two Dr. Field Goods El Farol Estevan Fables Gabriel's The Galisteo Bistro Garbo's Gardu帽os Georgia
Geronimo The Guesthouse Iguana Cafe Il Piatto Infierno izanami Izmi Sushi Jambo Cafe Joseph's Julia l'Olivier La Boca La Casa Sena La Plazuela
Loyal Hound Luminaria Maria's Midtown Bistro The Old House Omira Grill Osteria d'Assisi The Palace Paper Dosa Pizzeria da Lino Pranzo Italian Grill Pyramid Cafe Raaga Radish & Rye
The Ranch House Red Sage Restaurant Martin Rio Chama San Francisco St. B&G Santa Fe Bar & Grill Santacafe Saz贸n The Shed Shohko Cafe Swiss Bistro Taberna La Boca Tabla de Los Santos The Tea House
www.santafewineandchile.org
Terra TerraCotta Tesuque Village Thai Cafe Tomasitas Tortilla Flats Vanessie Vinaigrette Zia Diner
bringing a total culinary experience to you
Feed Your Culinary Passion COOK ~ EAT ~ ENTERTAIN Private Cooking Classes Pop-up Chef’s Tables Global Tapas Receptions Chef’s Demonstration Dinners Creative Pairings Boutique Catering for Intimate Gatherings
Open Kitchen brings to YOUR KITCHEN creative food and wine experiences, fresh new tastes, and memorable ways to celebrate and connect with friends, family, and colleagues.
Open Kitchen NOW in Santa Fe, NM • openkitchen-dcmetro.com • 202.285.9840 Cooking, Teaching, and Entertaining since 2009
Now open for dinner 7 nights a week until 9pm
The Teahouse meets you where the galleries end at the top of historic Canyon Road, tucked in the corner at East Palace Avenue 180 exceptional teas from around the globe Chef made-to-order breakfast, lunch, dinner & small plates Extensive wine list & beer options Shaded garden of fruit trees (pet friendly)
Photo (top): Boncratious
Cozy rooms in an historic adobe home
OPEN DAILY 9 am - 9 pm | (505) 992-0972 | 821 Canyon Road
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bite & buzz BY NATALIE BOVIS PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS MERRIAM
Hitting the high notes with an industry entrepreneur
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f Quinn Stephenson could be any drink, he says, it would be the Manhattan. He describes it as “smooth, balanced, and strong. It has stood the test of time and will never go out of fashion.” Considering this 36-year-old, second-generation Santa Fean has become a leading voice in our restaurant and bar scene over the past decade, it’s a pretty fair comparison. Like many local kids, Stephenson began his journey in hospitality during high school vacations, when he developed a passion for the food and beverage industry. He says, “I have never worked in anything other than the restaurant business. I grew up in it and like to say it flows through my veins.” He started washing dishes at the age of 15 to bolster his baseball card collection, which he still prizes today. He then bused tables at Geronimo during summer breaks. After finishing his studies at the University of New Mexico, he took a bar-back position at Coyote Cafe, and his goals came into focus. Instantly intrigued by the world of wine, he wanted to learn all he could. He recalls, “I asked the bar manager to keep my tips and instead give me a bottle of wine. The day I turned 21, I had a full-time bartending job.” By age 24, Stephenson was promoted to bar manager at Coyote, and he started climbing the ladder that would differentiate him from the competition. He explains that, at The High Note’s liquid nitrogen martini, Stephenson’s personal favorite. Left: As he stirs a 505 Manhattan at Radish & Rye, Stephenson notes that this is how you make a Manhattan: stirred, not shaken.
the time, Coyote Cantina, the cafe’s casual adjunct restaurant, had a pretty straightforward bar menu featuring flavored margaritas, sangria, and beer. He took hold of the cocktail program there and explored his creative ideas inside the cafe, which remains a dining and cocktail destination. In 2008, he joined with a team of partners to buy Coyote Cafe and Cantina from chef and founder Mark Miller. Quinn saw this as a natural progression. “I think anyone who is truly passionate about this industry wants to have their own restaurant.” A year later, he and Chef Eric DiStefano joined Geronimo’s team as well, where Stephenson is still working toward a managing partnership. When creating the beverage programs for these flagship operations, Stephenson gave each venue an impressive drink list reflecting their distinct personalities. He brings the flavors of the kitchen into the bar, a concept popular in the larger, global world of mixology. Grounded in this idea, Stephenson has established a website and is working on a book, both called Culinary Cocktails. At Geronimo, his extensive knowledge is reflected in a carefully selected wine list as well as a tempting selection of spirited libations. His program at Coyote Cafe’s bar includes a slightly more aggressive cocktail repertoire because they have more space for tools such as liquid nitrogen, sodium alginate, calcium chloride, and xanthan. These “toys” 210 TREND Fall 2015
Before he introduced the Samurai to Coyote Cafe, Stephenson went to local jeweler Samantha Silver and had her custom-design sterling silver samurai sword skewers. These garnish the drink made with mandarin vodka, blood orange, and flaming Saigon cinnamon.
