The Santa Fe Life

Santa Fe Society of Artists Weekend Shows

2011-06-14T19:28:00.001-06:00

Most weekends now I am downtown, in the bank parking lot across from Starbucks, on W. San Francisco Street. I have a booth, and I am displaying my wonderful fine-art photography for sale. To while away the hours between customers, I am shooting interesting scenes and fashion in the area. To start off, here are some from this last weekend.

Some young ladies from Philadelphia at Starbucks.

Unfortunately my eyes hurt at the end of the day from seeing way to many scenes like this....

Street scene on the plaza, now here's Santa Fe Style!

Check out that shoulder!

This woman was very striking, she looked like a Maid Marion of the 21st century with her blond hair and green outfit. Unfortunately, she only let me shoot her handbag.......

I loved this hat, and she was sweet to let me take her picture - again in Starbucks across from the Art Show

Finally, some more interesting Santa Fe Style.... this dude was on W.

San Francisco Street... ;-)

Come see me at the show, next show date is June 25-26.

A Trans-Dimensional Craft Landed in Santa Fe - Part 1.

2011-05-15T22:36:00.000-06:00

I went to see it Friday night. I think it is the most awesome thing I have ever seen here..... or there...... It is called "The Due Return."

The Figurehead of the SpaceShip

The Side of the Craft, with Light Streaming Through the Portholes

Some of the Alien Life Forms Surrounding the Ship

Windows on the Upper Deck are Visible

You can view it at the Center for Contemporary Arts.... more photos to come....

Jesus Moroles at New Mexico Museum of Art

2011-05-12T11:14:00.000-06:00

Artist Jesus Moroles is at the New Mexico Museum of Art Courtyard today, working on his sculpture.

-Brian Moe

Lamy, New Mexico, Part 2

2011-05-01T20:11:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are a few of fellow photographer Stephen Dunn's shots from our recent Adventure in Lamy......

Isn't it amazing how 2 photographers, can go to the same place at the same time, and come up with such unique perspectives?

Photos by Stephen Dunn

Time-Travel to Lamy Part 1

2011-04-29T16:41:00.004-06:00

Stephen Dunn and I went Photo Time-Traveling to the little hamlet of Lamy, New Mexico just outside of Santa Fe. His photos will appear in Part 2.

Lamy Station is the Place To Be!

I think this is the smallest library I have ever seen.......

Then my Time-Travel settings slipped.......

We ended by having a nice drink at The Legal Tender with this young lady.....

-Josef Tornick

Man On The Plaza

2011-04-25T22:22:00.000-06:00

-Brian Moe

Peter Weiss' Annals of the Ancient City - The Secret History of Santa Fe - Part 3

2011-04-24T20:05:00.001-06:00

III. Curbs

In 1880 Santa Fe was given a choice: it could become the home of the new territorial university, which would become the University of New Mexico, or it could have the Territorial Prison. We chose the prison. Why? Because we could make the prisoners bake bricks for us.

New Mexico in the late nineteenth century was struggling. Always a poor place, it's prospects for solvency, not to mention eventual statehood, were stymied by a variety of factors related to its economic condition.

Put baldly, to the powers that be back East we were just a bunch of Spanish-speaking Catholics and Indians, living in mud houses and not particularly promising as prospective citizens of the Great United States of America.

This meant it was especially hard to attract investment capital to the territory. Some people said, 'Look, though it's unlikely we'll stop being Catholic any time soon, we might learn English eventually, but one thing we can do right now is get rid of these mud houses and make the place look more, you know, American." Or something to that effect.

Now, coincidentally, the USA was at this time entering the biggest building boom in its history (until the post-war 1950's, in fact). From more or less 1880 to 1895, springing up like mushrooms after a rain all across the country, were structures that came to be known as Victorian Commercial Blocks. You would know them better perhaps, as Edward Hopper Main Streets. Those two and sometimes three story red brick downtown buildings, usually with storefronts on the street and offices or apartments above. Ubiquitous structures that can still be found in every small, medium and large town and city in America.

