Harvest and the Seasons Muse
Since Tania Marines moved to Dixon 11 years ago, she has fully embraced life in the Embudo Valley. Today she and her partner, Ric Gaudet, run One Straw Farm and Tania's business, Season's Muse. Season's Muse features Tania's dried flower arrangements.
Each flower arrangement begins with her careful choices of what to grow in their fields. "I'm very inspired by food crops that have social and cultural and even mystical and medicinal value to New Mexico and the various cultures that have survived and thrived in New Mexico," Tania explains.
She includes food crops in her arrangements, like wheat, corn, and chiles, as well as bright flowers such as zinnia, strawflower, statice and marigolds. Her love for this place is evident in the beauty of her flower fields and her dried flower arrangements, created by hand in Dixon, New Mexico.
Be sure to join us on Nov 7th and 8th to see the full length interview.
—Kate Raphael
Finding it in Scotland
5 years ago Jennifer Una spent the summer in Scotland, whilst soaking in the beauty and its rich culture of textiles, she made the decision to devote her life to weaving and the arts. Last years move to Dixon helped make that possible.
A lifelong weaver, Jennifer is the daughter of an art teacher, and her father immersed them in several crafts and media—at 10, the loom became her special friend. She’s had one with her ever since she took the first one to college.
Jennifer’s work is unique in it’s subject matter and the narratives that her works engage. She was kind enough to share her practice with me for one sunny afternoon.
Please Join us on Nov 7th & 8th to view the full length interview!
—Brian Barreto
Community built, community owned.
Fifteen years ago, after the long-time general store had shut down, the Embudo Valley community came together to found the Dixon Cooperative Market. Today, the Co-op has over 400 members and is a place for the community to gather year-round.
Visitors, too, stop by for everything from the Dixon Deli’s famous Reuben sandwich to handmade pottery, soaps and gifts made by local artisans. Located in the center of Dixon, the Co-op embodies the community’s love for this place.
As Maggie Hart, General Manager, explains, “The vision of our Co-op is to sustain a healthy lifestyle for the members of the Embudo Valley, to help local farmers have a place for their produce, to help our people have access to healthy food, and to support our community in a very sustainable way.”
The next time you find yourself in Dixon, please stop by! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this short film about the Dixon Cooperative Market, a “can’t miss” stop on the Dixon Studio Tour.
—Kate Raphael
A better world is possible—oracion de paz.
Nestled amongst the trees in one of the oldest adobes in Canoncito you’ll find the poems and instruments of Sylvia Ernestina Vergara. A long participating artist she has been a part as La Carreta; specializing in farm goods, poetry, and photograpy; or as Arte Mudanza focusing on Performance and Visual Arts.
Primarily engaged as a Photographer, Composer, and Author—she also has developed practice with the earth making cider, wine, and vinegars on a beautiful stretch of land that ends at the Embudo River
She’s currently working on the newest of her many Opera works “Oracion de Paz” [Prayer of Peace], drawing inspiration from Homers’ Oddessey, I look forward to hearing the finished work.
For this tour she will be offering printed photographs, her writings, and music.
We spent a good part of the afternoon talking about her work, Dixon, and her families roots past and present. We hope you enjoy this short trailer, be sure to tune in for more Nov 7th and 8th for the full length interview.
—Brian Barreto
The Tour's First Scofflaw.
Lou Abbott’s 4th of July party in ‘92, Al Tyrell with Joan McDonald. Photo courtesy of Kiva Duckworth-Moulton
Who should be allowed on the Dixon Studio Tour, based on where they live, their professionalism as an artist, and whether they paid their fees and did their job has frequently been the subject of passionate debate at annual meetings. People selling stuff who are not part of the tour and roadside vendors can be the subject of much hand-ringing. Artist's showing other's work who didn't qualify have been sanctioned.