bite & buzz
result in fun drink additions such as ice spheres, smoke, foams, airs, the use of fire, and other elements of delight. He has also been exploring the idea of building a program on a single spirit. Patrón Tequila tapped him for drink recipes to use in marketing their new product, Roca. Research for this included a trip to the distillery in Mexico, where Stephenson tasted the product with the head distiller and came up with 18 different cocktails. He then traveled to 12 cities with Patrón, including New York, San Francisco, and Denver, sharing drinks that complement the spirit’s flavors. This led him to think about other single-spirit programs, such as the whiskey-focused menu at Radish & Rye, which he opened last summer with partners Dru Ruebush and Camille Bremer. The international explosion of interest in both whiskey and farm-fresh cuisine made Radish & Rye the right idea at the right time. Stephenson notes that executive chef David Gaspar de Alba, formerly of the Pacific Northwest, brought the team’s very detailed vision to life with locally sourced meats and ever-changing seasonal menu offerings. Of the restaurant’s success, Quinn says, “You want to be in partnership with people who match your passion, enthusiasm and professionalism.”
Quinn’s Ideal Manhattan 2 parts small-batch bourbon 1 part Carpano Antica vermouth Stir a heavy dash of bitters with a teaspoon of amarena cherry syrup. Strain all ingredients into an ice-cold martini glass and garnish with a local pitted cherry.
The bar reflects the farm-to-table idea with infusions, house-made syrups, and edible flower garnishes. After blind tasting an array of single-barrel bourbons from Buffalo Trace Distillery, the partners and chef unanimously agreed to buy an entire barrel to become the house spirit and base of many specialty cocktails. They foresee purchasing about six barrels per year, each holding approximately 20 cases of elixir. Some standout drinks include the Abuelito, which is a classic Manhattan poured into a decanter and smoked with sweet pipe weed, then poured tableside over an ice block. Their 505 Manhattan uses mole bitters and a touch of crème de cacao for a hint of chile and chocolate, and the Dragonfly is made with chamomile-infused bourbon, honeyed soda water, and lemon. Infusions are also typical at Coyote Café, where ripe honeydew melon is macerated with silver rum for a twist on the standard daiquiri, this one topped with basil foam. The Q-cumber Cooler at the Cantina is a vodka-based sellout each summer. Which brings us to Quinn’s newest hot spot: High Note.
Stephenson decants a fine cabernet at Geronimo. Above: The recipe for the Abuelito.
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At Coyote Cantina, there is no time to make drinks one at a time. Below: The Indian Summer, a bourbon drink at Radish & Rye, is accented with strongly brewed hibiscus tea, citrus, and sweet spices.
Unlike the loud dance music that attracted young crowds in its previous incarnation as The Den, High Note swoons with soft vocals in a jazzy lounge where guests can relax in deep barrel chairs, nosh on a late-night dessert menu, and sip cocktails with a modern twist. It’s a place where grown-ups can enjoy fine cognac and conversation. A reflection of Santa Fe’s more sophisticated demographic? Perhaps. The evolution of a young restaurateur along his culinary journey to adulthood, and beyond? Most definitely. When asked how one person oversees liquid revelry across five venues, Stephenson admits this is the hardest part of his work. “I’ve learned that being successful means surrounding myself with the best people. My partners and our staff are paramount to my success—I simply could not do it without them.” Future plans include studying for his advanced certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers and pursuing publication of his book. In the meantime, he likes to keep Saturdays free so he can visit each location. “I try to discreetly make one drink for the guests in all five bars. Nobody knows I’m doing it, and I have never spoken of it before, but it gives me a lot of pride. It’s my favorite thing to do. It’s my favorite day.” R trendmagazineglobal.com
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BACA STREET
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This French-themed bedroom window display was designed by Kateryna VanHeisch, owner of The Raven. While the cast iron and toleware 19thcentury bed, the colonial chair upholstered with an Uzbek suzani, and a set of decorative wall panels from the 18th century are all French, the chandelier is a reproduction of an 18th-century Italian candelabra, and the silk butterflies add just a bit of whimsy.
