By J. Mark Sublette Farming in this high desert climate was always a challenge. Shortly after founding Santa Fe in 1610, the Spanish built an irrigation canal above the River, parallel to Canyon Road. Still in use, this Acequia Madre, or "mother ditch," brought precious water out of the…
1 Lloyd Kiva New, 86, Teacher of Indian Artists Lloyd Kiva New, an artist and designer who taught generations of American Indian artists at the Institute of American Indian Arts, an innovative school that he and a colleague founded in Santa Fe, N.M., died on Friday in a hospital…
4 22 1891 by Michael Ann Sullivan Laura Gilpin grew up in the West and always considered herself a Westerner. She said of herself, “I am definitely a westerner and I just have to be in the mountain country. It’s where I belong.” She was born on 22 April…
Although many people believe Vivian Vance to be a native of Albuquerque, Vivian Roberta Jones was actually born in Cherryvale, Kansas. The beloved character, Ethel Mertz, whom Vance played on the I Love Lucy television show, claimed Albuquerque as home and the association stuck. That and her (Vivian Vance’s)…
By Marinella Lentis At the end of the nineteenth century, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Thomas J. Morgan (1889-1893) and Superintendent of Indian schools Estelle Reel (1898-1910) introduced art instruction in the curriculum of federal boarding schools as an optimal means to reach the goals of assimilation. Morgan mandated the…
By Jessica R. Metcalfe While flipping through Native Peoples magazine one day in 2003, I came across a photo spread of contemporary Native high fashion. It intrigued me how the designers incorporated elements from their cultures’ traditional art forms into high fashion. Who were these designers, how did they…
Paolo Soleri By Rick Hendricks* Paolo Soleri was born in Turin, Italy, on 21 June 1919. At sixteen, Soleri opted for…
"The true beauty and significance of this collection lies not in the talent of the artists, but in the subject matter they choose to capture. DeHuff's students chose to paint symbols, figures, stories, dances, ceremonies, and designs of their heritage. These paintings capture both the cultures of the artists,…
4 4 1869 By Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint To the modern traveler visiting New Mexico "Santa Fe style" conjures many images but early in the 20th Century, it signified a new American expression of urban architecture and design. Mary Colter was at the forefront of the mission…
By Rick Hendricks Virginia Maria Romero was born to William Adelbert Phillip Holley and Victoria Theresa Mucha on 16 March 1952 in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, where she grew up as Ginny Holley. Her father was the son of William Holley, Sr. and Agnes Gifford Holley, to whom he was…
