Wow! The summer is really flying by. Every weekend is packed with things to do and there’s a lot to do during the week, too. We need more hours in our days!
Important public service announcement: Lincoln Avenue and Old Santa Fe Trail will be closed to vehicle traffic along the Plaza until after Fiesta Weekend in September. San Francisco Street remains open.
Upcoming festival weekends
The next two weekends have very special events coming up. This weekend, brings ¡VIVA MEXICO! one of the most colorful and vibrant events of the summer. The following week is the 63rd annual Spanish Market.
Cornisas 20 at Viva Mexico photo/Steve Collins
¡VIVA MEXICO!, a joint effort between El Rancho de las Golondrinas and the Mexican Consulate in Albuquerque is a fiesta in Santa Fe, takes place on Saturday and Sunday July 19th and 20th from 10am to 5pm at Las Golondrinas, a living history village southwest of town. This year Los Voladores de Papantla will be back for the third time after a two year hiatus. These men, members of Totonac people from the state of Veracruz, have been named an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. They will perform the ceremonial La Danza de los Voladores, a fertility rite first done to during a serious drought to ask for rain. It was ancient before the Spanish arrived. The men ascend a 60 foot pole, built at Las Golondrinas especially for them in 2010. After performing a ceremony they throw themselves into the “void” attached to the pole by long ropes. El Caporal, the leader of the group, stands on a tiny platform at the top of the pole playing songs on his flute and drum that are dedicated to the sun, the wind and the cardinal directions. It’s spectacular to watch. They will also offer their Guaguas Ceremony. Mexican comedic troupe Cornisa 20 will perform at the festival for the fifth year. They will do a show each day and walk around entertaining the crowd with their antics. There will also be Mariachis entertaining the crowd. This year, for the first time, there will be a large group of Curanderos from the US, Mexico and around the world. They will hold an opening and closing ceremony each day. They will be offering healing throughout the event. There will be Mexican crafts from a number of states, La Fonda Mexicana (a Mexican food court), food and other demonstrations, educational talks and fun activities for children. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors (62 and over) and teens. Children 12 and under are admitted free of change.
Santos by Joe Morales from the 2012 Spanish Market, photo/Steve Collins
Spanish Market will be on Saturday and Sunday, July 26th and 27th on and around the Santa Fe Plaza from 8am to 5pm on Saturday and 9am to 4pm on Sunday. The event, started by the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in 1926, allows people practicing traditional Spanish Colonial Arts to show their work. This genre arose in isolated New Mexico hundreds of years ago during the Spanish Colonial period when when people had to make everything including their furniture, their religious artifact, their textiles and their adornments for their bodies and homes with the materials at hand. To be eligible, artists and craftspeople must be of Hispanic descent and create their work using the same techniques and materials that were used historically. As a concession to modern times, a new category, Innovations Within Tradition, was introduced in 2011, which encompasses “contemporary interpretations of the traditional arts.” The same weekend brings Contemporary Spanish Market, held on Lincoln Avenue. Artists of Hispanic descent, working in any medium may exhibit.
Santa Fe dining
Tony Blankenship, new Executive Chef at Rio Chama, photo/courtesy Rio Chama
Rio Chama has a new Executive Chef. Tony Blankenship, who’s been in a number of Santa Fe kitchens over the years, took the helm in May. His food philosophy: food should be simple yet delicious. He believes in using “real food, natural ingredient[s].” Good luck, Chef Tony!
Bishop’s Lodge Dining Room, photo/courtesy Bishop’s Lodge
Another chef has moved. Tom Kerpon is the new Executive Chef at Bishops Lodge Ranch Resort and Spa. He’s been Executive Chef in a variety of Santa Fe kitchens including the Inn of the Anasazi, Rio Chama, and most recently at Tanti Luce 221 for over 13 years. Bishops Lodge, a verdant oasis in the high desert, is a world unto itself. Take the five minute drive from the Plaza and discover it and Chef Kerpon’s food for yourself.
Is nightlife back in Santa Fe? We’ll soon find out. Skylight will open this Friday at 139 West San Francisco Street in the spot that housed Milagro 139. Owner/General Manager Joe Ray Sandoval has big plans. The venue will have a full liquor license, serve food, have either DJs or live music nightly, and will be available to house concerts produced by others. On August the venue will host Reckless Kelley and Cody Canada. We’ll have more information on Skylight soon. Santa Fe needs a good music venue. Hoping this one succeeds.