The City Different different Santa Fe may be a city defined by adobe walls, wood vigas, and charming portales, but sometimes locals crave something else: the different City Different. At Baca Street, distinctive art, contemporary design, eclectic fashion, and inspired food converge. “It’s not big box stores or downtown boutiques,” says Zane Fischer, partner in the web design and development company Anagram. “It’s a mix of high-end, low-end, funky, sophisticated, and contemporary. This is where the real Santa Fe hangs out.” The wedge-shaped neighborhood is the Cerrillos gateway to the Railyard and is handily connected to the North Railyard by the Acequia Trail Easement, a walking and cycling path that links to Santa Fe’s 214 TREND Fall 2015
extensive trail system. Its convenient “downtown adjacent” location and cool vibe has attracted artists and craftspeople for years; today, a new breed of designers and entrepreneurs join the mix to form a community unlike any other in the city. At once noticeable is the architecture. In contrast to the classic adobe buildings that make up Canyon Road and other high-traffic destinations, Baca is unique— an assemblage of warehouses and light industrial buildings that are magnets for creative professionals. New buildings, like the sharply defined steel and concrete structure that houses Yares Art Projects and Santa Fe Modern, echo an industrial sensibility while introducing an edginess to the neighborhood’s aesthetic.
Santa Fe Modern, a contemporary furniture business with work by local artisans, was originally located on Pacheco Street. Owner Jeff Holbrook bought the business nearly two years ago. “When we were offered space in this building, I jumped at it,” he says. His instincts were right on, as his move to the Baca/Railyard neighborhood in July has been a boon. “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in traffic simply because of this location,” Holbrook says. Neighboring Molecule, a contemporary residential and contract furniture retailer working with local, national, and international designers, was constructed out of shipping containers. The building and its owner, Adriana Siso, have been
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Clockwise from top: At Art.i.fact, shoppers find a distinct, well-curated selection of consignment clothing, jewelry, shoes, and accessories; A sculpture by Fletcher Benton at Yares Art Projects, Stainless Steel Donut No. 6 (2012), 90-by-75-by-120 inches; Elodie Holmes and Jannine Cabossel blowing glass for a New Mexico Glass Alliance demo at Liquid Light Glass.
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featured in the New York Times as well as various design publications. “I was looking for a place with personality that could accommodate a contemporary aesthetic,” Siso says of her decision to build in there five years ago. “For me, this has the perfect blend of urban and historic.” A short walk from Molecule is an outdoor mall anchored by Counter Culture to the east and Liquid Light Glass to the west. Off of Cerrillos to the east, you will find antiques and other treasures at House of Ancestors and The Raven. A nearby trove of small boutiques and galleries includes Grey Matter, an art gallery and antique tool merchant; Donna Nova Designs, which features lampwork beads and jewelry; Studio 6, a fine art studio; Natural Stones, a purveyor of gemstones, beads, and crystals; Art.i.fact, an eclectic clothing consignment boutique and art gallery; and 216 TREND Fall 2015
HyperClash, a boutique with artist-made clothing and accessories. Counter Culture, voted one of the city’s “hippest” cafes last summer, opened 19 years ago. Owner Jason Aufrichtig is a Baca pioneer: he remembers when the parking lot was nothing but dirt. “It had all the elements I wanted,” he says of the neighborhood in those early days, “a gritty vibe, room for a patio, lots of artists in the area, and a sort of offbeat culture that appealed to me.” Aufrichtig says it’s still the perfect place to serve up an intentionally diverse menu of Vietnamese street food, Middle Eastern salads, and of course, the ubiquitous chile cheeseburger. And he’s excited about the neighborhood’s future: “People are coming in and making things happen. It still attracts world-aware people, but they are also fiercely local.” Tim Jag and Chace Haynes, co-found-
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MICHAEL GULLBERG; COURTESY OF YARES ART PROJECTS; COURTESY OF LIQUID LIGHT GLASS
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ers of Baca Art Projects, are those types of people. Their space is primarily a working studio, but they also host blowout art shows that have drawn a decidedly alternative art-scene crowd. “It’s about connecting to our community,” Jag says. “We aren’t competing with Canyon Road. We want to be a place where locals and visitors can go and feel like they’ve got a cool place to meet up.” That was certainly the case in mid-July, when several of the neighborhood establishments banded together to host the first Baca Street Bash. The street party drew hundreds of people with live music, art exhibitions, a DJ, and even hula-hoopers. “We were thrilled at the turnout,” says Michael Gullberg, one of the event organizers and co-owner of Art.i.fact. “It exceeded our expectations, and we are already talking about similar events for next summer.” Folks won’t have to wait until then for another Baca fest, however. The neighborhood has hosted a holiday studio tour every November since 2001, and this season won’t be any different. Led by Liquid Light Glass, the tour has become an institution. “We’ve had some great parties here,” says studio owner Elodie Holmes. “Every year, it evolves into something different.” Yes, different indeed. 218 TREND Fall 2015
