New Mexico
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Hacienda
The Capitol Art Foundation’s collection includes “Hacienda Shadow Play” by Santa Fe artist Albert Handell. Known for his painting workshops, Handell was one of the first American artists to paint en plain air with pastels.
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House Chamber
Big curves mark the layout of desks on the floor of the New Mexico House of Representatives and are mirrored in the overhead light fixtures. Of course, it is in a round building.
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Rotunda
The center of New Mexico’s Capitol Building features the seal of the state on the floor and a beautiful skylight above that is reminiscent of the designs on native pottery from the state.
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NM Capitol Building
Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico, and this circular brown structure is the Capitol Building. Brown seems more appropriate than white marble in this city built of adobe and stone. And the sculptures outside are just the beginning of the artwork that can be found inside.
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Tewa Tales of Suspense
The Tewa Country exhibit included edgy works like this take on a superhero story of a woman warrior surrounded by symbols of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 that burned down Catholic churches and drove the Spanish colonial forces out of New Mexico for 12 years.
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Round Earth
Hopi artist Arlo Namingha sculpted natural materials into a timeline of the land. Titled “Tsi’ Pin (Pedernall),” it speaks to O’Keeffe’s statement of “owning” the Pedernal mountain, saying instead that we are stewards for a brief time of the locations we inhabit.
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Prayer Making Its Way
Artist Eliza Naranjo Morse (Santa Clara Pueblo) painted “A Prayer Making Its Way” of a badger carrying Tewa creations up a snowy mountainside with pink rain clouds offering encouragement in the background. A different take on New Mexico’s landscape that caught my attention.
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Black Mesa Landscape
Georgia O’Keeffe painted this landscape in 1930, but the Tewa people honor the same land as ancestral places worthy of songs and ceremonies. Kudos to the museum for displaying creations by local Tewa (Pueblo) artists that offered commentaries on O’Keeffe’s works and worldview.
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Georgia’s Corn
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe was a highlight of our visit to New Mexico’s capital. This oil painting of a corn plant focuses in on a few leaves, a technique O’Keeffe used in many of her artworks.
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Family
This earthenware clay sculpture depicts a mother and father holding their child and surrounded by extended family. At 14 feet wide, it hangs in the Santa Fe Community Convention Center and the artist, Roxanne Swentzell, wanted to show the strength of these bonds for the community.
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Weaving
Inside the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center we found a class full of weavers creating wall hangings on small looms. In another room we talked with this local woman who regularly works on projects at the center. Fascinating to watch her expertly operate the shuttle and loom.
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Fiber Arts Center
We stopped at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center while driving through northern New Mexico. The building’s side wall provides a visual cue to what we found inside.
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Echo Wall
The concave sheer wall of Echo Amphitheater bounced our words (and songs) back over our heads! The dark streaks are from minerals dripping down the cliff over centuries.
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City of Gold
The local tribes told the Spanish explorers of the 1500s about cities of gold in the mountains of New Mexico, and from a distance this rock formation would have looked positively golden! Just not the kind that the conquistadors were hoping to find.
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Echo Amphitheater
Driving down a narrow valley in northern New Mexico, we came across this picnic area that featured amazing colored rock layers and a natural amphitheater.
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Strange Rocks
Driving south into New Mexico for the first time, we found unusual rock formations on a side road near Aztec, New Mexico. Do you see any faces or profiles in these sandstone giants?
Words Are Inadequate 