SFR Picks—Week of Jan 5

Once a Week, Always a Week, Forever a Week

Get your class on in 2022

Ah, the joy of the world being frozen and society saying this is the moment to get better at your art—this is the moment for getting your life in order. Maybe you’re sick of the YouTube tutorials and want to scarf up, mask up and see other humans. Remember how you always dreamed of learning from in-person experts or told yourself you were going to become more cultured? In the spirit of the frozen new year, find a number of ongoing weekly classes and events for you to get your artistic spirit back in check.

Perhaps the word chomp doesn’t inspire much in the way of art, but the folks over at CHOMP Food Hall are changing that. If you’re in a screw-it-lets-paint mood, Paint Sip Chill night is exactly that. These weekly classes offer a chance to drink (cocktails, mocktails or wine) and paint with help from a professional art instructor in ever-changing weekly themes ranging from Van Gogh or O’Keeffe—no experience needed.

Dreaming of being more theatrical and gregarious? There’s Santa Fe Improv’s Intro to Improv, an ongoing course that teaches you that spur-of-the-moment craft.

Ah, but perhaps your artistic pursuit of 2022 is to just get a little fancier, to listen to that classical music stuff without paying massive amounts for black-tie events. First Presbyterian Church offers their Thank God It’s Friday concert series that’ll expand your classical horizons with jamz from Medieval jollies to the classical masters and more.

But hey, maybe your life is overwhelmed by the external chaos of *gestures to everything*. Mental health may be key for you, so consider the Center for Contemporary Arts’ new weekly meditation series at which you might tame your mind. Sometimes being nicer to yourself is the only resolution that matters. (Riley Gardner)

Paint Sip Chill: 6 pm Friday, Jan 7. $38. CHOMP Food Hall, 505 Cerrillos Road Ste. B101, (505) 772-0946

Intro to Improv Introductory Class: 6 pm Monday, Jan 10. Free. Santa Fe Improv, 1202 Parkway Drive, Ste. A. RSVP with clare@santafeimprov.com

TGIF Concert Series: 5:30 pm Friday, Jan. 7. Free. First Presbyterian Church, 208 Grant Ave. (505) 982-8544.

Weekly Meditation Class: 10 am-11:15 am Sunday, Jan. 9. $10. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338

Ah, the joy of the world being frozen and society saying this is the moment to get better at your art—this is the moment for getting your life in order. Maybe you’re sick of the YouTube tutorials and want to scarf up, mask up and see other humans. Remember how you always dreamed of learning from in-person experts or told yourself you were going to become more cultured? In the spirit of the frozen new year, find a number of ongoing weekly classes and events for you to get your artistic spirit back in check.

Perhaps the word chomp doesn’t inspire much in the way of art, but the folks over at CHOMP Food Hall are changing that. If you’re in a screw-it-lets-paint mood, Paint Sip Chill night is exactly that. These weekly classes offer a chance to drink (cocktails, mocktails or wine) and paint with help from a professional art instructor in ever-changing weekly themes ranging from Van Gogh or O’Keeffe—no experience needed.

Dreaming of being more theatrical and gregarious? There’s Santa Fe Improv’s Intro to Improv, an ongoing course that teaches you that spur-of-the-moment craft.

Perhaps your artistic pursuit of 2022 is to just get a little fancier, to listen to that classical music stuff without paying massive amounts for black-tie events. First Presbyterian Church offers their Thank God It’s Friday concert series that’ll expand your classical horizons with jamz from Medieval jollies to the classical masters and more.

But hey, maybe your life is overwhelmed by the external chaos of *gestures to everything*. Mental health is key, so consider the Center for Contemporary Arts’ new weekly meditation series at which you might tame your mind. Sometimes being nicer to yourself is the only resolution that matters. (Riley Gardner)

Pueblos in the Sky

The late author Ward Alan Minge’s groundbreaking work Acoma: Pueblo in the Sky was a major step forward in bringing Acoma Pueblo’s story to the world. Now, in an upcoming discussion on the tome as part of the ongoing Pueblo Book Club series sponsored by the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, readers can re-examine the decades-old work through a series of new questions. What has further research discovered and what do today’s Acoma people think of Minge’s seminal work? Discussion leaders plan to take a dive into why this particular pueblo continues to capture the world’s imagination and how its people have kept on despite continuous oppression. (RG)

Pueblo Book Club: 2 pm, Tuesday, Jan 11. $5 suggested donation. Online. bit.ly/31mPnBd

Grain With Brains

Strata Gallery has a long history of granting exposure to artists in search of an outlet. In that tradition, a new juried showcase aptly titled Against the Grain features a wide range of curious materials you might not find at more traditional galleries. Featuring more than 20 artists, the show offers a glimpse of works suchas Alex Younger’s fritted screen-print layers atop sandblasted glass formed in a kiln, or Julia C. Martin’s handmade grass-paper sewn together with her own hair; expect at least one stunning gelatin print from a cliché verre negative by Daniel Hojnacki. We love ourselves some traditional artists, but sometimes people who weave their hair into the work is just necessary. (RG)

Against the Grain: 10 am-5 pm Tues-Sat, free. Strata Gallery, 418 Cerrillos Road, (505) 780-5403.

Meet Your Feet

So you’re vaxx’d times three, you got yourself a cute new-year/new-you mask and you’re eager to get your feet moving beyond the daily sanity walks? Winter is salsa dancing season according to no one but us. Maybe every season is. But in the spirit of our claims, get out to Dance Station for a quick introduction to a salsa social dance. No, this isn’t a show-off talent show but a no experience necessary class. Fumble, stumble and crumble all you want. Don’t worry, everyone else will be too (minus that one guy who’s super experience but taking the class just for fun—ugh, whatever). Mark our words: Once you get salsa dancing footwork down there’s no going back. Life is just a smidge better. (RG)

Intro to Social Dance: 6:45 pm-7:30 pm, Thursday, Jan 6. $15. Dance Station, 947B West Alameda St., (505) 989-9788.