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community orchard
cooling towers
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community solar tower
community edibles street shade
2065
It’s not all sci-fi fantasy when it comes to crafting a sustainable future for New Mexico, but a little imagination never hurt trendmagazineglobal.com 223
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Y
ou wake up in your neighborhood just off Central Avenue in Albuquerque, where there are a nest of homes, some are fixed, others mobile. On the commons porch sits a sack of organic farm-share produce. The neighborhood graywater pond resounds with insects and hummingbirds, and packs of kids play in the park and gardens. A community solar tower silently tracks the sun across the morning sky. The courtyard cistern is full and, above, the roof garden bursts with summer flowers and buzzing bee colonies. A family cycles down what once was a car-filled street and waves at the neighbors. Temperatures top 100 degrees, but not under the shading mix of native and fruit trees lining the sidewalks—which normally you’d stroll along to reach the
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work studios, less than a mile away. But work isn’t where you’re headed today. Instead, the electric bus whips you downtown to the transit center, whose upper-floor apartments feature living walls and interior gardens. There, you catch the high-speed train north past the many wind farms and homes capped in cooling towers to Santa Fe, then Española. Then you hop another bus to Taos. It’s 2065, and life in New Mexico is good. Foretelling the future is no easy task. With climate challenges reaching a crisis level, perhaps the best way to predict is to dream of how it could be and then work backward. We sought the advice of experts in energy, planning, architecture, and water and asked them what the state needs to do to reach that Zero Carbon 2065 goal.
“First, we need democratization of energy,” says Mariel Nanasi, executive director at the Santa Fe–based New Energy Economy. The nonprofit is part of a rare adhoc coalition that was formed to advance an Energy Choice plan. This process, already successful in California and Illinois, moves energy production and distribution to the local level, resulting in increased competition among producers and better technologies while allowing for local values to inform the way energy is produced. “Both energy and political power around energy need to be decentralized and demonopolized for us to move forward,” explains Nanasi. With allies including Western Region Alliance, the Sierra Club, San Juan Citizens Alliance, and Diné CARE—along with support from the City
As sustainability becomes a priority, pockets of success may serve as models for cross-industry change. The state lost more than a third of its wetland acreage in the last two centuries, for instance, but an aggressive program in place since the early 2000s has executed about a dozen wetlands action plans with far-reaching results for ecosystems. And in Santa Fe, per capita water consumption has fallen by more than 40 percent since the city took over the water company and initiated tiered rates.
of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and the attorney general—she argues that our state’s energy monopoly, the Public Service Company of New Mexico, is the main barrier to progressive change. Taos’s Kit Carson Electric Cooperative is likewise hamstrung by its energy supplier, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. The company, dominated by coal interests, has imposed a cap on the use of renewables despite Taos community members overwhelmingly desiring carbon-neutral energy. “It makes sense both in the short and long term to go to all renewables right now,” says David Van Winkle of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, a collection of environmental organizations that cooperate on renewable energy initiatives and oppose the expansion of coal-fired
power plants. “Renewables are cost-effective today—and by a significant amount. Fifty years from now there is no reason in the world we shouldn’t be on 100 percent clean energy. We could do this in 20 years if we had the political will.” Maximizing efficiency for the state’s energy economy will require that we build better homes and buildings. Rachel Preston Prinz, author of Hacking the Earthship: In Search of an Earth Shelter That Works for Everybody (2015), says that in 2065, houses will be much smaller to facilitate natural heating and cooling. They will also collect rainwater, produce their own energy, and have garden spaces. “They will be definitively new architecturally but in line with tradition,” says Prinz. “They will take into account local
climate conditions. For example, in Taos, where the winter is long and cold, doorways will face south so they don’t ice up.” It’s one thing to redesign homes, but it’s another to maximize the efficient use of energy, so our community designs need an overhaul. Advanced homes will exist within walkable hubs where solar, water, trash, and recycling systems are integrated and shared. Without sparing access to nature, urbanization will expand, building out empty land in town centers and including affordable housing. “Planning commissions will need to attract members from acequias, land trusts, antipoverty groups, and environmental organizations, as well as architects and planners,” posits Prinz. In 2065 you’ll walk from your neighborhood along routes that link to other trendmagazineglobal.com 225
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community solar power
vertical + rooftop gardens + recycled effluent irrigation
solar skylights
The localized hubs of 2065 will prioritize walkability, distributed energy, and the ability to harvest food and water.
