Category: Corrales

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Corrales Fine Arts Show

27th Annual Corrales Old Church Fine Arts Show, October 3 – 11, 2015

The opening reception for the Corrales Fine Arts Show is, for me, the kick-off event for a very busy week in the Albuquerque area, that of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the largest hot air balloon event in the world. Many events apart from those of the Balloon Fiesta itself occur in the coming week, in and around Albuquerque and surrounding areas. The Corrales Fine Arts Show has always held a special meaning to me.

This year I was pleased to have all three of my entries juried in.

“A Delicate Balance” will be shown as a small dye-infused aluminum piece:

Corrales fine art show
A Delicate Balance

“Nature’s Rhythms” will also be shown on dye-infused aluminum:

Corrales fine arts show
Nature’s Rhythms

The third piece, “The Observer/The Observed,” which many of you have already seen several times, will be shown as an archival pigment print on fine art canvas:

Corrales fine arts show
The Observer/The Observed

I have to once again thank friend, fellow anthropologist, and writer Jim Stallings for the fact this image is being shown at all. I created this image during a very dark time in this year’s winter, and showed it to only a very few people who were extremely supportive at that time. I had no intention at the time of showing it outside that small circle. Anthropologists, among many others, are aware of myth and ritual around the world involving birds of the crow/raven family. Jim wrote a short poem as a gift to me and my family at that time.

Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow

In the lofty life of a wise old crow
Swaying in the topmost backyard branches
Like a magical clock counting down mortality’s coil,
May it not be in some secret way
We the awed observers
Have all along been honored by a wiser watcher?

– Jim Stallings

After Jim wrote the poem, I decided to show it to others. It has been juried in to every show to which I have entered it. Thanks, Jim.

The opening reception is always a special evening for me, but this year will be even more so. Friends Tim (photographer) and Laurie (watercolorist), who have always come to the opening reception to support me, each have pieces in this year’s show! Tim Price will have “Through the Concrete Window,” a photograph done on film and developed in his own darkroom. Laurie Price will have “La Joconde,” her view of what waiting in the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa was like. You may preview their work on Tim’s blog, and then see it this week at the Old San Ysisdro Church in Corrales.

Times for the show:
October 3 – 10
11:00 am – 5:00 pm
October 11
11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Admission is free, as is parking.

A portion of all proceeds is donated for the preservation and care of the Old San Ysidro Church. Deconsecrated some years ago, the structure is important in the life of the community. I hope my friends in the Albuquerque area can visit during the show, and also those coming to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta.

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Late Summer Insects

Late Summer Insects in Corrales, New Mexico

Late summer insects were certainly abundant yesterday at the Corrales home of friends Tim and Laurie. I met them years ago through the local rose society, and we have become great friends with a wide variety of shared interests. They grow many roses, but they also plant a wide variety of other things aimed at encouraging pollinators and other beneficial insects. Their land was covered with abundant wild sunflowers, and also naturalized with cosmos, brown-eyed Susans, coreopsis, echinacea, black bamboo, and one I found especially fascinating for the variety of insects it attracted, garlic chives. All of these had been intentionally planted at one time, and then allowed to naturalize their land, which was spectacular in its color. I have been there many times, but I had never seen so much in bloom at one time before. The insects seemed quite happy and were buzzing everywhere! This is a small sample.

Bees, many different varieties, were everywhere. This one seemed to beg to be photographed. The plant is garlic chives.

summer insects bee
Bee on Garlic Chives

If you read my other blog, Southwest Desert Gardening, you recently saw a dead one of these, a Western Green June Bug, also called a Figeater Beetle. On that one, it was easy to show the metallic underside, which was quite beautiful. On this image, you can see some of the metallic parts. The plant is cosmos.

summer insects june bug
Western Green June Bug, Figeater Beetle

This is a Narrow Waisted Wasp on Garlic Chives

summer insects wasp
Narrow Waisted Wasp

Although I generally am not a huge fan of the grasshoppers that arrive in late summer, this one seemed to have a beguiling expression, and I also liked the blue legs. Once again, the plant is Garlic Chives.

summer insects grasshopper
Grasshopper

Butterflies will be in a separate post.

I enjoyed the opportunity to photograph these late summer insects not frequently thought of as “beautiful,” but I liked them. 🙂

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Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

middle rio grande valley

Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico includes the river, the bosque, and metropolitan Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, and others. While cities and villages are included, there are also many rural areas, even at times within the cities and villages. I spent yesterday with good friends exploring parts of the Corrales area I had never seen, ending the evening on their deck for wonderful food and great conversation.