Santa Fe said, "Cut us a slice of that!" But, of course, we needed bricks. Hence the appeal of prisoners rather than students. The pen was built, there on Pen Rd, behind the current Walgreens/ Wild Oats Market. And among the first products were largish square salt-fired blocks to be used as curbing for the soon to be paved streets of the city.

Eventually, decades later, these were replaced by the modern standard concrete curbing we are all used to, but Santa Feans collected the old blocks and re-used them all over the city. They are the steps up into the shops along Palace Avenue, they are pavers in private gardens, the floors of patios and portals, above is a photo of them capping a low wall along DeVargas Street.

As we all know, the drive to tear down old adobe Santa Fe didn't succeed completely. A movement grew up to preserve the old city and it's unusual architecture, one effective argument in its favor being that the city would thereby attract that desperately needed capital in that brand new form: the tourist.

But if you look around the Plaza you'll realize that nearly every building, no matter how much stucco has been applied to disguise it as faux-adobe, is actually one of those Victorian Commercial Blocks, the best preserved being the Catron Block on the east side of the Plaza. Well, the upper floors at least.

Why Driving in Santa Fe.....is Scary!!!

2011-04-22T22:51:00.001-06:00

Yikes!!!!

-Josef Tornick

La Capilla de San Ysidro Labrador

2011-04-21T21:44:00.003-06:00

My earliest memories of the Capilla were from when I was about 2 or 3 years old. I would walk hand-in-hand with my grandmother across the yard from her house which was just a few yards from the chapel. She would annoint my forehead with water from a plastic bottle she carried that had a large golden cross painted on it. She whispered to me what seemed to be a very elaborate prayer in Spanish. I remember the smell of juniper and the wet earth after a summer rain and thought that the little chapel was miraculous, as it always made me calmer and happier to be near it.

It wasn't until I was much older that I was allowed to climb around and essentially play in the now historical ruin. My favorite place was to sit under a carapace of jutting rock which was the fireplace in the capilla. It was here that I spent many years scratching into the rock a cross which has only deepened over the years from my efforts and others. I have many fond memories of my brothers and I scrambling up and onto that quickly eroding ruin of this chapel that my Great-Grandfather Lorenzo Lopez had built as a tribute to the patron saint of farmers – San Ysidro, known as the “Laborer". And it was very apropos that this would be the chosen patron of our family, as most of my family and relations have always been laborers, workers and farmers.

The capilla was a place I would often visit as a place to meditate and pray, especially during those critical moments in my life [death of loved ones, the birth of my children, and the marriage to my wife.] And as I came to find, it was also a haven for many of the locals living on Cerro Gordo to come and visit - offering prayers and seeking peace. This in turn grew even more notable as the years rolled by. Visitors from other states and even countries would stop and offer tokens of respect; votive candles, ojo de dios, hand-made santos, rosaries and other pagan charms.

This eventually came to the attention of the Christo Rey Church whose patrons were able to establish it as an historic landmark and aided in the rebuilding of the structure according to its original design. It now sits like a quiet beacon to those passing and as a reminder of the spiritual roots of this community and the mutual awareness of our hard work and labor as a singular community of devoted families.

-Rey De Lupos

Photo - Josef Tornick

Santa Fe Spring

2011-04-20T23:18:00.002-06:00

"Spring has come
No one knows how."
-Antonio Machodo

-Josef Tornick

Santa Fe Fashion

2011-04-18T18:09:00.000-06:00

Tomas at Verve's Opening on Friday.....

-Josef Tornick

There's a New Marshal in Town.....

2011-04-16T13:44:00.003-06:00

-Josef Tornick

Love Free

2011-04-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

"Fox" at Real Food Nation.

-Josef Tornick

Half Order #7, Smothered Red, Ground Beef

2011-04-14T20:49:00.001-06:00

That is my current favorite lunch at The Shed. Truth be told, I think lately the quality has been a bit erratic, so I guess you take your chances. This order, #7, is a taco plate, my previous favorite was the #5, enchiladas. In summertime the lines snake out the courtyard into Palace Ave.

In a future post, I will tell you of a much better place to eat, a real hidden gem downtown.

The gentleman was waiting by himself for his table, I wonder what he had?

