Courtesy Hecho a Mano
Beads and Pulp
Mikayla Patton takes a cue from the great outdoors
"I was planning on having quite a few pieces done, but then my residency [at the School for Advanced Research] started and I ended up putting a lot of things on the back burner," Mikayla Patton (Oglala Lakota) tells SFR, as if the works in her upcoming Hecho a Mano show aren't enough on their own—or aren't incredible.
When the COVID-19 lockdown kicked into high gear, Patton found herself with limited resources and sequestered in her small Santa Fe apartment. Perhaps better known as a printmaker and jewelry designer, Patton pivoted to beadwork, both as a style she'd always wanted to try, and as a painstaking process to help keep her mind off the fate of the world. That, along with paper she makes herself, became a full-time project, and small pieces based on the environment were born.
"It was getting warm outside, and all I really wanted to do was be outside, but it felt like we were forced inside," she says. "It felt weird, I needed nature in my life, so I focused my designs off of landscapes and sky."
Take "Red and Copper," a simple but evocative design that Patton says recalls the sun hitting the land near Gallup.
"I found it really beautiful," she explains, "especially in the evening time when the sun beams off the red rocks and makes everything more red and coppery."
Or look to "Rain Cloud," an aspirational piece conceived when Patton started the SAR residency and could let the outdoors in a little more. With gradient shades of greens and blues meshing into one striking design, Patton says she's considering the late summer rains, but "the trees where I'm seeing these tones of green, where the leaves are getting fried out from the sun to almost a lime kind of green…the sky in the background; just playing with these colors, I was experiencing it for myself."
Patton says she'd like to scale her bead and paper works up in the future assuming she has the right kind of space and the resources to complete pieces as she sees fit. In the meantime, new works go on view at Hecho a Mano this week, and owner Frank Rose says patrons will be allowed in four at a time—and with masks. (Alex De Vore)
New Works by Mikayla Patton:
5-7 pm Friday July 31. Free.
Hecho a Mano,
830 Canyon Road,
913-1341
You Spin Me Right ‘Round
Public Domain
Hey, vinyl nerds—pandemic got you down? Do you miss flipping through the racks and finding something sweet? Have you been a fan of the annual Record Store Day event since it kicked off in 2008? If so, fret not, for though the celebrations will be smaller in 2020, the folks behind the nationwide event have broken it into three smaller days, "drops," and you're reaping all the benefits. Annually, RSD provides special releases from countless beloved artists and bands that are only available at indie record stores. Santa Fe's Lost Padre fits the bill, and owner George Cee will be kicking out the socially distant deals on August 29 (Day One) like you wouldn't believe. It's meant to give classic record stores a leg up, and it's bound to flesh out your collection. So throw on that mask and go support. (ADV)
Record Store Day Drop #1:
All day Wednesday, July 29. Free (but buy records).
Lost Padre Records,
905 W Alameda St.,
310-6389.
Cinema Paradiso
Courtesy Imagine Documentaries
In November 2018, the city of Paradise, California, gripped the nation's attention when a massive blaze, dubbed the Camp Fire, engulfed almost everything in site, claiming 150,000 acres, killing 85 and becoming one of the most gripping stories of the year. Nearly two years later, director Ron Howard (he did that delightful Beatles documentary Eight Days a Week and was on Andy Griffith or something) presents the new documentary Rebuilding Paradise on the fallout from the fire, as well as the compelling coming-together of an entire town in its aftermath. Word has it Howard spent a year with the citizens of Paradise, thereby forging bonds and creating one of the more intimate documentary experiences in recent memory. Also cool? You'll be supporting local theaters when you get that virtual ticket from Violet Crown. (ADV)
Rebuilding Paradise:
Opens Friday, July 31. $9.99.
You Think it’s Like This, But Really it’s Like This
Public Domain
Folks from around here (or just those who've bothered to pay attention) know there's something a mite fishy about how the area's Native history gets represented. Far too often, the narrative states that Natives from New Mexico welcomed colonizing despots, choosing instead to focus on a life of peaceful arts creation so they could meet interesting tourists and enjoy one another's company. Lecturer Joseph Sabatini knows this is laughable, and thus presents the real story at an upcoming Zoom lecture from the Taos County Historical Society. Olla Bearers and Indian Detours: New Mexico Indians as Tourist Attractions promises to get into the nitty-gritty and paint a real picture of how white people flipped the script to make a few bucks. If nothing else, folks might ditch some of the hapless racism and get a clearer idea of why things are the way they are. (ADV)
Olla Bearers and Indian Detours: New Mexico Indians as Tourist Attractions:
2 pm Saturday, August 1. Free.