hubs, such as employment and commercial areas, mass transit centers, and schools connected to community gardens, kitchens, and wildlife playgrounds. Because of the increased heat from climate change, the routes will be shaded with trees. Still other community routes will serve more like funnels for commuting longer distances by bike or electric scooter—perhaps even driverless cars. All of this will require an extensive alteration and investment in how our communities are formed. Areas that are currently low-density, for example, will require urban infill for this to work. By 2065, New Mexico’s asphalt infrastructure will also have shrunk. Regional 226
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transit districts will connect rural and urban communities with electric bus service. The large metro areas from El Paso and Las Cruces to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and up to Denver will be serviced by high-speed rail. Doing away with private cars is something Aaron Sussman, senior planner at the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG), can’t yet imagine in our rural state. “Cars will still be around in 2065,” he says. “But we will have to find new ways to fund road construction and upkeep. A gas tax won’t work when all the cars on the road are electric. We may need to look at something like a Vehicle Miles Traveled Tax, where road users pay a fee based on every mile driven.” There is no silver bullet for transportation issues, Sussman says. “The state and communities will have to provide lots of options for a successful future transportation system.”
Dr. Luis Bettencourt, professor of complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute, envisions testing ideas such as Prinz’s and Sussman’s in “pioneer” or “innovation” districts designated within existing communities. “Cities are planning ahead now and for the very long term,” Bettencourt says. “The challenge is that we really don’t know how to meet the goals being laid out in sustainability plans, and achieving many of those targets is simply outside of municipal control.” Bettencourt envisions creating specific sections within towns and cities where local governments can work with area innovators and entrepreneurs to test paths to meet the sustainability goals. Once these test areas achieve these goals, the technologies and systems can be adapted and integrated into the rest of town. Reaching a Zero Carbon 2065 requires being realistic about both the present
“Warm and inviting” —Santa Fe New Mexican
and the future. “Our world will be fundamentally different physically in 50 years,” says Adrian Oglesby, Director of the University of New Mexico (UNM) Utton Transboundary Resource Center. For New Mexico, climate change will bring diminished snow pack, decreasing groundwater, shifting precipitation patterns, drier summers, and an increase in wildfires and insect infestations that will entirely change the makeup of our forests and ecosystems. Here we’ve been taught that “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” That’s the past. New Mexico may need to move away from the priority system that gives older water-rights holders precedence no matter how they use water or who else is in need. In its place there could be more cooperative structures and the ability for market-like transfers between users. The state will also need to settle all its outstanding water rights disputes, but this should be done on a regional, basin-wide approach, not piecemeal. “This thinking that we can create more water through giant infrastructure projects is outdated,” says Denise Fort, emeritus professor at UNM School of Law. “We have to rethink the practice of mining our aquifers and exporting our water as agricultural products like alfalfa and dairy.” The state will simply have less irrigated acreage in the future, according to both Oglesby and Fort. Some existing water rights will be bought out and retired because there won’t be enough water. How that will happen is unclear to water managers, but it seems Mother Nature, attrition among farmers, and some sort of water market will lead the way. Other water rights will be turned into environmental flows to maintain the circulatory system of rivers and wetlands vital in a hotter and drier New Mexico. Then there are the water-sharing compacts we have with neighboring states. “Climate change may force the feds to get involved and open up the interstate water compacts to discussion,” says Fort, explaining that the compacts were already outdated when they were signed, and only
