Book Reviews
Many books by New
Mexico Book Co-op participants have been reviewed in the
media. Below are some of those reviews. They are provided
here as a way to help promote local books. These books
have been reviewed in Tradicion Revista magazine and in
POSH New Mexico.
100
Artists of the Southwest
Douglas Bullis. Published in 2006 by Schiffer Publishing,
hardback, $39.95, 220 pages, full color with over 400
photos, ISBN 0-7643-2414-4.
First of all in the sprit of disclosure we found a number
of our art pieces in this book. We didn’t know that our
art would be in here but....... A number of our friends
are also in the book: Charlie Carrillo, Sylvia Martinez
Johnson, Felix Lopez, Arlene Cisneros Sena, and the late
Luis Jimenez. Also included are Luis and Sergio Tapia,
Nancy Kozikowski, Ramona Sakiestewa, Florence Pierce, Ada
Medina, the Capitol Art Collection, Roswell Artists
Residence, and the Santa Fe Art Institute. We tried to
find the criteria for selecting the artists and the
institutions but could not find it. This is a good start
but there could be a second book highlighting more
artists and institutions like the Albuquerque Airport
Collection. This is a good book but we have heard that
some photos of art were played with and the colors
changed. This book does show people who are Native
American, Hispanic, and Anglo, and art that is photos,
paintings, weavings, sculpture, and doesn’t discriminate
against crafts. The taste is huge and now that is it
begun do a second book! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2006
101 Things To Do With Tortillas
Stephanie Ashcraft and Donna Kelly. Published in 2005 by
Gibbs Smith Publisher, spiral bound paperback, $9.95, 128
pages, brown & white, ISBN 1-58685-469-0.
101 Things To Do With BBQ
Steve Tillett. Published in 2005 by Gibbs Smith
Publisher, spiral-bound paperback, $9.95, 128 pages,
brown & white, ISBN 1-585685-698-7.
These are the cutest books and very useful. Someone gets
it that cooking is not a clean sport. Spiral allow books
to open and plastic protects the book. There are not any
pretty, color pictures but the books look very retro. The
tortilla book has helpful hints on working with tortillas
and the BBQ book has helpful BBQ hints and a bonus
section on rubs and sauces. They are great for stockings
and as gifts with stuff to cook with. The recipes are
great!! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
A Brave Boy & A Good Solider: John C.C. Hill &
the Texas Expedition to Mier
Mary Margaret McAllen Amberson. Published in 2006 by the
The Texas State Historical Association (distributed by
Texas A&M University Press 1/800/826-8911),
paperback, $12.95, 100 pages. 18 illustrations, ISBN
0-87611-230-0.
Let’s first say it is great that a historical society
publishes. The books are usually of good quality and are
rooted in accurate history. The Texas State Historical
Society has been publishing for a century. This is the
story of 14-year-old John Christopher Columbus Hill. He
left home with his father and brother to join the tragic
1842 Texas expedition to Mier, Mexico. He was then
captured and adopted by President Santa Anna. It is a
true story and it is especially a good book to give to
boys. They have very few role models who are not
basketball and football players. The story gets even
better. The book has a Bibliography and Notes for each
chapter. With teachers and librarians in mind the book
also comes in hardback and has an Educator’s Guide
($19.95) or free with a purchase of 20 books. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
A Bridge to the Past: The New Mexico State Monuments
Eliza Wells Smith with Foreword by Governor Bill
Richardson. Published in 2005 by the New Mexico State
Monuments, softback, 80 pages, b & w and color
pictures and illustrations, $16.00.
This is a nice effort by the Office of Cultural
Affairs/New Mexico Monuments. Besides being a nice
tourists’ book in all of the gift shops this also should
be in schools and libraries for a resource for students.
Monuments covered are: El Camino Heritage Center,
Coronado, Lincoln, Fort Seldon, Fort Sumner, Bosque
Redondo, Jemez, and the rest of the State Monuments.
There is a chronology, bibliography, sources, and
selected reading list. The Introduction is by Jose A.
Cisneros, Director of the State Monuments. This is a good
beginning with a lot of facts that are not known. How
many times have you been sightseeing and there was no
information on the monument you saw! -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
A Cliffe Experience
Mary Lou Heaphy
My other top pick is A Cliffie Experience: Tales of New
Mexico 1902-1940 by Mary Lou Heaphy. This is a
fascinating look at Albuquerque in the early twentieth
century through the eyes of Clifford “Cliffie” Myrick, a
nurse (yes, she was female despite her name) who arrived
in 1918 to care for the tuberculosis patients flocking to
the area in search of a cure. She socialized with the
likes of Clyde Tingley and Alvarado Hotel architect
Charles Whittlesey who also built her home, the Hall Log
House now known as the Albuquerque Press Club. An
independent woman in changing times, Cliffie was always
ready to ‘experience’ the world around her. The author
who has shared her story is Cliffie’s adopted daughter.
Told with love and humor by her adopted daughter,
Albuquerque’s history and the fascinating woman who lived
it comes alive in this truly enjoyable read. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
A Guide to Tucson Architecture
Anne M. Nequette and R. Brooks Jeffery. Published in 2002
by The University of Arizona Press, 340 pages, 125
photos, 4 line illustrations, 14 maps, softcover, $22.95,
ISBN 0-8165-2083-6.
We actually took this book to Tucson on a trip. Who knew
there were so many interesting buildings to look at and
to read about. There is a section on Tucson architects.
Tucson is a growing city with a lot of construction all
around. But in the old sections of Tucson they have taken
pains to preserve the buildings that show their history.
This is a good book to take on any trip there. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2005
A is for Airplane/ A es para Avion
Theresa Howell and illustrated by David Brooks. Published
in 2003 by Northland Publishing, hardback, ISBN
0-87358-831-2, $6.95, illustrated in color.
We want to rush out and buy a copy for each of the
grandkids. When we went to school we were told that
French was the universal language and no one would be
speaking Spanish when we were adults. Another wrong piece
of information! Each page has an item with its name in
English and Spanish except for N that has two -- maybe it
made the pages come out right. Or it is a bonus. In any
case this is a great little stocking stuffer for
toddlers. It is not great literature but a great
beginning for a new language. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2003
A Listing of Santos of Spanish Colonial New Mexico
Chester Sandoval Rail, 2000. $6.50. 13 pp.
Santos Coloring Book
Chester Sandoval Rail, 2000. $8.00. 22 pp.
Santero Chester Sandoval Rail of Corrales has come out
with two self-published books. The first is a saints
coloring book. The nice element of the book is the
“design your own santo” at the end. He also has published
A Listing of Santos of Spanish Colonial New Mexico, which
has lists of santos and associated websites. For
information contact Chester at 505/898-7871 or
NMSantero@aol.com. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2000
A New Mexico Influence: Collection at the Residence of
the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the
Principality of Andorra
U.S. State Department Art in the Embassies Program,
produced by INTEL and Friends of Art and Preservation in
Embassies. No ISBN, free if you are in Spain. 36 pages in
color, paperback.
Granted it is really mean to review this book and have it
next to impossible for anyone interested in it to find a
copy. We had been trying since October 1, 2000 to get it
with no luck. Indeed with the change in administration it
probably made the request even more difficult to solve.
It was only through a chance meeting with Paula Rodriguez
that we were able to see a copy. Then by contacting INTEL
we got a phone number in Spain that was able to provide
information.
The book is a view into the American Ambassador’s
Residence in Madrid, Spain. The home has examples of all
types of New Mexican art from Hispanics, Native
Americans, and Anglos. The styles are traditional to
contemporary.
Some of the New Mexicans artists featured are: Georgia
O’Keefe, Dave McGary, Petter Hurd, Maria Vergara Wilson,
David Escudero, Elias Rivera, Marie Romero Cash, Maria
Martinez, and Angela Delgado Martinez. There is a
wonderful grouping of crosses by Star Tapia, Emilio and
Senaida Romero, Monica Sosaya Halford, Paula Rodriguez,
and unfortunately others that are not identified.
It seems so appropriate that some of New Mexico’s best
art should visit Spain. We are proud of the artistic
direction we as a State have taken since the Spanish
arrived in the Southwest. Ambassador Romero has been
instrumental in having a number of New Mexico art
exhibits travel through Spain including “Cuando Hablan
Los Santos”, “Pilgrimage to Chimayo”, “Caminos y
Corozones”, and “Con Sentimiento Desde Nuevo Mexico”. It
would be nice if the information on these exhibits and
any publications were made more accessible to the locals
to also enjoy. So if you want a copy and happen to be in
Madrid, Spain, walk into the embassy and we were told
there is a pile of the catalogs at the front door, free
for the taking. The Art in The Embassies Program really
is designed to educate the host country about the art of
the United States. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2001
A Sense of PLACE, a Sense of TIME
John Brinckerhoff Jackson, Yale University Press, New
Haven, 1994, 212 pp., black-and-white photos, ISBN
0-300-06397-0.
J. B. Jackson, a pioneer in the field of landscape
studies, here takes us on a tour of American landscapes
past and present, showing how our surroundings reflect
important changes in our culture. Arguing that our urban
environment makes us increasingly concerned with time and
movement rather than place and permanence, Jackson
examines the new vernacular landscape of trailers,
parking lots, roads, and shopping malls and traces the
devlopment of dwellings in New Mexico from prehistoric
Pueblo villages, through the Spanish settlements, to
mobile homes.
Jackson’s discussion of the church and the landscape is
especially interesting for students of the Southwest.
Jackson notes,
“Those who believe in the persistence of a Baroque
heritage among the Spanish-American population of New
Mexico can take heart in the survival of many church
traditions. The cultural, as distinguished from the
doctrinal, influence of the Catholic church is
particularly strong in northern, predominantly rural
counties. Despite a dwindling population, increasing
poverty, and an omnipresent Anglo culture, there are
still villages which look upon the church and its priest
as defenders of a formal Spanish way of life. It is in
the church that they expect to hear correct Spanish and
to observe correct behavior and dress. It is in the
church that they celebrate marriages and baptisms, and
where they gather to mourn a death.”
A Sense of PLACE gives the reader a refreshing view of
the balance between how we should live with the land and
how many have desecrated and scarred our land. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1997
A Spoon For Every Bite: Una Cuchara para Cada Bocado
Joe Hayes, illustrated by Rebecca Leer. Published in 2005
by Cinco Puntos Press, Softcover, $8.95, 32 pages, full
color ISBN 0-938317-93-8.
This book is bilingual and a great New Mexican folk tale
to learn about the Southwest and to teach human nature
and humility. Joe Hayes recently won the Talking Leaves
Literary Award from the National Storytelling Network and
the book won the Land of Enchantment Book Award. He is a
wonder with kids of all ages. It is a wonderful book for
gifts to kids or people trying to learn Spanish. The
illustrations will fascinate everyone. This is another
gem and recommended for readers!! Read this book while
eating tortillas -- it will make sense. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
A Taco Testimony
Denise Chavez. Published in 2006 by Rio Nuevo, paperback,
208 pages, B&W with archival photos, $16.95, ISBN
978-1-887896-94-8.
Denise Chavez is thought to be a First Lady of Las
Cruces. Tacos are important to Denise and so is her
family. Food and family as well as poetry, stories, and
recipes are wrapped in a yummy tale of a Mexican-American
family. This book makes you hungry! -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
A Taste of Nature: Edible Plants of the Southwest and How
to Prepare Them
Kahanah Farnsworth, Ancient City Press, $15.95 paperback,
ISBN 0-941270-93-9, 213 pages, drawings with 16 pages of
color.
The Native Americans and Hispanics of the Southwest
depended on the indigenous plants to cure what ailed them
and to stay well. Cooking with plant material was
commonplace, and the secrets to the plants cure were
passed down through generations. Everyone has
“re-discovered” herbal cures.
This book contains 75 recipes as well as a large number
of plant profiles that help even the beginner identify
and use the native plants. There are warnings for
poisonous plants, and endangered plants are not included.
The line drawings are easy to understand and point out
individual characteristics. Even if you don’t eat the
plants, it will be fun to identify them on a walk and
this could be a lot of fun for a family activity. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
Abracadabra: Mexican Toys
Project developed by Mauricio Martinez, Texts by Gutierre
Aceves, Raul Aceves, Ruben Paez. Photography by Rigoberto
Moreno, Jose Martinez Vera, and Carlos Diaz Corona.
Published in 2002, full color, 119 pages, paperback, ISBN
0-89013-423-5, $29.95; distributed by Museum of New
Mexico Press.
This is a different sort of book. It is very colorful
with large pictures of various Mexican toys. There is a
little text about the tradition of toys in Mexico and a
lot of poems. For anyone interested in toys or Mexican
arts this will be of interest. With the large, detailed
photos you can see the papier mache toys in relationship
to more crude images in clay or wood. There are some
magnificent items to look at; it will be a good item at
Christmas especially with small children and if you have
some of the toys of your own. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2003
Abstract Art
Stuart Ashman, artists profiles by Suzanne Deats &
Foreword by Robert Ewing. Published in 2004 by Fresco
Fine Art Publications, 212 color plates, paperback, 254
pages, $45, ISBN 0-9741023-1-8.
Yes, it is the same Stuart Ashman and he really knows his
art. This is a beautiful book. It works nicely for
someone comfortable with abstract art or a beginner. The
artists’ profiles are substantive and the Foreword good.
This is a great book to own to have a grasp on important
abstract art. It is a sampling of art in New Mexico but a
great beginning. There are many different media explored
and all has a taste of New Mexico. We would love to see a
few more follow-up books on indigenous art of New Mexico.
If you have trouble finding the book call Fresco’s
distributor UNM Press 1/800/249-7737. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2005
Abuelita’s Secret Matzahs
Sandy Eisenburg Sasso and illustrated by Diana Bryer.
Published in 2005 by Emmis Books, paperback, $9.99 (also
available in hardback & Spanish), 32 pages, full
color, ISBN 1-57860-177-0.
This children’s story takes place in Santa Fe and is
about Crypto Jews and Hispanics. It is a good way to
teach kids that all peoples share backgrounds and can get
along together. It is illustrated by Diana Bryer who is
well known in New Mexico. This is also great for a
classroom. Give a kid and a class a present this holiday
season! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Across Frontiers: Hispanic Crafts of New Mexico
Dexter Cirillo with Photographs by Eric Swanson,
Chronicle Books, 1998. ISBN 0-8118-1774-1 (paper).
0-8118-1793-8 (Hard),160 pages, over 150 color and b/w
photos. $22.95/$35.00.
We always wait with great anticipation for a new book on
santos. Across Frontiers is very attractive and a nice
edition to any library. The work of over 80 contemporary
artists is featured. In the Preface it is explained that
in 1992 when this project was conceived there was a
vacuum to be filled in books about Hispanic arts. We
can’t say that today and maybe the statement was a little
much. This year alone there are two new books and a
reissue.
In any case it is nice to see the non-santo arts
displayed. We are however puzzled as to why some
arts/crafts were included and some like pottery,
ironwork, jewelry, ramilletes, lariets and bonecarving
have been excluded. They also have a four hundred year
tradition. There are two of Ramon Jose Lopez’ sterling
silver boxes in the “Santero Art” section.
We are also puzzled as to the exclusion of the Lucero
Brothers in the book with only a slight mention and
partial picture of a piece of David Nabor’s. One would
think that the recipient of the last two year’s Best of
Show Award would have managed to get in the book in a
noticeable manner. Alcario Otero also has a minor role.
Granted, one can not mention all the artists but these
two have paid their dues and have contributed toward
moving the quality of art forward in great leaps.
Although an author can make their choices it leaves the
reader to wonder why some artists got in and some didn’t.
Another picky comment is the use of the term “Santero
Art.” We have used for years the term “Devotional Art”
and find it is more respectful and descriptive. Charlie
Carrillo gave a talk this past spring at the University
of New Mexico and asked everyone to stop calling it
santero art, folk art, fine art, outsider art, Hispanic
art and all the other terms we, primarily Anglos, use. He
likes devotional art too.
All this said, Across Frontiers will still become a great
reference book on the artistic traditions of New Mexico.
The photos are wonderful and it is always nice to see
pieces that haven’t been in publications before although
there are a number that have been in other books. There
is nothing new or breakthrough about this book but it is
just another reason to appreciate this wonderful
tradition, and it is wonderfully packaged. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1998
Albuquerque! Feliz Cumpleanos! Three Centuries to
Remember
Nasario Garcia and Richard McCord. Published in 2005 by
Gran Via Incorporated (La Herencia), softback, 212 pages,
many B&W photos, $24.95, ISBN 0974302260.
Who is Juan Tabo and why is stuff named after him? This
is the age old question and though this book can’t find
an answer, because there might not be one; but it does
discuss it in a lighthearted way. The book commemorates
Albuquerque’s Tricentennial and is packed with archival
photos, bios, and tons of facts about Albuquerque that
you never knew. They should have a contest. If you buy
one thing to remember the celebration make it this book
and not a set of glasses or a hat. It is like a scrapbook
already made for you. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2005
Albuquerque: The Next Boomtown
Cheryl Seas Gorder. Published in 2006 by DollarSmart
Books, paperback, $16.95. 168 pages, B&W with
pictures, ISBN 0-9720095-2-3.
This is not a scholarly book on Albuquerque but rather a
short, readable piece with photos on why Albuquerque is
important. It should be required reading for real estate
brokers, financiers, and a college text book. It has
facts and figures on why the City is growing and a good
place to start looking at Albuquerque in a new way. It
does put a lot of things in one place and the book covers
topics like the film industry, chile, culture, and the
other City of Rio Rancho (they need their own book). It
is a real estate promotion book but it has some things to
say - read it with that in mind. To order
dollarsmartbooks@earthlink.net. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2007
Albuquerque In Our Time: 30 Voices, 300 Years
Debra Hughes. Published in 2006 by Museum of New Mexico
Press, paperback, 144 pages, $24.95, B&W with many
archival photos, ISBN 13-978-089013481-8.
This is a good way to learn about “celebrities” in the
community. They talk about years gone by and what they
remember of Albuquerque. The pictures are a hoot! There
are essays by Robert Nordhaus, Owen Lopez, Penny Rembe,
Robert Stamm, Al Hurricane, Joe Powdrell, Pearl Sunrise,
Helen Lucero, and many others. It is a nice way to
remember Albuquerque’s birthday and a very good gift that
will be kept for a long time. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2007
Albuquerque Remembered
Howard Bryan. Published in 2006 by UNM Press, paperback,
$19.95, 2878 pages, ISBN 0-8263-3782-1.
Howard Bryan is one of the treasures of New Mexico and
talk about great timing for this book! This book has
little know facts, history, archival pictures, and would
be a great gift for people separated from Albuquerque.
Combine it with salsa and they will feel like they are
home! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Albuquerque Tricentennial Trivia Cards
Albuquerque Tricentennial Kids’ Fact Cards
Each pack is $3.00@, 50 cards in a box, full color, visit
albuquerque300.org
These packs are great for kids or adults in their
stockings. They have facts like: What early streets were
named were kids? What is the State animal? When did the
Albuquerque Public Schools begin? When was the first
Balloon Fiesta? How did Albuquerque get its name? It will
cause conversation and the packs are great for days when
you are snowed in. If you live outside of Albuquerque
visit the website. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 2006
All That Glitters: The Emergence of Native American
Micaceous Art Pottery in Northern New Mexico
Duane Anderson. School of American Research Press, Santa
Fe, New Mexico, 1999. 199 pages; 250 color and 5 black
and white photographs, maps, and charts. ISBN
0-933452-58-6. Cloth $66.00, Paper $33.00.
The latest book to deal with Native American pottery
traditions is All That Glitters by Duane Anderson. First
impressions count in the book publishing world. Visually,
this newest book published by the School of American
Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is quite handsome.
Unfortunately, a good book is more than pictures. It was
obvious in the opening pages that the intention of this
book was directed at Native American art pottery in
northern New Mexico. Duane Anderson is careful to inform
his readers that anything outside of Native American
northern New Mexican pottery is not within the scope of
the book. That in itself is fine; however, academic
standards apparent in most of the books published by SAR
are sketchy and lacking in this publication. The very
carefully crafted message one comes to understand is that
pottery belongs to the Native Americans, despite the
recent work by ethnohistorians and archaeologists working
in New Mexico that clearly document the presence of a
Hispano pottery tradition. A disclaimer sentence or two
about the possibility of a Hispanic pottery tradition
does no justice to this book. The best academic work
always cites the most current data. This book fails to
cite the most current work, not only on Hispanic pottery,
but also from the archaeological record.
The rhetoric espoused in All That Glitters comes off as a
“we” versus “they” agenda. I understand very well that
each Pueblo or Tribal group has maintained “mines” since
long before New Mexico was settled by Hispanics.
Micaceous clay pits or resource collection sites are
still in use today. Some of these clay pits are claimed
by individual Pueblos; this is their sovereign right.
However, because micaceous clay deposits are wide spread
and used by a variety of people, no one group can claim
that the pottery tradition belongs only to them. There is
archival documentation that indicates that Hispanos were
mining micaceous clay and trading such clay to a variety
of peoples including Native Americans and Hispanos. Some
sought out the clay for use in pottery, others sought out
the clay for use in home decorations such as wainscot and
thumb stencils decorations. More background data is
necessary so that the present evolution of micaceous
pottery can be thoroughly appreciated. The merits of the
artists/potters featured speak for themselves; each is
regarded for their artistic excellence. However, it was
clear that many of the artists drew a line in the
micaceous clay, daring a particular artist not to cross
the boundary. He was finally excluded because he was not
a card carrying Native American. Anthropologists have
told us for at least the last 30 years that you are who
you are by your participation with a particular group,
not necessarily because of the blood that flows in your
veins. I would venture to say that Felipe Ortega, of
Jicarilla Apache and Hispanic descent, has done more to
advance the knowledge of contemporary wares, than most of
the other artists put together. He has shared his
knowledge with more Native Americans than any single
micaceous artist has done. His research and dedication to
the subject of micaceous pottery is unyielding. Although
he is featured in this publication, the discussion of
contemporary micaceous wares is misinterpreted with his
presence.
One final note; the great institution of the School of
American Research needs to wake up and consider in its
milieu, the fact that the Hispanic presence in New Mexico
is 400 years old. Hispanics and other peoples also make
up what I define as “American” research. This present
volume only tends to perpetuate the ideology of
separation, without considering the cultural and
environmental context in which micaceous pottery was once
made and is again resurfacing albeit in a different
context. All that glitters is not gold. -- Charles
Carrillo, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1999
Amadito And The Spider Woman
Lisa Bear Goldman, illus. by Amado Pena, Jr.
When young Native American Amadito is teased by the other
boys at school, he turns to his family for advice on how
to handle his feelings. Father, brother, and mother offer
advice but none of it seems to fit until he walks with
his Nana who explains the ways of the world. Lisa Bear
Goldman’s wise words are backed up by the full-page
paintings of Amado Pena, Jr. in a book that gently
acknowledges a child’s feelings. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Winter 2006
Ambassador Ortiz: Lessons From A Life of Service by Frank
V. Ortiz
Don J. Usner and introduction by Governor Bill
Richardson. Published in 2005 by UNM Press, $24.95,
hardback, 216 pages, 36 photos, ISBN 0-8263-3712-0.
We won’t get into the controversy about what people liked
or disliked about Ambassador Ortiz and why. What is
important is that the years that he served the people of
America were documented and he did see the book come out
before his death. Countries included are Spain,
Argentina, Panama, Peru, Ethiopia, Grenada, Mexico,
Uruguay, Sudan, and a lot about Washington, D.C. and New
Mexico. Ortiz was a thirteenth generation New Mexican who
gained international prestige with his years of service.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
American Indian Ghost Stories of the Southwest
by Antonio Garcez
Antonio R. Garcez is a well-known chronicler of ghost
lore in the Southwest. In American Indian Ghost Stories
of the Southwest, he turns his impeccable talent to
recording first-hand encounters experienced by Native
peoples. With stories divided equally between Arizona and
New Mexico, introductory material provides a detailed
overview of each tribe’s culture and history, as well as
facts about important places of interest, before moving
onto the interviews. The accounts themselves range from
the frightening, such as a group of hunters who stumble
across unusual petroglyphs and are then stalked by
malevolent spirits, to the bittersweet (in one tale, a
mother killed in a car accident returns to her daughter
to say that she loves her). Regardless of the type of
story, Garcez presents each with a dignified sensitivity
and respect for the dead. The book is a compelling look
at the region’s supernatural landscape. Definitely
recommended for anyone fascinated by the spirit realm. --
David Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall 2007)
American Indian Literary Nationalism
by Jace Weaver, Craig S. Womack, and Robert Warrior
Just as Native nations have slowly exerted their
sovereignty and returned to traditions outlawed in the
past, authors Jace Weaver, Craig S. Womack, and Robert
Warrior argue for a similar movement in literature. Their
book, American Indian Literary Nationalism, continues the
discourse begun by Simon Ortiz’s 1981 landmark essay,
”Towards a National Indian Literature.” Split into three
chapters, each author strives to discard the prevailing,
colonialist literary theory and begin anew with
criticisms that “listen to and respect Native voices and,
in keeping with the traditional Native ethic of
reciprocity, not take without giving something back.” The
book concludes with a profoundly enlightening Afterward
by Lisa Brooks and a reprint of Ortiz’s essay. With
copious discussion and footnotes, the book is scholarly
in scope, particularly the second chapter, which boils
down to an intellectual disagreement between Womack and
another critic. Regardless, the majority of the text is
accessible and engaging to a lay audience. Based on its
convincing arguments, American Indian Literary
Nationalism is sure to be the next influential milestone
in the advancement of a truly authentic, Native literary
criticism. -- David Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall 2007)
An Uncommon Mission: Father Jerome Tupa Paints The
California Missions
Holly Witchey, photographs by Terry Ruscin; Published
1999 by Welcome Enterprises, Inc., N. Y., New York,
hardback, $19.95, ISBN 0-941807-34-7, 96pp with 63 color
illustrations and 21 tinted photos.
Father Jerome Tupa, a Benedictine monk, is not the first
artist to be drawn to the California Spanish colonial
missions stretching from San Diego to Sonoma. These
structures are monuments to the dreams and visions of a
handful of devout Franciscan fathers and the labor of
thousands of their mission Indian converts. In the past
artists tried to recapture a seemingly more glorious lost
time in an overly romanticized concept of mission ruins
and/or restorations. Father Tupa’s vision is very
different, for he is entirely a contemporary artist. He
is not at all concerned with a romanticized, or even
realistic, vision of the California missions. Instead he
approaches and paints the twenty-one missions not as
spiritual icons but primarily as very colorful abstract
representations. In the process he almost completely
distorts the original edifice, transposing portions of
the buildings to different displaced settings, painting
portions of the buildings upside- down, then causing
towers to be on the verge of imminent collapse. Then, his
large (up to 84" X 108") canvasses’ are saturated with
bold colors any Fauvist painter would die for! All in
all, a very bold, almost shocking array of distorted
images. A case in point is Tupa’s painting of San Jose
Mission (p.62) which after starring at it for ten minutes
I could not recognize as THE San Jose Mission I am
intimately familiar with. It was only by turning the page
to Terry Ruscins’ photograph that I could begin to
recognize components of the painted representation.
Nonetheless, this is a nicely designed book with the
illustrations well placed and complimenting the text
quite nicely. On the right bottom side of the page
introducing each mission is a most pertinent and
meaningful prayer, presumably written by Father Jerome
Tupa. Methinks his prayers are much more compelling that
his distorted oil paintings of the California missions!
-- Don Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Apache Casino
Whoever said the political thriller languished after the
Cold War era? In Apache Casino by G. N. Buffington,
international intrigue is alive and well. The U. S.
government has conspired with its Columbian counterpart
to build a casino in an enormous money laundering scheme.
Luke Martinez, half Apache and half Hispanic, and a
rising lawyer in Washington, is the prodigal son who
returns to his Jicarilla Apache roots, assigned by his
firm to finalize the deal, but he discovers there are
shadier, more heinous, deals taking place underneath the
“legitimate” facade. Finding himself on the run from
enemies and allies, Martinez resorts to Apache guerilla
warfare to stay alive. While the narrative trips over
itself at times, the story is a page turner. A romantic
subplot complements the harrowing scenes. The book is a
nice fusion of legal and political thriller and a
revealing examination of good intentions gone bad. --
David Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall 2007)
Aqui Se Comienza: A Genealogical History of the Founding
Families of the Villa de San Felipe de Albuquerque
Volunteer members of the New Mexico Genealogical Society,
2007. Limited Edition for $80, b&w, hardback, 623
pages.
This is a monster book packed with tons of information.
The members of the society need to be congratulated for
undertaking the project and documenting the history. The
book was started in the fall of 2003. This is a
grassroots force of nature that took their own history
and did something about leaving it for their children and
their children’s children. There are the original
families and all of their descendants and the
documentation of each. There are drawings, essays,
footnotes, index, and everything you would need to start
looking for the founding of Alburquerque. Obviously every
library and college needs at least one copy for people to
have access to the information. To order or for
information 505/877-0026. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2007
Archbishop Lamy: In His Own Words
Thomas J. Steele, S.J., LPD Press Albuquerque, 2000. 286
pages, 7 photographs. ISBN 1-890689-04-1, $39.95 cloth.
The Complete Sermons of Jean Baptiste Lamy. Fifty Years
of Sermons (1837-1886), LPD Press 1- 890689-20-3 $29.95
CD-ROM.
Thank you, Father Steele, for your excellent book
clarifying, among other things, the fiction in novelist
Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop. Her novel
has caused untold harm because readers have believed the
book to be historically accurate and quote from it as
fact when in fact its a novel, as you carefully point
out.
There are two popular views of Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy.
Both views are based on the great-man interpretation of
history that says some individuals make history happen
and deserve all the praise -- or the blame. The first
view which lasted until about 1960 saw the church history
of New Mexico as a positive tale of happy progress. Lamy,
although French born, seems during those years to be an
infallible New Mexican.
The negative second view has asked where the
land-and-person-and-community-centered Hispanic culture
of the olden days has gone; who is to blame for its
disappearance, you ask It follows, you say, that because
he got so much of the credit for New Mexico’s happy days,
he has gotten the lion’s share of the blame resulting
from the same sense of loss, including his insensitive
suspensions of several Hispanic priests from their
priestly duties.
Father Steele speaks volumes when he quotes UNM professor
Tony Mares in his portrayal of the famous Padre Martinez
from Taos muttering, ‘Esa mujer, esa mujer! - that
woman!” referring to Willa Cather who put horns on the
good Padre based on the questionable opinions of Father
Joseph Machebeuf, assistant to Bishop Lamy and no friend
of the Hispanic priests.
The first part of the book presents a chronology of
events in Bishop Lamy’s life. The second part relates to
the prelates question of identity and character, followed
by some 35 selected sermons which Father Steele collected
that offer insights into the Bishop’s inner being and his
spiritual make-up and beliefs.
Willa Cather portrayed him as the shepherd of the flock
ready to protect the flock at all costs, including the
recruitment of French priests in his native France to
replace the Hispanic priests he was suspending from their
duties in New Mexico. Willa Cather by her own admission
“fell in love” with the Bishop while studying his bronze
statue in front of St Francis Cathedral, sanctified him
and elevated him to the high heavens while vilifying the
others, especially Padres Martinez and Gallegos.
All in all Father Tom Steele has written a balanced book
giving readers accurate material on which to base their
own conclusion. Hopefully, as we proceed to the future,
more readers will recognize Death Comes for the
Archbishop as a romance novel rather than historical fact
Archbishop Lamy: In His Own Words shows the real and
spiritual Lamy, and not the fictional Bishop Latour. --
Abe Pena, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2000
All of us who have read Willa Cather’s Death Comes for
the Archbishop, remember her Archbishop Latour is the
historical Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy. “Fictionalized,
of course, we say to ourselves, ‘but still what a wise
and sensitive person he must have been” Wrong! There is a
greater gap between Latour and Lamy than we had guessed.