But the first year rules were not codified, so Jeannie Cornelius invited Al Tyrrell to show at her stop even though he hadn't signed up or done a job. Karma caught up with Al; he didn't sell a thing that year. Though he was the tour's first scofflaw, he has since made up for it. Al has headed or been part of the sign committee ever since. He even stored the signs at his house for a few decades. And his sales improved dramatically.
Al Tyrell with Holly Haas. Photo courtesy of Kiva Duckworth-Moulton
Al said, “My cookies made me famous.” Fresh chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven bring customers back every year, though his finely thrown pots also have something to do with it. One year, Al bought a new stove before the tour and the oven wouldn't light. He'd even hired a helper just to bake the cookies. He put his kiln on low, baked the cookies, and they were fabulous.
Another time a woman backed into an outdoor display breaking all of the pots. They were seconds, so Al told her not to worry about it. She became one of his best customers. Another time some guy got stuck in his driveway and nobody could get out for quite a while.
Al performing with the Dixon Marching band. Photo courtesy of Steve Jenison
For 15 years Al's sister Claire came to help bake cookies, and in the old days, Al's mom could be seen following people around pressuring them to buy something. The tour has been good to its reformed scofflaw.
—Shel Neymark
“…and the cookies disappeared fast!”
In 1982, Dixon Potter Nausika Richardson thought it would be a good idea to organize an artist's studio tour. The village of La Cienega south of Santa Fe had held a successful tour for several years and she thought that local Dixon artists might benefit from a similar event.
She pitched the idea to jeweler Carolyn Thomas (now Carolyn Kingson.) Together they formulated some rules, reached out to other artists, and divided up chores.
A 1987 tour map.
Nausika was successful at getting publicity in Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Carolyn drew up a “crude” map. They approached other artists to participate and divided up jobs. The artists compiled mailing lists they had developed from their gallery connections, and maps were mailed to the list.
Everyone made a plate of cookies. No one expected many people to come as, unlike La Cienega, Dixon is not close to Santa Fe. The cookies disappeared fast as unexpected crowds descended on Dixon. It was a rainy weekend. City folks were getting stuck in the mud. It was a mess, but everyone had a good time.
Embudo and Rinconada to the left, Horse Race Mesa center, Dixon to the right. Photo B.Barreto
Saturday evening, stunned artists showed up at El Quinto Sol, pockets full of spending money, to celebrate and dance to “The Bumpers.” “We were all broke,” said Joan McDonald. “Now we could get a new roof or tires.”
Thus were the humble beginnings of our annual fall tradition, where we open our doors and show all of our new works. If we're lucky, the sun is shining and the leaves are still painting the trees.
—Shel Neymark
"Let's meet up at the library!"
The annual Dixon Studio Tour features more than just artists. It's a chance for visitors to get to know the community of Dixon, and the Embudo Valley Library plays a big role here.
"I think because we're in a small town the library is more prominent than it would be in a bigger community or city," explains Library Director Felicity Fonseca. "There is no other institution or public space that can offer the wifi, or the copy, fax, and notary—or the programming. Because we're in a rural place, the services aren't available elsewhere in the community."
Founded by community members in 1992, today's library resources fill a spacious, light-filled building in the heart of Dixon. The library has more than 17,000 books, magazines and newspapers, computers, comfortable reading nooks, a seed library, a public gathering space, and more.
The Library has remained open with limited occupancy and social distancing guidelines during Covid, safely serving our rural community. This trailer introduces you to the multifaceted beauty and value of the Embudo Valley Library, our homegrown gem that’s shared by all.
We invite you to visit our website, DixonArts.org, during the weekend of November 7th and 8th to support both the library, the artists, and all of the organizations that make up the community of Dixon. Welcome!
—Kate Raphael
“You find yourself inside the material.”
Brian Barreto discovered his love for stone when he was 10 years old. He was with his mother, a geologist, on one of their annual rock-hounding expeditions. Brian came across an Oreodont skull embedded in stone ("A prehistoric herbivore" Brian explains). He spent the rest of the summer excavating the skull from the stone with a pick borrowed from his family's dentist. Later, he carved his first sculpture out of a piece of soapstone. He's been sculpting ever since. At 20, he found his passion of sculpting figures out of marble. "I'm really stuck on carving human beings. It's like one of those things when you look at something and you see a face identified in it or something. I just tend to see figures. It's an inexhaustible source of inspiration."
