3 posts tagged “new mexico”
The Albuquerque Youth Diagnostic and Detention Center is a teaching facility for very troubled young men and women. They have committed a serious crime, and are on the brink of lengthy incarceration. YDDC is a stepping stone. They are evaluated and given educational challenges and training, They have a chance to learn new skills with which to re-enter the world.
Lin Putnam-Johnson, my friend of many years has been an art educator at YDDC for more than a decade. Over the years she has helped countless youth find inspiration, self esteem and motivation through their artistic abilities. Indeed, many are very talented but have never had the opportunity or tools to learn basic studio skills, much less the encouragement and guidance to follow through on an artistic project.
A great gift Lin gives them is validation and connection to their heritage, as evidenced by this vibrant mural, now installed in the Pera Building in Santa Fe. It was designed and created entirely by students from YDCC, with the guidance of Lin. One of the students who worked intensely on the mural is now going to art school, emerging from the weight of socio-economic pressures to enter into society in a positive way. It's a long road, but he's taken many steps already.
A powerful example of art as a transformative power.
And working is what I have been doing.
Painting in acrylic and watercolor, ink drawings, charcoal, and clay sculpture. Also a little plein air and cloudscape. How can you not respond to this astonishing landscape, so overwhelming and immense, continually changing.
There is a constant sense of wonder.
I hope to have finished 2 small clay sculptures. One is done, but has yet to pass trial by fire. The other is nearly done. My days alternate between my home studio (painting) and Santa Fe Clay, where I've rented studio space. That has worked out quite well, although there's never enough time to get it all done.
I had one night of camping on my land near Taos. My car, an Element named Georgia (for guess-who, who used to paint in her car) was very happy to be there in the quiet, serene sagebrush across the Rio Grande Gorge from Taos.
Never enough time!
Back to work now.
Inquiring minds sometimes ask: Why nests? Why eggs? Why twining twigs and grasses?
It began with birds... the chicken was definitely before the egg for me.
Birds have always been magical and fascinating friends. Once while I hid in the sheltering branches of a sizable yew during a childhood game of hide and seek, a flock of cedar waxwings surrounded the tree, feasting on ripe berries. Sleek olive feathers and waxy red tips on the wings... a slightly scary mask over beady eyes as they gobbled juicy red berries... all very memorable for a five year old.
When I lived on a sage brush studded desert mesa near Taos, New Mexico I drew many, soaring ravens in pen and ink, and painted large still lifes with feathers and other treasures. At UNM my drawings often included entangled threads and grasses. So strange to think of now, that I have been nurturing this imagery for so long.
Then while in residency at the Vermont Studio Center I brought along an Audubon Field Guide of Nests, and simultaneously undertook a study of transparent acrylic, and the architecture of the nest of a Common Yellowthroat, an elusive, tiny, bright yellow bird. They are always thrilling to discover in the underbrush.
Time to head in to the studio. It's getting light out already.
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