Should that bother us? It bothers many devotees of
Southwest Studies, especially specialists in the history
of New Mexico. It particularly bothers Father Thomas
Steele, familiar to many of us as teacher, scholar, and
thoughtful interpreter of religious life in the area.
In this book, Steele firmly, but with gentle good humor,
sets the record straight by presenting Lamy ‘in his own
words” from a rich collection of sermons and talks, and
by contrasting personality traits of Latour (and Cather)
with those of Lamy. In effect there are two distinct
projects at work here: The first is the discussion of the
manner in which Cather’s fictional stereotype “has
muddled the waters of New Mexican history” and the
careful attempt to delineate the differences of
fictionally constructed Latour and literally
reconstructed Lamy with the use of the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator. The second is the presentation in historical
and theological context of a significant selection of
Lamy’s sermons and talks. The two projects fit together
well but one does wonder whether each is really necessary
to the other. The second may be essential to the first
but one might wonder if the first is that essential to
the second. Both parts are fascinating; however, and the
effect is to inform and intrigue the reader.
The first third of the book is Steele’s own suggestive
and enlightening writing. He provides a concise
chronology of Lamy’s life and work then clarifies the
contrast between Cather’s Latour and Lamy. Chapter 3, the
longest and most helpful to the general reader, provides
the theological and historical background for Lamy’s
preaching. Chapter 4 shifts back to the contrast
specifically in terms of Myers-Briggs. Chapter 5 picks up
from Chapter 3 with a nice short introduction to
traditional modes of “spiritual” reading of scripture to
further prepare for the sermonic texts that comprise the
rest of the book
Chapter 4, Lamy’s Psychological Profile,” is the core of
the project of contrast. Steele argues that Lamy fits
best the Guardian profile among the Myers-Briggs options.
This profile entails four traits, Extrovert (“talks in
order to think; energized by being with people; ready to
accept challenges; accessible; companionable”), Sensor
(“prefers traditional procedures; patiently tames,
organizes, makes productive”), Thinker (“principled
reasoning; dutiful in advising and reprimanding others;
guardian of the past; cool and scholarly; outcome
oriented”), and Judger (“step-by-step planning; good at
delegating authority; perfectionist; legalistic
disciplinarian”). This sounds like any successful cleric.
But it does indeed contrast with the traits of Cather’s
Latour, who is not Extrovert but Introvert (“thinks in
order to talk, refined, reserved, solitary, aloof;
introspective; private”), not a Sensor but Intuitive
(“visionary; aesthetic, artistic; imaginative and
creative; future-oriented”), and who combines traits of
Thinker with Feeler (“empathetic, compassionate;
sensitive to others feelings; process-oriented”). Steele
wryly notes that one might find the same traits dominant
in Cather’s own personality.
One can question the legitimacy of such typal systems and
their posthumous application, but Steele makes a strong
case for the Guardian profile both in his analysis of
passages from the sermons and as explanatory factors in
major episodes in Lamy’s career -- the Christmas pastoral
on tithing, conflicts involving Fathers Juan Felipe
Ortiz, Joseph Machebeuf, and Antonio Jose Martinez, and
the issue of the Penitentes. In all, it is a readable
well-argued case, which introduces valuable material from
Lamy’s own hand. A CD-ROM with the complete sermons is
also available from the publisher. -- Joseph Pickle,
Professor of Religion, Colorado College, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2000
Arizona Sheriffs
Jane Eppinga. Published in 2006 by Rio Nuevo Publishers,
$16.95, 192 pages, 52 B&W photos, paperback, ISBN
978-1-887896-21-4.
Any book that has a blurb by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe
Arpaio gets our attention. This is a great idea. So much
history went unreported and this book sets the record
straight on what happened in the Wild West. Yes, women
are included in this book! A must for libraries, schools,
and western lovers. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2007
Around 505
Legacy Media, Inc. PO Box 92575, Albuquerque, 87199.
1/505-856-0426 www. around505.com
Magazine Review -- It has been a crime that a city as
large as Albuquerque has no magazine. We used to. There
is a Santa Fean and one for the State -- New Mexico.
Around 505 isn’t really Albuquerque but it has an
Albuquerque look. It is a magazine that comes out six
times a year and the current special is $9 for a
subscription. Buying it by the issue is $3.95 but we went
to five places before we found it at Newsland on Central.
It is a slick magazine with 58 pages. It is also very
politically correct with articles on Native Americans,
Hispanics, and Anglos. It has some lush photos that try
to be New Yorkish. There are articles that are very
different. We liked the locals at events-semi-candid
pictures. We found the maps a distraction. They were good
in the first issue but why have them in the second? Or
maybe a small map applied to the story.
As all magazines try to find their way with the first few
issues so will 505. It is interesting and we will try it
for the first year. For those out of New Mexico it will
keep them in touch. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2002
Arroyo Hondo
Joseph A. Garduno. Associated Publications, 1999,
softcover, $15.95, ISBN 0-9608806-2-3. Black & white
with archival photos and charts, 184 pages.
When first reading Arroyo Hondo you notice that this book
doesn’t have some of the fine points of publishing
evident. It seems self-published and the layout is a bit
amateurish and the writing less removed than it should be
but in other ways it is a wonderful idea and book. The
book is filled with “little” stories about resident of
the past and present. This gives the book a true local
flavor.
This is a view of a small town in northern New Mexico
(north of Taos) that involves friends, family and
history. Researchers should love this documentation of a
village, its families, settlers and buildings. It is done
with loving care and the author, with help from family
and friends, has included pictures and information that
would be difficult for researchers to find. Genealogist
should also find this a goldmine.
There are some rough spots in the book but many years
from now there will be scholars who are very happy that
it was done. The residents are probably also proud of it.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all small New Mexican villages
with a rich history had someone among them who took the
time to document their history. Note: In case it is
difficult to find this book, the mailing address for
Associated Publications is PO Box 728, Glendora, CA
91740. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2000
Art and Faith in Mexico: The Nineteenth-Century Retablo
Tradition
Edited by Elizabeth Netto Calil Zarur and Charles Muir
Lovell. University of New Mexico Press, 2001. Hardback,
ISBN 0-8263-2325-1, $50.00 , 359 pages, many color
plates.
When El Favor de los Santos opened at the University Art
Gallery at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in
1999, we were very disappointed that the book was not
available. Well, it is now out and for anyone who likes
Mexican tin retablos, studies them, or likes devotional
art of the Southwest, this is the book to buy this
spring. It is a major publication -- probably one of the
best UNM Press has done in a while.
It has essays by many of the major researchers in the
field of Mexican art: Ramon Gutierrez, Marcus Burke,
Claire Farago, Solange Alberro, and others. The book
highlights the tin retablos donated to NMSU but also
brings in other examples from museums to visually explain
various ideas. There are also two New Mexican wooden
retablos on loan from the Museum of International Folk
Art. There is a glossary, exhibit schedule, timeline of
Mexican history, and essay on the conservation of the tin
retablos. The plates are full page, full color, and
wonderful.
The exhibit will be in San Jose, California, when this
issue is released, then on to Chicago, Miami, and finally
to the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque
in 2002. It has been touring in Mexico. The exhibit is
worth seeing and the book will be a mainstay for
enjoyment and research for years to come. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
A Guide Texas: Museums, Art Centers, Alternative Spaces,
and Nonprofit Galleries
Rebecca S. Cohen. Published in 2004 by University of
Texas Press, bound softback, $24.95, 480 pages, black and
white, 131 photos, ISBN 0-292071230-8.
Yes, we know this is Texas. We don’t know if the other
states do this but it is the best source we have seen for
art. New Mexico should do this and every state as well.
Not only useful for professionals but it is organized
regionally for travelers who like art. There is contact
info, hours, locations, fees, and a description. It
should be on every museum and library shelf. It is
fabulous!!!!! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2005
Art of the Boot
Tyler Beard and Jim Arndt
If you’ve never considered the modern cowboy boot as art,
Tyler Beard and Jim Arndt’s Art of the Boot is sure to
change your mind. Beard’s text, including a “cowboy boot
biography” perfectly complements Arndt’s color photos of
the often exquisite and sometimes bizarre in cowboy and
cowgirl footwear from the major makers in the field. --
Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2007
Art of the State - New Mexico
Cynthia Bix. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.1998. ISBN
0-8109-5553-9 Hardcover.133 illustrations, 118 color, 96
pages. $12.95.
This little book is part of a fifty-state series by
Abrams. The first released are New Mexico, California,
Iowa and Maryland. For art buffs collecting the whole
series will be fun and this is also a great gift item.
All that said we have a great problem with this book. If
it is supposed to show fairly, equitably the various
contributions to the art community in New Mexico then why
is the Hispanic contribution so small. The overwhelming
number of illustrations have to do with Anglos -
transplanted Anglos. Next are the Native Americans and
followed by Hispanics with only four illustrations. Marie
Cash, her parents, George Lopez and colcha by Maria
Vergara Wilson are included. They were lucky to have made
it in! There is no illustration of the historic period of
New Mexican devotional art. And what really makes us mad
is in the back list “Great People” the only Hispanics
mentioned are Rudolfo Anaya and Senator Montoya. No
artists were “great.”
While this book is very attractive, even with its very
small print and tiny pictures, we think the author must
have researched this from afar. Even some of the
illustrations (paintings and photos) of Hispanic life
were done by Anglos. The rich devotional art traditions
of Hispanic New Mexico are dumped in with fetishes. We
guess it is lucky when Hispanic art is even mentioned in
a book out of New York but sometimes don’t you just get
tired of the treatment? -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 1998
Arte Caliente! Selections from the Joe A. Diaz Collection
Catalog for the exhibit at the National Hispanic Cultural
Center. Full color, paperback, 55 pages, published in
2004 by the South Texas Institute for the Arts.
This is a catalog to go with the exhibit. There is a list
of pieces in the exhibit at that time, an interview with
Joe A. Diaz, information about the exhibit, and
information about the artists. The color pictures of some
of the work are great. Remember as a private collector
Joe Diaz added to the exhibit and what is at the NHCC
includes some new pieces. If you have trouble finding it
call the STIA at 361/825-3500. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2005
Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian Museum
Jonathan Yorba. 2001, Smithsonian Institution and
Watson-Guptill Publications, paperback, $19.95, 112, 50
color photos, ISBN 0-8230-0321-3.
Any time we can see and appreciate some of the wonderful
things that Smithsonian has in its collection, it’s a
good day. I only wish this book had been available when
we saw this traveling exhibit in El Paso. But the exhibit
will be in Santa Fe at the Museum of Fine Arts from late
June until September. So we will get a second chance to
see the pieces with the background information.
The exhibit has art from many Latino origins: New Mexico,
Puerto Rico, Mexico, California, Cuba, Guatemala, and
maybe others but only three of the fifty artists are
identified as to place of birth. Odd? But in any case the
book is very nice and the color photos of the pieces are
wonderful. Some of the New Mexicans represented are:
Pedro Antonio Fresquis, Gloria Lopez Cordova, Charlie
Carrillo, Ramon Jose Lopez, Felix Lopez, Horacio Valdez,
Irvin Trujillo, Luis Tapia, Jose Benito Ortega.
For those who love to see New Mexican devotional art in
the context of international Latino art, this is a well
done and quality publication. Get it at the Museum of
Fine arts store in June. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2002
Artists At Home: Insprired Ideas From The Homes of New
Mexican Artists
Emily Drabanski with Foreword by Elmo Baca. Published
2003 by New Mexico Magazine, paperback, $24.95, ISBN
0-937206-66-0, 65 color pages, 104 pages.
This is a cute and attractive book. It features the homes
of some of New Mexico’s great artists: R.C. Gorman,
Miguel Martinez, Michael Hurd, Ford Ruthling, Bernadette
Vigil, Tavlos, Elias Rivera, and Nancy Kozikowksi. It has
a glossary and is great to get decorating ideas. Many of
the views into artists homes are from articles in earlier
New Mexico Magazine editions. The cover and foreword
pictures of Luis Tapia’s house are a little misleading
because it doesn’t have a chapter in the book. In any
case this would be nice for a gift for someone moving
here or who misses being here. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2003
Aunt Carmen’s Book of Practical Saints
Pat Mora, Beacon Press, Boston, 1997, $20 hardcover, 128
pp, 33 color photos, ISBN 0-8070-7206-0.
This book of delightful poetry by renowned Chicana poet
Pat Mora is brought to life in the voice of her elderly
aunt Carmen, who knows her santos intimately. The book is
formated as a series of poetic prayers begining with her
first poem at the age of sixteen. In “Oracion a los
Santos” a young Carmen wishes for a good husband and
invokes the help of twenty-seven santos to achieve her
desire, with the ending addressed to St. Stephen. We
learn that Carmen is now eighty and has been cleaning the
church for years, and that she absolutely delights in the
priests’ fear of her, and in “La Sagrada Familia” we
learn of her marriage to a sober teacher. We also become
aware in the poem “Santa Rita” that she worries about her
friend Alma who is physically abused by her husband.
Finally, in the last poem “La Buena Pastora,” Carmen is
led to beauty and joy.
Pat Mora’s poems of her aunt Carmen present an
affectionate portrait of a proud independent woman
humbled by her resolute faith. Utilizing traditional
forms from sonnets to childhood lullabies, in Spanish and
in English, Mora captures the essence of Aunt Carmen’s
private devotions.
Each of the poems is accompanied by a relevant photograph
of a bulto, retablo, painting, or colcha embroidery from
the collections of the Museum of International Folk Art
in Santa Fe. Included are the classic works of some of
the nineteenth century New Mexican master santeros in
addition to works by contemporary santeras/santeros
including Victoria Lopez, Charlie Carrillo, Frances
Graves, Jose Mondragon, Zoraida and Eulogio Ortega, Ellen
Chavez de Leitner, David Gonzales, Donna Wright de
Romero, and Luis Tapia. At the end of the book there is a
section of “Notes on the Saints and Their Feast Days.”
This is a beautifully crafted book begining with an
attractive dust cover, well positioned photographs, and
varicolored pages with the poems produced in very
readable type. Beacon Press is to be congratulated on
this treasure of a book that will appeal to afficionados
of the Southwest and its Hispanic traditions. -- Don
Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
Avenging Victorio
by Dave DeWitt
Dave DeWitt, known as the “Pope of Peppers,” makes an
auspicious fiction debut in Avenging Victorio. The novel
highlights the 1881 Apache insurgency, a series of
skirmishes in New Mexico Territory led by an aged elder
named Nana in revenge for the murder of the great-war
chief, Victorio, at the hands of the Mexicans. The prose
periodically reverts to history lesson instead of
fictionalized account at the beginning, but this effect
fades as the reader is brought up to speed and the
story’s momentum builds. DeWitt superbly portrays the
cultural differences and motivations between the Apaches
and the U. S. Army commanders, making it hard to
sympathize completely with either camp. No matter the
side chosen, the promise of upcoming battle grows like a
hunger, each further encounter eagerly anticipated, and
the intriguing cast of real-life personages, including
Colonel Edward T. Hatch, Kaytennae, Lieutenant John
Guilfoyle, Geronimo, and the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th
Calvary, brings this historical episode to vibrant life.
-- David Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall 2007)
Ay Pollito
Candace Vargas, J&R Vargas Productions,PO Box 3982,
Fairview, NM 87533. (505) 753-1623. 2002; $15.
We saw Nick Herrera at the National Hispanic Cultural
Center’s Chile Festival and he said here is a present for
you -- it’s great. So never discounting anything Nick
says we listened. Candace lives in Fairview, New Mexico
with her parents Joel and Ruth Ann. We called to get more
information on the young lady. The CD is a nice taste of
New Mexico music from a young voice. Steve Chavez has put
together a back up band that is really fun to hear. The
CD is a local product and may be hard to find. It may
make a nice Christmas present for an aspiring singer in
your house. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2002
Baby Coyote Counts/Bebe Coyote Cuenta
Neecy Twinem. Published in 2004 by Luna Rising, hardback,
$5.95, 10 hard pages, ISBN 0-87358-868-1, full color.
This is a great book for a small child or a gift. It is
colorful and a nice addition to the English/Spanish
collections in the classroom or library. Because of the
heavy-duty construction it is good for toddlers. Small
children will love it or someone older learning Spanish.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Baby Gecko’s Colors
Neecy Twinem (ISBN 0-87358-867-3) Published in 2004 by
Luna Rising - Moon Rising, $5.95@, 10 pages each in full
color.
Baby Snakes Shapes
Neecy Twinem. (ISBN 0-67358-866-5) Published in 2004 by
Luna Rising - Moon Rising, $5.95@, 10 pages each in full
color.
These are board books for young kids that are bilingual.
They teach shapes and colors and each part of the text is
in Spanish and English. These are great little stocking
stuffers or an inexpensive way to teach basic Spanish.
The small, cute size in bright colors will appeal to kids
of all ages. Buying them together gets someone off and
running in a new language. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2004
Baking at High Altitude: The Muffin Lady’s Old Fashioned
Recipes
Randi Levin. Published by The Muffin Lady Inc. in 2003,
hardback $26.95, 269 pages, B&W with illustrations
and some color plates, ISBN 0-9745008-0-1.
Muffins were a subject of the old Steinfeld show on tv.
You can’t bake in New Mexico or anyplace else that has
high altitudes using traditional recipes. It just doesn’t
work. This book not only has recipes for muffins but,
brownies, breads, pies, cakes, cookies, and other good
stuff. It has tips for baking at high altitudes,
substitutions and equivalents, and a places to write more
recipes and notes. The recipes are yummy -- where to
start! This would make a great gift to someone in a high
altitude or a baker who is struggling in high places. The
book was the winner of the Gourmand Award. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Bandelier National Monument: Home of the Ancestral People
John & Cassidy Olson. Published in 2005 by Schiffer
Books, paperback, $12.95, 32 pages, all color, ISBN
0-7643-2318-0.
This is a souvenir book-- it says so right on the back.
But, with that being said, it certainly has information,
great photos, and it is better that a hat to take from
Bandelier. It is also a great gift for someone going to
Bandelier so they will know what they are looking at.
Bandelier is a national treasure and knowing why it is
important. And for anyone in New Mexico they should visit
Bandelier. This is a great little book with a lot on the
people and great pictures. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2006
Barefoot Girl
Paula Griffith Paul will be releasing her twenty-first
published novel, Barefoot Girl, in April 2006 under the
pseudonym of Catherine Monroe. The novel tells the story
of Saint Margaret, Patroness of the Abused and is based
on facts and traditions. Margaret, forced into an early
marriage to an abusive, powerful husband, searches for
her destiny with her faith to support her. Escaping
poverty to riches, she turns her back on those comforts.
Her devotion to the poor and abused is beautifully told
in a story that enfolds the reader in its rich details.
No previous knowledge of the saints or of religion is
required as Ms. Paul fills in the details as she goes
along. The first of several novels on the lives of
saints, Barefoot Girl will certainly touch the hearts of
readers. Paula’s most recent book, Crazy Quilt, was
released in October 2005. The novel traces one woman’s
journey through breast cancer and is a powerful and
universal telling of the experience. A third of the
royalties from Crazy Quilt benefit the University of New
Mexico’s Cancer Treatment Center. Paula can be reached
through her website http://www.paulapaul.net. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2005
Barelas: A Traves De Los Años, A Pictorial History of a
Community
A companion book to the interactive exhibit of same name
at the National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico.
Published by NHCC in 2000, curators Carlos Vasquez,
Michael Miller and Mo Palmer. 72 pages, b/w, many photos,
$7.00 paperback, no ISBN.
The National Hispanic Cultural Center of New Mexico
located in the neighborhood of Barelas. It is very
fitting that one of the inaugural exhibits and
publications of the Center highlights the long history
and the people of Barelas. Everyone involved with this
projected is to be applauded. It is almost a certainty
that without the Center and its vision this documentation
of the neighborhood would not have happened for a long
time.
Some say the Center has disrupted the neighborhood.
Others say it has brought it back to life. It has helped
the residents remember the past and be proud of it. Every
aspect of the day-to-day life of Barelas is documented.
Photos have come from archival collections, as well as
individuals. There are essays by the curators. The book
asks for help too. Not all of the photos are completely
identified, so there is a mail-back form if you know who
some of the missing are.
Documenting old photos and the history they represent has
now become a priority for many organizations in New
Mexico. The photos are deteriorating so any effort will
help preserve history. With everything else going on to
get the Center open it is amazing this got done. It truly
should be done for every community with this kind of
background.
The book is probably not available in any bookstore
besides the store at the National Hispanic Cultural
Center. Without an ISBN it makes ordering difficult. Call
the NHCC store at 505/766-9858 or 1-888/531-4107 or fax
505/766-9665 and finally email MNoskin@hcfoundation.org
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
Beatles Art: Fantastic New Artwork of the Fab Four
Linda & Jeffrey Webb. Published in 2006 by Boxigamy
Books, paperback, $29.95, 212 pages, 150 full color pages
and 10 B&W pages, ISBN 0-9754176-2-2.
Yes, a Beatles book in TR. But there is method to the
madness. Richard and Theresa Montoya of Santa Cruz have
work in the book. The Montoya’s got their start in
Spanish Market as a result of Gloria Lopez Cordova. This
is a book for true Beatle lovers and has art around them
and their songs of all media. The Montoya’s did Beatles
retablos for the Beatle songs. A good book for a fanatic!
They say they are giving a $1 to every book sold to
Adopt-A-Minefield, Paul McCartney’s favorite charity. It
may not be his favorite since he is in a nasty divorce.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Bedtime in the Southwest
Mona Hodgson and illustrated by Renee Graef. Published in
2004 by Rising Moon/Luna Rising, hardback, $14.95, 32
pages, full color, ISBN 0-87358-871-1.
This is another cute kids book from Rising Moon in
Flagstaff. If you have a small one who doesn’t know what
to do when it is bedtime this is the perfect book for
you. The story is based in the Southwest and has critters
from the Southwest. It is an attractive book that kids
will love over and over. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2005
Beloved Land: An Oral History of Mexican Americans in
Southern Arizona
Patricia Preciado Martin and photographs by Jose Galvez.
Published in 2004 by the University of Arizona Press,
$17.95, paperback, ISBN 0-9165-2382-7, 150 pages, 57
b&w photos.
They say in the publicity from the publisher that this
book was written in response to the potential loss of a
way of life. In any case, oral histories of any people
are important. This is a beautiful little book that
documents the lives of 10 pioneers with photos from the
Pulitzer prize winner to historic photos. Their stories
talk about food, work, family, music, and their love of
the land that is being bought up by developers and lost;
it is a story that needs to be told. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2004
Benigna’s Chimayo Cuentos From The Old Plaza
Don J. Usner as told by Benigna Ortega Chavez. 2001,
Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, ISBN 0-89013-381-6
(cloth), $39.95; ISBN 0-89013-382-3 (pbk) $19.95, 153
pages, B/W photos and sketches, in English and Spanish.
This bilingual work is decidedly a family endeavor
representing three northern New Mexico Chimayo
generations. Benigna is the storyteller; Benigna’s
daughter Stella Chavez Usner, and Stella’s daughter
Carole Usner-Hunt transcribed and translated the cuentos,
and were faced with the task of dealing with the old New
Mexico dialect of Spanish, characterized by surviving
words from the 16th. and 17th. centuries (called
archaisms). Stella’s eldest son Arturo created the
sketches, while son Don J. Usner wrote the book and
produced the charming photographs of ninety-two year old
Benigna. Yet the cuentos themselves came to Chimayo and
into the 20th. century through eight generations of the
Ortega family. Cuentos are an integral part of the oral
tradition that go back to the earliest settlers on the
northern frontier of New Spain. Today, cuentos are
regarded as folklore, something that is rather
unsophisticated, and not entirely applicable in the 21st
century. Yet, when Benigna (born 1898) was growing up
cuentos were inseparable from the fabric of her everyday
life. They gave her a sense of adventure, and instilled
in her the basics of a strong moral background that she
has steadfastly held to throughout her long life.
Don J. Usner, like all of Benigna’s grandchildren, took
turns staying with his grandmother in Chimayo each
summer. This began when he was five years old and
continued until he was well into his high school years,
and was later extended when he moved back to Chimayo as
an adult. For Benigna those summer visits gave her the
opportunity to nurture the children with stories of her
life. The children never seemed to tire of listening to
her family recollections, and to the cuentos she too had
been nourished on so many long years ago. The cuentos
brought to life the landscape of the Chimayo Valley with
its old buildings and ruins, and the inhabitants who
lived out their lives over the generations. But, as the
author so adroitly noted, “The written word also leaves
out the work of the storyteller, and grandma was a master
of this art. She never told the same story twice; each
was a spontaneous recreation.” As a consequence the
author had the task of putting into the book those
personal bits and pieces of each cuento that he vividly
remembered from his youth, in addition to including those
all-important descriptions of the actual setting in which
he originally heard the cuentos. He has accomplished this
with great skill.
Like folklore the world over most of the Chimayo cuentos
tell of poor people attempting to seek out and find
wealth and happiness, eventually fulfilling the dream of
living out their lives in happiness with a beautiful
loved one. Benigna’s fourteen appealing cuentos adhere to
this general motif including such favorites as: ‘Juan
Tonto,’ ‘El Caballero de la Pluma,’ ‘Los Tres
Bueyecitos,’ ‘Juan Rodajas,’ and others. All of the
cuentos carry the reader on a delightful folkloric
journey.
This is a well designed and organized book with an
informative introduction, followed by the stories in
English, each preceded by a marvelous photograph of
grandmother Benigna Ortega Chavez, lovingly taken by the
author. This section is followed by the cuentos in
Spanish, each of which is preceded by a relevant sketch
by artist grandson Arturo Antonio y Chavez as he
remembered the cuentos. The book concludes with a
nostalgic epilogue of family remembrances with
fulfillment, and hope that the cuentos will persist into
the future and not become historical artifacts. -- Don
Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2001
Behold the Women: A Tribute to Sisters and Nuns of the
Catholic Church in the United States and Other Countries
Daniel Thomas Paulos, St. Bernadette Institute of Sacred
Art, ISBN 0-9627900-4-4, 1997. 198 pages. 217 B/W photos.
$26.95 hardback.
Having spent the large part of my schooling under the
watchful eye of the Sisters of Mercy or the School
Sisters of Notre Dame, a book on nuns wasn’t something I
would go out of my way to look at. However, Dan Paulos
has done a nice job of bringing together a lot of warm
memories and historical photos to illustrate the value
and work of the religious women in America and abroad.
There is an impressive list of contributors: Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, Father Daniel Berrigan, Pedro
Ribera-Ortega, Norman Vincent Peale, and many others.
There are also archival pictures from parishes and
archdioceses all over the world. There are even photos of
Mother Theresa.
Most nuns do not wear the elaborate habits that many of
us were used to forty or more years ago. Seeing the
pictures is a great step back into all those adolescent
fantasies about nuns and Dan Paulos has a funny personal
story about what was under one nuns headress. The
pictures also bring back memories of classes that were
very well behaved and reflect that in their group
pictures. The photos show a way of life for religious
women that is all but gone.
This is obviously a work from the heart for Paulos and is
a great addition to any research library on Catholic
religion primarily in America. It would also be a great
gift for someone who had their knuckles rapped a few
times in school by a teacher in flowing black and white.
It is sometimes sad, but mostly happy and uplifting. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1998
Bernadette
45 minute documentary video on the life of St. Bernadette
of Lourdes and Nevers, France (1997), produced by Dan
Paulos of the St. Bernadette Institute of Sacred Art, P.
0. Box 8249, Albuquerque, NM 87198-8249, Tel. (505)
265-9126, Fax (505) 266-4678. $19.95 +postage.
This inspiring video was produced by the renowned
silhouette artist Dan Paulos, Director of the St.
Bernadette Institute Of Sacred Art, as an integral part
of the institute’s overall mission to artistically reveal
God’s gifts of love and compassion to the faithful.
This documentary film briefly and faithfully depicts the
life of the young Bernadette whose eyes exchanged glances
with the Mother of God. The video carries the viewer on a
guided tour to the sacred sites of Lourdes and Nevers,
France, all interwoven with Bernadette’s simple history.
For those already included in Bernadette’s friendship the
film serves as a reminder for others to petition her
prayers and intercessions. As Dan Paulos says, “In times
of mortal discouragement, it will uplift the spirit and
unite our spiritual joys with those of this special saint
--- patroness of all who suffer.” Hopefully this video
will inspire viewers to follow Bernadette’s example to
find peace of heart and mind, even in the midst of chaos.
-- Don Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2000
Beside the Rio Hondo
Phaedra Greenwood. 2007, Sunstone Press, 112 pages. ISBN
978-0-86534-518-8
Home is where the heart is. And for author Phaedra
Greenwood it’s the quiet little community of Arroyo
Hondo, north of Taos. Hers was not an easy journey,
though. Like many, she rolled into this area as a hippie
during the counter-culture invasion of the 1960s and,
like many, she encountered good times and bad, but she
wound up staying. And along the way, she wrote. And
wrote, and wrote, filling an 8-foot high stack of binders
with journal entries recording everything like “fresh
details for novels, essays, and memoirs, shaping the
material to tell the story of my life.” It was painful
and grueling, but she carefully gleaned a nicely crafted
chunk of this into her first published book, her dream
come true titled “Beside the Rio Hondo: A Memoir of Rural
New Mexico.” Anyone who thinks they can just come here
from somewhere else, buy a pretty little adobe in a small
community like Hondo and start living the romantic life
of a rustic New Mexican has another thing coming. And,
Greenwood did when she and her then-husband purchased a
house on a hillside above a creek that starts in the high
mountain springs of an area that was once known as
Twining. In this region, the land is tied to the history
of your neighbors. It’s connected to traditions bound up
in the water and centuries-old cultures. You can’t just
move in and expect to instantly be one of the folks. It
takes time, sometimes decades, sometimes even
generations. But Greenwood was different. When she saw
this area, she knew this was home and knew she never
wanted to leave. This was it, and hell or high water, she
was going to stay. Greenwood calls her book a piece of
“creative nonfiction,” which means “everything happened,”
but she’s condensed some events, altered others to bring
out the drama, and has changed the names of some
characters to protect their privacy. It is structured
loosely to follow the seasons, of the place and her life.
It starts in 1992, when she moved back to Hondo after
separating from her husband, “Aaron,” in order to
establish her own identity at age 49. He gives her a year
to see if she can make it, then, if not, they can sell
their house and share the proceeds. What follows then
isn’t an exact chronology. It‚s a kind of episodic
impression of what it takes for a woman of “a certain
age” to make it in a place where she has to chop wood for
heat, help maintain the community acequia, participate in
re-mudding the village church, and get along with her
Hispano brethren. Through it all, she displays a
remarkable humility, expressed in keen observations about
the people she meets and the nature she works so hard to
preserve. In subtle ways she says she is no better or
worse than anyone in the valley, and yet by virtue of
putting words to the intangible she is quietly elevated
to importance. Communities like this need people like
Greenwood, and Arroyo Hondo is lucky to have her. There
was some trepidation, though, when it came to letting her
neighbors find out what she wrote about them. To help
allay any fears, she hosted a small gathering to
introduce the book, which, to her surprise was well
received. With one hand over her heart, Hondo's Ida
Martínez said, “I love your book. It makes me feel closer
to you. I’m reading it all over again.” Greenwood said
she offers her “heartfelt thanks to all my friends and
neighbors who have helped me over the years to sustain a
life of voluntary simplicity in this unique rural
community. And thanks to my enemies, too, who helped me
define what I really care about and who I am. I am
grateful for all the twists and hidden nooks along the
path. The older I get, the less I know for sure. Life is
so interesting!” -- Rick Romancito, Taos News
Big Moon Tortilla
Joy Cowley and illustrations by Dyanne Strongbow. Boyds
Mills Press, 1998. Hardback, ISBN 1-56397-601-3, $14.95,
30 pages in color.