Fragment IV—marble, gold, life sized.
Dixon, New Mexico, where Brian lives and works, has provided fertile ground for his growth as an artist. The beauty of his surroundings are inspirational, and so is the community. "There is a community of sculptors here," Brian explains. "Mark Saxe [stone sculptor and co-owner of the Rift Gallery] has put a lot of time in fostering this culture and has created a really great environment through the workshops. The Dixon Studio Tour has also been a great way to meet other artists.". “The Apodaca Drawing Group has also been a welcome constant in my life here, Chris West has really brought together a wonderful circle of folks.”.
The short trailer featured here will introduce you to Brian, his outdoor studio, his dogs, and his work. Please join us on November 7th and 8th, 2020, for the COVID-friendly, online version of the 39th Annual Dixon Studio Tour where you can learn more about Brian and all of the other artists who make up this incredible community.
Brian's sculptures will be available for sale during the weekend of November 7th and 8th, 2020, or by appointment. You can reach Brian and other Dixon artists participating in this year's Dixon Studio Tour through the DixonArts.org website.
—Kate Rafael
Nuestras Historias: Storytelling, Oral Histories, and La Resolana in the Embudo Valley.
September 2nd, 2020. Written by studio tour artist Tania Marines
Dixon, or as we know it, the Embudo Valley, is like a winding and branching set of rivers and tributary veins that eventually funnel into a unified history of shared culture and vibrant heritage practices. Many of which have stood the test of time or have been experiencing a revival, like that of acequias—centuries old irrigation ditches—and their preservation as a vital community building and resilience practice. We see a rich archaeological history evolve in this fertile valley; it is a history of Pueblo peoples who were here before most of us, to a history of the confluence of the Spanish-Hispanic, and channeling its way to the hippie and back-to-the-land movements of the 1960s. The many artists and crafters, to today’s more modern organic farmers, are an assortment of very enigmatic and impassioned souls. In short, Dixon is full of people with a lot of corazón (heart) though it is always in a state of evolution, akin to the rivers that feed our ditches as they too change with the seasons.
Many cultures around the world revere the art of storytelling, and in Northern New Mexico that is no exception, especially with its diversity of peoples, worldviews, and passions. We see storytelling manifest in many ways and serve a vital role in society: from Pueblo elders conveying invaluable wisdom to their youth, to Hispanos teaching their children about the democratic values of water sharing and the maintenance of acequias. A good ghost story is always at hand, like that of La Llorona and her many associations with rivers and waterways. La Llorona represents centuries worth of variation that saturated Latin America, flowing freely into the ríos of Northern New Mexico’s folklore, here, envisioned as one told by the crackling of a piñon wood stove fire. Storytelling can also refer to the vital information exchange and the occasional gossip that occurs in La Resolana, about the goings on of the town, and who’s taking too much water from the ditch. “La Resolana” is a Spanish term that refers to the south-facing side of a building where ‘la gente’ gather to talk in the warmth of the light. Storytelling can also express itself as the casual chit-chat about the droughts we often endure in our agricultural valley, which sparks a nostalgic sort of storytelling of good weather gone dry, about how the rains have not come and how the mountains used to be packed with snow. It is one of a constantly evolving tale of each generation learning how to adapt and survive while finding solace in each other’s shared experience of change.
