Traveling Collector: A Modern Twist
July 2008
Though Santa Fe, N.M., is better known for its tourist-brochure image of sun-soaked adobe architecture and traditional Western or American Indian art, a new section of cutting-edge chic is emerging as a magnet for contemporary art collectors.While Santa Fe’s more venerable art areas remain vibrant as ever, the Railyard district—just a few blocks from the Plaza, the city’s historic heart—is augmenting the established art scene and bringing additional visitors to Canyon Road and downtown. And with several annual events taking place in July, collectors of contemporary art will find nearly as many reasons to visit as aficionados who are focused on the work Santa Fe typically offers.
The anchor of the city-owned 50-acre site, which is adjacent to the older South Guadalupe Street shopping and restaurant district, is SITE Santa Fe, a not-for-profit contemporary art space whose presence has been instrumental in attracting other contemporary galleries to the Railyard. A distinct global focus is evident in the work lining the walls of local galleries, which feature such internationally-known artists as Peter Sarkisian, Stuart Arends, Collette Hosmer, Olivier Mossett, Günther Förg, Agnes Martin, and Donald Judd. Even SITE Santa Fe’s own biennial doesn’t limit its contemporary focus to the borders of its country. Independent curator Lance M. Fung—who has created important exhibitions in Seoul, as well as at the Venice Biennale and Venice Architectural Biennale, and most recently curated a large show of public installations in Beijing in conjunction with this summer’s Olympic Games—invited 27 international emerging artists to visit the city and create a piece of art for this year’s event, titled "Lucky Number Seven," which began June 22 and runs through Oct. 26.
Across the railroad tracks from SITE Santa Fe, another globally focused event is taking place at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe, the location for this summer’s annual ART Santa Fe International Contemporary Art Fair (July 10–13). Described as a "boutique" fair for its intimate scale and top-quality offerings from international galleries, the fair specializes in modern and contemporary art from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the U.S.
However, despite the growing contemporary scene, collectors still tend to make their first stop at Canyon Road, where the majority of Santa Fe’s almost 200 galleries are located. Nineteenth- and early 20th-century artworks are available there, with paintings by artists such as Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, E. Irving Couse, and Nicolai Fechin. Many of these artists are known for their presentation of the early West and the American Indian through an often-romanticized East Coast or European aesthetic.
There is plenty of cutting-edge two- and three-dimensional art in the Canyon Road area these days as well, with galleries such as Eight Modern, Chiaroscuro, Bellas Artes, and others offering Abstract, Modernist, Expressionist, and Minimalist works. And the edge between fine art and fine craft disappears beautifully at venues such as the Jane Sauer Gallery, where fiber, glass, ceramics, and other materials reflect the masterful hand of the artist in groundbreaking ways.
In the past couple of years, a new hot spot for Native art has emerged on downtown’s Lincoln Avenue. On this short stretch, visitors can see work by some of the most acclaimed American Indian artists alive, including Tony Abeyta, Tammy Garcia, Jamie Okuma, Jody Naranjo, and Kevin Red Star. With award-winning work in painting, pottery, beadwork, sculpture, jewelry, and other media, these artists meld age-old tradition and perfection of craft with a spirit of non-stop innovation. At one end of the street and facing the Plaza is the famed Palace of the Governors portal, under which Native artists sell their work directly to the public every day. (The construction project on Lincoln is bringing further excitement to downtown in the form of the Museum of New Mexico’s new state-of-the-art History Museum, scheduled to open in the spring of 2009.)The entire heart of downtown fills up with Native art during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, which takes place Aug. 23–24. Tribal Arts dealers and aficionados also gather in Santa Fe during Indian Market for the Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show, this year celebrating its 30th anniversary.
The Plaza area and downtown in general offer a mixture of world-class art and tourist-oriented shops, along with restaurants and museums. Within walking distance of downtown is the one-of-a-kind Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. And just off the Plaza, the New Mexico Museum of Art presents "Flux: Reflections on Contemporary Glass" June 10–Sept. 21.
Art Van Go, a free van service sponsored by a selection of galleries, hotels, and restaurants, shuttles visitors between sites, notes Latricia Gonzales-McKowsky, president of the Santa Fe Gallery Association and one of those who conceived the van shuttle idea. Visitors who aren’t accustomed to Santa Fe’s 7,000-foot elev-ation can end up fatigued after a long day of walking in and out of local galleries, Gonzales-McKowsky explains.
Many of Santa Fe’s hotels—notably the historic La Fonda, the Eldorado Hotel, the Inn and Spa at Loretto, and the Hilton Santa Fe—have exceptional original art on their properties and in hotel shops. La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa carries the concept a step further by partnering with local galleries to provide a rotating selection of painting and sculpture—all for sale—in the hotel’s guest rooms and public spaces.
The city of Santa Fe provides shuttle bus service (the "M" bus) between downtown and Museum Hill, site of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, and the Museum of International Folk Art. Visitors can enjoy a different perspective on Native art at MIAC through Jan. 4, 2009, with "Comic Art Indigène." The show looks at the contemporary American Indian experience through storytelling in comics and comic-inspired art, including colorful, pictorial expressions of humor, adventure, and the fantastic in media including ancient pictographs as well as present-day graphic art.
You’ll need a car to reach other art spots in town—including the newly expanded Center for Contemporary Arts—and in nearby communities, but they’re well worth the drive. Among them: Acres of sculpture gardens at Shidoni Foundry and Galleries, just north of town in Tesuque; galleries and shops, both funky and first-class, in villages such as Madrid, Cerrillos, and Truchas. And at Pojoaque Pueblo, 20 minutes north of Santa Fe, are two venues of note for traditional and contemporary American Indian art, the Poeh Center and the Roxanne Swentzell Tower Gallery. An hour or so farther north, Taos is a history-rich art destination worth a trip of its own.
If there were such a thing as an art lover’s paradise, it would of course be set in an aesthetically pleasing environment—with a mountain backdrop and soft-edged Pueblo-style architecture, perhaps—and have an eminently agreeable climate, and it would offer a wide selection of top-rated restaurants. And a summer season of internationally acclaimed opera wouldn’t hurt, either. It’s all in Santa Fe.MARKETS & EVENTS
ART Santa Fe International Contemporary Art Fair
July 10–13. 505.988.8883, artsantafe.com
Santa Fe Indian Market
Aug. 23–24. 505.983.5220, swaia.org
Santa Fe International Folk Art Market
July 12–13. 505.476.1197, folkartmarket.org
SITE Santa Fe
June 22–Oct. 26. 505.989.1199, sitesantafe.org
Traditional Spanish Market
July 26–27. 505.982.2226, spanishmarket.org
Whitehawk Antique Indian Art Show
Aug. 18–20. 505.992.8929, whitehawkshows.com
RESOURCES
El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe
505.992.0591, elmuseocultural.org
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
505.946.1000, okeeffemuseum.org
Institute of American Indian Art Museum
505.983.8900, iaia.edu/museum
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
505.476.1250, miaclab.org
Museum of International Folk Art
505.476.1200, internationalfolkart.org
Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
505.982.2226, spanishcolonial.org
New Mexico Museum of Art
505.476.5072, mfasantafe.org
Wheelwright Museum of the
American Indian
505.982.4636, wheelwright.org