Oh, and the third photo, - of my favorite room there, - it NEVER looks empty like this..... I shot it early one day before they opened.

Update: I had forgotten to take a photo of the food...... the most important thing! I went back, quality was back up a notch, and here it is....... and that nice waitress was Molly, who really is half-Irish!!!

-Josef Tornick

Peter Weiss' Annals of the Ancient City - The Secret History of Santa Fe - Part 2

2011-04-11T21:06:00.005-06:00

A “Jewish” symbol on the Basilica of St. Francis ?

One of the most beloved and oft-repeated stories in Santa Fe concerns the odd and somewhat obscure symbol over the main door of the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis, otherwise known as the St Francis Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of New Mexico.

In the floral arch above the door are four Hebrew letters inside a triangle. The letters, transliterated into our alphabet, and properly read from right to left, are YHWH, and is a common way of writing the Name of the God of Israel. In Christian usage these four letters are usually referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah. In Jewish tradition the name of God is never spoken aloud but He may be referred to as Adonai.

In the popular informal history of Santa Fe, the symbol came to be over the door as a result of a loan of some six thousand dollars made to our first Archbishop, Jean-Baptiste Lamy by a German Jewish merchant Abraham Staab to help with the building of the cathedral. Later, so the story goes, Staab offered to forgive the debt if Lamy would inscribe one Hebrew word on the exterior of the building, the word being YHWH, of course.

Staab himself told this story many times during his life and it took on a credibility beyond any logical or likely plausibility. Today one most often hears it spun as the “Church’s way of thanking the Jews of Santa Fe for helping to build the cathedral”. To my knowledge, the Archdiocese has never made any comment about this tale, perhaps because, as the esteemed historian Fray Chavez once said, letting it be builds comity and friendship between the two very different groups of Santa Feans.

However, a closer look behind this charming but unlikely tale reveals some quite interesting ideas.

The symbol is actually called a Tetragrammaton and is a known and accepted symbol of the Church. It is perhaps better known to the Eastern Orthodox branch than the Roman Catholic, yet it is still a relatively familiar symbol. It has had a long history and much use in the Christian tradition, though it is clear that it has been around for much longer than the Church. It is an ancient Hebrew symbol and the 19th century churchmen of Santa Fe, very good scholars all, could not fail to have been aware of one of the meanings of the Tetragrammaton as it appears in the medieval Jewish Kabbalah.

The mystic text of the Hebrews, the Kabbalah distinguishes four different planes of existence, or “worlds”, that form a ladder-like link between the Divine and our physical Existence. These four worlds are Atziluth, the World of Emanation, Beri’ah, or the World of Creation, Yetzirah, or the World of Formation, and Assiah, or the World of Action. Each world is progressively further from the Godhead, or Heaven, and can be contemplated as stages that lie between our Earthly condition and that of realized holiness and spirituality.

So what is this doing in a conspicuous place over the door of our cathedral?
Well, it might help us to pay some attention to the other symbols around the place. In recent times the Archdiocese has added several sculptures to the terrace in front of the Church. Most notably, there is the lovely bronze statue of Blessed Kateri Tekawitha, the first Native American saint. Here she is presented as a typical Pueblo woman of New Mexico, complete with eagle feathers, turquoise necklace, and her traditional ceremonial clothing. But the historical Kateri was a Mohawk from northern New York State, culturally as far removed from the Rio Grande valley as the Chinese are from the Irish. Hmm?

Another fairly recent addition to the terrace is a charming sculpture of St. Francis himself, our patron saint. One sees images of this kind, modest man all over the world, frequently in the company of small birds and mammals, with whom he was said to have a great affinity and ability to communicate. But I have never seen St Francis communing with a wolf before. However, in the local native tribal traditions, the wolf is a particularly influential figure, and the Wolf Clan members often take a leading role as authorities within their communities.

Always remember that the very first, primary directives of the Catholic presence in New Mexico were concerned with the conversion of the native people to Christianity. The early efforts were, to say the least, all too often brutal and harsh and resulted in much resentment and eventually, the Great Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Following the Reconquest of the 1690’s the church undertook more benign and inclusive policies that have resulted in the unique religious life of today’s tribes, where Catholicism and native religious belief co-exist, side by side. St Francis with the Wolf, Kateri as a Pueblo Woman.

