SFR Picks—Week of August 4

Origins

Local artists want to know where you’re from

Artists Yvette Serrano and Hernan Gomez Chavez have been collaborating on the public art project Querencia since 2018, and though the pandemic recently slowed progress on the combination mobile home/art piece/interactive exhibit, curious Santa Feans can find it next at a special event at the Southside branch of the Santa Fe Public Library featuring state Poet Laureate Levi Romero and former Albuquerque Poet Laureates Jessica Helen Lopez and Manuel Gonazáles.

Funded in part through a grant from the Fullcrum Fund and Albuquerque nonprofit 516 Arts, Querencia examines Serrano and Gomez Chavez’s origins, but also becomes a talking point unto itself—the pursuit of understanding from where one comes. The small trailer is crafted with actual mobile home materials, and together, the artists lug it across town with an e-bike, setting up shop in various locations and interacting with the public through silkscreen workshops, video interview data gathering and more.

“It’s a reference to the homes we grew up in,” Serrano tells SFR of her time spent in Santa Fe trailer parks. “I don’t know if it’s a feeling, but it’s more than a physical space. Part of the project is having conversations with people about their homes, where they are now, where they came from; it’s speaking to a lot of different things, and it’s more than just the public engagement—it’s commentary on all these things.”

Gomez Chavez says the locals who have interacted with Querencia were -initially shy, assuming something was being sold from the trailer. Once visitors understand what’s happening, though, they’re generally excited to participate in conversations and silkscreen workshops. That latter element finds visitors creating posters on which the words “Mi querencia es____” are printed—it’s up to them to fill in the blanks. Serrano also says she’ll soon host a kite-making workshop with the Museum of International Folk Art’s Kemely Gomez.

For now, however, the upcoming reading and exhibit will feature free paletas from Santa Fe’s Paletas Delicias and plenty of chances to learn more.

“Long term, this is a project that’s going to go on in the future,” Gomez Chavez tells SFR. “We’re envisioning maybe having interviews with folks and talking to people from Santa Fe and having that become sort of a record; an archive with photos from people who can talk to what it means to live in Santa Fe. This is going to take on different forms as we move forward.” (Alex De Vore)

Querencia: Noon-3 pm Saturday, Aug. 7. Free. Santa Fe Public Library Southside Branch, 6599 Jaguar Drive, (505) 955-2820 (masks required)

To Cooper or to Coupé?

Artist Ron Cooper’s exhibit Cars & Bars is as literal as it sounds. As a classic car enthusiast, he’ll bring two vintage vehicles to Charlotte Jackson Fine Art in addition to his “bars”—column-styled materials mounted on the walls. Inspired by the California Light and Space movement, these bars are made from a mix of plexiglass, resin and lacquer, specifically to capture light and reflect it back onto the vehicles, inviting a totally different experience depending on the time of day you’re seeing the exhibit. (Riley Gardner))

Ron Cooper: Cars & Bars: All day through Sept. 4. Free. Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, 554 South Guadalupe St., (505) 989-8688.

“I Think I’m Book-Curious”

So you’re sitting at home, debating whether or not to post that tweet or Facebook status about our desperate need to support our teachers and students in New Mexico, but that old “post for virtue signaling” dopamine rush isn’t hitting quite as hard as it once did. Still, hope remains—the Partners in Education Foundation for the Santa Fe Public Schools is asking the public to donate school supplies and take home some books that are filling up their warehouse. Fiction, nonfiction, children’s lit, cookbooks and more. They’ll throw in some free ice cream, too, in case helping the children didn’t vibe with you before. Yes, you can post your good deed on your socials, too, if you must. (RG)

Book Fair and School Supply Drive: 10 am-1 pm, Saturday, Aug 7. Free (but please donate school supplies or cash). BF Young Building, 1300 Camino Sierra Vista, (505) 467-2600.

Devon Is What’s Going On

We’ll take a wild guess that a fair number of you reading this haven’t yet gone to many of the free concerts down on the Plaza bandstand, even though you complained how you couldn’t go outside all last summer. Maybe Devon Gilfillian, master of soul, R&B and other Motown vibes, can give you the push needed to tolerate a 10-minute parking spot search. Sure, it’s a lower energy, but a quick listen to Gilfillian’s works proves he’s just as masterful as other headliners we’ve seen on the Plaza this year—and that explains why he’s been on late-night shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Isn’t it nice when these big-wigs can bestow their talents on us? (RG)

Devon Gilfillian: 6 pm Tuesday Aug. 10. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 100 Old Santa Fe Trail, ampconcerts.org