These images are not spectacular in the sense of being in any way unusual. These are very typical images from a summer afternoon in the Middle Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico.

middle rio grande valley
Sandia Mountains looking across the Rio Grande, after a brief thundershower
middle rio grande valley
Typical scene in the rural portions of the Middle Rio Grande Valley

This area is known for its double rainbows. It is rare to see a single rainbow. If you look closely you will see that the main rainbow includes a double portion in at least the middle of the arc, while a portion of another bright rainbow is in the left of the image. It was a beautiful sky.

middle rio grande valley
Beautiful rainbows

When I got home last night, on the opposite side of the river, I found 1/2 inch of water in my rain gauge. The rain falling behind the rainbows was falling at my house!

It was a perfect ending to a beautiful – and typical – summer day in the Middle Rio Grande Valley!

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Autumn on the Rio Grande

autumn on the Rio Grande
Autumn on the Rio Grande
autumn on the Rio Grande
Autumn on the Rio Grande

Autumn is the most glorious time in New Mexico, for so many reasons.

As 2014 draws to an end, a winter storm is bearing down to ring in the New Year. This seemed a good day to revisit one of the spectacular autumn days on the Rio Grande.

The large trees are cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are found along the Rio Grande, but not far out from it. They are some of the major trees of a southwest forest along the Rio Grande, a forest referred to as “the bosque.” New Mexicans love the bosque, and Albuquerque has miles of bike and walking trails through and along the bosque.

This particular image is from Corrales, New Mexico, and the Rio Grande is just out of the image to the east. The mountains you glimpse are the Sandias.

It was a glorious day!!

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25th Old Church Fine Arts Show, Corrales, New Mexico

25th Old Church Fine Arts Show

The 25th Old Church Fine Arts Show presented by the Visual Arts Council of the Corrales Historical Society opened on Friday, October 4 with a wonderful reception for artists and their family and friends. The 2013 Exhibition of Fine Art is open daily from 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM, closing on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 4:00 PM.

Fine Arts Flyer
Fine Arts Flyer

Net proceeds and donation from Artists’ sales go to the preservation and maintenance of the Old Church. Visit the Visual Arts Council on the web at corraleshistory.com.

The Old Church is a beautiful venue for a Fine Art Show, as these images from this year’s show indicate:

25th Old Church Fine Arts Show
25th Old Church Fine Arts Show

All adobe structures require constant maintenance. The Old Church is a much-loved historic structure, and this spring it received its annual “mudding.” On July 26, 2013, the Albuquerque metro area along the Rio Grande River was hard-hit by a strong, severe storm, eventually described by the National Weather Service as “hurricane strength.” Odd for the desert, but it did happen. The north side of this beautiful old historic building was severely damaged. A lot of time and money will be required to restore it to its condition before the storm.

Old Church north wall
Old Church north wall

Winners were announced at the Opening Reception on Friday, October 4. Congratulations to Frank Dobrushken for Best of Show with his black and white photograph, “The Dancers.”
Cheryl Cathcart was awarded Second Place for “Suspended in Air.”
I was very pleased to received Third Place for “Floral Fireworks.”
Thanks to Jurors of the Show, and to the Visual Arts Council.

Floral Fireworks
Floral Fireworks

I have a second piece in the show, “Cycles of Life: Sacred Datura:”

sacred datura
sacred datura

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25th Annual Corrales Fine Arts Show

25th Annual Corrales Fine Arts Show

The Corrales Fine Arts Show, held annually during Balloon Fiesta at the historic Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, New Mexico, is set to kick off the fall fine arts show season in the Albuquerque region. This will be the 25th Annual Fine Arts Show held by the Visual Arts Council to raise money to support the upkeep of this beautiful old adobe church. This is a venue in which I love to show my work. The show has all kinds of work in it, not just photography. While there is photography, there is also painting of all varieties, especially oils and watercolors; textiles; pottery; just a great variety.

I would like to thank this year’s jurors for selecting two of my pieces for inclusion in this show: ‘Floral Fireworks’ and ‘Sacred Datura.’

corrales fine arts show
Floral Fireworks – Gladiolus that always blooms on the Fourth of July
corrales fine arts dshow
Life Cycle of Sacred Datura – an iconic plant of the Desert Southwest

The show is open 11:00 am – 5:00 pm daily, October 5-12, 2013, and
11:00 am – 4:00 pm on Sunday, October 13, 2013.

You may find more information on the Old San Ysidro Church and direction to it at this link.

If you live in the area, or if you will be visiting during Balloon Fiesta, make the Old Church and the Fine Arts Show a stop on your visit. There is no charge, and parking is free. The church is a part of old New Mexico, and part of the proceeds for the sale of artwork goes for maintenance of the Old Church.