The outreach of the Church to the tribes has never flagged and I believe these sculptures, so prominently displayed, are another way the Church reminds the Native population that they are welcome in the Catholic world.

The Tetragrammaton over the door is perhaps the most subtle of all these symbols. Because, in the Pueblo view, there are also four worlds, each successively a bit further from the original world of the Creator. For a Pueblo seeking spiritual enlightenment here is no more basic and fundamental understanding of the true nature of the world than the one revealed through the contemplation of this paradigm. So what better way for the Church to forge lasting bonds between these two deeply serious religious traditions than to emphasize their points of apparent agreement and harmony?

All this is speculation on my part, of course. But it is much more credible than “thanking the Jews”. Even in today’s far more secular and diverse Santa Fe the city retains a commitment to religious and spiritual matters that infuses everyday life more than in most places I have visited in the country. We have Catholics, of course, and Jews, and Protestants of every stripe. We have Buddhists and Hindus, Taoists and Sikhs. And we have the strong local Native religious traditions. But most of all, we have each other, and in displaying symbols of commonality I think the Archdiocese is doing it’s part to affirm tolerance and mutual respect.

-Peter Weiss

Signs of the Times - Part 2

2011-04-10T21:19:00.001-06:00

Goodbye Borders. What does this mean?

-Josef Tornick

Signs of the Times

2011-04-07T20:07:00.001-06:00

-Josef Tornick

Elmer Red Star and a Pot

2011-04-05T14:34:00.000-06:00

It is a warm and beautiful Spring day in the Royal City of the Holy Faith as I walked along East De Vargas Street contemplating the next story idea for The Santa Fe Life. I walk by an older gentleman gently scratching away at a pot with an xacto knife on a concrete table along the Santa Fe River Park. The pot is gorgeous and put a smile on my lips as I usher forth a gentle, 'Excuse me?' He was so engrossed that he is slightly startled at my hovering presence. 'Yes?' I inform him that I was so impressed with his work that I wondered if I might take a picture of it with my camera phone. Elmer Red Starr was more than happy to let me do so and therein starts the beginning of what would be a forty five minute conversation discussing his early history here in Santa Fe as an employee of Sears Roebuck, which once had a downtown presence many, many years ago.

Since that early time he was given an in-depth training with his ex-wife's father, Joseph Lonewolf who helped popularize the technique I was witnessing. It is called, sgraffito, a technique where a top layer of color is scratched to reveal a colour beneath. The term comes from the Italian word sgraffire meaning (literally) "to scratch".

Much of Starr's work these days is a desire to share his craft with patrons who have been purchasing his work over the last 35 years and to keep him busy as he enters his seventy third year. I can definitely appreciate the meditation such fine work could afford one. We finished our conversation with an exchange of addresses and the future hope of connecting again for a walk down memory lane.

-Rey De Lupos

Being Seen at the Farmer's Market

2011-04-02T22:03:00.003-06:00

If you are an Egg, a Lavender Lady, a Yummy Salad, or a Famous Blog Writer, then The Place to see and be seen is the Farmer's Market downtown, on a Saturday morning!

-Josef Tornick

Peter Weiss' Annals of the Ancient City - The Secret History of Santa Fe - Part 1

2011-03-30T21:55:00.005-06:00

These days the Odd Fellows Cemetery sits almost completely abandoned beside their meeting hall on Cerrillos Road. It is overgrown and weedy and many graves have been invaded by colonies of prairie dogs. What maintenance it has seen in recent times has mostly been the work of a volunteer woman who has brought marble scraps from her company next door to create walkways and demarcate the grave sites.

The Odd Fellows cemetery has a couple of interesting things in it. One is the grave of Samuel Ketchum, the brother and comrade of the famous Tom “Black Jack” Ketchum, one of the more notorious bandits in New Mexican history. Sam was also an outlaw and died of gunshot wounds received after a train robbery near Folsom New Mexico. He died at the Territorial Prison in Santa Fe and his grave marker clearly states “outlaw”. His brother was caught and hanged a couple years later, and owing to a poorly trained hangman, is remembered as one of only two people in American history whose bodies were decapitated by the experience.