This book has the setting of a Tohono O’odham village in
Arizona but the similarities to Hispanic New Mexican
village life. There is a strong Mexican influence. This
book is beautifully illustrated and will appeal to kids
age 6-9 years. The parental figure in the book is Marta’s
grandmother and will reinforce any family that has a
non-traditional base. We recommend it as a gift for a
child living outside the Southwest and with it should be
a package of the wonderful flavored tortillas from
northern New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2001
Black Widow, White Lies
Another mystery is Margaret Tessler’s Black Widow, White
Lies, the latest in her lawyer Sharon Salazar series.
This one takes place in Chama when Sharon and husband
Ryan plan a romantic getaway to the very real Parlor Car
Bed and Breakfast. Like most Salazar plans, this one
expands to include the rest of the Salazars, a funny and
close family that will remind you of your own. While
Black Widow, White Lies reads well on its own, I found
myself wondering about the antagonist who had obviously
appeared in a previous book. You might want to start with
Tessler’s Tangled Webs and Class Disunion so you don’t
have to go back and find out later. You’ll want to read
them anyway to get more of this great family. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2007
Blanca’s Feather
Antonio Hernandez Madrigal and illustrations by Gerardo
Suzan. Rising Moon by Northland, 2000. hardback, ISBN
0-87358-743-x, $15.95. 25 pages in color.
Rosalia has lost her pet chicken, Blanca, and it is time
for the annual blessing of the pets for Saint Francis of
Assisi Day. This is the story that brings an annual
custom alive for children. It is a cute story with
wonderful illustrations. It would have been easy to make
the pet a dog or a cat but a chicken brings in new
cultural perspectives. Children will love this happy
story. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2001
Blanket Weaving in the Southwest
Joe Ben Wheat and edited by Ann Lane Hedlund. Published
in 2003 by the University of Arizona Press, hardback,
ISBN 0-8165-2304-5, $75, 440 pages, 191 color plates, 115
b/w.
No, we haven’t lost our minds and are reviewing a book on
Native American blankets. This book is so good that it
also covers the influence and types of Hispanic weavings.
It is the must have book and be all and end all of
weaving in the American Southwest. It is a fantastic book
that will be good for reference, galleries, collectors,
and any other purpose you can name. The photos are
beautiful and the explanations turn identification into a
science not an art. Joe Ben Wheat of the University of
Colorado Museum in Boulder died in 1997 but his protegee
Hedlund finished the project. Besides blankets there are
ponchos, serapes, Diyugi, mantas, dresses, chief’s
blankets, and shoulder blankets. It contains an
unbelievable Bibliography. Do yourself a favor and spring
for this book if you collect or love to look at textiles
of the Southwest. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 2003
Blanton Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collection
Published 2006 by University of Texas Press, paperback,
$20, 264 pages, full color, ISBN 0-9771453-2-8.
The Blanton Museum is in Austin, Texas. We love when a
museum endeavors to show the museum collection in a book.
It is good for research and for patrons. Not enough
museums do it. This is a handsome, utilitarian book that
can be used by anyone. It is basically divided in three
sections: European, American, and Latin American. There
are Old Masters, contemporary, and western works
represented in the book. Featured is the Mari and James
A. Michener Collection of American Art. Artists include
Picasso, Frankenthaler, Johns, Rubens, Rembrandt and
Durer. It is a great beginning and they can add on books
for their collection of 17,000 works. If you can’t find
it call 800/252-3206. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2006
Blanton Museum of Art Latin American Collection
Gabriel Perez-Barreiro. Published in 2006 by the
University of Texas Press, paperback, $40, full color,
432 pages, SBN 0-9771453-0-1.
If I had to do it I might do this book as the same size
as the Blanton Handbook to add on to the previous volume.
There may be good reasons not to do it like there are a
large number of pages. But it is something to think
about. As is, this book is a wonderful coffee table
edition that documents an important Latin American
collection. 102 artists are featured with much text about
each. If you like Latin American art this is the book for
you with its essays and pictures of great art. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Blessings of Guadalupe
Eryk Hanut. Published in 2002 by Council Oaks Books.
Foreword by Tey Marianna Nunn, Ph.D., hardback, $14,00,
ISBN 1-57178-113-7, 48 pages, color illustrations and
photos.
We have to be honest and what initially caught our eye at
the bookstore was that Tey Marianna Nunn did the Foreword
on Guadalupe. We took a second take and ran home to
request a review copy. Their web sight didn’t work and
there was no information on the book so we went back and
bought it. It was cheap and there are other uses for it.
It is a gift book -- small in size and perfect for gifts.
Actually it would be fun to include all the things Tey
points out with it: Guadalupe plates, Guadalupe aerosol
room freshener, Guadalupe nail clippers and on and on.
There are photos and original art. It is cute. But we
wonder about the motivation and to date there has been no
press on the book. If you want it try Bookworks on Rio
Grande. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
Blue Lakes & Silver Cities: The Colonial Arts and
Architecture of West Mexico
Richard D. Perry. 1997, Espadaña Press, 272 pages, B/W,
many illustrations , paperback, $25.00, ISBN
0-9620811-3-2.
After you get On Mexican Time and decide to move south,
you then need the books of this small press to sightsee.
The explanations go into great detail and the
illustrations are quite nice. The format is very much
like a large tour book. There is a bibliography,
glossary, and plenty of maps.
This particular small press does books on subject matter
that has not been done in English; the publishers seem to
do it out of love for the area. We have great empathy for
small, husband and wife publishing houses and applaud
those who do books that can be of real use to the
traveler and researcher. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2001
Bone Justice
Elizabeth Fackler, published by Western Star, 2006, 341
pgs, 0-977385-0-7, $24.95.
Elizabeth Fackler has been publishing novels since the
early Eighties. Her career has been divided between crime
and western fiction. She is equally at home and equally
exceptional in both forms. The latest Fackler is called
Bone Justice and continues her Seth Strummar western
series with a storyline that is in equal parts horrific
and romantic. Fackler's crime fiction has always been
celebrated for its low-key but hard-boiled drama. Her
careful and evocative prose depicts the outlaw Strummar
trying to figure out if his partner has turned into a man
who deals in women. In the course of the book we get to
know the life stories of three different women who, while
true to the era in which they're alive, also hold
significance for today, especially in the way Fackler
demonstrates the violence they have to endure. Fackler
tops herself here by setting the youngest woman on an
unspoken spiritual quest--and a believable one--that will
redeem a broken life. There are so many fine writers who
deserve more notice and acclaim than they receive. For
me, Elizabeth Fackler is right at the top of that list.
She has a unique approach to the novel and speaks in a
voice all her own. Arson and Barbed Wire are two of the
toughest-minded small-town novels I've ever read. They
deserve serious rediscovery as major pieces of crime
fiction. The same can be said for all her westerns, most
of which are now out of print. In both genres she does
the same thing, takes familiar elements and makes them
seem startling and new through the dazzle of her prose
and the humanity of her forgiving gaze. -- Ed Gorman’s
Blog, 12/29/2006
Breakfast Santa Fe Style: A Dining Guide to Fancy, Funky,
and Family Friendly Restaurants
Kathy Barco & Valerie Nye. Published in 2006 by
Sunstone Press, $19.95, softback, b&w, many photos
and illustrations, 128 pages, ISBN 0-86534-501-5.
In the spirit of disclosure we met Kathy and Valerie in
the New Mexico Book Co-op and Kathy is probably one of
the world’s best promoters. This is a cute book to give
to someone coming to Santa Fe on vacation or new
move-ins. Old time Santa Feans have their favorite
places. What makes this book different is the
recommendation of local books that go with each
restaurant. It has great information on price, location,
and the kind of food served. At the end of the book is a
list of the books and the restaurants. It is cute; it is
easy; and, it makes a great gift. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
I had a tie for my top pick for grown-up readers. The
first is the perfect gift for yourself and those
out-of-state friends. Breakfast Santa Fe Style by Kathy
Barco and Valerie Nye is a “dining guide to fancy, funky,
and family friendly restaurants” in the city different.
The restaurants are coded as to price and the restaurants
“kid component” and the introduction gently explains the
state question of “red or green?” for those who are
visiting the Land of Enchantment. From drive-thru
restaurants and those little places you’ve wondered about
to fancy hotel dining rooms and museum cafes, the authors
have courageously sampled it all and given us the
lowdown. Barco and Nye, both librarians, have added a
literary twist to their guide. Each restaurant is paired
with a book -- Tortilla Flats on Cerillos Road is paired
with Joe Hayes' The Day It Snowed Tortillas, Richard
Bradford’s classic Red Sky At Morning is perfect for the
Plaza Bakery on East San Francisco, and La Plazuela at La
Fonda Hotel is perfect for reading about La Fonda’s
interior in Arnold Berk’s Mary Colter: Architect of the
Southwest. A total of fifty-eight restaurants are
included. Written in a chatty style with unreserved
enthusiasm, Breakfast Santa Fe Style is sure to pique
your interest and appetite. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New
Mexico, Winter 2006
Brujas, Bultos, y Brasas: Tales of Witchcraft and the
Supernatural in the Pecos Valley
Nasario Garcia with Foreword by Marc Simmons. Western
Edge Press, 1999, 232 pages, 36 b/w photos. Bibliography
and glossary of regional and Spanish terms. ISBN
1-8899-21-03-3, paperback $16.95.
Dr. Nasario Garcia has traveled to the upper Pecos Valley
to record the oral histories of the elder Hispanics and
taken the stories of witches, devils, the evil eye, and
other scary things for the 26 stories in his newest book.
These stories would be lost if not recorded. The book is
bilingual and contains a glossary of terms both in
regional and traditional Spanish as well as a list of
common northern New Mexican terms. He also has included a
bibliography and a list of “Creencias” -- his childhood
superstitions.
None of the stories are long -- just short stories that
would have been told to the children, in front of the
fireplace. Each story contains a picture of the
storyteller and some basic biographical information. For
the most part it seems like a group of grandmothers and
grandfathers who would pass on local folklore.
This book will be valuable to students of regional
folklore as well as linguists. It is an effort that is
dear to the author’s heart and helps to record a part of
New Mexico history that might otherwise fade away. Read
some of the stories to your own kids next Halloween! --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1999
Brujerías: Stories of Witchcraft and the Supernatural in
the Southwest and Beyond. Nasario García. Texas Tech
University Press, Lubbock, 2007. 373 pages. ISBN: 10:
0-89672-607-X. $34.95 Cloth.
One of the rich facets of Latino oral history in the
American Southwest and beyond is the vivid and colorful
body of folklore about magical and supernatural
occurrences in the lives of Hispano people that has been
passed down through several generation. To be sure, many
of us grew up hearing some version of tales about brujas,
balls of fire, el diablo or el mal ojo. These stories
were transmitted by grandparents, parents or childhood
friends as we sat spellbound, casting nervous glances
over our shoulders. Don’t you wish you could recall these
gems and pass them along once again? Nasario García has
done us all a real service in this regard. He has
meticulously gathered spine-tingling accounts from 64
narrators of various backgrounds ranging in age from 17
to 98. Their stories come from Arizona, California,
Colorado, New Mexico and Texas as well as Spain and Latin
America. García’s books is more than a collection of
supernatural yarns—it reflects the magical essence of
Hispano culture that links Spain to Latin American to the
United States. The stories are presented in both Spanish
and English translation, making them easily accessible to
native readers and speakers of both languages. Also
included at the end of the book are biographical
information about the narrators and a glossary
highlighting the regional Spanish dialect of northern New
Mexico and southern Colorado. Pull up a chair prepare to
enter the frightening world of La Llorona and her cohorts
in García’s fine book. -- Andrew Lovato, La Herencia,
Winter 2007.
Building the Village: Flow Of the River Volume II
National Hispanic Cultural Center, 2000. 72 pages,
paperback, color & B/W.
Is it a book or a marketing tool? We think it is a
souvenir. This is a guide to understanding why the
National Hispanic Cultural Center was built and the 400
years of history and tradition it builds upon. It is an
attractive book with a few flaws that can be overlooked.
Our copy had an out of register centerfold that was quite
unfortunate.
Flow of the River was published in 1988 with a second
edition in 1991. It was the beginning of the Hispanic
Culture Foundation’s effort to build awareness and start
the ball rolling on the new Center. Flow I was put
together by a lot of really significant people like
Rudolfo Anaya, Helen Lucero, and Sabine Ulibarri to name
a few. Mostly staff worked on Flow II. Both books are in
Spanish and English.
Flow II talks about the effort to get to the opening in
October; the building, the neighborhood, the features and
programs of the Center, and ways to give money. It is a
very attractive book but the type is small and may be
hard to read by some. One thing that drove us crazy is
that none of the pictures have captions - you have to
flip to the back and find the picture on a long list. Not
reader friendly. We found it odd that some photos appear
in both books - like there are not enough examples to
have new photos?
But it is a milestone of a long struggle and people who
want a remembrance of the opening will be able to take
this home. It has to be mentioned that with everything
the staff had to do to get ready for the opening in
October it is amazing that this got done at all. But it
shows that priorities happen.
There is no ISBN or Library of Congress number so anyone
wanting this book will have trouble getting a bookstore
to order it. It probably will only be for sale in the
National Hispanic Cultural Center Museum Shop when it
opens. We will try to give out that number when we get
it. Flow I sold for $19.95 when we bought it a few years
ago and the Museum Shop may have some of those left to
sell too. This will be a collectors item and a great gift
to those interested in the Center or Hispanic history
outside of New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2000
C is for Coyote
Andrea Helman with photos by Art Wolfe and Gavriel Jecan.
Published in 2002 by Rising Moon, hardback, ISBN
0-87358-79-7, $15.95, 32 pages, all color photos.
Alphabet books for kids are great gifts. This one covers
from A to Z but in Southwestern style. L is for lizard, I
is for Indian ruin, V is for vulture, and all the way
through. the photos are simple, clear, and easy for kids
to understand. Kids in the Southwest will identify a book
just for their region and kids in other parts of the
worlds will like the new slant on the usual alphabet. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
California Colonial: The Spanish and Rancho Revival
Styles
Elizabeth McMillian, Ph.D. and photography by Matt Gainer
and Elizabeth McMillian. Published 2002 by Schiffer
Publishing, hardback $49.95, ISBN 0-7643-1460-2, 240
pages, many color and black and white photos.
The thing about Schiffer books is they are either fun
with funky subjects like microcomputers or Bakelite
jewelry or lush books on art or architecture. This book
on California is beautiful in every sense of the word.
The exteriors are fabulous and the detail shots of
shelves, switchplates, and lamps are truly helpful to a
decorator, builder, or collector. There is history, old
black and white photos, a glossary, a resource guide, and
a bibliography. There are a lot of things in the book
that those of us who have nosed around California will
say, “I remember that!” A great gift for someone in
California or someone who wants to be there. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2003
Carlos and the Skunk, Carlos and the Squash Plant
Jan Romero Stevens, illustrated by Jeanne Arnold.
Northland Publishing Company (Rising Moon imprint), ,
1997- 1995, ISBN 0-87358-591-7/ 0-87358-625-5, 32 pages.
$14.95, color.
Hopefully this series will have even more additions.
These are wonderful cuentos that children will love. The
stories take place in the Española Valley. The
illustrations are beautiful and have a real feel for the
Hispanic family. The books are Spanish and English on the
same page. Aside from the fact that this is a great gift,
it is also a nice aid for anyone of any age trying to
learn to read Spanish. There are recipes in the back of
each book so the child and parents can have the true
flavor of the story.
There are words in the books that children will ask about
like: arroyo, tumbleweeds, and piñon nuts. Some words are
explained while others aren’t. This will cause quality
conversation around the dinner table. If you give this as
a gift, make sure to include packets of New Mexico squash
and chile seeds for a long-lasting experience. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1998
Carlos Digs to China:Carlos excava hasta la China
Jan Romero Stevens and Illustrated by Jeanne Arnold.
Rising Moon by Northland, 2001, hardback, ISBN
0-87358-764-2, $15.95, 29 pages in color.
This is the last (we assume) in the Carlos series. The
author passed away in 2000. It is a nice set of five
books that give a glimpse into the life of Carlos. Carlos
is excited about the prospect of having Chinese food
anytime he wants. To him is is better tasting than the
beans he is used to. So he digs. This book is bilingual
and has two recipes to try. A nice book for boys who love
to dig. The entire series is beautifully illustrated. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2001
Casa Guatemalteca
Katia Niesiolowska. Published by Villegas Editores with
second printing 2001. 245 pages in color with many
photos, ISBN958-9393-71-3, hardback, $65.
This would be an elegant holiday present for someone’s
coffee table. This book shows the gardens, houses, and
interiors of Guatemala. It is elegant. There is a
bibliography and the background material on the
traditions and area is impressive. Unfortunately the
resulting impression of the book is to get on a plane a
good see for yourself. There are grand vistas from
elegant rooms. If you do anything with interior
decoration or just love to look at beautiful houses and
rooms, this is a book for you.
Editors Note: This book and the one before may be a
little difficult to find but call Hispaniae at
505-244-1533. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2002
Casa Mañana: The Morrow Collection of Mexican Popular
Arts
Susan Danly, Introduction by Ilan Stevans. 2002
University of New Mexico Press, Hardback, $32.95, ISBN
0-8263-2805-9, 211 pages, 34 color photos and 90 B&W.
Dwight Morrow was Ambassador to Mexico from the United
States in the late 1920s. He and his wife Elizabeth fell
in love with the folk art of Mexico and collected it
while there. Casa Mañana was their weekend home in
Cuernavaca, Mexico. In it was their textile, pottery, and
lacquerware trays. In 1955 one hundred and fifty-five
pieces of their collection were donated to the Mead Art
Museum at Amherst College.
This book is not picture heavy but does have a pictorial
checklist of the Collection as well as some beautiful
plates of the pieces and political memorabilia of the
time. There are essays by Jill Meredith, Ilan Stevens,
Susan Danly, James Oles, Anthony Lee, and Rick Lopez.
There is an extensive bibliography as well as in depth
notes. The book is a must for students of Mexico and
Mexican art. It does more of a job of putting the art in
context than other similar books. It reminds the reader
that there was a fluid political and social climate that
influenced everything that went on in Mexico. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2002
Castle Lark And The Tale That Stopped Time
Zelda Leah Gatuskin
This tale of magic and the future, for teens and
sci-fi/fantasy buffs, begins with “Nothing about space
travel was quite like Fasha had expected, and the
surprises were not happy ones.” The story follows two
twenty-second century teens on their journey to discover
and reactivate an ancient spell. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Winter 2006
Catholic Traditions in Crafts
Ann Ball. Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1997.
ISBN 0-87973-711-5.Paper- $16.95,189 pages, B/W photos.
This is the ultimate craft book for anyone Catholic.
There is something for every holiday on the Catholic
calendar and for every season. It will bring back
memories of Sunday School and parochial school.
There are safety warnings, explanations of materials, and
the different items that cross cultural boundaries. Many
of the projects are great for kids to make and give as
gifts. There are retablos to paint and items for Day of
the Dead. There are also patterns for non-drawers. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1999
Cecilia’s Year
Susan & Denise Gonzales Abraham. Published in March
2007 by Cinco Puntos Press, paperback, $11.95, 216 pages,
sepia toned photos at the beginning of each chapter, ISBN
1-933693-02-9.
It is so nice to give a young adult a book that is better
and has more depth than some of the dribble out there.
This is a book that the story is told in brief episodes
tied to the months of the year--a different approach. At
the beginning of each chapter is an archival photo.
Cecilia is 14, loves books, a great student, and dirt
poor. This book will appeal to girls especially who like
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House). The Author’s Note
tells about the real life Cecilia and the Glossary has
Spanish dichos. A great gift for girls especially during
reading time in the summer! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2007
Celebrating Guadalupe
Jacqueline Orsini Dunnington with photographs by Charles
Mann. Published in 2004 by Rio Nuevo Publishers, $15.95,
hardcover, ISBN 1-887896-55-4, 84 pages, 50 color photos.
There is no profound new research though this is
entertaining and a great gift for our Guadalupe
challenged folks. There are some neat picutres of work by
Kathleen Sais Lerner, Eulogio and Zorida Ortega, the
Truchas Master, Jose Rafael Aragon, and others. It is a
simple book that celebrates Guadalupe here and across the
border. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2004
Centuries of Hands: An Architectural History of St.
Francis of Assisi Church
Van Dorn Hooker with Corina A. Santistevan, Sunstone
Press, Santa Fe, NM, 1996, 160 pp, 105 b/w photos, 53
illustrations/line drawings, ISBN 0-86534-234-2, $18.95
St. Francis of Assisi Church in Taos, NM is one of the
most widely recognized buildings in the United States. It
has been photographed by thousands of people who have
visited it including professional photographers, and
painted by scores of artists in various media. Since its
original construction in the early nineteenth century, it
has gone through many remodelings. Hooker, with the help
of Santistevan, followed the restoration of this church
since 1965 and his collection of notes and photographs
made this volume possible. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 1996
Ceramica y Cultura: The Story of Spanish And Mexican
Mayolica
Robin Farwell Gavin, Donna Pierce, and Alfonso
Pleguezuela. Published in 2003 by the University of New
Mexico Press, hardback, 356 pages, $49.95, 240 color and
many b/w photos, ISBN 0-8263-3101-7.
Robin Gavin was right when she said ‘ceramics mirror
culture.’ The pottery of the people reflects the art,
food traditions, and decoration styles they used. This
book is beautiful and full of pottery information, maps,
pictures, and designs. There are many essays by museum
curators and collectors including Gloria Giffords. There
are all sorts of uses of pottery, tiles, every sort of
food container, and even altars. The book was partially
funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. For
anyone interested in ceramics/pottery this is a useful
book for ideas and history. And of course the link
between Spain and Mexico is undeniable. It is a very
concise book on the history of mayolica. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2004
Cesar’s Way
Cesar Millan with Melissa Jo Pelteer. Published in 2006
by Harmony News, hardback, $24.95, b & w with some
photos and charts, 300 pages, ISBN 0-307-33733-2.
Cesar Millan’s way really does work. He is the star of
the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel for
the second year. He says he rehabilitates dogs and trains
humans. This book is a companion to the TV show. His
ideas do work without buying stuff. He approach is common
sense. This would be the perfect gift for a human with
dogs - throw in a can of dog food and you are set. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Charlie Carrillo
2001 Cultural Art Journal Ltd., 39 minutes, $10, color.
This is not an action video but it does give one a
conversation with Charlie Carrillo in his gallery. It was
especially sad for us to review since we had just gotten
word that the gallery was closing. But it does document
the largest Hispanic New Mexican gallery and all the work
Charlie and Debbie put in to it. Not a lot of work is
seen in the video but it does go into depth about a San
Jose bulto and the largest altarscreen Charlie has ever
done for the Sheraton Old Town. If someone is interested
in seeing the process of making an altarscreen and the
thought that goes into the decisions of which saints to
paint this will be an enlightening video. It is also a
good video if you know nothing about Charlie or the
santero tradition. There is a lot of talk! It will also
be of use to beginning santeros to see that there are
many important things that must be researched and
considered before making art. It will also be a nice
remembrance of Charlie for all of his fans. After Santos
of New Mexico closed we are not aware of any other stores
that carry the video but you can contact Emmet Thorpe
directly at 505/797-2157 or email; caj@swcp.com -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Charreada
photographs by Al Rendon. Published in 2002 by the Texas
Folklore Society, 128 pages. hardback, $24.95, ISBN
1-57441-155-1, 73 photos in B&W.
This kind of book is a little gem. It is what folklore
and history societies should be about. “Charreria are the
traditions and skills of the Charro, the ideal Mexican on
horseback.” The Charreada is the gathering of these
horsepeople--charros and charras. The photos document
this tradition so it is not lost. There are the costumes,
horses, pagentry, and spectacle. This is a great reminder
about the Mexican tradition and how it is still alive
today in South Texas. There are essays by Julia Hambric,
Bryan Wooley, and Francis Abernathy. The sepia photos
reproduced as doutones are fabulous. This is a family
activity passed down through generations and it is worth
remembering and celebrating. It may be a little hard to
get so here is the number for the publisher and their
website www.unt.edu/untpress or 1-800-826-8911. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2003
Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge
Cheech Marin. Published by Bulfinch Press in 2002,
paperback $19.95, ISBN 08212-2806-4, 160 pages, full
color.
The paintings that Cheech Marin puts in his book are “in
your face.” They are expressive, dynamic, and many tell a
story. The color plates are large. Subtle they are not
but they do have subtle themes that are slightly hidden.
Cheech is to be congratulated for seeing the importance
of Chicano art many years ago, and collecting it while
studying it. There is some valuable art discussion
including comparing Chicano art to the early Beatles. His
book is a testament to the movement and the force one
collector can have in promoting an art form. The book and
the exhibit are highly recommended. We hope Cheech
continues with his quest to promote Chicano art. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2003
Chicken Soup for the Latino Soul
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Susan
Sanchez-Casal with many others. Published in 2005 by
Health Communications, 340 pages, paperback, $12.95,
b&w, ISBN 0-7573-0311-0.
This is a collection of stories by well-known Latinos
that talk about all aspects of life in America. The book
is heavily geared to California, Arizona, and Texas but
there are Hispanic New Mexicans in the book. It is a cute
easy read and a nice gift for a person who likes dichos.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Chiles for Benito: Chiles para Benito
Ana Baca and illustrated by Anthony Arcado. Published in
2003 by Arte Publico Press/Piñata Books, hardback, 29
pages, $14.95, full color, ISBN 1-55885-389-8.
This is a New Mexico book for children. It is in Spanish
and English for kids ages 3 to 7. The book will appeal to
adults and children alike with colorful illustrations. It
is nice to see a New Mexico kid’s book. For someone
outside of New Mexico combine it with a gift of chiles
still in the pod so they will see what the story is all
about. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Chimayo Weaving: The Transformation of a Tradition
Helen R. Lucero and Suzanne Baizerman. University of New
Mexico Press, 1999. 256 pages, 96 color plates, 109
halftones, 2 maps. Cloth, 0-8263-1975-0, $80.00. Paper,
0-8263-1976-9, $39.95.
This is a book that we have heard about for a while and
have anticipated with great interest. Chimayo is famous
for its weaving and weavers. Upon first looking through
the book at the color plates one is instantly amazed at
the eye-dazzling patterns and the range of subjects, from
stripes, vallero stars, Native American motifs to
landscapes and even a New Mexico flag. This book is a
complete catalog of the weaving tradition in Chimayo from
1870 to the present.
The archival photos are wonderful and many are brand new
to readers. The book deals with the historical
perspective, techniques, and profiles of three
contemporary families -- los Ortegas, los Martinezes, and
los Trujillos -- as well as two lists of weavers from
1905 to 1984. For anyone interested in weaving this book
is a “must purchase.”
Helen Lucero is currently a curator of Latino Art at the
National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., and
Suzanne Baizerman is currently the Imogene Gieling
Curator of Crafts and Decorative Arts at the Oakland
Museum in California. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 1999
!Chistes!: Hispanic Humor of Northern New Mexico and
Southern Colorado
Nasario Garcia and Foreword by John Nichols. Published in
2004 by Museum of New Mexico Press, paperback, $19.95,
192 pages, ISBN 0-89013-431-6.
Nasario Garcia is one of the treasures of New Mexico.
This bilingual book of old timers’ stories show that even
in the face of adversity there is humor. Remember in a
small town everybody knows everyone’s business. There is
a glossary of regional and standard Spanish. There were a
number of just plain folks interviewed for the book and
their location and the date of the interview is noted. A
nice book that should be in all libraries. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Christine Mather’s Santa Fe Christmas
Published in 1993 by Museum of New Mexico Press, $14.95,
softback, 96 pages, ISBN 0-89013-463-4.
This is a cute little stocking stuffer that has recipes,
art, traditions, great photos, and the feel of old New
Mexico. It is an especially nice book to give to folks
who live out of New Mexico. There is a nice Source Guide
in the back for those visiting Santa Fe or want to call
and get specific items. Wrap it up with a box of piñon
and cedar incense and you have the sights and smells of
Christmas. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Churches for the Southwest: The Ecclesiastical
Architecture of John Gaw Meem
Stanford Lehmberg and photos by Derek Lehmberg. Published
in 2005 by W.W. Norton & Co., hardback, $50, full
color photos with floor plans in B&W, ISBN
0-393-73182-0.
In the spirit of true disclosure, Stan Lehmberg wrote
Holy Faith of Santa Fe (LPD Press). In many respects that
may have given him the impetus to do a book on a wider
scale. John Gaw Meem is very big and very respected in
New Mexico architecture. Stan does a very good job
putting everything about Meem and churches in one book.
The photos are stunning. This book is a gem for anyone
interested in church history in the Southwest. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
City Different
Stephen Hazlett, published by Booklocker.com, Inc. 2005;
$14.95; 195 pages; ISBN: 978-1-59113-760-3
City Different, a nickname for Santa Fe, New Mexico, is
the setting for this Silicon Valley mystery. Eddie
Collins is a wealthy Internet guru with a successful
company...so successful that he has to hire a CFO, Chief
Financial Officer. The tale begins when his young and
exotic wife, Nina, runs out of their home in a panic and
he finds his CFO murdered. Did his wife shoot him? She
has disappeared, and Eddie returns to Santa Fe, her home
town, in search of her and the answers to his questions.
Nina is well known in Santa Fe, and her Aunt Helen is a
powerful and menacing figure in the story as Eddie finds
himself returning to her again and again for answers that
aren't forthcoming: "'You're becoming a regular here,'
she said, stepping aside to let me enter. She closed the
door and walked past me into the Great Room, seating
herself on the long couch. I followed behind, but
preferred to stand, looking down at her. She really did
look tired. Her eyelids were half-closed and her face was
pale and covered with fine wrinkles in the light from the
window behind her. I found myself wondering how old she
actually was." Stephen Hazlett has managed to craft a
fine mystery out of Santa Fe history, including the
travails of the Indians who were tortured, ripped off,
and driven from the best lands. Santa Fe is almost half
way between Los Angeles and Chicago, and Hazlett is
interested in maintaining its authenticity. His story is
a murder mystery with layers of intrigue both on an
environmental level as well as an interpersonal level. He
captures the beauty of Santa Fe and the small town
politics that retain its uniqueness. Hazlett's characters
are shadowy, and the plot moves along in a typically
Southwestern, unhurried pace. Eddie Collins is a young,
intelligent nice guy who is only trying to regain his
lost love. But he finds more than he bargains for, and
therein lies the tension in the tale. An excellent read
from a mystery craftsman, CITY is worth the time. --
Shelley Glodowski, The Midwest Book Review, January 2006
Cloaked In Shadow: Dark Tales of Elves
David Corwell
Cloaked In Shadow: Dark Tales of Elves is a fantasy
anthology featuring a story by Albuquerque’s David
Corwell. His Legacy of the Quedana has a southwestern
feel and kept me interested even though I’m not much of a
fantasy reader. Dipping into the other stories included
makes it clear that this is a treasure for the fantasy
reader and those into elven mythology. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2007
Colcha
Esther Vigil. Self published in 2006, spiral bound for
ease in use, $29.95, B&W with colcha patterns, ISBN
1-4243-0837-2.
Colcha is the traditional embroidery of New Mexico. This
the only colcha book that has patterns and useful
information for stitchers. The book is good for a novice
or advanced embroiderer but also for an experienced sewer
who would like to try something traditional and
different. Combine this book with some sabanilla and yarn
and for an embroiderer this would make a perfect gift.
You might have trouble finding this book. Look or call
the store at Las Golondrinas in Santa Fe, the Museums of
New Mexico stores in Santa Fe, and fax 1505/857-0779 or
email eqlv@thuntek.net. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2006
Colores! - KNME TV
If you want to spend the winter hold up in front of the
video machine or are looking for a special gift try
calling KNME, the public TV station in Albuquerque, for a
catalog. The newest addition is “Los Esconditos”
featuring Eliseo Rodriguez, Abad Lucero and others
talking about their long career in the arts in New
Mexico. The tape is $19.95 plus tax and shipping.
