SFR Digital-ish Picks—Week of Aug. 26

A Tree Grows in Santa Fe

If you're reading this, you probably know how Santa Fe is one of the largest art markets on the planet—and we're gaining on those New York jerks everyday! But you might have also thought a lot about how to get into making art yourself; y'know, outside of going to some overpriced school or just picking up the materials and doing it. You want tips, you want tricks, you want to start by building a foundation and learning the ropes.

Now then, changing tack slightly (but we'll get back to the art stuff, promise), you might also have found yourself faced with a lot of extra free hours as COVID-19 continues doing its thing. And we get that, too.

If only you could kill two birds with one stone, right? Well, summon the timbre of a commercial announcer in your head when you read this: Now you can!

Artist Robbi Firestone has over 30 years of creating and teaching under her belt, and with her ongoing virtual classes through her santafeartclasses.com site, she's helped about a billion (we're exaggerating, relax) budding artists learn a thing or two about canvas, brushes, techniques and more. She's been so popular, in fact, that TripAdvisor users ranked the classes as the best in the area for a lot of years.

This week, Firestone's has multiple class times available, and each focuses on the stately aspen grove (both local or not), and you and your friends and/or loved ones can Zoom into the lesson for a mere $67. The way we hear it, all sorts of interesting things will come to bear, and you'll all have a "frame-worthy" art piece by the time you're done.

So to recap, take a class, kill some time, have some art for your walls. What the heck else are you doing? (Alex De Vore)

Robbi Firestone: How to Paint an Aspen Landscape:
All day Saturday, Aug. 29. $67,
santafeartclasses.com

Bear With Us

Did you know black bears can only be found in North America? That they're great swimmers? Did you know black bears are fantastic climbers, or that they can run up to 50kph? If you didn't know these things but thought they sounded cool and want to be friends with the noble black bear (they're also cute), perhaps you oughta get onboard with the virtual version of the Los Alamos Bear Festival? Created under the auspices of the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, the all-day livestreamed affair also comes with a special lunch option courtesy of the Pig+Fig Café. Based on things a dang black bear would eat, you're not only learning something new, you're supporting environmental efforts in the region. Did we mention bears are cute? (ADV)

Los Alamos Bear Festival (Virtual Edition):
All day Thursday, Aug. 27. Free.
peecnature.org

Telles About It

OK, look—we know we were just talking about both Hecho a Mano gallery and artist Vicente Telles in recent issues, but when something amazing happens, what're we supposed to do about it? Not bring it up? Pshshst. Outta here. Telles returns to Santa Fe for Convergence: Of Time and Place, a new solo show at the Canyon Road space based both in his collaborative efforts as an artist, his ingrained memories and a contemporary take on the role of the santero. If you didn't know, santeros create art works based on saints, and Telles' particular brand pulls from hundreds of years of tradition while adding brighter colors, an almost political leaning and, hopefully, a little bit of deconstructing history. Note that the gallery only allows four patrons in at a time and masks are required. (ADV)

Convergence: Of Time and Place:
All day Friday, Aug. 28. Free.
Hecho a Mano,
830 Canyon Road,
916-1341

Give a Little Bit

We've got friends with kids, and if there's one thing we know about the whole school-during-pandemic thing, it's that tensions are high. No one expected we'd have to keep kids home for so long, and setting aside the implications to their social educations, internet access and straight up stresses, imagine going into this terrifying school year without the proper supplies. Such an issue disproportionately affects students of color, like most things in this country, but there are people working to ease the burden. Take the Santa Fe Indian Center and its School Supplies and Backpack Drive. The organization will be accepting donations all week, and needed items on the list include pens and pencils, glue, notebooks, backpacks and more. Certainly you could do a little something right? Catch the full list at santafeindiancenter.org, and do what you can. (ADV)

School Supplies and Backpack Drive:
All week,
santafeindiancenter.org