get more so with each passing year. “My assumption is that New Mexico will wait until it’s too late,” says Paolo Bacigalupi, author of several award-winning dystopian novels, including The Windup Girl and The Drowned Cities. Bacigalupi, a keen observer of Western water management and the effects of climate change, describes his books as an honest take on where we may be headed. “I want people to know what is possible so that we can make changes now,” he says. “Ideology and magical thinking won’t stop water shortages and climate change. People need to plan a better future now and work toward it.” But that imagined 2065, one that’s apparently feasible and necessary, isn’t far down our horizon, and in it the electric bus proceeds quietly to Taos, past the Rio Grande, sheltered by a towering forest of cottonwoods. Mostly clustered in communities, each home and building has its arrangement of solar-cell roofing, water catchment systems, and rooftop gardens, some more DIY than others. These are surrounded by shading walls of trees and connected by a maze of raised sidewalks and bike paths. You whiz past acequias that water fields of corn, beans, and squash. Apple orchards carpet the valleys. North of there you climb down from the bus for a hike into the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness area, where you hope to see signs of wolves, maybe even the grizzly that returned to the wilds nearly 50 years before. Einstein would say it’s all about energy. If we match the energy of what we want with the energy it takes to get there, anything is possible, he insists. The path to Zero Carbon 2065 is not as challenging as vested interests would like us to believe. The integrated transportation system, walkable cities, distributed energy production, tree-lined streets, rooftop gardens, rejuvenated ecosystems, and vibrant community economies are not part of some pie-in-the-sky fantasy. It’s a transition that’s eminently achievable with the right focus. After all, it’s easier to predict the future if you design it yourself. R trendmagazineglobal.com 227
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A tree, A wall, A chair Landscape architecture returns to its unruly roots
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COURTESY OF STEVE MARTINO (2)
What is a garden?
That’s a question landscape architect Steve Martino likes to ask. Today a multi-award-winning designer widely considered the granddaddy of the classic desert landscape, Martino wasn’t exactly welcome in the rarefied world of landscape design when he started out in the 1970s. “I did desert landscaping to be a troublemaker,” he says. He liked weeds and native plants. He detested lawns (“the craziest thing forever”) and the way they were quickly overtaking the desert landscape, making his home city of Phoenix look like somewhere else.” He bristles at the idea of “neatness” as a design goal. Today Martino is right in step with his youngest colleagues, and many of them studied his work in their landscape architecture programs. Sustainable design has catapulted from an afterthought to a top design priority, according to the 2015 Residential Landscape Architecture Trends Survey by the American Society of
Landscape Architects, with more and more practitioners eschewing traditional decorative approaches in favor of reused materials, habitat preservation, eco-friendly infrastructural elements like rain barrels and cisterns, and aesthetics that honor the history of a site through minimal, even utilitarian design. “In the past, I think landscape architecture has been hindered by an identity crisis,” says Los Angeles–based landscape architect June Scott of June Scott Design, “in which it has tried to sort out whether its main goal is to make beautiful places or to save the planet.” This conundrum has given birth to a critical shift: a more authentic rendering of the natural world that embraces longstanding cultural and ecological histories, using them to pursue stirring new combinations of open space and shelter, greenery, and hardscaping. The results are landscapes that tap into deep human desires to live in relationship with the land, both to honor its his-
Opposite: For this private landscaping design in Paradise Valley, Arizona, the clients requested a Luis Barragán look. Martino used permeable paving, native plants, and agaves salvaged from another project. Above: Martino’s outdoor dining terrace and sculpture garden in Phoenix, where a drip-irrigation system sustains native plants.