Other classic titles in the Colores! series done over the
years are: Alma de la Divinidad, Acequias, El Camino
Real, Cleofes Ortiz, En Divina Luz, Devoted to the
Saints, Familia y Fe, Flamenco, Luis Jimenez, Mariachi,
Our Lady, The Pimentels, Santero, and many others. To get
information or a Colores! catalog call video sales at
KNME 1-800/328-5663. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2001
Comadres: Hispanic Women of the Rio Puerco Valley
collected and edited by Nasario Garcia with Preface by
Demetria Martinez. University of New Mexico Press, 1997.
240 pages, 25 illustrations, paperback ISBN
0-8263-1757-X, $19.95.
This is a wonderful book for someone trying to learn or
to be more comfortable with New Mexican Spanish. The
stories are told in both English and Spanish and the book
contains a glossary for help in understanding the
regional meanings.
The chapters are interviews on a specific subject:
husband & wife, get togethers, household chores,
children, and all other aspects of day to day life. The
different interviews give varied viewpoints of life in
the Rio Puerco Valley area during the first decades of
statehood.
Nasario Garcia is a professor at New Mexico Highlands
University in Las Vegas and has written a number of
additional books on life in the Rio Puerco area. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1999
Comida Sabrosa: Home-Style Southwestern Cooking
Irene Sanchez and Glorida Sanchez Yund. Re-release in
spiral bound by University of New Mexico Press, 2001, 154
pages, illustrated in b/w, Spiral soft, ISBN
0-8263-2486-3, $12.95.
This was a classic cookbook first published in1982 and is
now out in an easy to use spiral form. The authors are
sisters-in-law and Irene is the wife of straw artist
Charlie Sanchez of Tome. His sister is the other author.
The nice thing about this cookbook is that it tells you
how to do it. Not just the recipe but the procedure. It
also has recipes that go from basic and simple to hard.
It has something for everyone and makes a great gift. It
has a Glossary for those cooks new to New Mexican
cooking. It was a classic in 1982 and still is. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2002
Concha! Concha Ortiz y Pino: Matriarch of a 300-Year-Old
New Mexican Legacy
Kathryn M. Cordova. Published in 2004 by La Herencia
(Gran Via Inc.), hardback, $24.95, B&W photos, ISBN
0-9743022-1-X.
How lucky that Concha saw this book written in her
lifetime. Concha is arguably the most powerful woman in
New Mexico and this book gives a great history of her
family and the events in New Mexico. There are a lot of
pictures and this is a book that definitely should be in
libraries. Her honors are countless and the people she
knows, and knew, unbelievable. If you have trouble
finding the book call 505/474-2800. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Conexiones: Connections in Spanish Colonial Art
Carmella Padilla and Donna Pierce with an essay by Stuart
Ashman. Published 2002 by Museum of Spanish Colonial Art,
hardback, ISBN 0-9719103-0-8, $50.00 (SCAS/MoSCA Members
get a 10% discount), 176 pages, many b/w and color
photos.
To put things in perspective, we did not review the two
volume book by SCAS back in 1996. They would not provide
a review copy and many photos had no identification or
captions while the text type was very hard to read. It is
a good reference but if you can’t say something nice why
bother. A lot of artists felt hurt when they were left
nameless.
This is not the case with the new book. It is beautiful.
The photos are wonderful and everything is identified
even with accession numbers --one thing researchers love.
It is a nice documentation of the opening of the MoSCA
Museum and the first exhibit. There are traditional and
contemporary works and adults and children are
represented. Not all the work in the inaugural exhibit is
in the book, especially the San Isidro display. But it is
pretty representative. And the book is out in time for
the opening of the Museum and the exhibits.
We found one puzzling thing that caused discussion. It is
minor but strange. None of the books in the Bibliography
have dates past 1998. Now the first thing to think is
that the authors didn’t read anything past 1998. But the
1997 book on micaceous pottery written by Dr. Charlie
Carrillo seems to be at least looked at, but not even
listed as well. The book on Frank Applegate and the
Portfolio book were ignored. All the recent books since
1997 containing new research -- at least a dozen books
--which impacts one’s understanding of the collection
were missing. It is minor but why?
The other minor problem is that a photo of the
Museum/house is missing. We would have even done a before
and after with the explanation of how a historic house
becomes a Museum. The Society may think that has been
done to death but the book will outlive us all. Note too
that Jimmy Trujillo is not Charlie Carrillo’s
brother-in-law as stated in the book. That being said it
is a beautiful book and worth having to remember the
opening. The contemporary artists in the book will be
pleased. It is a world better than previous efforts and
starts off their new life in fine form. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector’s Guide
Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, NY, 1996, 320 pp,
ISBN 1-55859-897-9, $29.95.
Contemporary American folk art may be the best bargain
remaining in the art market, according to the authors.
While most people cannot afford to buy or collect studio
art, the field of folk art is still friendly to most
budgets. This guide is explains how to evaluate
contemporary folk art, as well as where to see it and buy
it, and how much to pay for it -- sage advice from two
people who have amassed a well-known and very diverse
collection of folk art. The body of the book is organized
into regions of the country. In the section on the
Southwest, only three Hispanic artists are mentioned --
Nicholas Herrera of El Rito and Felipe and Leroy
Archuleta of Tesuque. This informative book will appeal
to both fledgling and seasoned collectors. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1997
Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art
Bilingual Press Hispanic Research Center of Arizona State
University. Published in 2002, paperback, 2 volumes (318
& 324 pages), $120 for the set.
This takes the award--the most pages, biggest price, but
the most lush and picturesque books we have received to
review. Truly a monumental project and the staff of the
Hispanic Research Center at ASU should get a big congrats
for the huge effort. We understand that this is just the
beginning and more volumes are coming. Bravo. The books
are huge, coffee table size. The color plates are full
page with a bio on each artist.
To mention a few New Mexicans who made it are: Mary
Antonia Wood, Luis Tapia, and Felix Lopez, and the
infamous California artist Alma Lopez of bikini Guadalupe
fame is also there. It is a who’s who of Latino/Hispanic
art. So we have a problem, why did some traditional New
Mexicans make it and some didn’t? If Felix made it, and
he should, why not Charlie, Ramon, Nick, Victor, Marie
and on and on. We hope they will be in the 3rd volume. We
understand not everyone can get in the first volumes but
we are clueless why some were left out. It is heavy with
contemporary art and light on traditional that is being
done today. In any case, this is a must-have for anyone
in the art business--galleries, writers, museums, and
fellow artists. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
2003
Converging Cultures: Art & Identity in Spanish
America
The Brooklyn Museum in association with Harry Abrams,
Inc., NY, 1996, 320 pp, 90 color plates/166 halftones,
ISBN 0-87273-134-0, $45.00.
The exhibition catalogue for the travelling exhibit of
the same name, this marvelous tome documents one of the
largest and finest collections of Spanish Colonial
material in this country which is housed at The Brooklyn
Museum. The exhibition comprises some 250 works from the
Spanish viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru. The book
shows off many of the pieces from the exhibition, in
addition to containing essays on a variety of collateral
areas by some of the leading research experts of the day.
The book and exhibit include 11 exquisite santos from New
Mexico. Under the curatorial leadership of Diana Fane,
this book and exhibit compose one of the finest learning
experiences for anyone interested in this area of
history, culture, and art. No small undertaking, this
book could become the core resource book for any student
for Spanish America. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 1997
Cooking With San Pasqual’s
Katherine Kagel and photos by Kitty Leaken. Published in
2006 by Ten Speed Press, hardcover, 176 pages, full
color, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-58008-649-3.
Cafe Pasqual’s funky, really good, and you have to wait
in huge lines. The Cafe has been in Santa Fe for 28 years
and Katherine Kagel is executive chef and founder of Cafe
Pasqual’s. We especially liked Prickly Pear Cactus
Sorbet, Melon and Chardonnay Granita, Cilantro Rice,
Sugar Pumpkins Filled with Vegetable Stew in Chipotle
Cream Sauce, and their Whole Wheat Pancakes (they do have
the best breakfasts around!). If you don’t cook you can
see what to order and drool over it! The photos are
stunning! A great present especially for someone coming
to Santa Fe. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2007
Cottonwood Saints
Gene Guerin
Cottonwood Saints by Gene Guerin is a novel based on
forty-handwritten pages of a journal kept by his mother,
Margaret Otero Guerin. From these pages, Guerin has built
a multi-faceted portrait of a woman growing up in early
New Mexico. The fictional Margarita Juana Galvan is born
in a Pecos Wilderness mining camp in 1913. Her early
childhood is spent in luxury in the home of an aunt and
uncle in Mora but she is returned to poverty at twelve
when fate intervenes. The bulk of the story takes place
in Las Vegas, New Mexico and covers a time that includes
the Great Depression and World War II through her death
in 1991. This story of the perseverance, courage, and
everyday struggles of one woman was awarded the Premio
Aztlan Literary Prize. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New
Mexico, Summer 2007
Coyote and the Sky
by Emmett Garcia
Emmett “Shkeme” Garcia brings his engaging storytelling
talents to the written word with Coyote and the Sky. The
book relates the Tamaya creation story of the Animal
People’s journey to the Fourth World, as well as the
origin of the sun, moon and stars with woven yucca mats
and hot coals. Though the Leader of the Third World
prevents Coyote from joining the others, the trickster is
not so easily cowed, and he sneaks around, his anger
growing, until he literally snatches the opportunity to
participate. Victoria Pringle’s colorful illustrations, a
mix of painting and collage, capture the animals’
frenetic movement between worlds as they seek further
advice from the Leader and use that wisdom to shed light
on their new home. -- David Corwell, POSH New Mexico
(Fall 2007)
Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan
Wood Carvings
Michael Chibnik. Published in 2003 by University of Texas
Press, hardback, ISBN 0-292-71247-2 (also available in
paperback), $50.00, 304 pages, 24 color and 53 B/W
photos.
On first look, this appears to be a very scholarly look
at Oaxacan carvings with field studies. It is that but at
some point the author came to love the artisans and
respect their ability and was concerned about the future.
This is demonstrated in the Epilogue where he reports
that a major importer of the Mexican figures has decided
to find another way to do business. We have all seem the
carvings in shops in the Southwest. He talks about
Jackalope and the Museum of International Folk Art’s
collection. The individual artists are discussed and a
face is put to the names signed on the bottom of the
carvings. The study of this art form has lessons to be
learned by any other folk craft especially our own
santos. It is important to establish many outlets for the
work and educate the public. There are extensive
references cited. It is important that all of these art
forms are documented and the author has done a fine job
for the future. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2003
Crazy For Chipotle
Lynn Nusum. Published in 2004 by Northland Publishing,
100 pages, all color with many photos, ISBN
0-87358-861-4, $11.95.
We love chipotle. The smoky flavor of chiles has made it
to the food channel. This is a fun book -- great for a
gift with tons of different flavors to try. The recipes
are great and easy. they have included our personal
favorite -- deviled eggs, and seafood, mayo, salads,
butter, bar-b-que sauce, rubs, souffles, and more.
Contains a resource guide. Worth having next to your
stove and a new idea to make something neat! -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship &
Freedom
Tim Tingle and illustrated by Jeanne Rorex Bridges.
Published in 2006 by Cinco Puntos Press, hardback, 40
pages, full color, $17.95, ISBN 0-938317-776.
What better way to give a gift and teach at the same
time. This book is about the relationship between the
Choctaws and the slaves of Mississippi before the Civil
War. This is a story that should be shared. The
illustrations are beautiful and will appeal to everyone.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Cuando Hablan Los Santos: Contemporary Santero Traditions
from Northern New Mexico
Mari Lyn C. Salvador. First published in 1995 by the
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology - University of New
Mexico) released in 1999 by UNM Press. Paperback
0-912535-09-1, $24.95. 142 pages, 98 color photos, 65 b/w
photos and 1 map.
When this exhibit opened and the catalog was released
there were a lot of bad feelings floating around. There
was the whole controversy about the Maxwell not paying
the artists for work in the exhibit and the guest
curators not being paid for contracted service. A large
portion of the Maxwell Board also resigned in protest. It
was ugly and it clouded the exhibit for years to come.
But time has passed and since UNM Press has re-released
the book we have taken another look. The premise for the
book and the exhibit was to take a look at thirteen
artists and their families. The book has contributions by
guest curators Charlie Carrillo and Felix Lopez as well
as Father Tom Steele, Carmella Padilla, William Calhoon,
Helen Lucero, Alejandro Lopez and is edited by Marta
Weigle.
The artists covered are: Charlie Carrillo, Anita Romero
Jones, Marie Romero Cash, Ramon Jose Lopez, Felix Lopez,
Manuel Lopez, Jose Benjamin Lopez, Le Roy Joseph Lopez,
Luisito Lujan, Gloria Lopez Cordova, Sabinita Lopez
Ortiz, Gustavo Victor Goler, and Luis Tapia. Each profile
has a picture of the artist and work by the artist. There
are other artists in the book and exhibit like Patricinio
Barela, Horacio Valdez, Celso Gallegos, Jose Dolores
Lopez, and Ben Ortega.
The book is now interesting because in five years,
artists’ styles have changed and things have happened in
their lives. It is a little time capsule of that early
part of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Felix Lopez wrote
about the children who are continuing the traditions of
their parents and grandparents. It was fun to revisit
these pictures because most of the kids have now grown up
to be young adults.
Even though there are a lot of bad memories associated
with Cuando Hablan Los Santos the exhibit, the book is
well done; a must have for personal libraries of those
who are interested in the santos. The exhibit did tour
around the country for a few years and did bring new
exposure to the artists.
Currently part of the exhibit is on display at the
Maxwell on the UNM campus in Albuquerque and there is
talk that the exhibit may go to Spain in 2000. We hope
that the art and the artists can rise above the problems
and adversity associated with the exhibit. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2000
Cuban Elegance
Michael Connors with photography by Bruce Buck. Published
in 2004 by Harry N. Abrams. $40, hardcover, ISBN
0-8109-4337-9, 176 pages, 185 color photos and maps.
This is an elegant book. The photos are stunning about a
place that we really don’t know a lot about -- Cuba. It
is obvious that Europe played an important part in the
furniture styles and decorating of Cuban villas. There is
even a museum dedicated to Napoleon. It is amazing that
some of the grand homes are still intact and that we can
enjoy and study the history of Cuba in these photos.This
a Cuba at another time without the restrictions they now
have. It is a beautiful addition to anyone’s library.
And, of course, Cuba is very “in” now! -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2004
Cuento de La Llorona: Tale of the Wailing Woman
Videotape, 2001 Zozobra Productions. $19.95.
The video came in a simple package with no press material
and a handwritten note to review it. We get a lot of
videos in expensive packaging but watched this one
because it was local. This is an adaptation of a book by
Ray John de Aragon and self produced with his wife Rosa
Marie Calles directing.
The video is a you-are-there in a stage production. It
runs for about an hour. With many stage shows that go to
video, a static camera sits way in the back of the
audience and you are bored to tears. That is not the case
here with close ups and some special effects. You are on
the stage. This is good and can be especially good for
high school and college classes studying the tale of
Llorona. The language is Spanish and English but not to
be afraid if you only understand one. It is entertaining
and a valuable resource.
To obtain copies send $19.95 to Pan American Publishing,
PO Box 1505, Las Vegas, NM 87701. The stage play will be
coming to the South Broadway Cultural Center in
Albuquerque during October (see page 54 for details). --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2002
Culinary New Mexico: The Ultimate Food Lover’s Guide
Sally Moore. Published in 2005 by Fulcrum Publishing,
paperback, 232 pages, black & white with pictures,
$18.95, ISBN 1-55591-491-8.
In the spirit of full disclosure, Sally is a member of
the book co-op and has done articles on santeros. That
being said, this book is a great idea. Instead of the
usual travel book, do it with food. Eat your way through
the state! There are farmer’s markets, breweries, dining,
wineries, events, places to shop for food items, recipes,
bakeries, tortillerias, feast days, and much more. The
book is divided into regions and it is easy to follow.
Almost everything in New Mexico has something to do with
food so this book is very appropriate. It would make a
great gift for someone visiting or living here. Every
state should have this kind of book for tourists. Red or
green anyone? -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2005
DaVinci’s Kitchen: A Secret History of Italian Cuisine
Dave DeWitt. Published in 2006 by BenBella Books, 213
pages, B&W, hardback, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-933771-07-6.
Yes this book is on Italian food but Dave DeWitt is a
noted chilehead with many books on the New Mexico
traditions under his belt. He runs the Fiery Foods Show
at Sandia Casino and lives in Albuquerque. On the heels
of the DaVinci Code this book will appeal to Italian food
lovers and foodies of all kinds. There are recipes,
stories, trivia, and stuff that makes you just want to
read this book and even the Pope makes an appearance. It
is not your usual cookbook! Put together with tomato
sauce and you have a great gift! -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
De Grazia & Mexican Cookery
art by Ted De Gracia and recipes by Rita Davenport.
Northland Publishing, $12.95. ISBN 0-87358-307-8,
paperback. Color drawings. 82 pages.
This is the sixth printing of a book that originally was
published in 1982. It seems that it has been in every
airport store, book store, and specialty store I have
visited for years in the entire Southwest, perhaps
because it is the kind of book that is easy to use and
great to give as a gift. The layout has De Grazia’s color
drawings throughout and is very easy on the eye.
The recipes range from the well known:guacamole, salsa,
taco salad, and enchiladas to lesser known recipes:
topopo, guisado, chili souffle, and albondigas soup.This
book, in its smaller format, would be great in a basket
of Southwestern ingredients and presented to a favorite
cook. The recipes are fun and not overly complicated. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
De Leon, a Tejano Family History
Ana Carolina Castillo Crimm. Published in 2003 by
University of Texas Press, paperback. 328 pages, 18 b/w
photos, $22.95, ISBN 0-292-70220-5.
These types of books have legs. They will go down in
history as good reference material and maybe the family
will be appreciated more by the whole population. The de
Leon family came to Texas from Mexico and populated South
Texas and founded Victoria. There are some nice
historical photos that put a face to a name. They had
many ordeals that Anglos probably wouldn’t have had but
they battled on. They have a story and it is told
beautifully. A well told story and worth telling. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2004
Desert Opposites
illustrated by Eileen Hine, Published in 2005 by Rising
Moon, 12 pages, hardback, $5.95, full color, ISBN
0-87358-890-8.
This book is for very small children, pre-readers. The
premise is cute--opposites live in the desert. There are
kangaroo rats, coyotes, rabbits, snakes, turtles, and
more. The book is bright and kids will love it. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Documents of the Coronado Expedition, 1539-1542
Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint. Published in
2005 by Southern Methodist University Press, hardback,
$75, 760 pages, 29 illustrations, 5 maps, ISBN
0-87074-496-8.
We are doing a lot of “ultimate” books in this issue but
this is the book to have if the Coronado Expedition is
your bag. It is huge. It is also not a book to sit in
front of the fire with - it is a reference book. It has
never seen before documents and is the first account of a
land that no one has seen before. Of course this book
should be in every library and university and a top rate
book to learn about the expedition that was such a value
to all of us. There is a bibliography and index. The
Spanish is translated. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2005
Don't Let All The Pretty Days Get By
Bruce Hoppe, published by Back-To-One Books, February
2006, 212 pages, ISBN: 097776110X$12.95
What happens when Teddy Gibbs returns from L.A. to her
family's ranch in New Mexico to care for her mother, only
to find it necessary to protect her family's land from a
clan of nudist balloonists and corrupt casino developers?
What happens when she has the cojones but perhaps not the
skill to act as her own attorney? Naturally, mayhem and
madness ensue. As I began Bruce Hoppe's Don't Let All the
Pretty Days Get By, I thought the story line seemed
implausible and it was slow-going for the first fifty
pages or so. By then I found myself believing, thanks to
a tight storyline, diverse characters, witty banter, and
rich commentary on the state of government,
environmentalism and even on the nature (and usefulness)
of outlaws. It's a page-turner from that point on. On
Hoppe's website he quotes Mark Twain as saying, "The
truth must be told through humor...otherwise people will
kill you." He does a great job of having his characters
address a variety of western life's dilemmas in a
humorous and original manner. As a bonus for history
buffs, a philosophical Billy the Kid makes an appearance.
Hoppe has a gripping command of language, writing
literary prose interspersed with dialect. His characters
are colorful, sympathetic, and well developed, including
a senator who claims to channel his dead predecessor
among others. The dialog is fast paced and clever, but
the novel is not without its shortcomings. Parts of the
book are fraught with so much action that I found myself
wishing it had come with a fast-forward button. A
literary action novel is an interesting concept, but at
times it was a little too light on the literary and a
little too heavy on the action. It is a fun read though,
a good story with many interesting and quotable ideas
such as, "It has always been the need of the timid to
prove passion fatally flawed." While Hoppe is no Edward
Abbey or John Nichols, if you liked The Monkey Wrench
Gang or The Milagro Beanfield War, you just might like
Don't Let All the Pretty Days Get By. -- From
Blogcritics, reviewed by Staci Schoff, October, 2006
Douglas Rodriguez’s Latin Flavors on the Grill
Published in 2004 by Ten Speed Press, paperback, $24,95,
216 pages, many full color photos, ISBN 1-58008-565-2.
This is a lush cookbook by one of the “in” chefs of the
moment. It has drink directions as well as food like
paella, lobster, and trifle. The photos just make you
hungry looking at them. There is a index, source list,
and bibliography. There is also a section on Grill Basics
that explains a lot of different oils. This is a great
book for a gift; include some spices with the book to
make a great gift. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2004
Drawing the Borderline: Artist-Explorers of the
U.S.-Mexico Boundary Survey
by the Albuquerque Museum, distributed by University of
New Mexico Press, 1996, 168 pp, 35 color plates/46
halftones/1 map, ISBN 0-8263-1752-9, $29.95.
The boundary between the United States and Mexico has
long been troublesome. The Mexican War grew out of a
border dispute, and when peace was restored in 1848 the
task of redrawing the boundary was assigned to the
U.S.-Mexico Boundary Survey. The art produced for the
survey played a crucial role in creating a national
appreciation of the desert landscape of the Southwest.
This handsomely illustrated book, produced in conjunction
with a 1996 exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum,
considers the work of John Russell Bartlett, the literary
scholar, bibliophile, and artist who was commissioner of
the boundary survey, and of Henry Cheever Pratt and Seth
Eastman, the survey artists who accompanied him. Essays
discuss the cultural, political, and environmental
context and significance of the survey and the haunting
images it produced. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 1997
E. Boyd: Santa Fe Painter & Scholar 1903-1974
Julie Schimmel. Published in 2006 by Gerald Peters
Gallery, 72 pages, full color, paperback, $20, ISBN
1-931717-20-6.
Although the exhibit was over in August the book remains.
Nothing the Peters Gallery does is second class and this
book is no exception. It is a little gem that scholars
will want to have. It has a foreword by Bill Field, a
chronology, and many pictures done by El Boyd. The
essay--All About E--gives insight into this influential
person. A great gift for the person who has everything
and you are stumped what to get them. We know you will
have trouble find this outside the gallery so call
505/954-5757. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2006
Early New Mexican Furniture: A Handbook of Plans and
Building Techniques
Kingsley H. Hammett. Published by Fleetwood Press, 1999
and distributed by University of New Mexico Press.
Softback, ISBN 0-9648256-2-7, $19.95. 96 pages, 40 B
& W photos, 51 drawings.
Woodworkers and fans of New Mexican Spanish Colonial
furniture will want to have this book in their reference
library. It is simple with easy to follow plans on how to
make chairs, benches, cupboards, trasteros, bureaus,
trunks, bins, harineros, bins, and tables - all of the
basic furniture items present in a Spanish Colonial home
in New Mexico. There is an essay by Donna Pierce on
Spanish Colonial furniture that was previously published
by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The bonus to the book are the pictures of Casa San Ysidro
where all of the original pieces reside. Visitors now
have something to help remember their trip into history.
Hats off to anyone who helps the public have access to
museum collections like this one owned by the Albuquerque
Museum. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2000
Echoes of the Southwest Volumes I & II,
Michael Silva, Manzano Records. Suggested retail $15 each
CD. 505/847-0618. Web: http://michaelsilva.luma.com.
These CDs are extremely soothing and great to play on
long trips in the car provided you don’t fall asleep from
being too relaxed! There are traditional Spanish songs
like La Guadalupana, A San Antonio, Bendito, Ave Maria
Purisma, as well as connections to the Catholic Mass like
Tantum Ergo, and Señor, Ten Piedad (a version of Kyrie
Eleison).
The sound quality of the CDs is excellent with
interesting touches and beats added to traditional songs.
Many cuts have a group of voices that adds fullness to
the presentation. These would make great gifts for
birthdays and Christmas for someone who appreciates but
can’t find a lot of quality New-Mexican-based music. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1999
Efrain of the Sonoran Desert: A Lizard’s Life Among the
Seri Indians
as told to Gary Paul Nabhan and illustrated by Janet K.
Miller. Published 2001, Cinco Puntos Press, hardback,
$16.95, ISBN 0-938317-55-5. 15 color illustrations, 32
pages.
Another tale released by Cinco Puntos Press. For any
child who loves lizards and other icky creatures this is
the book for them. This is all in English with a lot of
lizard information and a bonus poster in the cover.
Especially great for boys who have trouble finding good
beginner books. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2002
El Alma de España: The Soul of Spain
Marcus Burke, Selma Holo with notes by Mari-Tere Alvarez.
Published in 2005 by the Albuquerque Museum, 289 pages,
full color with many photos, $60.
The catalog accompanies the exhibit by the same name at
the Albuquerque Museum until July 31. It only took almost
two months to get it to us to review - this accounts for
the lateness. But it is a beautiful book to remember the
exhibit. It is oversized and has color plates of we
think, every piece in the exhibit. The text is in Spanish
and English. If you loved the exhibit then this book
should go home with you. We know the book may have
problems being bought at other locations -- there is no
ISBN -- so call the Museum Gift Shop 505/243-7255. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
El Camino Real: de Tierra Adentro
Enrique Lamadrid, Jack Loeffler, and Tomas Martinez
Saldana. Published in 2005 by the New Mexico Department
of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with the opening of El
Camino Real Heritage Center, 63 pages, b&w and sepia
tones, paperback (Spanish edition also available).
The book was published for the opening of the El Camino
Heritage Center near Socorro in November 2005. They are
to be congratulated for also putting out a Spanish
edition of the book. The new Center is New Mexico’s sixth
State Monument and the exhibit interprets a number of
other monuments too. The book gives a history of the
Trail and region. It is nicely done and an excellent gift
for historians. If you can’t get this book in stores,
call 505/854-3600. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2006
El Cerrito, New Mexico: Eight Generations in a Spanish
Village
Richard L. Nostrand. Published in 2003 by the University
of Oklahoma Press, hardback, $39.95, ISBN 0-8061-3546-8,
288 pages, 56 b/w photos, 5 line drawings, 27 maps.
This is another great book; it features a little New
Mexican village. I wonder why it wasn’t published in New
Mexico. It really hasn’t gotten much publicity here but
the fact it was done means that the information will not
be lost. The village was founded in 1824 and has not had
an easy time of it. El Cerrito is near Villanueva, south
of Las Vegas, New Mexico. This is an in-depth
documentation of all of the human transactions that have
taken place in the village. It is a documentation of the
geology. The historic photos are great. El Cerrito has
gone kicking and screaming into the 21st century and will
be around for some time. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2004
El Cucuy!
As told by Joe Hayes and Illustrated by Honorio Robledo.
Published 2001, Cinco Puntos Press, hardback, $15.95,
ISBN 0-938317-54-7, 15 color illustrations, 32 pages.
Everyone loves Joe Hayes. So this is a must book. It is
called a “Bilingual Middle Reader” -- it is in Spanish
and English. Good to use with kids or adults learning
Spanish. El Cucuy is the Bogeyman so any kid will
understand the story. The pictures have a naive-kid
quality that will make any aged kid enjoy reading. The
more books that are bilingual the better. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2002
El Farol: Tapas and Spanish Cuisine
Chef James Campbell Caruso and Foreword by El Farol Owner
David Salazar. Published in 2005 by Gibbs Smith, 212
pages, hardback, $29.95, 44 color photos, ISBN
1-58685-101-2.
This is a beautiful book that makes you hungry just
looking at it. There are recipes for potatoes, shrimp,
posole clam chowder, oxtail soup, flan, sangria, and many
more. There is a history of the restaurant, the food, and
basics. Also included is an essay on Spanish wines, the
pantry, sources, and an Index. Coming at this time it is
an excellent gift for a person who cooks and if their
significant other eats include a gift card to the
restaurant in Santa Fe. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2005
El Favor De Los Santos
Produced by KRWG-TV New Mexico State University, $25 plus
shipping and handling. 56 minutes & 38 seconds.
The folks at KRWG-TV (Las Cruces PBS affiliate) are very
proud of their video El Favor De Los Santos. And with
good reason. In 2001 it won a documentary emmy for the
region and the Hispanic Journalism TV Photos First Place
award. We like it because someone had the foresight to do
both a wonderful book on the exhibit and this video so
the exhibit would live on for those who appreciate and
those who do research.
The video is the highest quality showing selected
retablos and ex votos from the exhibit but more
importantly putting the tradition in context all the way
back to the Aztecs. It links the traditions in Mexico and
New Mexico seamlessly. Many guests talk about their
history with the images. One particularly interesting
older lady talked about how the santos are like lawyers
who intercede for us with God. The video is a great
overview for religious history classes. We highly
recommend this video. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 2002
El Pueblo: The Historic Heart of Los Angeles
Jean Bruce Poole and Tevvy Ball. Published 2002 by the
Getty Conservation Institute and collaboration with the
J. Paul Getty Museum, Conservation and Cultural Heritage
Series. Paperback, $24.95, ISBN 0-89236-662-1,136 pages,
88 color photos and 72 b/w photos.
We have gone on record in previous issues that projects
that document historic neighborhoods are to be applauded.
This book sets the rung very high on the level of
excellence that other books need to obtain. Of course it
is a Getty book. This book documents the beginnings of
Los Angeles and shows how various ethnic communities made
a contribution.
It uses archival photos as well as contemporary ones. The
architecture, art, people, and murals are made an
important part of El Pueblo’s history. This is the fifth
book in the series and well worth the time and money.
There is a suggested reading list of books and articles
as well as a historic map. We found the one thing lacking
was a map of contemporary LA to overlay what area was
covered. It is a gem of documentation. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
El Rancho de Las Golondrinas - The Video
1997, 12 minutes color/BW. Available from the Golondrinas
Museum Store. $10
It’s not a book but worth mentioning. Golondrinas’ John
Berkenfield managed to get a grant of $10,000 to make
this video in 1997. It is great! Not only is it sold in
the Museum Shop but John uses it to promote the Museum to
tour groups and film crew scouting locations. It works
well.
This is twelve minutes of history, putting perspective on
the formation of the ranch relating to the rest of the
world. The contemporary pictures of the rancho are mixed
in with historic photos. The video is narrated by
Albuquerque TV anchor Nelson Martinez. The quality of the
tape is professional and entertaining.
What can you use the video for? Well if you live in New
Mexico and have constant house guests, you can show them
the video before you take them to Golondrinas for a
visit. It will save a lot of recollecting history. It is
a good tape for schools, tour groups and to send to folks
who love New Mexico and can’t get enough but live far
away.
The tape can be gotten by calling the Museum Store
505/471-2261 and store manager Lolly will take care of
you. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1998
El Ratoncito Pequeño: The Little Mouse
by Pipina Salas-Porras and illustrated by Jose Cisneros.
Published in 2001 by Cinco Puntos Press, 32 pages, full
color, hardback, $15.95, ISBN 0-938317-56-3.
This is an attractive dual language book for
pre-schoolers. The paintings by Jose Cisneros are
wonderful and worth giving as a gift. This is a nursery
tale that both the author and artist heard growing up in
Mexico. This book is a great way to bring up kids
bilingually. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2005
El Sexto Pintor, Eliseo Rodriguez
Exhibit catalog by the Museum of Fine Art and the Museum
of Spanish Colonial Art. Essays by Carmella Padilla, Tey
Marianna Nun, and Aline Chapman Brandauer. 48 pages, many
color and B/W picutes, $20.00, paperback, ISBN
0-9675106-3-5.
