Top Things to See and Do at SOFA WEST: Santa Fe and Around Town

At the New Mexico Museum of Art/SOFA WEST Opening Night Preview and Reception, Wednesday, June 10, 5:30 pm at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. The event launches the New Mexico Museum of Art/SOFA WEST Weekend of Art Benefit featuring three days of special SOFA WEST-inspired events. Proceeds support the New Mexico Museum of Art’s inaugural Design Collection. Opening Night VIP Preview begins at 7:00 pm for VIP cardholders.

SOFA WEST celebrates at the Santa Fe Opera, Saturday, June 13. Venetian glass maestro, Lino Tagliapietra (Holsten Galleries), master of Muranese intaglio, and special guest, Lucio Bubacco (Litvak Gallery), master of the equally historic lume technique of flame-worked glass, host an Italian-themed evening of food, wine, and music at the Santa Fe Opera, surrounded by the breath-taking Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains. Highlights from the operas La Traviata and The Elixir of Love will be performed by members of the Santa Fe Opera Company. Sponsored by Holsten Galleries and Litvak Gallery with support from The City of Santa Fe Economic Development Division.

Litvak Gallery all the way from Tel Aviv, presents seminal work by highly collectible glass artist, William Morris. Cycles of nature, human impulses, and transcendence are central themes that Morris explored in his early body of work, the Standing Stone Series, inspired by Neolithic megaliths; and the Artifact Series from the 1980s, ambitious stagings of glass bones, arranged to evoke the haunting discoveries of archaeological digs. Curator Linda Tesner, director and curator, The Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis & Clark College, speaks on Morris in the SOFA WEST Lecture Series

Don’t miss CLARK+DELVECCHIO’s booth and scholar Garth Clark’s Lecture on Navajo potter Christine McHorse and two other New Mexican native artists, Virgil Ortiz and Diego Romero, whose works are crossing over into mainstream art.  Also Teri Greeves' (Jane Sauer Gallery) award-winning traditional beadwork informed by contemporary subject matter; new pieces by ceramic artist Tammy Garcia from the nearby Santa Clara Pueblo and Preston Singletary (both with Blue Rain Gallery), whose glass art references his Tlinqit ancestry. Singletary, joined by Museum of Glass curator Melissa G. Post, will speak in the Lecture Series.

Holsten Galleries also presents Dale Chihuly, internationally renowned for his expressionist glass art; Heller Gallery showcases the colorful, mystical sand cast glass sculptures of Swedish artist Bertil Vallien; Habatat Galleries offers seminal Howard Ben Tré and José Chardiet; Bullseye Gallery, the darkly humorous kiln-cast sculpture of Silvia Levenson; Elliott Brown Gallery, Richard Marquis’ exuberant mix of conceptual art object with classic zanfirico and murrine techniques; and Toots Zynsky, acclaimed for her virtuoso filet de verre, who will also speak in the Lecture Series. Other top glass artists represented at SOFA include Latchezar Boyadjiev (Jane Sauer Gallery), Dan Dailey and Richard Jolley (Leo Kaplan Modern), Nick Mount (Thomas R. Riley Galleries) and Duncan McClellan (Sherrie Gallerie.) 

Dealers at SOFA WEST present international contemporary fiber art. Bellas Artes Gallery showcases Columbian textile artist, Olga de Amaral, renowned for her painterly, shimmering gold and silver leafed wall hangings, with an accompanying Lecture by curatorial consultant, Dr. Alice Zrebiec. Cervini Hass Gallery presents Marian Bijlenga’s ethereal wall-pieces; famed wood turner/sculptor William Hunter at Del Mano Gallery; Jan Hopkin’s sculptures of organic materials like fruit rinds and seed pods at Jane Sauer Gallery. Tai Gallery spotlights bamboo artist, Mimura Chikuho, who will present on-going artist demonstrations at the Fair. Two not-to-miss fiber Lectures:  Native Southwestern Weaving by Dr. Ann Lane Hedlund, director, Gloria F. Ross Tapestry Center, Tucson; and Tapestry in Australia by Dr. Sue Walker, founding director emerita, Victoria Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne.

William Zimmer Gallery presents contemporary furniture blurring the boundaries of sculpture and design, including work by Thomas Hucker that marries technical excellence and Asian minimalism. C Gallery shows the sleekly cheeky furniture of Johnny Swing; Leo Kaplan Modern showcases glass artist Dan Dailey renowned for his whimsical sculpture and lighting fixtures, and studio jeweler Linda MacNeil, husband and wife on the leading edge of design combining blown glass and metalwork. Art jewelry at Charon Kransen Arts offers the most cutting-edge, often conceptual, designs from around the world. Pamela Kelly, director of licensing, Museum of New Mexico Foundation speaks in the Lecture Series on Santa Fe’s unique design aesthetic, with examples from NM Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art.

On Saturday, June 13, visit the ancient Tewa Pueblo of Santa Clara and celebrate the Feast of San Antonio with ceremonial dances. A short drive to Chimayo follows with lunch at Rancho Manzano, a former mercantile store dating back to the 1700s, and a visit to Centinela Traditional Arts where traditional weavers Lisa and Irving Trujillo, a National Endowment for the Humanities 2007 Master, work to bring back traditional weaving techniques, spinning, and dying using native plants. Finish with a visit to the famed Santuario of Chimayo mission. The tour cost of $175 per person includes transportation, guide, and lunch at Rancho Manzana. Depart from Santa Fe Convention Center at 9 am and return to Santa Fe at 4:30 pm. For more information and to register for this excursion, contact Recursos/Royal Road Tours, 800-344-2998.

Santa Fe Gallery Openings:
5-8 pm, Friday, June 12
Sponsored by the Santa Fe Gallery Association

“White Linen Night" Gallery Walk
5-8 pm, Saturday, June 13
On Canyon Road

Santa Fe Gallery Sunday Morning Walk,
9am-noon, Sunday, June 14
Sponsored by the Santa Fe Gallery Association