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tory and play a role, however personal, in preserving and enhancing it for the future. Christie Green, a Santa Fe–based landscape architect and founder of design studio radicle, first interviews clients to understand their existing relationship to the land. Then, she works with them to discover ways to deepen that tie between person and place. A recent alumna of the Santa Fe Art Institute’s Food Justice residency program, Green has devised projects that include replacing thirsty Bay Area lawns with more eco-friendly, minimal designs as well as a multimillion-dollar project at Santa Fe’s Academy for the Love of Learning, winner of the 2012 City of Santa Fe Sustainable Award for Water Conservation. “The design must be relevant to its context, inspiring a livelier, deeper, and more meaningful connection between people and place.” She addresses this in her site investigations, playing with found materials and incorporating historic uses of the land into designs. “Reuse has a practical purpose,” says Green, who uses materials like old chain-link fencing and discarded cooking vessels as part of her experiments to remind homeowners that the property is a living entity, with a history and a future. “But it’s also an artful way to tell the story of a site.” Repurposing can spring up in ways large and small: dead branches or discarded piping take on new life as pergolas, and an old fountain is transformed into a garden planter. “To me, reusing materials isn’t a new or trendy practice,” Green explains. “It’s just common sense in terms of cost and access to what’s available.” It’s through a marriage of the intimate and the vast in the presence of timelessness and the persistence of natural rhythms that the magic of landscape design happens. To be successful, the designer must not only exercise diplomacy in guiding the client through decisions that will ultimately benefit the design but also, like a guardian, help the site to shine on its own merits. Austin-based landscape architect Christy Ten Eyck reflects this ethos in her work at Pearl Brewery in San Antonio, where her team reused concrete beams and old beer-making equipment to create architectural elements that relate directly to the site’s history. Ten Eyck’s award-winning work at a private ranch in Marfa, Texas, reflects a similar engagement with the past through restored dirt roadways, replanted native grasses, and enlivened groves of pecan and redbud trees planted by a prior owner. Meanwhile, landscape designer Solange Serquis of Santa Fe uses the word “heritage” to talk with her clients about how the existing site features are managed. “Heritage is what you find and what you leave,” says Serquis, who studied at the University of Buenos Aires and wrote her thesis on healing gardens. For her, it’s cues from historic uses of the property or original architectural features that suggest opportunities for building relationships to
the land. Working with a client who worried about a grove of mature apple trees attracting bears, for instance, Serquis noted that reclaiming the orchard’s historic use could be a way to connect to the land—a tie that could be passed on to the grandchildren. The couple kept the trees. Of course, repurposing can also be a substantial money-saver, making it a useful alternative for the budget-conscious. Breaking up driveways and reusing the concrete and recasting gravel, boulders, and other hardscaping elements in a modern context make for simple, low-cost design options. Basic picket fencing, which can look dull and dated, turns uber-hip when the panels are then removed, angles chopped off, and boards remounted horizontally. Even a few straw bales can transform a space when sown with wildflower and grass seeds. Last year’s seed heads, stalks, and other sculptural elements provide visual interest at no cost at all. When the site fails to offer usable materials, designers will often access resources through local builders, or go to such websites as repurposedmaterialsinc.com. While it’s easy to find organic produce and responsibly produced grains at the grocery store these days, the process of selecting the elements of a landscaped site remains far less transparent to homeowners, making it essential for the designer to serve as consultant and educator. On a basic level, that means fully exploring native plant choices and understanding that “native” doesn’t have to mean the standard palette of Russian sage and Apache plume, although these are certainly beautiful and practical. Many choices are available—from soft, low grasses to graceful oak trees to delicate species of wildflower. “Native plants are state-of-the-art,” says Martino. “They’re fully adapted and represent the evolution of a place.” “We can get a tree from California,” observes Serquis, “but what about a smaller tree from a local grower?” While clients often consider bigger to be better, part of her role is to talk about the ecological benefits of choosing a tree that’s native to the area, or the enjoyment of witnessing a plant evolve and grow over time. “If someone tells me they want a plant species because of its color or form, but I know that species to be non-native, water consumptive, or susceptible to pests and disease, I’ll suggest a comparable native or more resilient species and describe its attributes,” says Green. “People are usually excited by this and glad to learn.” To produce the award-winning West Texas Ranch design, Ten Eyck worked with the client to move away from ideas of a verdant, floral landscape to simple, native plants that stand up to the site’s harsh sun and wind while engaging with its stark beauty. Fortunately for local designers and their clients, New Mexico’s market for native and responsibly produced plants has grown substantially in recent years. Along with the ecological benefits, local sourcing allows homeowners to engage in the experience of nur-
Top: At this restored ranchland in Marfa, Texas, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects revegetated old roads with native grasses and mesquite trees. Natural steel plates create the buffalo grass terraces rising from the grounds, which include small gardens. Bottom: At this home in Cerros, Colorado, designed by Serquis + Associates, water is channeled throughout the property, with xeriscaping principles used for plant selection and placement.