The show is wonderful, warm, and informative. The catalog
will help the memories remain long after the show comes
down. The photos of Eliseo’s work are crisp and clear.
The essays help describe Eliseo then and now. It is not a
major work but fills the need to explain a lost part of
New Mexico’s history. A must have for anyone who collects
the work of Eliseo and Paula. This is all nice for Eliseo
to enjoy now. He gave everyone a scare when the
paramedics had to be summoned to help him at the opening
for the show. The catalog is probably is not available at
any other store except the Fine Art Store off the Plaza
but you can call them at 505/476-5059. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Elias Rivera
Edward Lucie-Smith. Published in 2006 by Hudson Hills
Press, hardback, 244 pages, full color, $65, ISBN
1-55595-267-4.
If you can have book envy this is the one to have. This
is a coffee-table book that is large and shows the work
of Elias Rivera to its max. The plates are very large.
The Foreword is written by Gene Hackman who lives in
Santa Fe, and went to school with Rivera. The exhibits of
Rivera’s work at Riva Yares and the National Hispanic
Cultural Center set off a storm but the bottom line is
his work is good and this book will tell you everything
you wanted to know about Rivera. This alone would make a
great gift. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2006
Eppie Archuleta and the Tale of Juan de la Burra
Ruben E, Archuleta. Published in 2004 by El Jefe,
paperback $24.95, 384 pages, ISBN 0-9742840-1-7.
This is great book for fans of Eppie Archuleta, a
national treasure. She and her mother the weaver, Agueda,
have their biographies in the first part of the book. The
second part is the story of Juan de la Burra in Spanglish
--- a dialect that may be dying out in Southern Colorado.
The book documents a great weaver and her family, the
tale, and the dialect, all would be lost without this
book. There are beautiful color pictures of Eppie’s
weavings. The folk tale has an appeal to young and old
and furthers the tradition of reading to kids. This is a
great gift for fans of weaving too! You may have a little
trouble getting the book so call 719/566-2950 or visit
www.eljeferuben.com. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 2004
Estrellita de Oro-Little Gold Star: A Cinderella Cuento
retold in Spanish & English by Jose Hayes,
illustrated by Gloria Osuna Perez & Lucia Angela
Perez. Cinco Puntos Press. 2000, ISBN 0-938317-49-0.
hardcover, $15.95. 30 pages in color.
The Cinderella story is common to all but has a very
European flavor. In this version the story is slightly
different with a Mexican/New Mexican feel. This will be
refreshing and familiar to children in this part of the
world. The illustrations are bold and colorful. The
bilingual text will be helpful to anyone trying to retain
or teach/learn Spanish. This will make a great Christmas
present for a child or an adult who collects quality
children’s books. Joe Hayes is New Mexico’s master
storyteller and his enthusiasm carries to the printed
page. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2000
Exhibiting Mestizaje
Karen Mary Davalos. Published in 2003 by University of
New Mexico Press, paperback, ISBN 0-8263-1900-9, $21.95,
272 pages, 17 b/w photos.
When we went to school, as with many others, there were
no Hispanics. We don’t know where they were but they were
invisible so their accomplishments were ignored. Many
years later they are a power to be dealt with. Exhibiting
Mestizaje talks about how these art forms need to be
recognized and exhibited in a manor that helps people
understand the people. But what is puzzling is the
Mexican people are also Hispanic people and the
contributions of Hispanics outside California or of
Mexican descent ignore the contributions of New Mexican
Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, Cubanos and others. The
problems of Mexicans is universally felt by all Hispanics
and this book only looks at a small snapshot. It is a
beginning and makes people think but Mexicanos can
discriminate against other Hispanics and a larger picture
is out there to be discovered. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2003
Exploring New World Imagery
Donna Pierce. Published in 2005 by the Denver Art Museum,
paperback, 157 pages, many color and B&W photos,
$24.95, ISBN 0-914738-51-8.
These are the papers from the 2002 Mayer Center
Symposium. The papers reflect the art backgrounds of
different ideas in Mexico and the Old World. It is
interesting that there is no paper on Spanish Colonial
Art in the U.S. specifically New Mexico although there
was Spanish Colonial Art in the Southwest and California.
Maybe they haven’t figured out that Spanish Colonial Art
was in New Mexico for over 400 years. This is the Museum
that had many of their labels wrong in their collection
of New Mexican Art. This little book is good for someone
who works or is interested in the area but it is lacking.
We in New Mexico wonder why we are often slighted. After
all, isn’t New Mexico in the New World? It would have
been interesting to see the influences on New Mexican and
contemporary art. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2007
Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Jimmy Olson Saves Las
Vegas
Quite possibly the best title I’ve ever seen is R. Thomas
Berner’s Extra! Extra! Read All About It! Jimmy Olson
Saves Las Vegas. The book lives up to the fun of the
title as young Jimmy Olson, on his way to Santa Fe to
pursue a newspaper career, ends up in Las Vegas, New
Mexico when his car breaks down. Instead, he becomes a
nearly unpaid reporter for a local failing newspaper
instead shortly after the local district attorney
mysteriously disappears. The story breaks wide-open as
the disappearances continue and it’s left to Jimmy Olson
to save Las Vegas. This fun read is loosely based on the
real 2005 disappearance of Ray Gricar, District Attorney
of Center County, Pennsylvania. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Summer 2007
Farolitos for Abuelo
Rudolfo Anaya and illustrations by Edward Gonzales.
Hyperion Book For Children, 1999. Hardback, $15.99, ISBN
0-7868-0237-5, 29 pages, color illustrations.
Rudolfo Anaya’s first children’s book, The Farolitos of
Christmas, took the book industry by surprise. It sold
out immediately and was a sought after gift for
Christmas. Now his eagerly awaited second book in the
series for children has been published in the same format
as the first including the beautiful oil paintings by New
Mexico artist Edward Gonzales.
This book is the story of a young girl, Luz, the death of
her Abuelo or grandfather, and the traditional mourning
period and how she remembers her grandfather with
farolitos. It is a wonderful book to help children
understand about the traditions of New Mexico but also to
start to understand death and the grieving process.
There is a glossary of New Mexican Spanish terms and a
short essay from Anaya to help explain the traditions of
the farolitos. Both books are wonderful gifts for any
child at Christmas. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 1999
Fe, Arte Y Cultura: Santo Niño de Atocha
2000, Diocesis de Zacatecas/Mexic-Arte Museum. $50,
hardback, color & b/w, ISBN 970-18-2990-5
This lush book on the Santo Niño de Atocha is in Spanish.
The book was printed in Mexico and nuns in Zacatecas hand
glued the color plates. Which means there may be some
plates a little off-center or in one case upside down.
But this is the way good quality books were made in the
good old days. The integrity of the source material may
be in question since we know for a fact that the pictures
credited to us were not borrowed legally and in fact one
photo is credited to us and is not ours. New Mexican
artists are Estrellita Carrillo and Alcario Otero with
Virgina santero Al Florence. It is a wonderful
compilation of the Santo Niño in Mexico and New Mexico.
The book accompanies a show currently at the Museo del
Barrio in New York until March 30, 2002 then the exhibit
goes back to Mexico. The best place to obtain the book is
by calling the Museo del Barrio store. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Fernando’s Gift
Douglas Keister, Published by the Sierra Club, originally
in 1995, $16.95, hardback, 32 pages, full color photos,
ISBN 0-87156-414-9.
This bilingual book uses photos rather than
illustrations. It is a good supplement for rain forest
preservation and Costa Rica. It would be also handy if
you were teaching English or Spanish. This book would
appeal to both boys and girls. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2006
Fiesta Mexicali
Kelley Coffeen. Published 2002, Northland Publishing,
paperback, $14.95, ISBN 0-87358-805. 136 pages, 25 full
color photos.
They call this the cure for the common cookbook and
Mexican food with American attitude. It is different and
mouthwatering. The author hosts a TV show “Kelley’s
Kitchen” and lives in Las Cruces. This book is a simple
little book with great recipes: Manzana salsa, cha cha
spread, margarita rumba, pappas con chile, pink cadillac
margaritas, and citrus kiss. It would make a great gift
-- combined with some of the products highlighted. It
talks about music, decorating, resources, and gifts. A
perfect book to keep in the pantry for ideas and recipes.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2002
Flora’s Kitchen
Regina Romero. Treasure Chest Books, 1998. 127 pages,
softback, ISBN 1887896-10-4, b/w, $10.95.
This is a personal recipe file from the author’s family.
It is simple, short and covers all of the favorite New
Mexican foods. The directions are relatively simple. The
recipes are arranged with family history that puts the
food ways into a family setting. The book also takes time
to explain the importance of particular foods like chiles
and frijoles. There is a glossary and historic photos of
the family. We especially liked the woodcut prints of
tins used on the cover and throughout the book. It would
make a great gift along with a basket of the basic
ingredients like chiles, tortilla flour, pinto beans and
spices. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1998
Folk Art Journey: Florence D. Bartlett and the Museum of
International Folk Art
Laurel Seth and Ree Mobley. Published 2003 by Museum of
New Mexico Press, paperback, ISBN 0-89013-446-4, $27.50,
116 pages, in color and archival b/w photos.
This book puts the Florence Dibble Bartlett Collection at
the Museum of International Folk Art into context. The
who, what, where, and why of how the collection was put
together and donated. It also tells the story of where
the collection is now and its present history. Don’t
expect all of the collection to be represented although
there are pieces from all over the world. It was odd that
many pieces were identified but there was no discussion
of how they were acquired while other pieces were. We
were especially disappointed that the story of a New
Mexican retablo was not explained but happy that a Romero
cross was. We were also puzzled why the essays of the
curators of MOIFA didn’t rate placement in the table of
contents. Even with its flaws this book is a must for
those who are fans of folk art and MOIFA. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 2003
Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits, and
Healers
James S. Griffin. Published in 2003, paperback, $14.95,
172 pages, 24 photos and illustrations, ISBN
1-887896-51-1.
Jim Griffin is trying to tap the Borderland/Folk audience
with his releases. It is a interesting and entertaining
book. It is good to get these stories out especially to
kids and libraries. In this book we only found a small
problem with retablos and reredos in the “Some
Definitions” section. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2004
Following The Royal Road: A Guide To The Historic Camino
Real De Terra Adentro
Hal Jackson with introduction by Marc Simmons. Published
in 2006 by UNM Press, paperback, 226 pages, B&W, 49
photos and 60 maps, $19.95, ISBN 978-0-8263-4085-6.
This is a motorists’ guide to the Royal Road or “The Road
from the Interior”. The road goes from San Juan Pueblo to
Mexico City and lately has received a lot of attention by
having the Camino Real Center open below Socorro and
being declared a National Scenic Byway and National
Historic Trust Trail. But if you don’t use this book
driving you can use it as a reference or as a cool gift.
It is the latest research on the road/trail and its
history. Professional geographer Hal Jackson did a good
job at providing the reader with many facts they didn’t
know. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Forts and Forays: A Dragoon in New Mexico, 1850-1856
James A. Bennett, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1948, revised 1996, 122 pp, 11
illustrations/1 map, ISBN 0-8263-1690-5, $16.95
Forts and Forays is an enlisted man’s journal of frontier
soldiering in the pre-Civil War Southwest. Bennett
describes his enlistment in late 1849, brutal training on
Governor’s Island, New York, trip across the plains to
New Mexico, and six-year service with the First Dragoons.
Journal passages recount punishing desert campaigns again
Apaches, Utes, and Navajos, scouting for Indians with Kit
Carson and Uncle Dick Wootton, fighting for his life at
the Battle of Cienguilla, and recuperating from severe
combat wounds. Critical of officers’ arbitrary violence
against enlisted men, Bennett deserted to Mexico in 1857
and returned to New York. This is an excellent source of
information on the people and culture of mid-nineteenth
century New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 1996
Four Corners
Debra Bloomfield. Publish in 2004 by the University of
New Mexico Press, hardback, $45.00, ISBN 0-8263-3223-4,
168 pages, 67 color plates.
This is a beautiful book for your coffee table, library,
or a gift. For the santo lover, it does have color
pictures that you don’t usually see. There are also
fabulous landscapes, There are unusual and unforgettable
closeups. The color is top knotch. This book makes you
want to pick up your camera and go for a road trip. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2004
Four Hundred Years of Faith: Seeds of Struggle - Harvest
of Faith
1998 Archdiocese of Santa Fe, no ISBN, $15 paperback,
color & B/W.
This book documents the history of Catholic Church in New
Mexico with an emphasis on the various parishes, people,
and orders of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. There are some
attractive drawings of various important personalities by
Mike Bridge. The book covers events from the beginning
when the area was under the jurisdiction of Durango,
Mexico. It is a valuable reference for anyone wanting to
have a beginning history of the various churches,
parishes, and even some lesser known individuals who
played an important part in the Archdiocese.
Especially interesting are the various religious orders
who have come to New Mexico and their impact. All peoples
are covered -- the Native American parishes are pictured.
Many timelines are included to get a sense of when things
happened. A list of parishes that have ceased to exist is
also featured. It was a good project for the Archdiocese
to have undertaken for the Cuarto Centennial and one that
everyone who was involved in can be proud of. The
Catholic Church has been an important cornerstone of life
in New Mexico for 400 years. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 1998
Fray Angelico Chavez: Poet Priest and Artist
ElIen McCracken. 2000, University of New Mexico Press,
hardback, $24.95, ISBN 0-8263-2007-4, 156 pages, B/W
photos
Father Tom Steele recently told us that Fray Chavez was
possibly New Mexico’s most important historian, Everyone
wit have an opinion but it could be argued that Chavez
was also a renaissance man in his various loves of art
research, history, poetry, genealogy, restoration,
fiction, nonfiction and his day job as a friar
For those who want to team more about this extraordinary
man, this book will help put it all in perspective. This
is a collection of essays by fellow historians like Marc
Simmons, Tom Steele, Luis Leal, Mario Garcia and others
on specific topics of importance. The book ends with a
talk given by Dr. Tom Chavez, three days after his
uncle’s death at a Latin American Studies meeting held in
Santa Fe.
There is renewed interest in the historical importance of
the religious pioneers of New Mexico. Chavez was
certainly a monumental figure and this book is a easy way
to get into his head and heart. For those of us who never
met him, we wish we had. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2000
Frida Kahlo: An Open Life
Raquel Tibol, translated by Elinor Randall. 2000,
University of New Mexico Press. 230 pages, softcover ISBN
0-8263-2188-7, $14.95, 8 B&W photos.
Frida groupies will love this book. It is very personal,
in fact, maybe too personal for some tastes.The book was
first published in Mexico in 1983 and now is available in
English. It contains conversations, medical information,
and many personal observations by the author.
There is no question that you get a up-close-and-personal
view of Frida and her unconventional lifestyle. It is an
easy but sad read. It brings to mind questions of what
if? This pop-culture icon becomes three dimensional in
this new view of the artist. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2000
Frommer’s Great Outdoor Guide to Arizona & New Mexico
1st edition by Lesley S. King. Published in 2001 by
Hungry Minds, paperback, $18.99, ISBN 0-02-863591-4, 388
pages, B/W.
We are not campers, hikers, and bird watching is done
from the office. But we have friends who liked the book
and used it in their travels. It has got everything
needed by an outsider especially an outsider not
acquainted with the Southwest. All the national parks are
covered and suggested trips. It also talks about being
responsible for the earth and how to treat the outdoors
so it survive. This is trekking with a conscience. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2003
Frommer’s New Mexico
7th edition by Lesley S. King. Published in 2003 by Wiley
Publishing, paperback, $16.99, ISBN 0-7645-6716-0, 404
pages in B/W.
This is an expanded version of the Santa Fe book
(previous) and contains a fold out State map. It also
references Sabinita Lopez Ortiz and her cousin Gloria
Ortiz (do they mean Gloria Lopez Cordova?). In any case
this is a good tour book for a visitor with lots of
little tips and recommendations. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2003
Frommer’s Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque
Lesley S. King, 9th edition, Published in 2003 by Wiley
Publishing, paperback, $15.99, ISBN 0-7645-6700-4, 274
pages, B/W.
Again a good travel book. Sadly a few of the places to
eat have gone out of business in the rough economy but it
is still accurate. If you aren’t living here, we would
call anyplace first to see if they are still functioning.
Even a few galleries are gone. More a reflection on
conditions than the accuracy of the book. Not just travel
information but some cultural asides too. More of a feel
for this State than just a travel book. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2003
Gambel’s Quail
Lynn Hassler Kaufman. Published in 2004 by Rio Nuevo
Publishers, hardback, $12.95, 64 pages, 30 photos, ISBN
1-887896-62-7.
Roadrunners
Lynn Hassler Kaufman, Published in 2004 by Rio Nuevo
Publishers, hardback, $12.95, 30 photos, 64 pages, ISBN
1-887896-64-3.
We have a flock, more like a herd, of quail that run all
over Los Ranchos. Now we know about the quails. This book
was written by someone who is a birding expert and she
takes us into every aspect of the bird’s life. We also
want to know about the Roadrunners that we see on our
walks. This series is great for gifts. They join the
company of Javelinas, Coyotes, Kokopelli, and the Navajo
Long Walk. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Georgia O’Keefe at Ghost Ranch
John Loengard. te Neues Publishing Co., 1999, ISBN
3-8238-9965-1. b/w, 79 pages.
The O’Keefe phenomenon continues. This current entry into
the book market is a nice little gift type book with
beautifully simple black and white photos arranged among
personal references. Georgia was one photogenic old girl.
There are even some smiling/happy pictures of her which
seem out of place with her lasting image. The photos make
you want to buy some black and white film and start
taking arty pictures. Any O’Keefe fan will love this. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1999
Geronimo: Fine Dining in Santa Fe
Cliff Skoglund and Eric DiStefano. Published in 2004 by
Ten Speed Press, hardcover, 256 pages, full color, ISBN
1-5800 8-491-5, $50.
Don’t read this book if you are hungry. We read this
after lunch and we still drolled. It is a beautiful
coffee table book on one of our favorite places in Santa
Fe. It will make a great gift for anyone who celebrated a
special occassion there. It has recipes, a glossary, tips
on how to cook and a resource guide. Combine it with a
gift certificate to Geronimo and you have the perfect
gift. It has a lot of inside stories including the “O”
that is always falling. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2004
Ghost Stories of California’s Gold Rush Country and
Yosemite National Park
Antonio Garcez. Published in 2004 by Red Rabbit Press,
207 pages, $22.75, B&W, photos/maps/drawing
thoughout, ISBN 0-9634029-8-6.
Antonio Garcez is the best ghost story teller in New
Mexico (Hanover). This is a new project and it sounds
like he is going to do a number of states with Colorado
being next. He had good reviews with Adobe Angels of
Santa Fe, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and even Abiquiu. All
sorts of places we know are in the book like Placerville,
Sacramento, Mariposa, and Sutter Creek. He has got
stories of the famous and infamous. A great gift for
someone who lives in California or just wish they did. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
Ghost Towns Alive: Trips to New Mexico’s Past
Linda Harris with photos by Pamela Porter. Published in
2003 by University of New Mexico Press, paperback,
$19.95, 240 pages, 147 b/w photos and 12 maps, ISBN
0-8263-2908-X.
After seeing this book I wanted to get in the car and
find some of these places. I have a reputation of going
to a lot of small towns in New Mexico but even La Bajada,
San Luis, Cabezon, and Puerto de Luna were off my scope.
I did see some old favorites like Acacia -- a place where
I spent a lot of time. There are driving directions and
the stories that have been lost through time. The
pictures are great and bring back some memories and
foster new ones. There are ninety towns depicted. There
is a list of suggested readings too. The Ghost Towns
circumvent all races. A nice little addition to a library
of someone who likes to look around. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2004
Gourmet Tortillas: Exotic and Traditional Tortilla Dishes
Karen Howarth. Clearlight Publishers, 2000. Paperback,
$14.95, ISBN 1-57416-058-3, 176 pages, B&W.
We love tortillas. They are southwestern comfort food. In
recent years we have found the flavored tortillas of
Chimayo and send care packages back east to all of our
friends who long for good tortillas. This year for the
holidays they will get this book.
It has wonderful recipes. We loved the french toast
breakfast tortillas, southwestern onion soup with
tortillas and cheese, orange tortillas, and lavender
tortillas. There are basic “how to” instructions for
making tortillas, disaster control, and some great
sauces. The idea of a tortilla pie crust is very
interesting. For holiday gifts consider a bag of New
Mexico tortilla flour and this book. Cooks will love it
because the recipes are also healthy and a fun departure!
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2001
Grasshopper Pie
Rebecca C. Talley and illustrations by Angela Talley.
Published in 2003 by WindRiver Publishing, hardback,
$14.95, 21 pages, full color, ISBN 1-886249-09-1.
Cooking is the central focus of this book. It is more of
a girl and mom book. It is great for reading at bedtime
or for a beginning reader. The illustrations will be
great for kids. It is a cute book especially for summer
reading with grasshoppers. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2005
Guadalupe
Carla Zarebska, translated by Jaqueline Robinson Lopez,
and photographs by Alejandro Gomez de Tuddo. Published by
Equipar S.A. de C.V. and distributed by UNM Press,
published in 2004, 358 pages, softback (available too in
hardback and Spanish), 156 color photos, 44 B&W
photos, 4 drawings, $49.95, ISBN 0-8263-3411-3.
This is the ultimate book on Guadalupe. Besides being
beautiful to look at and very stylish it is also filed
with information going back to the beginnings of
Guadalupe in Mexico. The pictures are to die for and the
book contains everything a scholar or lay person would
want to know about Guadalupe and more. It also begs the
question -- “Why can’t we do books like this in the
U.S.?” It might be difficult to find but Saints &
Martyrs in Old Town did carry it and may still have a
copy. It will blow you away!! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2005
Guadalupe: Our Lady of New Mexico
Jacqueline Orsini Dunnington. Museum of New Mexico Press,
1999. 128 pages, 15 color photos, 32 BW photos.
Clothbound $45.00, ISBN 0-89013-335-2, paperbound $24.95,
ISBN 0-89013-336-0.
Ms. Dunnington gave us Viva Guadalupe! a few years ago.
It was a popular culture look at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Now she has given us a scholarly, yet readable, look at
Our Lady and her influence on New Mexico. In the
introduction she explains that she embarked on this
project because very little had been written on the
subject and it was odd considering the impact Our Lady
has had on the people of New Mexico. She doesn’t attempt
to promote a cultural icon or advance a hidden agenda.
She does put in one place, most, if not all, of the
research done on the myth, mystery, and liturgy of
Guadalupe. It is obvious that this was a labor of love.
Researchers will want it; religious will want it too in
their library. This is a regional symbol that has a
following all over the world and the interest in the
subject will be great. It brings Guadalupe into the
spotlight not as folklore but as an important and living
influence of a people. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 1999
Guia del Tequila
Alberto Ruy Sanchez Lacy. Published by Artes de Mexico,
1999, hardback, ISBN 968-6533-77-X. Bilingual, price
varies as it is an import. Many color photos.
I love a good margarita as well as the next person but
being able to identify various tequilas is way beyond my
expertise. This well-done and handy book by that Mexican
powerhouse publisher explain tequila and agave for the
beginner and the expert. Did you know the worm is never
supposed to be tequila but rather in mezcal because the
worm feeds on the agave plant? The white worm is the most
rare. Did you know there is a specifically shaped shot
glass for tequila? The book is filled will little known
and abused facts.
I especially liked the section that profiled various
agaves and tequilas, showing the bottle and explaining
the brand’s history. There is a section on recipes and
how to contact distilleries. There is information on
tequila regulation, history, processing and names. The
book is just plain fun and a great gift. It may be hard
to find, try John Isaac at Hispaniae and he still may
have some. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2000
Hands-On Latin America
Yvonne Y. Merrill, Kits Publishing, 1997. ISBN
0-9643177-1-0, paperback, 87 pages color. $20.00.
Hands-On Rocky Mountains
Yvonne Y. Merrill. Kits Publishing, 1996. ISBN
0-9643177-2-9, paperback, 83 pages color. $20.00,
This is a very attractive series for kids that also
includes books on Pioneers, Celebrations and Alaska. They
are oversized and in bright color which will delight kids
and even crafty adults.
Latin America gives instructions on how to make masks,
molas, hats, fans, prints, sculptures and other projects
of the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayan peoples. Rocky Mountains
shows how to make jewelry, rugs, sandals, bags, dolls,
quilts and many more projects of the Anasazi, American
Indians, Settlers, Trappers and Cowboys. Although the
Vaqueros of the West are mentioned, the contributions of
the Hispanics of the Rocky Mountain area have been
ignored. Unfortuneately this happens quite often.
The books are easy to understand, provide a historical
overview, maps, resources and would be great for
teachers, and parents who like working with kids. We
would like to see one for the Hispanics of the Southwest
in the future. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall
1998
Healing Herbs of the Upper Rio Grande Valley: Traditional
Medicine of the Southwest
L.S.M. Curtin, revised and Edited by Michael Moore,
illustrated by Mimi Kamp, preface by Mary Austin. Western
Edge Press ISBN 1-889921-01-7, 1997, b/w, 236 p. with
drawings.
This book was originally published in 1947 by the
Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe. L.S.M. Curtin was
the mother of Leonora Paloheimo, and Mrs. Paloheimo (of
El Rancho de las Golondrinas fame) did the orginal
revisions and editing of the manuscript. L.S.M. was
energized by Mary Austin with the fear that the orginal
herbal ways of New Mexico would be lost by the
encroachment of modern society. So she went out into the
villages and rural communities and learned everything she
could about herbs - firsthand.
This book is a reference with Latin names, family names,
common names, descriptions, and a glossary of New Mexican
Spanish Terms. There are many easy-to-identify line
drawings of the plants. For a naturalist, this book is
necessary on all walks and can even be useful in figuring
out the unknown invaders in the urban New Mexican garden.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
Heaven’s Window: A Journey Through Northern New Mexico
Michael Wallis and photos by Jack Parsons. 2001, Graphic
Arts Center Publishing, hardback, $27.00 ISBN
1-55868-547-2, 120 pages, 101 color photos.
Michael Wallis first came to our attention with En Divina
Luz. He has continued to document the Southwest, New
Mexico, and Route 66. Jack Parsons has a long career
photographing New Mexico. This book specifically deals
with Northern New Mexico -- the Anglos, the Native
Americans, and the Hispanics. There is a little history,
some personal stories, and beautiful photos. It is a nice
book to get a feel for the region and would make a
wonderful gift for a northern New Mexican transplanted to
other parts of the world. The pictures show a lot of
familiar places and familiar faces. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Hecho a Mano: The Traditional Arts of Tucson’s Mexican
American Community,
James S. Griffith. University of Arizona Press, 2000,
paperback, $17.95, ISBN 0-8165-1878-5, 130 pages, 24
color pictures and 27 b/w photos.
This book began as a 1996 exhibit at the University of
Arizona Museum of Art entitled, “La Cadena que no se
corta -- The Unbroken Chain.” It focuses on the
traditional arts of the Mexican-American community in
Tucson.
Traditions featured include paper flowers, blacksmithing,
signmaking, murals, and home altars. Other art forms
discussed are: low-rider cars, cascarones, papier-mache
prison art, paño, piãtas, grave markers, leatherwork,
music, dance, papel picado, neon, furniture, roadside
graves, and Day of the Dead bread.
It is a valuable contribution to document the traditions
of a community who have not had their story told in book
form. In many ways this validates the traditions to the
Anglo and art communities. James Griffith is a noted
folklorist and has written over a dozen books on the
Southwest. It is good to have Griffith point out that all
Hispanic Southwest communities are not the same and each
has its own master artists, artforms, and traditions.
Every community rich in arts should document their
artists while they are alive and thriving. A virtual
gallery on the original exhibit is available at:
http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/folkarts/jsg.html
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
Hecho en Tejas: Texas-Mexican Folk Arts and Crafts
edited by Joe S. Graham, Texas Folklore Society,
University of North Texas Press, 1991, 304 pp, 200
halftones, ISBN 0-929398-33-5, $29.95.
When the early Spanish and Mexican colonists came to
settle Texas, they brought with them a rich culture which
enabled them to settle and build a civilization in a wild
land. The broad intracultural diversity these settlers
are nowhere more evident in Texas than in the material
culture -- folk art, folk craft, architecture -- which is
part of the Spanish-Mexican legacy in Texas.
Hecho en Tejas, one of the first books to focus on
Texas-Mexican material culture, shows the richness of
tejano folk arts and crafts traditions through essays on
Hispanic folk art, including street and home decorations;
quilting; vaquero equipment; musical instruments; and
making of ceramic figures for religious and secular use.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1997
Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture From West Mexico,
the Andrall E. Pearson Family Collection
Kristi Butterwick. Published in 2004 by thee Metropolitan
Museum of Art and Yale University Press, paperback,
$19.95, 96 pages, 74 b&w and color plates and color
map, ISBN 0-300-10488-X.
First a disclaimer. Kristi was the curator at Foothills
when we did the Santeros y Santeras exhibit there this
spring. We got to know her and were surprised at this
little gem that she did last year to go with the exhibit
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is very specific to
an area that doesn’t get a lot of attention but has some
beautiful art. These 2000 year old artifacts are ceramic
and mostly hollow and as an art form they are beautiful.
But they also share a view of the family in Pre-Columbian
times. The book is easy to read, useful for research, and
a must for the collector of the art form. It contains
maps, bibliography, and catalogue of the exhibit. If you
are having trouble finding the book look on the
Metropolitan Museum of Art website for the store number
or call the Foothills Gift Shop at 303/279-3922. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Hermanos de la Luz: Brothers of the Light
Ray John de Aragon. Heartsfire Books, 1998, hardback,
ISBN 1-889797-18-9, $16.95. 258 pages, B/W archival
photos and art.
This book is a good reference for anyone wanting to learn
more about the Penitente Brotherhood. It contains an
extensive history of the Hermanos back to ancient Spain.
But above and beyond the historical aspect, the book will
also appeal on a spiritual level. It has a large
collection of alabados (prayers) in both Spanish and
English.
The book also gives information on the lay women’s order
of Las Carmelitas. This was obviously due to the
influence of Ray John’s grandmother who was in the order
and his mother who shared the cultural history with him.
His grandfather was a Hermano. Ray John also uses his own
art to help illustrate the book along with archival and
family photos for balance.
There have been a lot of rumors, speculation and
sensationalism about the Penitente Brotherhood in New
Mexico. The lay brothers are put in context as a
spiritual group who are devoted to Christ. The
explanations of the alabados help those invited to share
in the various ceremonies to learn the significance of
the prayer and ritual. If it is difficult to find in
bookstores call 1-880/988-5170 or email: heartsfirebooks@
heartsfirebooks.com. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2000
Hispanos: Historic Leaders in New Mexico
Lynn I. Perrigo. Sunstone Press, 1985. 94 pages,
softback, ISBN 0-86534-011-0, b/w, $9.95.
This little book should be a must in all school libraries
in the southwest. It is not a complex or deep book but
puts together over twenty-eight short biographies that
range from the early conquest to the eighties. Both women
and men are covered. There are also historic photos of
the times or the individuals. It is an easy read and
great material for kids who are searching for “heroes” to
write about in school. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 1998
Historic Cookery
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert, Ancient City Press $4.95,
paperback ISBN 0-941270-99-8, 43 pages, drawings.
This book first appeared in 1931 and has been recently
re-released by Ancient City Press. It may have been the
earliest published New Mexican cookbook of traditional
foods. Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert was born in 1894
near Las Vegas, New Mexico. She died in 1991 at 97 years
old. She was a writer, home economist, and educator. Many
of the recipes in the book were from her family’s
collection. This also may the first cookbook to measure
and record accurately the amounts of ingredients in
recipes. It was traditional to just learn and memorize
the formulas passed down in families.