Of more interest, perhaps, is the well-kept dual grave beside the Odd Fellows Hall itself, awkwardly sited, practically in Cerrillos Road. There is a large grave marker memorializing both one Charles Wagner, 1841-1906, as well as the name Jack Akers. And next to it, Jack Akers is buried with a smaller marker of his own. Mr Akers was born in 1855 and died in 1930, long out-living Mr Wagner.

What was their relationship?
Jack Akers may have been the same man who appears have run a boarding house with a woman known as “Mom” in 1920. Nothing at all is known of Mr Wagner although the monument would indicate a well-to-do personage.

The Odd Fellows, and their sister organization, the Rebekkahs, have existed in the USA since 1819 when the first lodge was charted by the English founding organization. It was one of many fraternal organizations that took root in 19th century America. In the West, these groups were able to offer support and mutual care for the many, often single, men who moved westward seeking new lives.

It is likely that both Wagner and Akers were Odd Fellow members, but beyond that their special bond, which is clear in their sharing a grave, remains a mystery.

-Peter Weiss

One More From Lucinda - No Words Needed!

2011-03-28T23:43:00.001-06:00

-Josef Tornick

The Secret Life of Santa Fe: or the Magical World of Lucinda Hoyt

2011-03-27T22:53:00.006-06:00

My friend (and guide to hidden Santa Fe) Peter Weiss and I went on a little impromptu “enjoy the spring” walk on Friday morning. Among other places, we visited a friend of his, Lucinda Hoyt, who lives in the most amazing little place I have ever seen. (And that says a lot in Santa Fe!) In fact, I was so rattled by the cornucopia of extraordinary imagery that I was only able to squeeze off a few shots for you…… Truly I was stunned. I could easily spend days photographing the marvelous things Lucinda has created.

She is a True Artist, and dates her ancestry back to the Dutch in 1640’s NYC, as one of the famous “400.”

I will leave it to Peter to fill in more on Lucinda in a future post for his “Secret Life of Santa Fe” Series.

Oh, one interesting tidbit….. after meeting some of Lucinda’s ancestors in that NY past, a local writer, put off by their snobbishness, coined the phrase “hoity-toity,” and that is where the phrase comes from.

The photos offer the barest glimpse of the Magical World…… of Lucinda Hoyt. Thank you Lucinda.

-Josef Tornick

Make Some Chile Sauce Like El Potrero Trading Post Does

2011-03-21T21:54:00.004-06:00

Ingredients:
6 Tbs ground red chile (from Chimayo of course!)
2 garlic cloves
2 cups chicken stock or water
2 Tbs cooking oil
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano (optional)
2 Tbs flour
Salt to taste
1 dash red wine vinegar

Saute garlic in oil. Add flour and brown by pressing flour flat in skillet. Add liquid and chile and remaining ingredients. Stir and simmer.

The red wine vinegar is the secret ingredient..... it makes the flavor come alive! This sauce can be frozen and used later. Serves 4

Nicolas Madrid (pictured in El Potrero Trading Post in Chimayo) gave us this recipe on Sunday when Rey and I traipsed in.

-Josef Tornick

Outside the Aztec Cafe Spring Equinox

2011-03-21T00:18:00.001-06:00

-Josef Tornick

Spring Equinox With Dog

2011-03-20T23:17:00.008-06:00

It's cool being a dog in Santa Fe. People want to pet me even though I'm part pitbull.
Now that's tolerance, my man. (I'm talking to the guy with the camera....)

Hey, thanks for capturing my awesome appearance here - just next time when you stop by, bring a few treats.

Gotta go to my dog psychic now. My person thinks the fact I've been drooling a little bit more lately is an expression of grief cuz Karma the Cat ran off last week. She thinks the dog psychic will help me with the grieving process. Thing is, I've just been dealing with this juniper allergy thing going around, like everybody else.

see ya.

-Annie Woods-Tornick channeling The Dog