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TOP: TERRENCE MOORE. BOTTOM: COURTESY OF SERQUIS & ASSOCIATES
turing their sites. “I like when people touch what they’re buying,” says Serquis. “That’s where you create community.” Of course, not everyone’s goal is sustainability. Serquis resists that kind of rigidity. “There are ethics and better practices, but nothing is black or white. A little permaculture, a little LEED. Even when someone thinks they’re 100 percent sustainable, they’re usually not.” How much sustainability plays a part in the project depends on both client and designer. “I prefer to source materials locally and support local businesses,“ says Green. “I had a person call recently who wanted an ‘English garden.’ I had to refer him to someone else because I don’t design like that.” Despite the shifts in cultural values, the rising awareness of climate issues, increasing human-wildlife clashes, and concerns about our impact on natural systems, gardens continue to offer both the prosaic and the profound, just as they have for thousands of years. In gardens the seasons play out. We see local wildlife and taste what grows there by way of a simple seed. It’s where we hear birdsong, witness first morning light, smell the wet earth following an afternoon monsoon rain, feel the whip of spring winds, and view the silhouettes of neighboring roofs at dusk, framing the evening sky. 234 TREND Fall 2015
“The conversation about ‘home’—who we are vis-à-vis identity and place—is critical ecologically and culturally,” says Green. “I try to work within each client’s context and provide a hint, ways to interact and be involved, even if the client’s time is limited. This may be through container gardens or one simple bed with edibles or cut f lowers.” Reconciling the forces of ecology and culture, nature and lifestyle—and experiencing the ways they affect the humans who inhabit a space—are what keep a designer’s job interesting. “The wonderful thing that has happened in the last decade,” says Scott, “is that a whole host of projects have come along that address ecological, human, and aesthetic needs all at once.” “When your friends come,” comments Serquis, “you tell a story about the garden. The enjoyment of the story increases the visual enjoyment. It’s like when you see artwork and then learn about the artist. It changes how you look at the art.” So, what is a garden? “A tree, a wall, a chair,” Martino answers. Just the same as it was thousands of years ago. “Privacy, shelter, and delight,” are what we’re after, and what those of us fortunate enough to have a garden enjoy. When nearly 100 years ago Robert Wheelwright—founder of
COURTESY OF CHRISTIE GREEN. OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: NUYAM; SERQUIS & ASSOCIATES; BONCRATIOUS.
ECOSOURCE
Opposite: At a recent two-week installation at radicle in Santa Fe, seeds from pollinator-attracting species bedazzle mannequin heads, and “project pollinate” benches crafted from repurposed pallets grow buckwheat, daikon radish, white Dutch clover, and field peas. Above, clockwise from bottom left: A home’s Zenlike garden designed with succulents, Moonbeam coreopsis, and seagrass by Santa Fe– based landscape designer Carlotta From Paradise; A design by Serquis + Associates includes recycled pavers for the path and local welded trelliises for grape vines as well as a trough of edible plants; At the Academy for the Love of Learning, Christie Green planted threadgrass on a slope to control erosion and create textural interest. The irrigation, rainwater, and effluent systems were designed by Richard Jennings.
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KATE RUSSELL
ECOSOURCE
236 TREND Fall 2015
Eldorado Dental eldoradodental.com
If your smile isn’t becoming of you, you should be coming to me. - Dr. Haley Ritchey, DDS
one of the country’s first landscape architecture schools—set out to define his profession, he cited the innate complexities of the landscape architect’s role in reconciling “engineering, architecture, soils, plant materials, and ecology combined with an aesthetic appreciation.” Landscape architecture will continue to challenge its practitioners, and today’s designers will continue to call on their creativity to move the conversation away from what they can no longer do, instead stressing the richness that land inherently offers to humans. For them, the job just might get a little easier as more of us embrace, or at the least accept, a cultural ethos of wanting what you have instead of continually seeking new wants. It’s a challenging world. “But that’s not new,” says Green. “And maybe it’s a good challenge, or at least one worth taking on.” After all, observes Martino, “I’m a designer. I solve problems.” R trendmagazineglobal.com 237
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Photo: Daniel Quat Photography
COURTESY OF SERQUIS + ASSOCIATES
Opposite: Carlotta From Paradise also designed the home’s front entry with drought-tolerant plants and a recirculating fountain fed by a catchment tank that provides water for birds and other wildlife. Above: Serquis + Associates restored this commercial alley in Cerrillos, New Mexico, with a walkable garden area watered in part by a large underground cistern.
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Form+Function
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POP Gallery Presents Clifford Bailey
Exhibition September 4th – October Artist Reception September 25th 6pm
New Brow Contemporary art 125 Lincoln Ave. Santa Fe, NM 505.820.0788 pOPSANTAFE.COM
jasper &pendant
B E EMAN 425.422.3990 beemanjewelrydesign.com
Three-strand jasper beads with sterling clasp and jasper pendant designed by Philander Begay (Navajo)
PHOTO: BONCRATIOUS
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