The recipes are simple and with a wide range of
categories. There are even suggested menus in the back
for traditional meals. For the non-reader of Spanish, the
names have been translated so the book is user friendly
for everyone. There is also a nice section of several
different chile sauces. This is also a nice gift for the
cook who has every book published on food and would like
some variety. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
1998
Historical Sketch of the Catholic Church in New Mexico
The Very Reverend James H. Defouri, edited by Father
Thomas J. Steele, S.J. 1887, revised 2003, by a joint
venture of Yucca Tree Press and the Archdiocese of Santa
Fe, hardback, $25.00, ISBN 1-881325-59-8, 239 pages, b/w
photos & maps.
Father Tom Steele worried that his newest book woudn’t
get to the Spanish Market Book Tent by the signing
scheduled for 10am July 26 -- it made it with a day to
spare. This “little” book was originally written by
Father Defouri and somewhat lost until Father Tom decided
that it needed a going over. Some of the facts in the
orginal book are wrong but it wasn’t the author’s fault.
We have one of the first conspiracies in New Mexico
history making Santa Fe older and sexier than it really
was. Father Tom has taken the original book and put his
own comments and changes in italics so the original is
obvious. He has also added suggested readings at the end
of each chapter making the new book glue that holds a lot
of research together. We loved the large type making it
easy to read. The book was ready for the 150th
anniversary of the establishment of Santa Fe as a Diocese
by Pope Pius IX. This book is a must for scholars, fans
of Father Tom, and researchers of religious history. The
fastest way to get this book is to call 803/980-2357. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2003
Hojalata - Artes de Mexico
numero 44, 1999. Plaza Rio de Janero 52, Colonia Roma,
06700 Mexico D.F. Fax 5 25 59 25. Subscription (6 issues
per year) $150, back issues $30.
Right away we want to admit that this review is unfair.
If you like tin (hojalata) then you will have trouble
finding this magazine in the States. You can’t just run
to the nearest newstand to get it.
However, if you like tin, and especially New Mexican tin,
this is a keeper. Artes de Mexico does lavish, opulent
and beautiful issues on specific topics. They are
basically paperback books with advertising. The print and
reproduction quality is top of the line.
In this issue, tin of Mexico and New Mexico is featured.
Yes, the articles are in Spanish but they are in English
in the back. Writers include: Gloria Fraser Giffords,
Martha Egan, Arturo Sosa, Lane Coulter, and James
Griffith. There are examples of the historic New Mexican
workshops’ tin, historic and contemporary Mexican. The
pictures are incredible and the detail is unbelievable.
Not wanting to be entirely evil, we will tell you that
you can get this issue and maybe some back issues from
John Isaac at Hispaniae 505/842-6656. He marks up
slightly to cover the shipping from Mexico. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1999
Holy Cards
Barbara Calamari & Sandra Dipasqua. Published in 2004
by Harry N. Abrams, 144 pages, hardback, $24.95, many
color plates, ISBN 0-8109-4338-7.
This is a beautiful book and we who visited churches in
our youth collected many holy cards. What we liked was
the Significance List in the back of the book--what
images mean in the pictures. There is also an essay on
Halos. All kinds of people are in the book: hermits,
missionaries, holy people, martyrs, disciples,
evangelists, mystics, and religious orders. This is a fun
book and what better than the Christmas season to enjoy
it! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Home: Native People in the Southwest
Ann Marshall. Published in 2005 by the Heard Museum, full
color, paperback, $35.00, many pictures, 192 pages, ISBN
0-934351-75-9.
The Heard always does nice and attractive books. This is
a must for someone who wants to know about the various
Native Americans in the United States. The text and
pictures are accompanied by Native American poetry. There
is art, people, and a map of the tribes. The book
accompanies an exhibit at the Heard. The book won the
Oklahoma Book Award. If you have trouble finding it call
the Heard Store 1-602-252-8848 or go to the Heard website
www.heard.org -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2006
Home on the Farm: Essays on a Michigan Childhood
Jerry R. Davis, POSH New Mexico writer, is the author of
two non-fiction books. Home On The Farm: Essays on a
Michigan Childhood chronicles his early years while Tales
of the Road: Essays on a Half-Century of Travel covers
his travel adventures over the years. Jerry has a light
touch and writes in a conversational style that draws his
readers close to the hearth and heart of his life. He is
currently at work on a family history to be illustrated
with family photos. While he’s not planning on publishing
this one for the public, his fellow writers hope he
changes his mind. Look for his work throughout this
issue, and in future issues, of POSH New Mexico. He can
be contacted through the magazine at poshnm@aol.com. --
Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2005
A few more quick recommendations before you head out to
the bookstore. Fellow POSH writer Jerry Davis is
author/illustrator of Home On The Farm and Tales Of The
Road. These collections of family memoirs are a
delightful read. And how could I not recommend my own
Taylor Morgan Trilogy that begins with Timing Is
Everything. And one departure from New Mexico authors.
The absolute best book I’ve read this year is Frances
Mayes’ A Year In The World. This compilation of the
stories from her many travels makes you want to go home
to a place you’ve never been. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Winter 2006
Hotter than Hell: Hot and Spicy Dishes from Around the
World
Jane Butel. Published in 2005 by Northland Publishers,
160 pages, softback, 30 color photos, $16.95, ISBN
0-87358-883-5.
We are lucky enough to have Jane Butel a stone’s through
away in downtown Albuquerque. There are many yummy
recipes in this book; Donna’s Margarita Mousse, Silkies,
Dona’s Death, Chipotle Frijoles, and many more. There are
appetizers, drinks, main courses, desserts, salads, and
more to tempt any palette. There is an essay on all you
want to know about chiles and easy instructions. Do not
look at this book if you are hungry!! It is a nice gift -
put it with New Mexico fixin’s and you have a basket of
goodies that any cook will love. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
I Came From El Valle; From the Fields to the Chief’s
Office
Ruben E. Archuleta. Published in 1999 by Ruben Archuleta,
259 pages, black & white, softback, $14.95, ISBN
0-9629748-3-8.
In the vain of full disclosure, when we first got this
book we did not know Ruben and Joan but now they are good
friends. In the Epilogue, Ruben says he will never do
another book. Since this one he has done two more. It is
like a drug. Ruben is the best representative and sales
person for his books. This book documents Ruben’s long
career in the Pueblo Police coming from a background of
poverty as many New Mexican and Colorado Hispanics do. It
is interesting to see how some things change while others
do not. It is also interesting to read about Ruben’s
philosophy on life. Every library should have this book
as should every school. Pueblo is a nice, growing town
and worth seeing after you finish the book. If you have
trouble finding this book call 719/566-2950. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Imaging Identity in New Spain
Magali M. Carrera. Published 2002 by University of Texas
Press, hardback, ISBN 0-292-71245-6, $34.95, 216 pages,
60 b/w illustrations.
There were rules in the 18th century and many of these
rules on class were expressed in the paintings of New
Spain. This is a scholarly book that will make you wonder
if the class and stature that we have, especially
concerning women, is expressed in our own art. This book
takes a hard look at what was done in the areas of
portraiture and painting to express the concerns or lack
of concerns of the times. An unusual topic that is worth
a look to understand what went on and what we have
inherited. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
In The Midst of Chaos, Peace
reflections by Sister Wendy Beckett with silhouette
paper-cuts by Sister Jean Dorcy & Daniel Thomas
Paulos. 1999 by Ignatius Press, hardback, $19.95, ISBN
0-89870-752-8, 127 pages, many b/w illustrations.
Dan Paulos of the St. Bernadette Institute of Sacred Art
is one of the busiest people we know. He makes us tired.
Besides organizing the many wonderful exhibits at the
Santuario de Guadalupe through the year, Dan does his own
art work, organizes trips and does a bunch of other art
related things. When we heard he had teamed up with
Sister Wendy the “Art Nun”, we were very impressed. Her
TV show makes appreciating art fun and “in”.
In response to the Pope’s decree to promote faith through
art, these three well-known artists/historians have made
their own contribution to the literary world. Sister
Wendy supplied the words while Dan and Sister Mary Jean
Dorcy supplied the beautiful paper cuts in silhouettes.
This is not a “heavy” book but rather a book for
reflection and a way of obtaining inner piece. It is a
great gift.
For the fast-track to get the book call Dan Paulos at the
St. Bernadette Institute 505/265-9126 (Abq.). The book
will be $23.95 and the price includes shipping. If you
ask, Dan may sign it too! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2000
In The River Province
Lisa Sandlin. Published in 2004 by Southern Methodist
University Press. $15.95, paperback, ISBN 0-87074-488-7,
176 pages.
People who live in other parts of the country, especially
if they have never been to New Mexico, don’t understand
how strange, quirky, and bizarre we can be. This book
says it all. It is an interesting collection of stories
of individuals who interact with saints. A lot of the
book takes place during the Good Friday walk to Chimayo.
It is a good way to let the other half know how we live.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2004
Indian Population Decline: The Missions Of Northwestern
New Spain, 1687-1840
Robert H. Jackson, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1994; ISBN: 0-8263-1505-4 (Cloth, $32.50);
0-8263-1649-2 (Paper, $16.95).
This new ethnohistory of missions of California, Arizona,
and northwest Mexico seeks to answer questions long
debated about how Indians fared when relocated and placed
under the Church’s care. Drawing on extensive and
scattered archival sources, Jackson produces a
sophisticated demographic analysis that permits
evaluation of the causes, manifestations, and regional
variations of the demographic collapse of mission
Indians.
The central finding is that diseases are only part of the
explanation of population decline. In addition to deaths
due to such illnesses as measles and smallpox and to
psychological trauma, we must consider the effects of
declining fertility among Indian women manifested in
abortions, miscarriages, and death in childbirth. The
unhealthy conditions in missions frequently resulted in
nine of ten children dying before age eight. Missionaries
often rationalized such high mortality rates as divine
retribution for “repeated apostasy and transgressions.”
Robert Jackson, a history professor at Texas Southern
University, is a Latin Americanist and Borderlands
specialist. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1996
Inventing the Southwest: The Fred Harvey Company and
Native American Art
Kathleen L. Howard and Diana F. Pardue. Northland
Publishing, 1996. ISBN 0-87358-649-2, paperback, $17.95.
150 pages color and B&W. Also available on CD-ROM,
ISBN 0-934351-87-0, $29.95. Macintosh/PC on same disk.
The title is deceptive. There are Hispanic santos and
textiles in both the traveling exhibit and the book,
though not a lot. That negative aside, the book is a nice
collection of art, memorabilia, archival photos, and
personal remembrances. This book will be a great addition
to the library of a student of the Southwest or anyone
interested in the Fred Harvey Company -- a major force in
the shaping of the Southwest. The Harvey influence is
still felt today in the tourist, Native American market
for art. Of special interest are the reprints of old
advertisements of Native American merchandise. The
exhibit was mounted by the Heard Museum in Phoenix. The
CD version contains many images from the exhibit; some
not found in the book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 1999
Isabel’s House of Butterflies
Tony Johnston and illustrations by Susan Guevara. A
Sierra Club Books for children with Gibbs Smith,
Publisher, softback, $7.95, published in 2005, 29 pages,
full color, ISBN 1-57805-128-2.
This will appeal to girls and if you have a special girl
named Isabel you are golden. It has Spanish in the story.
Butterflies play an important role so if you can combine
the book with a plush butterfly you have a special gift.
This book teaches things past the basic story -
economics, conservation, cultures, and more. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
It’s All In The Frijoles
Yolanda Nava. Published in 2000 by Fireside Books, 331
pages, paperback, B&W, $15.00, ISBN 0-684-84900-3.
Yolanda Nava has put the culture of Latino’s and Hispanic
New Mexicans into an interesting form by keeping the oral
history of a people current. This book has gotten a lot
of good press and it is simple why. This is a collection
of the words of wisdom, the folklore, the dichos, and
stories that are remembered by people like Pat Mora,
Octavio Paz, Anthony Quinn, Emiliano Zapata, Liz Torres,
Soledad O’Brian, Edward James Olmos, Cesar Chavez, Vicki
Carr, Joan Baez, and many others. It is a great idea and
it is done very well. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 2005
Jemez Spring
Rudolfo Anaya. Published in 2005 by UNM Press, 298 pages,
hardback, $22.95. ISBN 0-8263-3684-1.
This book is the last of the four book series - Zia
Summer, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter and a great idea
to start with. This is another great book by Rudolfo and
starts with the question “Do Dogs Dream?” It is a way to
visit Jemez Springs where we are told Rudolfo has
property. The book has Los Alamos National Lab, the death
of the Governor in a bath house, Valles Caldera, and it
is a who dunnit that you won’t want to put down. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Josefina Javelina: A Hairy Tale
Susan Lowell and illustrated by Bruce MacPherson.
Published in 2005 by Rising Moon, hardback, full color,
32 pages, $15.95, ISBN 0-87358-790.
This is the next book in the series starting with The
Three Little Javelinas. A javelina is basically a
Southwestern pig. Josefina wants to be a star ballerina
and moves to Pasadena. It is a story little girls, ages
4-8, will love but boys will probably sneak a read
especially if they see a coyote is in it. It is a
beautiful book that any kid will love but primarily
girls. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Kokopelli: Drum in Belly
Gail E. Haley. Published in 2003 by Filter Press,
hardback, $18.95, 34 pages, ISBN 0-86541-068-2.
This is a beautiful book that shows how the Kokopelli and
the ant people went on a great adventure. The
illustrations will be of great interest to kids of any
age. The writer/illustrator is a Caldecott medalist and
does wonderful work. This would be a great gift for the
holidays to any child. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2005
La Vida Del Rio Grande: Our River - Our Life, A Symposium
Carlos Vasquez. Published in 2004 by the National
Hispanic Cultural Center, softback, ISBN 0-9748754-0-6,
many B & W pictures, 116 pages, $12.00.
The great thing about these books is that not everyone
can attend a symposium so the record of the event is in
written form. These are the papers of the May 24, 2004,
Symposium on the Life of the River. There are many great
names that spoke, Robert Torres, Charlie Sanchez, Paula
Garcia, Enrique Lamadrid, John Taylor among a few. There
is a bibliography and glossary. This is a very important
topic and an attractive book. It is an easy read. It also
features Jardines del Bosque and the good work they do. A
must for all libraries and schools who care. If you have
trouble finding the book, call the NHCC 1-505/246-2261,
ext.144 to order. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 2004
Land Of the Penitentes: Land of Tradition
Ruben A. Archuleta. Published in 2003 by El Jefe,
paperback, $22.95, 258 pages, b/w photos, ISBN
0-9742840-9.
This is a book of interest to anyone who has studied the
Penitentes. The author was given unprecedented access and
has a number of his own photos in the book. There is a
useful bibliography and glossary. This book may change
your mind about the Penitentes and may quell some rumors.
In case you have trouble finding the book call Ruben at
719/566-2950 or email at rearch145@aol.com. There is a
web site at www.eljeferuben.com -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2005
Landscapes of New Mexico: Paintings of the Land of
Enchantment
Two books by Suzanne Deats explore the beauty of the
southwest through the artwork that has captured it.
Landscapes of New Mexico: Paintings of the Land of
Enchantment written with Suzan Campbell is a collection
of work from realistic to abstract in a variety of media
and includes such contemporary artists as Wilson Hurley
and Mary Sweet. Brief biographies are matched with a
series of paintings by each artist making this a visual
treat. Western Traditions: Contemporary Artists of the
American West written with Michael Duty, covers a
multitude of subjects through sculpture and paintings in
the same format as the previous book. Carlsbad native
Gary Niblett is featured along with sculptors Star Liana
York and Henry Jackson. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New
Mexico, Summer 2007
Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja
California
Edward W. Vernon. Published in 2002 by Viejo Press and
distributed by UNM Press, hardcover $44.95, 303 pages,
288 color pictures and 35 b/w.
This is a truly substantial book of little known and well
seen missions. There are charts, maps, beautiful
pictures, footprint drawings, and a history of each one.
They are grouped by Franciscan, Jesuit, and Dominican
missions. There are also computer reconstructions of
long-gone missions that make the mind wonder. This is a
unique feature. The book was produced with a grant from
the California Mission Studies Association. It is worth
having if you enjoy the missions. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 2003
Las Posadas: An Hispanic Christmas Celebration
Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith with photographs by Lawrence
Migdale. 1999, Holiday House, paperback, ISBN
0-8234-1635-6, $6.95, 32 pages in color.
We knew nothing about this book. Never were sent a press
release. We found this in the kid’s book section of
Bookworks when we were looking for Christmas presents.
What a little gem! And what a nice showcase for the Felix
Lopez family.
This is a great book to explain Las Posadas, a New Mexico
holiday tradition. It also puts the traditions of the
Hispanic family is context. The text is written for an
older child but adults will like the information too. The
book seems to involve a great many parishioners of La
Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Cañada Church in Santa Cruz,
New Mexico, just outside of Española. It contains a
glossary, songs, recipes, and how to hold a Posada. It is
a wonderful gift or for collectors of the Lopez family’s
work, a documentation of a number of their pieces. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2000
Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution
Elena Poniatowska. Published in 2006 by Cinco Puntos
Press, paperback, $12.95, 80 pages, B&W archival
phtos, ISBN 0-933693-04-5.
This book was translated from the original Spanish in
time for the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. It is a
small book and an easy read. But without this little book
the women who were a part of the Revolution would be
lost. The photos are remarkable. This is a must read for
feminists who need to know that women can fight too! Of
course we knew that already! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2007
Latin American Cooking Across The U.S.A.
Himilce Novas & Rosemary Silva, Alfred A. Knopf 1997.
ISBN 0-679-44408-4, 331 pages. Spanish version titled La
Buena Mesa.
This is a real encyclopedia of Hispanic cooking from all
parts of the world, found in America. It treats cooking
from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Mexico, many of the
Latin American countries as well as New Mexican. There
are personal stories that go with many of the food
traditions so that the reader has an idea of how the
family celebrated with the foods.
The recipes are from many people not in the celebrity
spotlight, but there are well known contributions from:
Cristina Saralegui, the Cuban talk show host; US
Representative Henry B. Gonzales; singer Celia Cruz;
actor Eddie Castrodad; political commentator Linda
Chavez; and specialties from many popular restaurants
around the country.
New Mexican entries are featured from Santero Charlie
Carrillo, potter Margaret Duran, and Santero Jacobo de la
Serna. Many topics near and dear to New Mexicans are
explained in depth like chiles, tortillas, tamales, and
flan. Your mouth just waters reading the selections, and
even if you don’t try to make the foods, you will be able
to order with authority the next time you eat out. A
great book for the adventurous cook. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
Latin American Posters
Russ Davidson. Published in 2006 by Museum of New Mexico
Press, 188 pages, full color, $34.95, ISBN
978-0-89013-492-4.
This book accompanies the exhibit of the Sam L. Slick
Collection pf posters at the National Hispanic Cultural
Center and shows political posters in a whole new light.
It is a beautiful book and with the essays gives the
readers a depth of understanding about the role of
posters in Latin America. The plates are for the most
part large and great to look at. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia
Vicki L. Ruiz & Virginia Sanchez Korrol (over 230
authors made contributions). Published in 2006 by Indiana
University Press, hardcover, 3 volumes (approximately 300
page each), B&W, many photos, $325 for the set, ISBN
0-253-34680-0 (set).
This is a beautiful set and a monumental undertaking. If
you feel compelled to give a gift to your favorite
library, school, gallery, this would be it. Every
institution of learning or reference should have a set
for people and kids to use. That being said there are a
few problems. We looked at the book from a New Mexico
standpoint and yes New Mexico is represented--Marie
Romero Cash has a nice write up and picture. There is
also a nice write up of Gloria Lopez Cordova. But what
about Paula Rodriguez, Marie Cash’s sister and mother and
many other Hispanic New Mexican women? There should be a
fourth volume in a few years with other names. The
process never ends. In addition to the bio’s on the
individuals there are many lists, essays on Latinas in TV
or the Southwest. What we liked especially was the
entries on nameless women like the Cigar Workers. As
usual New Mexico is relegated to the background but it is
not as bad as many other books. That being said this is
truly a labor of love, much work, and it needs to be
accessible. The set was made possible by a challenge
grant from the NEH and the Ford Foundation, Arizona State
University, and many other colleges. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Learn Early New Mexico Punched Tinwork with Ted Arelannes
a video produced by G-T Stained Glass & Tin Works in
association with Lisa Witt of Avista Video Histories of
Albuquerque; length: 2 hours 15 minutes; price: $29.95;
mailing: P.0. Box 7219, Albuquerque, NM 87194; Tel. Toll
Free: 1-800-280-9322; Fax: (505) 842-6392.
For almost nine years master tinsmith Ted Arellanes of
G-T Stained Glass & Tin Works has been giving classes
on traditional Hispanic punched tinwork and acquainting a
large audience with the overall beauty of this
traditional craft (Tradicion Revista, Spring 1997, pp.
38-40). Ted estimates that he has taught the basics of
tinsmithing to at least 6,000 people through workshops
and continuing education courses at UNM and the College
of Santa Fe. This video is in response to the number of
inquiries he has had at Spanish Market, mainly from
out-of-state visitors, to produce a do-it-yourself video
so that interested people can develop the basics of the
craft and build upon a step-by-step instructional video.
The premise being that ones goes from simple techniques
to those of increasing complexity in fabricating a simple
punched tin nightlight, to a tin mirror frame, then on to
a more elaborate tin and glass paneled nicho.
In order to gain a working knowledge of tin, Ted leads
the viewer through three basic exercises. The first
exercise involves tin punching and stamping techniques.
Tin punching is accomplished with two basic tool punches.
He demonstrates this with a 6 inch round rosette practice
piece leading to an attractive punched tin rosette that
forms the basis for a nightlight. Various stamps
including those that will produce rosettes, starbursts,
and crescents are then introduced, along with edge
techniques such as crimping. This is followed with basic
instruction on the use of the soldering iron and the
attachment of the light fixture to the punched tin
rosette. He then moves on to the more complex technique
of scoring, that is marking the tin and bending it in
vise grips to get design corners that can be used on the
mirror frame. This scoring technique also incorporates
the various punching and stamping designs that can lead
to quite lovely designed corners. The last of the basic
tin exercises involves working with tin panels using the
previously developed techniques of punching, stamping,
and scoring to create panels whose beauty is only limited
by one’s imagination. Ted emphasizes that one should
spend some time mastering the above three basic exercises
before moving on to more involved projects.
Once the worker feels comfortable with the basics then it
is time to move on to fabricating a nine-inch by
thirteen-inch tin mirror frame. Again, this involves all
of the techniques previously demonstrated and leads to
the fabrication of the mirrors’ sides, crown, corners,
channels, and decorative arms. At this stage some
competency with a soldering iron is essential. Again, the
overall tin mirror frame design is only limited by the
individual’s imagination. The next challenge involves the
fabrication of a tin-and-glass-paneled nicho. This is a
more complex undertaking and involves a certain degree of
mastery of all the previous demonstrated techniques. Once
one has learned those tin-making techniques the ultimate
horizons for creative tin pieces are unlimited.
Each video is accompanied with a price listing of both
tools and supplies, along with a xerox copy of a sampler
showing the various stamps available from G-T Stained
Glass & Tin Works in Albuquerque.
This very informative video has been skillfully directed
and edited by Lyndon Phelps of Avista Video Histories and
has also incorporated camera shots of the many very
attractive tin pieces Ted Arellanes has fabricated over
the years, in addition to those historic New Mexican tin
pieces he has collected. -- Don Toomey, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 1999
Limited Edition 1922 Vintage Tin Ornaments & Shrine
Bobby Garcia
This is a great stocking stuffer for any age. This little
box with a Guadalupe on the lid contains dirt from the
Santuario de Chimayo and 1922 tin fragments from the
roofing recently removed from the Santuario. You can
literally send them dirt from New Mexico and it may have
healing powers! All of this is $5 and packaged in a cute
gift bag. Get them from Hispaniae at 505/244-1533. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Lincoln County Arts
Virginia Watson-Jones. Foreword by J. Edson Way, Ph.D.
& Randy Forrester. 1999, Lincoln County Arts Council,
Lincoln County, New Mexico (505/354-2316). 143 pages, bw
photos, $24.19.
The reason we like this book is that it is a great effort
by a county to publicize an artistic tradition that they
are proud of. This book is a great resource for
galleries, press, collectors, historians and libraries.
If we had our way, every county would put out this type
of guide and make an effort to include all artists
regardless of type of art work or race. The project was
funded by the Lincoln County Arts Council with support by
the R.D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Foundation. In the
accompanying letter about the book, the Lincoln County
Arts Council invites other arts councils to call them to
see how the book was done so others may follow their
lead.
Hispanic artists in the guide include Polly Chavez,
Fiesta Dancers, Ignacio Godinez, Marcella, Bethany Rey
Sanchez, Lacine Salazar, and Trene Sanchez. All art forms
are covered: music, dance, folk art, fine art, acting,
furniture, pottery, and any craft form imaginable. Some
notables, past and present, are also included like the
prestigious Hurd family. Also listed are all the arts
groups in the county and the museums. There is a history
of Lincoln County and a bibliography.
It’s not fancy, but very well done. It does the work of
getting out the word to the rest of the State that
Lincoln County arts are alive. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 1999
Live Well in Mexico: How to Relocate, Retire and Increase
Your Standard of Living
Ken Luboff. 1999 John Muir Publications. Softcover, ISBN
1-56261-432-0, $15.95. 247 pages, B&W photos.
This may have been one of the last books published before
John Muir Books was sold to Avalon Travel Publisher in
California. It is a great little book not only for
someone who is planning on retiring but for someone who
wants to travel to Mexico and live like the natives or at
least the expatriates. You learn where to shop, send
mail, transportation, best beaches, local color and all
sorts of survival tips.
Each chapter on the major locations to retire has a short
passage from someone who actually did retire there and
their personal observations and tips. There are all
differing points of view. There are cost estimates for
housing and practical warnings on things like crime that
you wouldn’t get from travel books. There are even
suggestions on how to disguise the “ugly American” in you
and blend in better with the local crowd. You truly get
the feel that not only did the author retire to Mexico
but he loves it there. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2000
Living Homes For Cultural Expresions: A NMAI Editions
Karen Coody Cooper (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) &
Nicolasa I. Sandoval (Chumash). Publsihed in 2006 by
NMAI, paperback, $12.95, 115 pages, B&W, photos. ISBN
0-9719163-8-1.
We started using this book right away. The bibliography
and directory in the back of the book are very useful.
Every museum should have a copy of this book and so
should libraries who cater to the museums. It is a great
resource for anyone in the business and NMAI should be
congratulated for publishing it. Call the NMAI at
202/633-6687 to order or go on their website
nmai-pubs@si.edu. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2007
Living Shrines: Home Altars of New Mexico
Marie Romero Cash, essay by Lucy Lippard, with
photography by Siegfried Halus. 1998, Museums of New
Mexico Press. Paper $24.95, cloth $45.00, 80 color
plates, 124 pages.
We have been waiting with great anticipation for this
book to be released. Any time a santero/santera writes it
adds a new dimension of scholarship with a new
perspective from the rest of the research being
published. After all, these are the people with an
intimate relationship with the art and the santos.
This book resulted from Marie Romero Cash living with
home altars all her life. A number of her family and
friends’ altars are pictured: her parents’ home altar,
Nicholas and Celia Herrera’s altar, Teresa Sagel’s
weaving room shrine, the Lopez family shrine in Española,
and the Day of the Dead Shrine of Grant and Patricia
LaFarge among many others.
This is a wonderful book for someone wanting to
understand the tradition and the significance the home
altar has to the families of New Mexico. The essays give
background, meaning and depth to a holy and personal
expression of faith. The basics of setting up a home
altar or shrine are discussed along with the uses and
appropriate prayers. It is an easy but scholarly read
with beautiful pictures. Our only criticism is that we
would have liked the pictures bigger so that seeing every
detail of each altar would have been seen easier. It is
an inspirational book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 1999
Living Treasures: Celebration of the Human Spirit
text by Karen Nilsson Brandt & Sharon Niederman,
Foreword by by Mary Lou Clark and Photography by Joanne
Rijmes. Western Edge Press, ISBN 1-889921-00-9, 1997. 193
pages, 96 B/W photos. $32.50 paperback.
The recent death of Ben Ortega caused us to “rediscover”
Living Treasures. It is a wonderful book that gives the
reader snapshots into life as it was in northern New
Mexico and celebrates the wisdom and accomplishments of
the older generation.
Twice each year, three older New Mexican are honored by
the Network for the Common Good. Their stories are told
and recorded by the Santa Fe Public Library and a dialog
is formed during the presentation ceremony. This book
honors 104 of the honorees and has a photo with a
biography. Some of the treasures are famous like Allan
Houser, Ben Ortega, Helen Cordero, Rose Naranjo, and
Pablita Velarde. Others are just everyday people who
lived their lives in an extraordinary way.
The photos and their treatment are stunning and the
essays are warm and personal. There are people from all
walks of life and all the various groups that make up
northern New Mexico. This is a wonderful program that a
number of cities outside of New Mexico have adopted. We
wish it was done in Albuquerque and southern New Mexico.
The book represents ten years of awards but a century of
history in New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 1998
Loretto: The Sisters and Their Santa Fe Chapel
Mary J. Straw Cook. Published in 2002 by Museum of New
Mexico Press, paperback, ISBN 0-89013-398-0, $22.50. 160
pages, 10 color photos and 30 B/W.
For those who wonder who built the circular staircase at
the Chapel of Loretto the author has solved the mystery
in this book. Yes the carpenter is named. For fans of the
Chapel everything you wanted to know about it is here. It
is a good little book that that will have legs in the
history of Santa Fe. A good gift for those who have left
New Mexico and it is a great addition to any locals’
library. Another mystery of life solved with
documentation! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall
2002
Los Amiguitos Fiesta: The Little Friends’ Fiesta
Story by Jean Thor Cook and illustrations by Judy Donoho
Shade, Gently Worded Books, 2001. Hardback, 24 pages,
$17.00, ISBN 0-9708940-0-7. color illustrations.
This is a wonderful book to go on every parents’ and
grandparents’ Christmas list for children. The story
centers around the children of the village taking their
pets to the padre to be blessed. There is easy Spanish
mixed in including how to count to ten in Spanish. The
illustrations will be loved by toddlers and beginning
readers. If you want to order directly contact them at
505/983-6134 or www.gentlywordedbooks.com. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2001
Los Ojos del Tejedor: The Eyes of the Weaver
Cristina Ortega, illustrated by Patricio Garcia. Clear
Light Publishers, ISBN 0-940666-81-2, 1998. 64 pages.
Color illustrations. $14.95 paperback.
This is a children’s book that will amuse adults. It is a
charming story that is based on the family of the author.
The Ortegas of Chimayo are well know for their weavings.
The pastel drawings are vibrant and add to the story.
Cristina Ortega is an educator in Albuquerque and has
recognized the need to use Spanish in the story. In fact
learning Spanish is part of the story of learning to
weave. There is a glossary in the back so that the reader
can instantly look up the meaning of the word. The type
is nice and large -- especially useful for grandparents
to read to small children. This is a wonderful book to
give to a child because it helps them understand the
Hispanic family culture of Northern New Mexico. As a
gift, it should be given with a simple loom so that the
reader will enjoy the process of weaving and become even
more a part of the tradition. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 1998
Loteria
Teresa Villegas and essays by Ilan Stavans. Published in
2004 by the University of Arizana Press, hardback,
$14.95, ISBN 0-8165-2353-3, 105 pages, 57 color
illustrations, and removable Loteria cards.
The minute we saw this book we had to see it and review
it. What a neat idea. We have seen Loteria for years - it
is a very popular game in Mexico. But we have to
appologize we didn’t understand it. Now we have the
beginnings. It is a rich book with a lot of color. There
are illustrations and cards to show the Stars, Chewing
Gem, Sweet Breads, Pozole ( spelling is different for New
Mexican Posole), The Virgin, and Lust among many. It
would make a great gift for anyone who loves games and
popular culture. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall
2004
Louis Carlos Bernal: Barrios
Ann Simmons-Myers. Published in 2003 by The University of
Arizona Press, paperback, 80 pages, ISBN 193158303X.
