The Southwest is a global epicenter of land art—everything from large-scale, permanent installations to fleeting performative resonances and more esoteric constructions—and if Santa Fe and New Mexico are to grow into our supposed art chops, it will be in large part through embracing land arts as one area in which we rural hicks have an edge.

Rather than suggesting a city ripe with creativity, City of Santa Fe Arts Commission posters suggest a city with barely an original thought available, even among its supposedly rampant artist population. A photograph of an old adobe or a pastel of a group of mariachi musicians—even if it is captured through a canonized creative form like photography or drawing—is the predictable antithesis of creativity.

In a single weekend, only blocks apart, social justice is both skewered and held aloft.

30 years of art, 6 years of war: it is what it is.

A thread of razor wire femininity runs through the group exhibition Pretty is as Pretty Does. The works are beautiful to behold but also frightening to encounter.

Birds are out and museums are in. Which is only a problem for museums.

Careful attention to detail has made Cafe Pasqual’s a modestly heroic food paradise,but fewer people know about the Café Pasqual’s Gallery. The roster of artists has evolved over time, a bit like a careful recipe. How each ingredient is chosen remains a mystery, but the dish is surprisingly good.

It is ultimately difficult to assess what curator Ivo Watts-Russell was after in aligning this odd band of artists. But, like the tracks of any given album, it’s best not to get too caught up in the intentions of the producer or the band and simply pick and choose what most pleases you.

Johanna Kohout has been waging an uphill battle to educate property owners, lawmakers and—most importantly—teens about the community benefits of providing a safe, accessible forum for budding street artists to display their work.

But everyone involved needs to give a tip of the hat to the quirky inventor of kindergarten.