Taos Spring Clean Up

Taos Spring Clean Up, 8 a.m. to 12 noon, Saturday, April 25: Keep New Mexico Beautiful Litter Clean up of Taos. Dumpsters will be available at the Town Public Works yard on Dea Lane (near Walmart) for all residents to bring green waste from their yards for free disposal. White goods may also be disposed of for free that day at the Public Works yard from 8 a.m. to 12 noon – refrigerators (remove freon first), stoves, washers, dryers, etc. This saves a trip to the land fill plus disposal fees. Tires will also be accepted for free — but only 4 per person. That same day the Town of Taos sponsors groups to pick up litter roadside (vacant lots, etc.) throughout the Town. Questions? Contact Dennis Martinez, Parks Supervisor, dmartinez@taosgov.com, 758-8234. The week following the April 25th Taos Spring Clean Up Day, Monday, April 27 through Friday, May 1, the Town of Taos Streets Div. will have complimentary curbside pick up of bundled yard (green) waste throughout the Town limits – contact Joseph Valerio, Streets Supervisor, for details and to schedule your curbside pick up, jvalerio@taosgov.com.751-2047.

– Town of Taos News Brief 4.23.09

A thank you letter from Judy Kendall

In case you didn’t see this letter in da Tempo, I thought I’d share it here. It means a lot that she mentioned me and my early enthusiasm for contemporary Taos art.

Dear Rick.

Today I was remembering Melody ( then Elwell, now Romancito) some twenty years ago when she was the new Tempo Editor. She would come into the Fenix with such enthusiasm for the revival of the more contemporary, abstract art showing in Taos. As we chatted about art I was so grateful for her support as I am now for all the Tempo editors who followed. It was wonderful when you, with aplomb and perseverance stayed! Without the paper’s positive, thoughtful reporting of Fenix openings and events, I could never have thrived in Taos. Thank you! and thank you to all the writers, ad reps and general staff!

As you may know, the Fenix is closing its physical space the end of this month. For a year or more, I have thought that it would be wonderful to pass along this legacy to a new owner, one with creative vision and the energy to carry forth the art represented at the Fenix. The new space is so historic and has been a great venue for showing art. However that was not to be and now the resources have dried up. The gallery will remain intact as a virtual space. I plan to maintain the web site (fenixgallery.com) and represent the artists privately. As they are all here, I can easily set up studio visits. It’s also a time for me to explore new ventures and projects.

While the Fenix was always about showing and selling fine art representing primarily Taos artists, it was so much more for me. It was a community of resourceful, immensely talented artists with high integrity and vision. Without them there was no Fenix and my heart isn’t big enough to express what a privilege it was to hang the shows of such exceptional work. Whenever I traveled I would be intimidated to go to other galleries but as soon as I entered, I knew what quality we had right here in Taos. We had wonderful fun along the way and, imagine, made some money! Thank you can’t do justice to the artists. What a rare luxury to be with this art everyday! The collectors, curators, directors, other gallery owners, designers, editors, caterers, and all the Taos Community made this unlikely venture last a very long time.

My hope is to step forth into this changing world with a modicum of grace and courage, secure in the knowledge that the spirit of art not only in Taos but also within our closely connected world will explode with renewed vitality.

Bravissimo and mil gracias Taos!
Judy Kendall

Thank you, Judy, for all your years of perserverance and grace. Buena Suerte, doña.

New Tempo column

For the last year, Tempo readers have been without a regular artist profile column since Betsy Carey passed away. Her “Local Color” column was a local favorite and once a year, there was even a show at the Taos Country Club celebrating each of the artists that had been covered.

I’ve been given the opportunity to write this much-needed column for Tempo by my husband, Rick.

To assure those out there who might be concerned that I might not be the best choice for this bi-monthly column, I think it’s time to honk my horn a little and remind folks that writing about Taos artists goes way back for me.

Besides having been Tempo editor myself from 1988 to 1990, I also wrote articles and maintained calendars for Tempo, Taos Magazine, Southwest Art, Art Talk and many other publications in the region.

It’s a pleasure to be back writing about all the creative people who call this area home. The new column, called “In the Studio With,” talks with the artists in their studio and enters a discussion of how place is a large component of the creative process.

The first column features jewelry artist Clemmie Watson, who shows at The Grand Bohemian Gift Shop at El Monte Sagrado on Kit Carson Road. You can see a little preview of the article here, where I’ll be posting each column as it appears in Tempo.

If you’re an artist (or represent one) working in the Taos area, and you’re represented by a gallery here (in other words, if people can easily view your stuff), contact me at melodyromancito at gmail dot com and we’ll discuss the possibility of featuring you in an upcoming “In the Studio With” column.

Good Friday Pilgrims

Peregrinos – Pilgrims from Rick Romancito on Vimeo.

Video shot and edited by Rick Romancito for The Taos News Media Center.

Spamming hippies

Talk about a misguided marketing effort!

Looks like the tourism department has hired a local twitter to message anyone with the word “hippie” in their name about the Summer of Love Celebration.

Better to know?

There are some things it’s good to know and then there are things that, once you know them, you wish you didn’t.

Generally this question is one of those double-edged sword dealies. You need to know it — whatever “it” may be because not knowing makes you look like a fool. However, once you’ve been let in on the knowledge — there’s no going back to when you didn’t know and everything was cool. Buh-bye.

Not knowing you have toilet paper stuck to your shoe makes you look like a doofus, but until someone points to it there on you shoe, you were doing just fine.

Don’t speak

Living in a small town like Taos, you’d think it would come in handy to be able to read people without them having to open their mouths — but it can harsh your mellow faster than a call from the school principal (if you have kids).

I’ve been addicted to the Fox television show “Lie to Me,” with Tim Roth. There have been precious few episodes, what with all the hoohaw about American Idol, and I watch them, often twice or more times after their airing on hulu.com. What I love about this show is its about stuff I’ve been studying for decades.

Popular | Populist | Death by Numbers | Strength in Numbers

Hooking Taos onto the Twitter stream has been one of the most interesting projects I’ve embarked. The reaction both at home and abroad has been mixed, but what I notice is there IS a reaction. MARVELOUS!

While monitoring a stream of information on my TweetDeck about trends in social networking and marketing, I saw an intriguing article link stream by, so I clicked on it.

The link took me,effortlesly. to Twine.com, and a post by Nova Spivack that asks Can Twitter Survive What is About to Happen to It?

Twitter and Taos

For the last couple of weeks I’ve run a search for the word “Taos” on the popular social networking site called “Twitter,” or http://twitter.com.

During this time, I’ve managed to get an overview of how people discuss us and how we discuss ourselves in the big world. There are people who “work it,” and people who just mention Taos casually in their conversation with others. Either way, those “tweets” have ended up in this search stream.

justdoone.org entry

Ever thought that maybe — if we did just one thing each day toward sustainability — we could make a difference? Inspired by a documentary about www.solarcookers.org and the CooKit, Taoseña Melody Romancito gives it a whirl with a potato-carrot curried stew.
Category: Nonprofits & Activism
Tags:
solar cooking curry potatoes carrots CooKit Taos sustainability green