$25.00, 25 color photos & 58 halftones.
Barrios collects the photos of Louis Carlos Bernal
depicting Mexican Americans in Barrios in the Southwest
and California. They are stunning snapshots of a life
with much depth and color. The book mark’s the opening of
a new gallery at Pima College in Tucson. The book
includes essays by the author, James Enyeart, Luis
Jimenez, Patricia Preciado Martin, and Leslie Marmon
Silko. The people of the various barrios have taken on a
new life as art. A beautiful book to have in your
personal collection. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2003
Lover Boy: Juanito el cariñoso
Lee Merrill Byrd with illustrations by Francisco Delgado.
Published in 2006 by Cinco Puntos Press, hardback, 32
pages, $15.95, full color, ISBN 0-938317-38-5.
This is a bilingual counting book that will appeal
especially to boys. It is a good gift for a young child
who will love it but also good for someone learning
Spanish or English. It is bright and does its task of
counting 1 to 10 in a loving way. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Low’n Slow: Lowriding in New Mexico
Photography by Jack Parsons, text by Carmella Padilla,
and poetry by Juan Estevan Arellano. Museum of New Mexico
Press, 1999. Cloth $34.95 ISBN 0-89013-727-7. 120 pages,
106 color photographs.
Car buffs will love this coffee-table-sized book. The
photos are large and bright and in many ways overpower
the text. New Mexicans proudly proclaim Española as the
Lowrider Capitol of the World and many of the cars
pictured reside in the northern New Mexico area.
It is nice to see the artists or owners pictured with
their cars. It destroys the stereotype that lowriders are
owned by just young punks. The cars are part of the
family and are taken care of meticulously. Some of the
cars are works of art with beautiful murals, while others
are works of restoration and imagination.
Lacking is a picture of Juan Estevan Arellano and his car
in the Interview with a Lowrider. We would have also have
liked to see a lowrider procession like the one that
traveled to the Museum of International Folk Art for the
Tapia/Herrera exhibit a few years back. A group of the
lowriders with the jazzed up cycles is awesome.
Fans of Nick Herrera will find his coupe in the book
along with many of his friends. A passion for the cars
and their art come together in the lowrider tradition. A
truly unique gift for any hotrodder on your list. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1999
Lucha Libre,The Man in the Silver Mask
Xavier Garza. Published in 2005 by Cinco Puntos Press,
hardback, $17.95, 40 pages, 18 full color illustrations,
ISBN 0-938317-92X.
Risking sexism, it is so infrequent to have books that
appeal to boys and they are bilingual to boot. This is a
cuento but it is very modern. The style of the writing
and drawings is different and will appeal to kids and
adults wanting to learn a second language. It makes a
great gift. At the end of the story is the history of
Lucha Libre in Mexico -- so you will know what it is! It
may even start a discovery and research of Lucha Libre.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Lupe Vargas and Her Super Best Friend
Amy Costales and illustrated by Alexandra Artigas.
Published in 2006 by Luna Rising, $15.95, hardback, full
color, 29 pages, ISBN 13:978-0-87358-888-1.
This is a chick book or boys will read it when no one is
looking. It is a colorful and well-written book that is
bilingual. It teaches kids that differences are good and
best friends are to be cherished especially after a
disagreement. A nice gift book and certainly one to learn
Spanish. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Madame Ambassador: The Shoemaker’s Daughter
Mari-Luci Jaramillo. Published in 2002 by Bilingual
Review Press (ASU), softback, $15.00, 178 pages, B&W
with pictures, ISBN 1-931010-04-8.
Mari-Luci Jaramillo is retired and lives in Las Vegas,
New Mexico. This is the story of how a person can rise up
and not only be a Ph.D., teacher, civil rights advocate,
VP of the University of New Mexico, ambassador to
Hondoras, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
Latin America. Her roots and her background play a part
in all of those steps in her career. This is a good book
to keep in high school libraries for a little extra push
that the students sometimes need. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Maiolica Ole: Spanish and Mexican Decorative Traditions
featuring the collection of the Museum of International
Folk Art
Florence C. Lister and Robert H. Lister with Foreword by
Robin Farwell Gavin. 2001, Museum of New Mexico Press,
paperback $32.50, ISBN 0-89013-389-1, also in hardback.
176 pages, 160 color plates.
Maiolica is hot right now. Very collectable and sought
after. This book highlights 144 examples of historical
pieces made between the 17th and 18th centuries. Mexican
maiolica began with the Spanish conquest in 1521.
This is a beautiful book that will make collectors very
happy to get additional reference material. The pictures
are wonderful and show the pieces, flaws, wear, and all.
There is a bibliography for additional references as well
as a full list of illustrations. We applaud whenever a
museum takes the time to document collections and expand
on the research associated with it. Collectors will love
it. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2002
Malarial Fevers
by Jonna-Lynn Mandelbaum. 2007, Dog Ear Publishing, 150
pages, $11.95 paperback.
An odd coincidence led to the creation of Malarial
Fevers. In 1969 Jonna-Lynn Knauer chose a career as a
United Methodist missionary nurse in Mozambique. In 1986
she published her doctoral dissertation, “The Missionary
as a Cultural Interpreter” which focused on early
missionary efforts in Africa. Many years later when she
and her husband John Mandelbaum retired to Taos, she
wrote and self-published a book about her missionary life
disrupted by war called, A Good-bye Never Said. (This
book is not available now, but will be released as a
revised edition under a new name.) Imagine her surprise
when she discovered that her third cousin’s grandparents,
John and Harriet Bennett, had also been Protestant
missionaries in Mozambique. When Harriet Bennett’s
granddaughter learned that Mandelbaum was engaged in
research and writing about her African missionary
experience, she gave Mandelbaum her grandmother’s letters
and diaries. These became the foundation of Mandelbaum’s
second self-published book, Malarial Fevers. In her
introduction, Mandelbaum writes: “Missionary life is not
easy and many things that make it difficult are due to
the actions or inactions of the mission boards.” Before
the age of the Internet and cell phones, Mission board
decisions, communicated by letter or telegram, often came
too late to help missionary families. This gripping,
true-life story of the travails of pioneer missionaries
and their families in Mozambique begins on the prairie in
1887. John and Hattie Bennett have been called to
missionary work in Africa, but told by the mission board
to leave their children behind in America. They are also
expected to generate most of their own financial support
through offerings at church meetings. They decide that
they cannot and will not leave their children behind.
Mandelbaum sometimes quoted from Hattie’s journal about
their daily struggle in Africa. Because she has been
there, Mandelbaum is able to furnish authentic details
and descriptions. “Nightfall in Africa offered no
twilight transition from brilliant sunshine to pitch
black, especially on moonless nights such as this. Light
disappeared as if blown out like a candle flame.” Hattie
Bennett recorded tribal resistance to “hut taxes”, a ploy
by the Portuguese to conscript labor which eventually led
to war. She also wrote about encounters with snakes and a
nocturnal attack on their sheep by a hyena, but illness
was by far their biggest threat. “Malaria had not been
the only health problem during their stay in Kambini.
Both Freddie and Paul suffered through whooping cough.
Then chills, high fever, bloody urine and yellow skin
sent both John and Hattie to bed,” Mandelbaum wrote. The
Bennetts were transferred three times during their
six-year stay. The first time was expected; the second
time they were evacuated because John Bennett was
unconscious with malaria. The third time they ran out of
money and the church was not responding to their dilemma.
They couldn’t even afford to go home, so they transferred
to the American Board of Foreign Missions. In the end,
Hattie lost her fourth child and was so run down that
even a slightest case of malaria might have been fatal.
The Bennetts decided to go home to America for rest and
rehabilitation. In spite of their heartfelt efforts, they
were unable to return to Africa. -- By Phaedra Greenwood
For The Taos News
Marc Simmons of New Mexico: Maverick Historian
Phyllis Morgan. Published in 2005 by University of New
Mexico Press, hardback, 376 pages, 10 halftones, $39.95,
ISBN 0-8263-3524-1.
In the spirit of full disclosure, we know both Marc and
Phyllis. In fact Phyllis has reviewed some of our books
so the tables are turned. Our first reaction to this book
when this came was who knew Marc was so prolific! Marc
Simmons is truly one of New Mexico’s giants of history
and his many books, articles, and talks will be of use
for many years. This is not a book to sit by the fire but
rather a researchers treasure trove of everything. It was
a monumental task to get all of this in order. Now there
is a little glimpse of what the real Marc is like in the
essay. This is a must for historians, libraries, schools,
and those interested in Marc Simmons. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Maria Chabot - Georgia O’Keefe: Correspondence, 1941 --
1949
Barbara Buhler Lynes and Ann Paden. Published in 2003 by
the University of New Mexico Press, hardcover, 512 pages,
9 color photos, 61 b/w photos, 2 maps, $45.00, ISBN
0-8263-2993-4.
We must start out with a disclaimer that we know Ann
Paden and actually were a part of the process before
there was a book. We marveled at the discovery process
and knew people would love to read the letters. Everyone
wants to know more about Georgia. This book highlights
678 letters between Chabot and Georgia and Stieglitz
while Chabot was writing during the WPA. Some of the
letters are about rather mundane things like the
flowers/shrubs, fixing pipes, building a house, camping
trips, and house maintenance. Others are deeply profound
and are about things we want to know about like the
Penitente Brothers and the Abiquiu Moradas. The photos
are wonderful glimpses -- many by Chabot herself. This is
a must have for those interested in Ghost Ranch, O’Keefe,
Chabot, or that period in time. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2004
Maria Paints The Hills
Pat Mora with paintings by Maria Hesch. Published in 2002
by Museum of New Mexico Press, 32 pages, softback $9.95,
ISBN 0-89013-410-3, in full color, also available in
hardback for $19.95.
The late Maria Hesch’s paintings add the Christmas spirit
to this children’s book. It is a well done book that any
child will love for the holidays and is a great idea for
kids living outside of New Mexico. It gives them the full
flavor of what natives are about here. When reading the
book, memories of the Martinez and Minge houses or
Golondrinas are evoked. It is simple, well done, and
worth giving. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
2003
Mary: Images of the Holy Mother
Jacqueline Orsini. Chronicle Books, 2000. Hardcover, ISBN
0-8118-2850-6, $19.95, 96 pages, 85 color plates.
Jacqueline Orsini has in the past few years written two
nice books on the Virgin of Guadalupe. Both books are
under the last name Dunnington - so don’t be confused.
This book is a pictorial overview with essay on the many
forms of Mary in art through the centuries and from all
over the world. There is also a list of the major Marian
feast days.
Some of the art is very traditional devotional art while
some is contemporary and very jarring. Many are old
favorites that we have lived with. New Mexico artists
represented are: Nicholas Herrera, Marion Martinez,
Gilbert Montoya, Jose Benito Ortega, and La
Conquistadora. This would make a nice gift during the
holidays for anyone interested in Marian art. Wouldn’t it
make an interesting concept for a series on other
devotional art subjects? -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2001
Masks of Mexico: Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life
Barbara Mauldin with Field Photography by Ruth D.
Lechuga. Published in 1999 by Museum of New Mexico Press,
paperback, 128 pages, 96 color photos and 51 historic
photos, $24.95, ISBN 0-89013-325-5.
Anyone who collects masks or appreciates them will want
this book. Almost 100 color photos of authenticated masks
from the Museum of International Folk Art collection in
Santa Fe are in this book. The masks are grouped by
regions and there is an explanation on the
characteristics. The map and bibliography will help
enthusiasts follow the text. A bright and fun book to add
to the library. Kids will like it too and it can be a
nice aid to teachers during Halloween and Day of the
Dead. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Maya’s Children: The Story of La Llorona,
Rudolfo Anaya, illustrated by Maria Baca. Hyperion, 1997,
Hardcover $14.95, ISBN 0-7868-0152-2. 32 pages in color.
La Llorona is known in New Mexico but this is the Mexican
version. Maya is born with the sign of the Sun God and is
threatened by Señor Tiempo because of her immortality.
Rudolfo Anaya has changed the story to make the ending
less traumatic for young children while still telling the
story of the crying woman who may get you, especially at
night, if you are not careful and mind your parents.
This is a colorful book that will spark a dialog between
children and parents about things that go bump in the
night. It is always good to see books on the culture for
children. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2000
Medicine Dance: One Womans' Healing Journey into the
World of Native American Sweat Lodges, Drumming
Meditations and Dance Fasts
Marsha Scarbrough, O Books, 195 pages, ISBN:
1-84694-048-6, $16.95
Some readers may be offended by the idea of a white woman
playing Indian, admits Marsha Scarbrough in the preface
of her new memoir, Medicine Dance. The book which details
her multi-year exploration of Native American
spirituality guided by non-traditional healer Beautiful
Painted Arrow (Joseph Rael) does at first seem to be a
fairly stereotypical account. From ancestor prayers to
sweat lodges and dance fasts, she follows her teacher’s
advice unfailingly, from California to New Mexico,
despite feeling at times skeptical or ridiculous. But
Scarbrough’s unflinching inner dialogue, combined with
Rael’s approach adapted for contemporary society and
people of many cultures helps avoid the high-mindedness
plagued by similar tales. Scarbrough is careful to
present her story as the journey of one individual,
consistently focusing on her own struggles with family,
cancer, mortality and a sometimes horrifyingly impersonal
healthcare system. With her polished prose and meticulous
description, Dance stands as a graceful illustration of
how free cultural exchange helped heal one life. -- Santa
Fean Magazine
Mexican Architects: Tradition & Modernism
Fernando de Haro & Omar Fuentes. 176 pages, 245 color
plates, hardback, $45, ISBN 968-7471-06-9.
Mexican Architects: Space, Light & Color by Fernando
de Haro & Omar Fuentes. 224 pages, 256 color plates,
hardback, $45, ISBN 968-5336-00-8.
For anyone who loves beautiful pictures of stunning rooms
and homes in a tropical setting this series is for you.
These books are part of a six book series of coffee table
books. For lovers of everything Mexico these are great to
have. The books are published by Arquitectos Mexicanos
Editores and distributed by AGD (800-284-3580).
Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal
by Tey Marianna Nunn. 2001, University of New Mexico
Press, hardcover, $50.00, ISBN 0-8263-2399-5, 205 pages,
70 color plates and 75 B&W.
It is sad that this book could not have been published
while the exhibit of the same name was up at the Museum
of International Folk Art. It is new information that
could have been helpful to those interested to have the
visual stimulus and the book together. Instead it came
out almost a year later. It is important to have a
literary record of this time in New Mexico. One of the
only other books/published items of that time was the
Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico -- it
isn’t even listed in the bibliography. We were
disappointed that more names of the WPA artists could not
be unearthed. It also is a bit unnerving that in a
scholarly book there is a strident undertone. While the
author talks about the “Blue Books” of the period and how
they are used today there is no information about them.
An accompanying book on the “Blue Books” would have been
helpful or passages from them in Sin Nombre at the least.
This is a start for documenting a historical period that
has had little attention and maybe other scholars can
take it one step further. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2002
Mexican Churches
Eliot Porter and Ellen Auerbach with essay by Donna
Pierce. 1999, Chronicle Books, ISBN 0-8118-2359-8,
softback, $18.95, many color plates, 88 pages.
This is a very pretty book about churches and things in
churches. The photos were taken in 1956 by Porter and
Auerbach as they traveled through Mexico. There are
Prefaces by both photographers with some personal
insights and the essay on Portraits of Faith by Donna
Pierce. There is nothing profound here and the plates
only have identification - no information. The plates are
nice and large, in color but the random placement of
blank pages made me wonder why - what was the reason. It
was distracting. This is a nice book for someone
interested in the churches of Mexico. There is little
scholarship but if it is treated as a coffee table book
you won’t be disappointed. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2000
Mexican Folk Art From Oaxaca Artist Families
Arden Aibel Rothstein & Anya Leah Rothstien.
Published 2002 by Schiffer, hardback, 224 pages, $39.95,
ISBN 0-7643-1598-6, many b/w and Color photos.
We always look forward to new books from Schiffer - they
always have interesting topics. This book is great for
people who love Oaxaca folk art or students who are doing
research. The book highlights jewelry, candles, baskets,
dried flowers, woodcarving, toys, miniatures, textiles,
metal, ceramics, and corn husk figures. There is a
bibliography, glossary, family trees,maps, shops and
gallery list and the all important price list. It is
probably everything you wanted to know about the region
but didn’t know enough to ask. There are plenty of
pictures of the artists and their work. This is a huge
undertaking and the authors are to be congratulated for
helping the reader understand the people and arts of the
region. A great book to own. We wish more regions were
done like this. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2002
Mexican Modern: Masters of the 20th Century
Luis Martin Lozano & David Craven. Published in 2006
by Museum of New Mexico Press, paperback, full color,
$29.95, ISBN 978-0-89013-490-0.
You know how we feel about museums that take the time to
put out a book for a major exhibit - fabulous. And this
is a very nice book to use as a reference or to remember
the show. Small problem that they forgot page numbers in
half of the book- maybe that is a new trend that will die
quickly. There are photos and paintings from many artists
and each is displayed on a pages largely - so you can
appreciate it. For an art lover this is a perfect gift.
The exhibit is over but the book remains. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Mexican Papercutting
Kathleen Trenchard. Lark Books, 1998. ISBN 0-57990-011-9
paperback, 96 pages, color photos. $14.95.
A few years ago when we were in Mexico, we looked for
Mexican paper cutouts. All we could find were plastic
ones. We later found them in of all places Corrales and
now they can be bought at Hispaniae in Old Town. Papel
picado (punched paper) has a long history in Mexico. The
tradition goes back to pre-Columbian times. The cutouts
are of every subject imaginable.
This book is beautifully done. There is a clear history
of paper cutouts as well as color examples, explanations
of images and projects to do with adults or kids. For
anyone with a folk art library of reference materials
this is a nice addition. Not a lot has been written on
the art form -- at least not available in the U.S. For
the crafty person, the addition of paper cutouts will be
a great addition to Day of the Dead and Cinco de Mayo
festivities. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1998
Mexican Silver
Penny C. Morrill & Carole A. Berk. Published in 2001
by Schiffer, hardback, $59.95. ISBN 0-7643-1370-3, 272
pages with many color and b/w photos.
What is it about Mexican silver jewelry? It is different,
sculptural, dramatic, and very collectible. You also want
it. This is one of the best books we have seen on the
subject. It is large, the pictures are great, there is a
Values Reference, bibliography, and appendix of Alaskan
Models, and an appendix of William Spratling’s life. It
covers the main men, the women, and lesser known
silversmiths. It makes you want to run out and buy silver
at all of the inflated prices. A must have for
collectors. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
Mexican Tiles: Color, Style, Design
Masako Takahashi. Chronicle Books, 2000. Paperback,
$18.95, ISBN 0-8118-2629-5. 120 pages, many color photos.
Anyone who is building a house or remodeling a house and
is considering Mexican tiles needs to have this book as a
reference. It shows how tile can be used in every room
and in many ways. There is a Resource Guide on where to
buy tiles and an Installation Guide. There are ways to
use tiles on furniture and as decorative accents.
There is also a Bibliography for other related titles.
The colors are amazing and the book covers the use of
tile in Mexico as an architectural feature of churches
and other buildings. The uses of tiles are both inside
the home and outside in the garden. This book will
inspire everyone to appreciate and even use Mexican tiles
in creative ways. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall
2000
Mexico’s Fortress Monasteries
Richard D. Perry. 1997, Espadaña Press, 224 pages, B/W,
many illustrations, paperback, $19.95, ISBN
0-9620811-1-6.
Another specialized and good offering from this small
press. It will be of great use to historians,
researchers, and tourists with an interest in the
religion and architecture of Mexico. It is organized by
region and has a bibliography and glossary.
Espadaña Press is distributed by the University of New
Mexico Press and the website is http://www.west.
net/~rperry. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2001
Miguel Lost & Found in the Palace
Barbara Beasley Murphy, illustrated by George Ancoa.
Published 2002 by Museums of New Mexico Press, paperback,
$14.95, ISBN 0-89013-397-2.136 pages, b/w illustrations.
There are a million books for girls but very few good
books for boys ages 8-12, where someone doesn’t get
killed or involve violence. This is a good book. Girls
will love it but they read almost anything. It is a good
book for boys, especially Hispanic boys. It involves
places they know and situations they can identify with
easily. The book, obviously, centers around the Palace of
the Governors.
This is the first of a series dealing with all of the
Santa Fe museums. Ms. Murphy should think about adding
the new MoSCA museum and expanding to Taos, Albuquerque
and even Las Cruces. The illustrations are a little
so-so, maybe kids like them. The book might benefit from
a short glossary to help with Spanish terms for complete
Anglos. But it is a great book for kids and should go on
everyone’s gift list. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2002
Mijos, Who Dat?: The Official Mijos Handbook
David Gonzales (Creator of the Homies). Published in 2004
by Scholastic, 78 pages, full color, softback, $5.99,
ISBN 0-439-56232-5.
The book was a gift from John Freshour at the National
Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. He saw our
article on Homies and we now have another thing in
common. You can criticize Homies but they do have a very
good effect on Hispanic youth--primarily boys--in Chicano
settings. These boys tend not read a lot so any effort to
get them to read is good. The handbook shows each of the
characters in Mijo Park. Each has a picture and an
explanation. There are 36 Mijos (my children) from
Oaktown, California. They include Loco, Nardo, Spooky,
Mousy, Teresa, Selena, Charlie and their friends. In the
back of the book is a collection list and a biography of
David Gonzales. This is good art with a soul and worth
giving to a kid with a handful of Mijo’s to go with the
book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Mission Memoirs: A Collection of Photographs,
Illustrations, and Twentieth-century Reflections on
California’s Past
Terry Ruscin, 1999 by Sunbelt Publications, Inc., San
Diego, California, hardback, $54.00, ISBN 0-932653-30-8,
205pp, many color and b/w illustrations.
This is indeed a “coffee table” book. It’s overall size
(11-1/4” by 13-1/2”) justifies that designation. It also
makes it a very awkward handling book, especially with
it’s glossy/slippery pages, bound by heavy linen covered
boards, which tend to bow upward, thus making it a book
one might even call user non-friendly!
Terry Ruscin’s Mission Memoirs is not a guidebook to the
twenty-one Alta California Spanish colonial missions.
Instead, it is one man’s memoir of his personal journey
from San Diego to Sonoma exploring in his own manner
those wonderful structures conceived by the Franciscan
fathers and built by the mission Indians. As the author’s
journey progressed he found himself, like so many others
have, attempting to reconcile on one hand the over
romanticized view so well reflected in what I call the
“Ramona syndrome,” where one is immersed in a highly
romantic version of mission life with gentle padres and
docile Indians. This, set against a more realistic
contemporary view, that some might even call revisionist,
which does not shy away from trying to determine what is
real and what is myth. The author found two views, which
consistently emerged -- those whose views focused on the
harsh realities of history, and those whose views fully
embraced the overtly romantic views of the missions.
During his pilgrimage, Ruscin realized that one could
easily fall victim to the deceptive romanticized mission
restorations we see today. Still, if it had not been for
those interpretative restorations the missions themselves
would have been lost to all of us. What we see today,
which the author so acutely realized, are the surviving
vestiges that still hold some marvelous secrets of a
fascinating long past era. After all, we still have those
wonderful untouched Munras wall paintings at Mission San
Miguel Arcangel, and that beautiful reredos at Mission
San Juan Bautista, both of which have been spared the
restorers’ heavy hand, to mention but a few. What this
personal memoir does not include, as the author
acknowledges, are some of the unique stories of actually
what occurred at each of these missions over a period of
approximately sixty or so years, and what happened in the
aftermath of secularization and ruin, and the eventual
long road to arrive at the restorations we see today. In
addition, the very different problems faced by each of
the missions, and how they have gone about attempting to
solve them is explored.
The author is to be applauded for the grandiose scope of
his memoir in that he not only visited all of the Alta
California missions, but that he also included valuable
information on the asistencias’ of Santa Ysabel, Iglesia
de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, Santa Margarita de
Cortona (which is virtually unknown since it’s ruins lie
on an extensive private ranch), San Antonio de Pala, and
San Pedro (Los Flores) a ruined estancia located within
the boundaries of present-day Marine Camp Pendleton. The
author also included information and pertinent comments
on the presidios of San Diego, Monterey, and that
wonderfully restored Santa Barbara presidio chapel.
This is a uniquely illustrated though somewhat awkward to
handle book, primarily due to it’s format, that
poetically describes one man’s personal pilgrimage in an
attempt to learn more about a remarkable period in
California’s history when the padres and the mission
Indians came together to create relatively simple
religious structures that even today cast their spell on
all who visit them. -- Don Toomey, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2000
Mission San Xavier Del Bac; A guide to its iconography
Yvonne Lange with Richard E. Ahlborn. Published in 2004
by University of Arizona Press, hardback, 164 pages, 112
halftones, 26 illustrations, 3 maps, $75, ISBN
0-8165-2200-6.
Yvonne Lange was Director Emerita of the Museum of
International Folk Art and died in 2003. Richard Ahlborn
is Curator Emeritus in the Division of Cultural History
at the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian
Institution and a contributor with letters to TR and a
subscriber. That being said this is a fine book about a
truly wonderful Mission outside of Tucson. The authors
have written the first book to tackle the iconography,
saintly images, and religious elements and give them a
meaning. The Mission was restored in the 1990s and is one
of the monuments of architecture in its two hundred year
history. This is a great reference and gift for anyone
who loves Mission San Xavier del Bac. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Molesworth: The Pioneer of Western Design
Terry Winchell with photos by W. Garth Dowling. Published
in 2005 by Gibbs Smith, 234 pages, hardback, color photos
and archival photos, $60, ISBN 1-58685-508-7.
This is the epitome of coffee table books. It is big, it
is colorful, and just looking at it makes you drool for
the furniture and the way of life. Molesworth is very
“in.” The look of the West has sex appeal and this book
is to die for. It is an ultimate gift. It has the history
of Molesworth, many examples, beautiful photography, and
a useful Resource Guide if you want to take your love for
Molesworth even further. This is a great book. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Mountain Wildflowers of Northern New Mexico: A Beginner’s
Guide
J. Rush Pierce & Amanda Pierce. Published in 2001 by
JRP Publishing, hardback, 112 pages, $16.50, full color,
ISBN 0-9707640-0-6.
This is the kind of book you can take with you on walks
and identify what you see. It is very informative yet
easy to use. It has references, glossary, and an index of
Latin names. The book is divided into sections of
color--blue flowers, yellow flowers, etc. If you are just
curious or just starting this is the book for you. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Mujeres Valerosas: Meet the Extradordinary Women of the
New Mexico Hispanic Women’s Council
Vangie Samora, published in 2006 by the Hispanic Women’s
Council, paperback, 142 pages, $25, B&W photos, ISBN
0-9776876-0-0.
You know our feelings on documenting art, people’s lives,
and events. This does a nice job of documenting the women
who are powerhouses. We would have liked to see more of
the guts and not the fluff of these women but it is a
nice start. Each woman has an entry with picture. Some
are longer because they are more important in the
organization. You can find Diane Denish, Rose Diaz, Ana
Pacheco, Mari-Luci Jaramillo, and many others. The
Resources are incomplete but again a good start. If you
have trouble finding the book go to www.nmhwc.com. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
My Land Sings: Stories from the Rio Grande
Rudolfo Anaya and illustrated by Amy Cordova. Morrow
Junior Books, 1999, Hardcover, $17.00, ISBN
0-688-15078-0. 176 pages, black & white
illustrations.
It is very difficult to find good books for the not-quite
teenager group. It is even more difficult to find books
that talk about culture and heritage. My Land Sings is a
collection of tales, some handed down, some new, and all
will appeal to older children. The stories are short
which might help a older child to read one a night. There
is also a glossary to identify Spanish words and idioms.
This is another nice addition to Rudolfo’s long list of
regional books for every age reader interested in
Hispanic culture. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2000
My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz
Monica Brown and Illustrated by Rafael Lopez. Published
in 2004 by Luna Rising, 30 pages, hardcover, $15.95, full
color, ISBN 0-87358-872-X.
It is a shame that Celia Cruz didn’t live long enough to
see this book. She died in 2003 and her colorful life
fits this eye popping book. Children and adults will like
learning about her in this dual language (English and
Spanish) book. The illustrations are fabulous and fun. A
nice way for a child who is leaning toward music as a
career or hobby to see someone else who was a legend in
her own time. This is the first in Luna Rising’s new
bilingual Latino story-book series. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Navajo And Pueblo Earrings 1950-1945: Collected by Robert
V. Gallegos
Robert Bauver, Rio Grande Books, 2007
Replete with photos, the book chronicles the history of
Native American earrings using Gallegos’ twenty-year
collection. A short, well-written history opens the book
and the bulk is made up of photographs paired with
captions discussing the genesis of the earrings pictured.
A comprehensive index makes the book attractive to the
scholar while the photos will attract the casual browser.
This is the perfect book for anyone who has succumbed to
the enchantment of silver and turquoise. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
National Heritage Fellowships 1982-2002
National Endowment for the Arts, 64 pages, full color,
Free.
We got into this booklet because of Charlie Carrillo (he
is not in this one) but it has New Mexicans like: George
Lopez, Frances Varos Graves, Ramon Jose Lopez, Helen
Cordero, Margaret Tafoya, the Romeros, and Cleofas Vigil.
It also has all the other 56 recipients by year and you
get to see your tax dollars at work. We hear there is a
new edition which covers up to 2007. Order through the
NEA website. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2007
Native American Fetishes
Kay Wittle. Published in 2006 by Schiffer, 160 pages,
softback, full color with many pictures, $14.95, ISBN
0-7643-2516-7.
This is a wonderful resource if you collect or are
interested in fetishes. There is a glossary, map,
bibliography, and list of artists. There is also a
chapter on each kind of fetish made so if you don’t know
what it is you can find out easily. Necklaces are even
included! This along with a fetish to start the
collection would make a great gift for a young adult. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Near Horizons: A Weekender’s Guide to Easy Trips From
Albuquerque
M.J. Cain with illustrations by Cirrelda Snider.
Published in 2003 by La Alameda Press, paperback, $14.00,
188 pages, b&w, ISBN 1-888809-39-6.
It is not flashy with mega color plates but it is a
mellow travel book for those visiting Albuquerque or
those in Albuquerque who need especially day trips.
Covered are: Tres Ritos, Conchas Lake, Gallup, Cuba,
Chimayo, Pecos, Jemez Springs, and many more. It gives
Practicalities, Things To Do, General, and all kinds of
snippites of facts and ideas. It is a good little book to
give with a map to houseguests and say GO! -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
Never Say Goodbye: The Albuquerque Rephotographic Survey
Project
Anthony Anella & Mark C. Childs, published by the
Albuquerque Museum, 2000. No ISBN, paperback, $12.00, 88
pages, b/w with many current and historic photos.
First in the spirit of full disclosure, this reviewer
sits on the Board of the New Mexico Endowment for the
Humanities and NMEH awarded a grant for this project.
Like the previous book, this is a self-published project
by another Albuquerque museum and it has great merit.
Like the project before, it takes photos that might have
been lost and certainly had little exposure and gave them
a voice. The exhibit ran from October 2000 through
February 2001.
The project originally appeared in the Albuquerque
Tribune as a series of 20 articles in 1998 and 1999. The
Foreword is by V.B. Price.
This book, again, is probably not available any place
else other than the Albuquerque Museum Store; call
505/243-7255. This is a great book on Albuquerque’s
architectural history. It is especially enjoyable to look
at the photos of places you frequent everyday in downtown
Albuquerque and think about how it might have been.
Albuquerque has come a long way. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
New Mexican Chow: Restaurants for the Rest of Us
Scott Sharot. Published in 2004 by the Intrepid Traveler,
224 pages, softback, 1 map, $11.95, ISBN 1-887140-48-4.
This cute guide can fit in pockets or purses and it is
cross-referenced by location, price, and cuisine. Some of
our regular places were not in the book but some where.