Today, many of these storytelling traditions continue, including in a more digital sense. Recording and electronically documenting, as best possible, the pureness and essence of these oral histories is, understandably, of paramount importance. We hope they revitalize our spirits to bring the past together in active conversation with our present and in hopes of enriching the minds of our ‘jitos and ‘jitas (sons and daughters)—our future. In this spirit and at the heart of this important work is the Embudo Valley Library, helping our community preserve its witty and sometimes contentious history and along with it a reservoir of knowledge and wisdom collected through the generations. Nuestras Historias (Our Stories) is a project from Embudo’s own StoryCorps interviews. Check out these stories and more on the Embudo Valley Library website. Stay tuned for more content like this where we delve a little more into our beloved pueblito, covering topics like history, archaeology, geology, agriculture and acequias, poetry, community resilience and more about what makes the Embudo Valley, such a magnetic and inspiring place to live, love, and make art!
—Tania Marines
I dwell in possibility.
The Dixon Studio Tour has been going on since 1982 here in New Mexico. Many people have come, and gone, and come back again, but not many can say they have showed at 37 of them—Kay Weiner can!
After studying dance in NYC, Kay made her way to Dixon and became interested in mastering a craft. After initially pursuing Cloisonné, a technique of enameling metal, she tried sculpture and found great inspiration while at the Santa Fe Community College.
Many of the works happen to be smaller and can also be worn, let’s call it sculptural jewelry.
Larger works are sculpted from plate steel and sometimes powder-coated to a matte finish. Mid scale pieces explore patina, surface, and a hammered form like the work seen above in NuGold. These and the smaller works are wrought in argentium silver, gold, as well as non precious metals—the jewelry often incorporate stones as well.
We look forward to sharing the longer interview with you in November, until then, here’s the trailer.
—Brian Barreto
Looking in on the Messenger Horses.
On the main road along the Rio Grande, there’s always a statement that’s hard to miss, be it “Impeach” and currently “Vote Him Out”. As I was taking a photo of the message on the sign someone honked, smiled, and gave me the thumbs up—a job well done.
A Raven Bowl—Sheena Cameron
Sheena Cameron built her Rinconada studio home just up the hill a year after the millennium. She was kind enough to take a few hours away from her practice to show me around and speak about the freedoms of a rural studio, the progression of her Messenger Horses, Raven Bowls and Raku firing, early Dixon Studio Tours, and her new work making ceramic murals in Massachusetts.
Be sure to check back Nov 7th and 8th for the full length interview, till then here’s the trailer.
—Brian Barreto
Visit the Rift Gallery.
On the way to Taos from Santa Fe, along Hwy 68 in Rinconada, many notice the Stone Carving Classes sign. As technology advances, opportunities to learn this handcraft are increasingly uncommon, definitely not something you see every day. This year is the 20th year for the Sax Stone Carving Workshops, as the virus has impacted the celebration of the anniversary some, they are however still happening at a safely reduced capacity—I’m not sure you could have kept some of the loyal regulars away!
Inside the Rift Gallery, one can cool off and take a break from the road while enjoying the works of: Jane Ellen Burke, Susu Knight, Jamie Lang, Mark Saxe, Kazutaka Uchida, and Betsy Williams.
Never idle, Betsy recently created the Rio Grande Rift Institute, an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, be sure to keep an eye out for their programming in the near future.
If you see the gate is open, be sure to take a minute, you wont be disappointed.
Please enjoy our second trailer featuring Rift Gallery for our 2020 Virtual Tour on Nov. 7th and 8th!
2249 St Hwy 68 Rinconada, New Mexico | Thursday-Sunday 11am-5pm and/or when the gate is open.
—Brian Barreto
Hello world, meet Abby Mattison!
Welcome, after a good amount of work from our volunteers as well as our trusty web captain Jeff Spicer, we are now afloat again. We’ve changed the flow a bit to accommodate increased web interaction. Covid is a terrible beastie, but it’s given us an opportunity to retool and reach an expanded group of folks here online.
Below is the first of our series of artist trailers for the 2020 Virtual Dixon Studio Tour, were we’ll be showing several artist interviews, local and tour history, and some live demonstrations from our members.
Abby Mattison is a jeweler at the end of the Apodaca road, she was gracious to be first in the series, and kind enough welcome me to her beautiful studio and home.
Please come share a minute with Abby!
—Brian Barreto