WHEN 140 CHARACTERS JUST WON’T DO
A FRIDAY NIGHT GALLERY WALK ON SANTA FE’S CANYON ROAD
Friday nights in Santa Fe offer lots of opportunities to view art for free. The three downtown museums (Georgia O’Keeffe, NM Museum of Art and The New Mexico History Museum) are open and free from 5 to 8. Then there is the long-standing tradition of galleries both being open and hosting openings on Fridays. This is particularly true for summer weekends; add a
holiday and Canyon Road is hopping. Historic Canyon Road, one of the oldest streets in a very old town is home to the city’s largest concentration of galleries.
Art Factoid #1: This small city is home to over two hundred galleries.
Art Factoid #2: Little old Santa Fe is ranked as the 2nd largest art market (by sales) in the US (according the UNM School of Business) after NYC.
We rarely get to have a relaxing Friday night stroll up Canyon Road. My husband Steve and I have been in the hospitality industry since arriving in Santa Fe 5 ½ years ago. A Friday off has been a luxury for us (as are Saturdays and Sundays). I am now self-employed and Steve had a rare Friday off so we decided to play tourist. We got the listing of gallery openings from the Pasatiempo, the magazine insert in the Friday Santa Fe New Mexican and made a plan. We would do our gallery tour on Canyon Road. If we could not find a parking space we would go to Plan B. In a town where finding a parking place can be harder than panning for gold, we were sure we would be implementing Plan B (whatever that was). But the parking angels were with us tonight. We found a space a few doors down from out first stop, the historic El Zaguan. Artist in Residence, Brenda J. Roper’s has a show of her acrylic over oil paintings. Her 12” square pictures were colorful and affordable, I lover her trio of “purses”. A fellow- attendee was attempting to convince her to raise her prices. I hope she doesn’t. This was actually art I could afford (if I did not need to replace my ailing computer). In this town that is rare. I loved chatting with fellow Cancer (and fellow cuspers at that) Brenda and we hatched a plan to have lunch and check out galleries together. After a walk through the lush El Zaguan garden it was on up the road.
We were in and out of a few galleries checking out the art. What little I know about art stops at around 1920, but I sure know what I like- so no need to tarry. We were drawn up the street by the sound of live music- fiddle and guitar, and a beautiful alto beckoned us. We found the duo, Fletcher and John on the porch of the Waxlander Gallery. I loved the riotously colorful watercolors of Waxlander Gallery owner, 78-year-old Phyllis Kapp and the colors and textures of Lori Daniel’s assemblages on old tin ceiling tiles. Would love to own something by each of these women! We nibbled a little, chatted a little and then headed on up the road.
What was going to be a quick stop to say hi to Chris Harvey, front-of- the-house partner at the well-known Geronimo Restaurant turned into a longer stay. Chris invited us to have appetizers and wine at the bar. The tiny barroom was packed with people who were unable to book into the sold-out dining room and were eating here. Eric DeStefano, former Geronimo chef and current chef/owner at Coyote Café is back as chef/owner and the new fusion (French, Asian and creative American) menu looks terrific. Ran into former guests from my concierge days who said this was the best meal they’ve had in town. They’ve been coming to Santa Fe for years and they eat out a lot (I know, I used to make their reservations).
After the apps, we made our way down Canyon Road to the car and headed home into a glorious sunset. A great Friday night in Santa Fe and the price was right!
No comments:
Post a Comment