Santa Fe Art
Ai Krasner’s Turning can be seen at Axle Contemporary photo/courtesy Axle Contemporary
Axle Contemporary, the gallery on wheels, opens 5 Santa Fe Collage Artists, on Friday, July 25th from 5 to 7pm at the Railyard. This exhibition features five collage artists: Krasner, Craig Anderson, Brenda Euwer, Kathamann, and John Voorhees. Each uses different base materials for their work, ranging from candy wrappers and paint, to torn and cut paper. The exhibition runs through Sunday, August 17th.
From the show “Tom Chambers – Reverie”, photo/courtesy photo-eye Gallery
The photo-eye Gallery is opening Reverie, their second exhibition at their new Railyard location, on Friday, July 25th from 5 to 7pm. The show features work from photographer Tom Chambers. He’s known for his photomontages that appear to modernize Renaissance painting techniques, but with a camera. The exhibition runs through Saturday, September 13th.
“Sheep on the Bluff” by Billy Schenck, photo/courtesy Sorrel Sky Gallery
Sorrel Sky Gallery will open South by Southwest, their first one-man show in Santa Fe, on Friday, July 25th from 5 to 7:30pm. It will feature paintings from artist Billy Schenck’s known for his dramatic, reductive style. The show runs through August 8th.
Paintings by Ellen Koment and Mary Long from Wax Duet at Karan Ruhlan Gallery photo/courtesy Karen Ruhlan Gallery
The Karan Ruhlen Gallery will hold an opening reception for their latest show, Wax Duet, on Friday, July 25th from 5 to 7pm. The show features encaustic paintings by Ellen Koment and Mary Long. “Encaustic” meaning “to heat” or “to burn,” is an ancient painting style used by the ancient Greeks for mural painting. Contemporary encaustic painting uses beeswax, damar resin, and pigment, producing work with luminous colors and complex textures and depths. The exhibit runs through Sunday, August 10th.
Flower Girl Gold From the “Survival”t by Hung Liu will be on view at the Survival show, photo/courtesy Turner Carroll Gallery
Turner Carroll Gallery will host an artists’ reception for their latest exhibit Survival on Friday, August 1st from 5 to 7pm. This group show features work from Traian Filip, Hung Liu, Georges Mazilu, Igor Melnikov, Wanxin Zhang, and Nele Zirnite. All share one thing in common; they “escaped oppressive societies and oppression of their birthplace and survived in their new home through art.” The show opens on Monday, July 28th and runs through Monday, August 25th.
Santa Fe music
Brenda Rae will perform at the 2014 Festival of Song photo/courtesy Performance Santa Fe
Performance Santa Fe (in cooperation with the Santa Fe Opera), opens its 2014 Festival of Song series on Thursday, July 31st at St. John’s United Methodist Church. The first performance features husband and wife opera singers Alek Shrader and Daniela Mack. Corinne Winters and Steven Blier will perform at the second event on Sunday, August 3rd. Friday, August 8th brings Paul Groves. The he series ends on Sunday, August 10th with a performance by Brenda Rae and In Sun Suh. All recitals begin at 4pm and run for an hour. A meet-the-artist reception will follow. Tickets, $45 to $75, are available at the Performance Santa Fe website, the Lensic box office or online at Tickets Santa Fe.
Santa Fe Film
The Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival presents Santa Fe’s first North African Sephardic Festival from Tuesday, July 29th through Sunday, August 3rd. The weeklong event features two exclusive New Mexico film premieres, a concert, a photographic exhibit, a travel talk, and an exploration of Moroccan cuisine with a discussion and family-style dinner. The festival opener on the 29th is a screening of the award-winning documentary Tinghir-Jerusalem, Echoes of the Mellah at 7pm at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA). Some events have an admission charge and some are free. Check their website or call (505) 216-0672 for complete information.
Taos art
Indian Detorus tours left from La Fonda on the Plaza, a former Fred Harvey hotel photo/Steve Collins
The Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, NM is opening its latest exhibition, Fred Harvey and the Making of the American West, on Friday, August 1st. The show features over a hundred objects from the Harvey family, private collections, and from the Couse Foundation in Taos. Fred Harvey was the concessionaire for hotels and eating houses along the Santa Fe Railroad route from Chicago to California and started tours to outlying areas including Indian reservations and places like the Grand Canyon. The exhibition will include a working O scale electric toy train, the famous Super Chief, popular in the 50s and 60s. A special Fred Harvey luncheon will also be held on Saturday, September 6th. The exhibition runs through January 31, 2015. Call the museum at (575) 758-2462 for more information on the show or the luncheon.
That’s all for this week, see you next. ¡Hasta Luego!
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Tidbits: ¡VIVA MEXICO! Spanish Market, art, dining and more…. is a post from: Santa Fe Travelers
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