A big thank you to the jurors of this year’s show.

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“Mudding” an Old Adobe House

Mudding an Adobe House

As I have said many times before, preservation of true adobe structures requires regular and time consuming maintenance, something for which many owners of adobes have neither the time nor money. I have also talked elsewhere about the community effort that goes into maintaining the Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales, New Mexico.

Corrales, New Mexico is geographically contiguous with Albuquerque, but it is its own Village with its own unique history, governance, and pride. Main Street, Corrales, is lined with adobes – businesses and homes – in various states of repair. It is charming, and the Village intends to keep it that way.

In 2012, the Corrales Historical Society and Corrales Main Street, with the hard work of volunteers, teamed up to “mud” or replaster with adobe the old Martinez House, which sits right on Main Street in Corrales. This house is not made of adobe bricks, but rather of terrones, which are essentially squares of sod. It is closely related to adobe. The traditional mud plastering is the same. The Martinez House Project is described in detail by Mary Davis in Corrales Historical Society Newsletter.

This is the north wall, and you can see the state of the adobe. For those of you not familiar with the use of color in New Mexico, blue is frequently used in the wood and other trim of adobe structures.

adobe house

This is the east wall of the Martinez House, and you can see that it sits right on the street. It has already had one coat of mud plaster applied, and Daniel Esparza is smoothing it and adding a little more plaster.

Martinez House
Daniel Esparza “Mudding” the east wall of the Martinez House

Before any “mudding” could begin, a formula for how much of what kind of earth and straw would be right had to be determined. Then, the ingredients had to be prepared and mixed.

Continue reading ““Mudding” an Old Adobe House”

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The Adobe Project

The Adobe Project documents the gradual disappearance of adobe dwellings in New Mexico, as this building material for homes, typical of the area for centuries, loses its relevance in the 21st Century. I have taken well over 1200 photographs since June of 2012, and I am continuing to photograph buildings and remains of buildings made of this material.

adobe
Old adobe casita, June 2012

Adobe, made of earth and organic material such as straw, and then formed into bricks which are sun dried, is found worldwide and has been a typical construction material in the Southwest United States, including New Mexico, for centuries. Some of the well known landmarks in New Mexico include Coronado State Monument; the Palace of the Governors, the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States; and many of the historic churches, such as the Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales. The structures recognized as historically important are being maintained through governmental support or by a community effort, such as the annual “mudding day” at some of the historic churches.

Adobe has been a “dirt cheap” construction material for homes as well as for public structures, and these dwellings have given New Mexico communities much of their character. But it is a high maintenance construction material. Because the bricks are sun dried and not fired, they are unstable, shrinking and swelling with changing water content. Adobe requires constant and time consuming maintenance and repair, if it is not to wash and/or blow away.
Regular maintenance was not a problem when daily activities of life were close to home; it was simply a part of life. With urbanization and the growth of jobs away from the home, maintenance becomes a chore for which there may be little time, energy, or money. Without constant and regular care, the adobe dwelling deteriorates, and is eventually abandoned.

Abandoned adobe dwellings dot the landscape. Either by natural forces or demolition, the dwellings are disappearing. Because builders are now using materials that simulate the old adobe, the casual observer may not be aware that the true adobe dwellings are disappearing. This project documents some of these dwellings before they disappear completely.
Continue reading “The Adobe Project”

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The Old San Ysidro Church

The Old San Ysidro Church, in Corrales, New Mexico, is an historic landmark much beloved not only by the people who live in the Village of Corrales, but also by many people throughout all of New Mexico.

Built of adobe, it requires much upkeep and maintenance to remain standing. It receives the support of residents of Corrales on the annual “mudding day,” when adobe plaster is reapplied and other repairs made. The Corrales Historical Society and Visual Arts Council hold activities throughout the year that go to help fund maintenance activities.

This image is from one of the few days I saw clouds at the Old Church, as well as one of the few times I could photograph it without cars parked in front. People have asked to purchase copies. It is available at Susan Brandt Graham Photography in a variety of print sizes, as canvas gallery wraps, and as photographic paper greeting cards.

The Old San Ysidro Church
The Old San Ysidro Church, Corrales, New Mexico

Although Corrales is a Village separate in government from Albuquerque, geographically they are connected. If you live in Albuquerque and have never visited the Old San Ysidro Church, you would enjoy making the short trip to see it. If you are a visitor from out of state, consider making a visit while you are here, whether your main destination is Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or other parts of our beautiful state.

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