There is a good write up of all the places and extensive
information about how to get there, cost, dress, food,
credit cards, and other stuff. This is a nice book for a
visitor or a native going to a new location in New
Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
New Mexican Tinwork: 1840 - 1940
Lane Coulter and Maurice Dixon, Jr. Re-released in 2004
by the University of New Mexico Press, $24.95, softback,
189 pages, all black and white with many photos, ISBN
0-8263-1525-9.
The orginal book was released in 1990 and we have a
suspicion that the new book came out to coincide with Las
Golondrinas’ Tin exhibit running for another year. There
is a new cover and a little new information. It still is
the only book on New Mexico tin and is a great reference
book. The book has a Glossary, Appendix, references, a
guide to artists, and is filled with valuable
information. If you like New Mexico tin this is the book
to have. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
New Mexico 24/7
Rick Smolan and David Elliot Cohne. Published in 2004 by
DK Publishing, $24.95, 144 pages, hardback, lots of color
pictures, ISBN 0-7566-0071-5.
This is a state book following the succesful America
24/7. In one week, professional and amateur photographers
captured New Mexico. All peoples are in the book --
black, white, anglo, Hispanic, and Native American. If
you can think of it -- it is probably in here. A lot of
the pictures are of just everyday people doing their
thing. But some big events are in here too. The book is
noteable because the famous (except for Ron Howard) are
not here. It is a beautiful book to give as a gift or to
keep. Many of New Mexico’s noted photographers have work
here. Other states are available. You can also put have
any photo printed on the front cover --
www.america24/7.com/customcover -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2004
New Mexico: A Biographical Dictionary 1540-1980 Volume 1
Don Bullis, Rio Grande Books 2007
Bullis is well known for his knowledge of New Mexico
History, which he shares weekly as editor and publisher
for the New Mexico Historical Notebook e-zine
(www.donbullis.biz). Following and expanding the
tradition of his earlier 99 New Mexicans . . . and a few
other folk, this first volume of a planned multi-volume
set features 530 New Mexicans from the famous (the Unser
family) to the infamous (Billy the Kid) to the historic
(Lucien Maxwell) and the unsung (Henry Love) with the
only basic qualification, according to the author’s
introduction, being that “they left a mark on the state,
for good or ill.” Indexed and annotated to serve as a
research tool, this book is equally interesting to those
interested in dipping into New Mexico’s unique history.
-- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
New Mexico: A Brief Multi-History
Ruben Salaz Marquez. Introduction by J. Ronald Vigil.
1999, Cosmic House, Paperback, 675 pages, ISBN
0-932492-05-3, $39.95, many illustrations in B/W.
Calling this a “brief multi-history” is either tongue in
cheek or a comment on the long Hispanic/Native American
history in New Mexico. This book is not brief and neither
is the controversy around its creation. The National
Hispanic Cultural Center spent a reported $43,000 on the
creation of this book, then didn’t like it, refused to
publish it, and then there were legal battles. In any
case it is out and is approved for school use and can be
purchased with State monies.
When we went to school there was no mention of Hispanic,
Native American, or any other people’s contributions to
American history. They just didn’t exist. Some critics
may say that this book goes too far in the other
direction but we actually think it didn’t go far enough.
It is a wonderful resource for the classroom but there
seems to be some people missing.
The book is very lacking on the contributions of Hispanic
New Mexicans in traditional and contemporary arts. It
lists some artists who are alive and well but ignores
some of the master artists who truly are role models,
well known, and influential. To not list in the “Hall of
Fame” artists who have been recognized by the NEA or
other influential groups is a flaw. To look at the lists
of books one also finds some major omissions. However,
there are many people listed who have never made it into
print in any history book prior to this one.
There are lists, timelines, and a glossary. The format
may be a little difficult for students, especially
pre-college level, to follow. But the book is filled with
information -- it just may take a little effort to find
it. As with any text book, we hope this is a living,
continual effort that is revised and updated to be the
best it can be. It will balance the text books compiled
in other parts of the United States that have difficulty
finding New Mexico, much less talking about its history.
We recommend this book for serious scholars as well to
have on their shelves for personal reference. If you have
trouble finding it contact Cosmic House at PO Box 10515,
ABQ 87184. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2001
New Mexico A to Z
Jill Lane and illustrations by John Hardiman. Published
in 2006 by Enchantment Lane Productions, paperback, 26
pages, b&w with lots of illustrations, $4.99.
If you are always looking for a cool gift for a kid--this
is it! Combine it with a box of crayons or the Oso Bear
and you are done!!!! This is a great way for kids (and
adults) to learn about New Mexico in a fun and
interactive way. O is Old Town, F is Farmington, I is
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. It is available at all
gift shops, Borders, and book stores but if you have
trouble finding it call 1-800-545-2070 or
www.newmexico.org. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2007
The latest in the adventures of Oso Bear takes children
on an alphabetical, coloring book, tour of New Mexico.
Each page includes facts about the locations, from
Roswell’s’ Aliens to northern New Mexico’s Enchanted
Circle, as well as phone numbers and websites for those
who want to explore further. Close cousin to Chama’s
Cinderbear (Cinderbear and the Christmas Train), Oso has
previously appeared in Off We Go To The NMSO and The
Kid’s Passport To New Mexico. Consider sending along the
very cuddly jointed Oso Bear as a reading companion. --
Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
New Mexico A to Z
Dorothy Hines Weaver and illustrated by Kay Wacker.
Northland Publishing, 1996, paperback, ISBN
0-87358-636-0, $6.95, 28 pages in color.
This mother and daughter team who live in Arizona started
the series with Arizona A to Z. This brightly illustrated
book will help those new to New Mexico or relatives
living in other areas a cute way to talk with young
children about this wild and unusual state. There is a
glossary for adults reading along who won’t know what a
kiva, junco, xylosma, or zone-tail are. This will make it
a fun book for kids and parents to read together. Another
way for young children to learn their ABC’s in a
non-traditional way. A great souvenir or gift. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2001
New Mexico Artists at Work
Dana Newman and photos by Jack Parsons. Published in 2005
by Museum of New Mexico Press, hardback, 176 pages, full
color & duotones, $39.95, ISBN 0-89013-439-1.
This is a beautiful book with artists studios of Nick
Herrera, Luis Tapia, Michael Lujan, Bob Haozus, Eliseo
Rodriguez, Jaune-Quick-See Smith, Judy Chicago, Agnes
Martin, and many more. Some of the studios we have been
in like Nick’s and see bits of us there. Old friends like
Eliseo are in the book. Each artist has a little bio and
some pictures that emphasize the making of art. There is
a bibliography. This is a good gift for anyone who knows
any of the artists or is a fan of art. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
New Mexico Artists At Work, written by Donna Newman,
photographs by Jack Parsons, is an exploration of the
creative spaces of contemporary members of the New Mexico
art community and explores “the quirkiness of each
artist’s response to the task of making an environment in
which to work.” The paired photos of artist and studio
with a single page biography makes this a book to visit
again and again. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico,
Summer 2007
New Mexico Blue Book 2003-2004
Office of Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Secretary of State and
compiled by Kathryn A. Flynn. Softback, 354 page, all
B&W.
This is an unusual book for us to review but it needs to
be talked about. We got it free at the New Mexico
Historical Society Conference that took place in Clayton
in April. The book is a wonderful resource of facts and
information. Everything you wanted to know about New
Mexico is in this book. There is trivia, history, judges,
departments, media, voting, Native Americans, pictures,
geology, symbols, education, maps, and a lot more. If you
do writing, reporting, media, or anything to do with New
Mexico you need this book. The book is free and you can
get it (hopefully) 800-477-3632. It is not in stores.
Thumbs-up to New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2005
New Mexico For Dummies
Lesley S. King with Granville Green. Published in 2002 by
Hungry Minds. 384 pages in B/W, ISBN 0-7645-6527-3;
paperback, $16.99.
What an interesting idea -- guidebooks by people who
actually live in the state! Lesley King is a New Mexico
lifer so she knows us. In fact the only santero referred
to in the Arts & Crafts section in the back was Nick
Herrera. In the Top Ten Ways to Act Like a New Mexican we
passed with flying colors except for the item on being
late for everything -- we aren’t but 9 out of 10 isn’t
bad. We especially liked the Top Ten Ways To Be Friendly
to the Native Americans and the Top Ten Arts &
Crafts. This book is user friendly and very inclusive.
The maps are good and there is a lot of information on
cool things to see. The two nit-picking things we could
find is possibly more on New Mexican santeros and a
bibliography of selected reading on the various cultures.
Other than that the Dummies series is good and has become
an icon for many parts of our lives. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2003
New Mexico Ghost Stories
Antonio R. Garcez. Published 2003 by Red Rabbit Press.
ISBN 0-963402994. $21.95.
Let’s be completely honest, Antonio Garcez is a long time
friend and fellow small press owner in New Mexico. And
yes, we appear in his Ghost Stories of Abiquiu book
because we told him he had to tell that story. He is an
excellent ghost story teller -- probably Mr. Ghost of New
Mexico. In New Mexico Ghost Stories he has combined the
stories from all of his other books -- Abiquiu, Santa Fe,
Taos, Albuquerque, and Southern New Mexico -- all into
one large book of stories (432 pages). So many of the
places he covers are old hangouts of ours: The
Albuquerque Press Club, Legal Tender, Canyon Road, Ghost
Ranch, Taos Pueblo, The Kimo Theater, Las Cruces, and old
La Mesilla. The book has Hispanic, Native American, and
Anglo stories. It does not discriminate on which ghosts
it covers. It is fun and a great gift for anyone who
loves New Mexico and ghosts. Garcez’ other books include
ghost stories of Arizona, Native American Southwest, and
California and Yosemite. If you have trouble finding the
book or want Antonio to speak to a group, contact him at
HC 71 Box 496, Hanover, New Mexico 88041-0496. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2004
New Mexico Religious Art
Master Artist Peter Lopez, Produced by Cultural Art
Journal LTD. 43 minutes in color. $9.95.
This is the first production by Cultural Art Journal LTD
of a contemporary santero although they have done other
videos. Peter Lopez is in that group of up-and-coming
with a number of recent awards and honors. Peter does
some great work and the value of this video is that it
will document his retablos and bultos for history.
Collectors of his work, galleries, museums and even
potential clients will enjoy the video because it gives
them a chance to get to know Peter and his work.
This is not Hollywood quality video but more in the genre
of educational video. It does give the viewer a nice
visit with Peter filmed at his studio, summer Market and
winter Market. You see Peter’s 1999 1st Place Gesso Award
from Market in progress along with other pieces.
The video puts Peter Lopez in context with history and
his work. It is ironic that Peter’s grandfather was the
first person to bring a feature film to New Mexico and
now Peter is one of the first santeros to have a video on
his work and life. We applaud any effort that documents
the work of present day santeros so future generations
will see what was going on at the 400 year mile-marker in
history. As far as we are aware the only place you can
get the video is from the producers Pat & Emmet
Thorpe in Placitas, New Mexico (505)867-2195 or email
caj@swcp.com for $9.95@. There is a CD version but it
works on non-Mac pcs also for $9.95@. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2000
New Mexico Route 66 On Tour: Legendary Architecture from
Glenrio to Gallup
Donald J. Usner. Published in 2004 by Museum of New
Mexico Press with collaboration with New Mexico Historic
Preservation Division, B&W, 108 pages, softback, ISBN
0-89013-386-7, $19.95.
This is a great little book that has pictures you haven’t
seen to death. A number of places we had been but never
knew the inside story. The book is very readable and fun.
It is organized in a logical trip through Route 66. The
book would have benefitted from an index but without it
the book is still fun and a great gift for the Route 66
buff on your list. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2004
New Mexico Santos: Religious Images in the Spanish New
World
E. Boyd, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1966,
Revised 1995; ISBN: 0-89013-284-4 ($12.95).
This is a reissue of the classic New Mexico Santos: How
to Name Them which was first released in 1966. This book
is a tribute to E. Boyd, who helped to research and
document the various images of the santos of New Mexico.
Her research suggested that engravings were far less
important as sources of inspiration for the santeros than
were the popular devotional lithographic prints with
which European commercial printers flooded worldwide
markets in the 19th century. This is a great starter book
with marvelous illustrations by Frances Breese. E. Boyd
was the Curator of Spanish Colonial Art at the Museum of
New Mexico for twenty-five years. . -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 1996
New Mexico’s Historic Places: The Guide to National and
State Register Site
Marci Riskin, General Editor and Foreword by Robert J.
Torrez. 2000, Ocean Tree Books, paperback, ISBN
0-943734-30-1, $15.95. 160 pages, B & W, many photos.
This book needs to be in your car if you go exploring in
New Mexico. All of the sites, houses, farms, and
businesses that are on the national and State historic
registers, are listed. We were amazed at how many places
were in our basic neighborhood alone. Some cities,
locations, and specific sites have in depth explanations
while many do not. We found ourselves wanting to know why
every single place or house made it on to this
prestigious list. Maybe a larger book that gives the
reason that each place is on the list might be in the
future. It is wonderful to have this guide and for those
who travel with this exact goal in mind, it will be a
treasured gift. There are over 1700 sites listed along
with a brief history and background as well as an
explanation of how a site gets the prized plaque that
puts them on the register. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2000
NM 2000
Exhibit catalog published by the Museum of Fine Arts,
Santa Fe. 505/476-5072. $15 at their museum store, 79
pages with b/w photos.
Finally somebody in the museum business got it! If you go
to all the trouble of having a major juried show, take
the time to have a catalog for those who visit the show
and want to remember it. Thanks, Museum of Fine Arts. New
Mexico 2000 is a juried show open until April, 22, 2000.
They had over 5,000 submissions by slide and chose about
70 pieces.
There is a blend of traditional Native American,
traditional Hispanic New Mexican, and all sorts of
contemporary works in all media. In the spirit of full
disclosure we have to admit that we have a piece on loan
to the exhibit by santero Alcario Otero of Tome.
The show is the sort that is interesting because of the
diversity, the humor, the controversy, and the beauty.
One thing that really caught our eye was that all of the
“rejected” pieces in slide form, as well as the accepted
slides, are on display in a huge light-table wall. You
are struck with the quality of the work submitted and
that all the pieces are really a part of the exhibit. A
pat on the back to the person who thought of this idea.
The show is worth a trip to Santa Fe and if you like the
work -- buy the catalog. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 1999
Nuevo Mexico Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispano
Homeland
Photographs by Miguel Gandert, Foreword by Helen Lucero,
Essays by Ramon Gutierrez, Enrique Lamadrid, Lucy
Lippard, and Chris Wilson. Museum of New Mexico Press,
2000. Hardback $50.00, ISBN 0-89013-348-4, paperback
$29.95, ISBN 0-89013-349-2. 130 b/w photos, 175 pages.
If you bought this book for no other reason than the
photos, you would get your money’s worth. They are
stunning. Then, Miguel Gandert is known for his intimate
portraits and black and white candids of just regular
people carrying out their everyday activity. The way he
portrays them is not everyday quality. They appear
elegant and important.
But this book is not only photos. It has some important
essays that place the rituals in context with historical
backgrounds. The dances of Alcalde, Picuris, Ranchos de
Taos, Abiquiu, Tiguex, Tortugas, Paseo del Norte,
Chimayo, and Tome are featured. For some of us we can
pick out friends who participate in these important
cultural gatherings.
The book accompanies an inaugural exhibit at the new
National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The
exhibit may travel after it comes down in May. You can
buy the book at the NHCC (number above) or it can be
ordered with the ISBN number. This book has been seen in
some local book stores. If this is the quality of book
the NHCC is going to put out with all of their exhibits
then we are all in for a treat! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2001
Oaxaca Celebration, Family, Food, and Fiestas in
Teotitlan
Mary Jane Gagnier de Mendoza. Published in 2005 by Museum
of New Mexico Press, softback, $24.95, 160 pages, 100
color photos, 1 map, ISBN 0-89013-445-6.
What better way to celebrate the holidays than to give a
book on Mexican holidays. You begin with Posadas at
Christmas, and visit the Fiesta of the Black Christ of
Esquipulus, Lent, weddings, holy Week and Easter, patron
saints days, and end with Day of the Dead. The pictures
are great and draw you in. This is a great book for
someone going to or returning from one of the best and
most popular vacation spots in the world. Combine it with
a Mexican treasure from Hispaniae or Jackalope and you
have the perfect gift. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 2006
On The Chile Trail; 100 Great Recipes from Across America
Coyote Joe. Published in 2005 by Gibbs Smith Publisher,
softcover, 160 pages, full color, $24.95, ISBN
1-58685-4046.
We do not get the emmy-winning, Sonoran Grill tv show
with Coyote Joe out of Phoenix. It must be good. This
book is really good. The contents of recipes is all c’s -
Cajuns, Cattlemen, Catholics, Cowboys, and Californians.
The recipes include: cerviche, dirty rice, soft shelled
crabs, salsas, kabobs, margaritas, salads, fish, and many
more. It is fun and mouth watering. A great gift. But we
wanted to see what Coyote Joe looked like! -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
On Mexican Time
Tony Cohan, Broadway Books, 2000. Hardback, $25, ISBN
0-7679-0318-8, 288 pages.
This book could be a great pool book. If we had ocean
beaches in New Mexico it could be the perfect beach book.
It might even work as a middle of a cold winter book. It
is a travel diary, a fantasy. For anyone dreaming of
retiring or running away to Mexico, this is the book for
you.
This is the story of finding San Miguel de Allende,
falling in love with the town, then leaving Los Angeles
to live there. It is funny, poetic, historical, and
strange. It is an easy read and makes you want to at
least spend vacation time in Mexico. The author gives you
a real feel for the colonial town and the oddities of
living there. This book may be difficult to find. Try
Amazon, ordering from your own bookstore or calling
Hispaniae 505-244-1533. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2001
Once There Was A Bull (Frog)
Rick Walton and illustrated by Greg Hally. Published in
1995 by Gibbs Smith, 30 pages, $15.95, hardback, full
color, ISBN 0-879056-652-5.
This is another great book for kids. It is all in English
and good for a beginning reader. The story is set in the
West and it might appeal especially to boys. The
illustrations will capture the attention of any kid. This
book would make a good nighttime story. It is easy on the
kids and the parents. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2005
Only In New Mexico : An Architectural History of the
University of New Mexico, the First Century 1889-1989
Van Dorn Hooker with Melissa Howard and V.B. Price.
Published in 2000 by UNM Press, hardback, 342 pages,
B&W with may drawings and photos, $29.95, ISBN
0-8263-2135-6.
UNM is a strange mix of traditional buildings with new
and modern buildings and some building you wonder “What
were they thinking?” This being said ii is a great idea
to document the architiecture for a whole campus. There
are tons of interesting facts you-never-knew as well as
archival pictures that are fun. Students of art, history,
and architecture will love this book. The Appendix will
thrill fact junkies. A great gift for a student or
teacher going to UNM. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 2007
Our Lady of Guadalupe
pictures by Felipe Davalos, story by Francisco Serrano
and pop-up paper engineered by Eugenia Guzman. 1988,
Groundwood Press. 12 pages color, $16.95 hardback. ISBN
0-88899-335-8.
We have learned to appreciate pop-up books from LaVerne
Miers Bond who makes and teaches this newly emerging book
art form. Though this book only has twelve pages, they
are twelve stunning, three dimensional pages. This is one
way to tell the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe to kids
and they will be entertained. We recommend that an adult
go through the book the first time and show the pop-ups
and how they work because they can be a little tight the
first time through, especially the page with all the
flowers. This is a great gift and a beautifully done book
for any child. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
1999
Outdoor Style: The Essence of Southwest Living
Suzanne Pickett Martinson. Published in 2003 by Northland
Publishing, 134 pages, hardback, $34.95, full color, ISBN
0-87358-841-X.
All of these “Style” books are beautiful. You would love
to have them on your coffee table. This one highlights
all kinds of intersting places in the Southwest. It is
more spiritual than primarily decoration but with the
same effect. There is a Resource Guide, Bibliography,
Aromatic Plant list, and recipes too! This shows all
kinds of small and large spaces and what can be done with
them for entertainment or for inner peace. A beautiful
book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Pablo and Pimienta: Pablo y Pimienta
Ruth M. Covault and illustrated by Francisco Mora. Rising
Moon (Northland Publishing), ISBN 0-87358-588-7, 1998. 32
pages in color. $15.95.
This is a very nicely illustrated book of a father, son
and uncle who travel to Phoenix from Mexico to pick
watermelons. Pablo falls out of the truck and meets a
baby coyote and the two try to find Pablo’s father. I
wanted more from the story. I wondered how the issue of a
child picking watermelon was going to be handled and it
wasn’t. The story just ends. I envisioned a parent
reading the story to a child and having to answer a lot
of social questions -- but maybe that isn’t a bad idea to
foster conversation. And maybe an adult reading this
children’s book just doesn’t work. In any case it is a
catalyst to talk about the hard life some people must
live and the differences in cultures. It is a beautiful
book and might make a good addition to a primary grade
classroom. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1998
Paint Your Soul
Jan Oliver. Published by the artist, 40 pages, $16.50,
full color, paperback.
This colorful book is by the same artist who did the art
on TR’s summer cover. The book celebrates the ability to
create and paint by showing vibrant images of the
Southwest. This book with a watercolor set would make a
great gift for anyone. If you have trouble finding the
book call the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center Store in
Pueblo, The Starving Artist Gallery in Taos, or the
artist at www.janoliver.com. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2006
Painting of New World: Mexican Art and Life, 1521-1821
Donna Pierce, Clara Bargellini and Rogelio Ruiz Gomas,
Published in 2004 by University of Texas Press, hardback,
328 pages, 139 & 20 B+W illustrations, $50.00, ISBN
0-914738-49-6.
This is a true coffee table book, large and heavy but
beautiful. In the spring of 2004 the Denver Art Museum
mounted the largest exhibit of Mexican colonial painting
ever shown outside of Mexico. It contained 60
masterpieces from private collections and museums in
Europe, the United States. and Mexico. This is the
catalogue for the exhibit. For anyone interested in art
of Mexico this is a must. It is scholarly but shows off
the art well. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2005
Paintings of the Southwest
Arnold Skolnick and Introduction by Suzan Campell. 2002
University of New Mexico Press, paperback, $$, ISBN
0-8263-2843-1, 128 pages, many color plates.
Books on art need to serve a purpose. Do they provide new
research, area picture or reference book, or do they act
as a guide for other artists? I can’t figure out what
this book wants to be. It is very pretty as one page
after another of paintings - divided by short quotes from
notable people but why? It is a small book so it is not
the usual coffee table book. The best I can figure is
that it is a book for tourists.
It is flawed in its exclusion of some major painters in
New Mexico: Frank Applegate, Eliseo Rodriguez, John
Nieto, or anyone in the contemporary Hispanic or Native
American schools of art. You might say it doesn’t show
contemporary but it indeed does with Alyce Frank, Wilson
Hurley, and Morris Rippel. It does have work from Native
Americans, Pablita Velarde and Fritz Scholder but
Hispanics don’t exist. It is a pretty, little, flawed
book for people who want to look at a pretty picture and
don’t know any better. But again I have to ask, “What is
the purpose for this book?” -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2002
Passions in Print: Private Press Artistry in New Mexico
1834-Present
Pamela S. Smith and Richard Polese. Published in 2006 by
Museum of New Mexico Press with a grant by the Lannan
Foundation, 224 pages, $45.00 hardback, ISBN
0-89013-479-0.
In the spirit of disclosure we have to tell that we have
been involved with the New Mexico State Library Lecture
Series that is part of the display that accompanies this
book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Phoebe and Chub
Matthew Henry Hall and illustrated by Sheila Aldridge.
Published in 2005 by Rising Moon, hardback, $15.95, 30
pages, full color, ISBN 0-87358-879-7.
This is a great kid’s book and boys will especially like
it because they are trained to like things that are
squishy. There are three rules to be truly happy and they
are good rules. This is a book for a beginning reader or
to be read to. Good for a birthday present! -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Photographers of Genius at the Getty
Getty Curator of Photography Weston Naef. Published in
2004 by the J. Paul Getty Museum, softback, $35.00, 176
pages, 60 color & 54 duotone photos, ISBN
0-89236-749-0.
This is a little different for us to review but it does
have photos of Southwestern subjects and Latino
photographers. There are of course Alfred Stiegliz photos
of Georgia O’Keefe. Also there are photos by Manuel
Alvarez Bravo of Mexico. It is a very attractive book
with a wide selection of photos that will entertain
anyone interested in photos and their history. It is a
collection of thirty-eight photographers with a biography
on each from an exhibition at the Getty by the same name.
It is a large book that will add to any library and the
topics are fascinating. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2004
Pilgrimage to Chimayo: Contemporary Portrait of a Living
Tradition
Sam Howarth & Enrique Lamadrid, photography by Sam
Howarth, Miguel Gandert, Cary Hertz, and Oscar Lozoya.
Testimonials compiled by Enrique Lamadrid & Troy
Fernandez. Museums of New Mexico Press, 1999. Paperback,
$19.95, ISBN 0-89013-374-3, b/w, 77 pages.
The pilgrimage to Chimayo during Holy Week is world
famous and a very important part of northern New Mexico’s
spiritual history. The pictures in the book are stunning
and truly give an accurate feeling of what it is like to
be part of the Good Friday mass of humanity that descends
upon Chimayo.
This is a small but important book that is good to have
in your own library but also a nice gift for someone who
has made the pilgrimage and who would also like to
remember the experience. The individual testimonials from
pilgrims reflect the depth of feeling the journey has on
people of faith. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 1999
Placenotes - Sets of Santa Fe, New York City or Houston
48-55 color cards, $19.95 each, published by the
University of Texas Press, 1-800-252-3206.
What a fun idea! A book that has been already taken apart
and you can use what you want. Each card has a picture of
the place and on the back is the info you want. The cards
are about touristy places, places to eat, galleries, and
are in a sturdy box that closes shut for storage, There
is a map and a list of places in categories. This is a
really cool gift for someone going to one of the
destinations and perfect for a stocking stuffer. It is
one of those ideas - I wish I would have thought of!
Website www.placenotes.com for more titles. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Placitas: Conversations with Hispano Writers of New
Mexico by
Nasario Garcia. 2000, Texas Tech University Press.
Hardcover, ISBN 0-89672-428-X, $27.95, 210 pages, with
six B/W photos.
This should be required reading in any course focusing on
New Mexican literature. So often Hispanic writers are an
afterthought. The Q & A format is distracting to some
but it does give the authors an opportunity to speak in
their own voices. The authors that Garcia speaks about
and to are: Rudolfo Anaya, Denise Chavez, Erlinda
Gonzales-Berry, E.A. Tony Mares, Orlando Romero, and
Sabine Ulibarri.
This is the best way to “one-stop-shop” the truly
influential Hispanic authors of New Mexico. It is a great
idea by Garcia and needs to be used to understand the
influences and inspirations to this group. A reference
book and an easy read packed with valuable information.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2000
Playing Loteria! El juego de la loteria!
Rene Colato Lainez and illustrations by Jill Arena.
Published in 2005 by Luna Rising (a bilingual imprint of
Rising Moon), 32 pages, English/Spanish, ages 5-8,
hardback, full color, $15.95, ISBN 0-87358-881-9.
There are so many possibilities to use this beyond just a
book. Loteria is the national bingo of Mexico and has
been around for 200 years. First, the book can be used to
teach Spanish. It is very appealing, fun, and is the
story of a young boy who discovers Loteria and the good
time he has with his Grandmother. But a teacher or
librarian could combine the reading of the book with the
game and have kids (or adults) really learn another
language. The review copy of this book came with a deck
of Loteria cards and to give this book with the game
would make a perfect present for kids who are bored but
smart. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Pop Flop’s Great Balloon Ride
Nancy Abruzzo and illustrations by Noel Chilton.
Published in 2005 by Museum of New Mexico Press,
hardback, 32 pages, 21 color pictures, ISBN
0-89013-475-8.
Small children will love learning about the Albuquerque
International Balloon Fiesta and hot air ballooning. They
don’t understand why they have to wake up at a ridiculous
hour and dress warmly. This would be a good gift for a
kid going ballooning or going to the AIBF. They will
understand about putting up and taking down a balloon,
zebras, and that you can’t steer a balloon. Nancy Abruzzo
knows a thing or two about balloons -- she is married to
Richard and daughter in-law of famed balloonist Ben
Abruzzo. She is a pilot herself. A good book for small
kids or a good souvenir to take home. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Potosi: Colonial Treasures and the Bolivian City of
Silver
Pedro Querejazu & Elizabeth Ferrer. University of
Arizona Press, 1997. ISBN 1-879128-16-0. 152 pages, color
& B/W. $29.95 paperback.
Potosi is the book accompanying the exhibit showing work
related to the Potosi schools of painting, sculpture and
silverwork. The exhibit and book were a project of the
Americas Society based in New York City. The book is in
Spanish and English.
This is an extremely attractive book covering the arts
but also architecture, and the social environment of the
people of the region. The majority of the photos deal
with the lavish devotional art. It came in many forms:
painted, sculpted, hammered in silver or gilded. Compared
to New Mexican santos of the same time the pieces are
pristine and look like they were created an hour ago.
This is a wonderful coffee table-type book but also a
good reference, especially for artists in the Southwest.
Area jewelers will also find the elaborate Spanish
Colonial silver fascinating. One gem is the Alms Plate
with a miniature Virgin of the Candlestick in the center.
There are a number of santos that will be new to us in
New Mexico but still similar. A nice addition to the
researcher’s library. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Summer 1998
Prickly Pear Cookbook
Carolyn Niethammr. Published in 2004 by Rio Nuevo
Publishers, paperback, $14.95, 120 pages, 73 photos in
full color, ISBN 1-887896-56-2.
Who knew prickly pears could be the base of so many great
dishes? The cocktails are worth the price of the book
alone. This, with a jar of prickly pear syrup would make
a great gift. This book is unusual and easy to follow.
The recipes are from all over and it turns out that
pickly pear is good for you too! The cookbook comes with
a Source Guide in the back. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2004
Pueblo Architecture and Modern Adobes: The Residential
Designs of William Lumpkins
Joseph Traugott. Original drawings and Foreword by
William Lumpkins. Museum of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Paperback, ISBN 0-89013-367-0, $19.95. Hardback, ISBN
0-89013-368-9, $45.00. 144 pages, 94 B/W drawings, 10
halftones.
William Lumpkins passed away on March 20. 2000 in Santa
Fe. He was 90 years old. Lumpkins was one of the building
blocks of the Santa Fe art colony and a pioneer of
passive-solar design in Santa Fe. He designed the La
Fonda Hotel, Rancho Encantado, DeVargas Center and parts
of the Inn at Loretto. The Ballroom at the La Fonda is
named after him. He was a supporter of El Rancho de las
Golondrinas.
This book, 47 projects that were never built are
documented in floor plans, elevations, and cross-section
views. For a student of architecture this book would be a
valuable insight into the Lumpkins mind-set of the 1970s
and 1980s. There are interesting decorative features and
though the plans are made for stone and adobe they could
be updated for straw-bale construction. This is a guide
for anyone contemplating building a new house in New
Mexico. It is a collection of ideas that are waiting to
be used. The author, Joseph Traugott is currently curator
of twentieth century art at the Museum of Fine Arts in
Santa Fe. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2000
Quest for Empire: Spanish Settlement in the Southwest
Donald Cutter and Iris Engstrand, Fulcrum Publishing,
Golden, 1996, 360 pp, ISBN 1-55591-230-3, $27.95
History comes alive as the authors look at the Spanish
legacy in the American Southwest. Beginning with a
description of the land and its peoples in the late 15th
century, the authors trace the adventures, failures, and
successes of the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and priests
who introduced European culture to the southwestern
portion of what is now the United States. All told it is
a compelling look at initial contact in the West’s first
frontier, offering a balanced view of the activities of
an ethnically merged group of people in a relatively
isolated area. Sure to become an authoritative text on
the subject, this will be important to students of
history, Native peoples, and anyone interested in the
story of the American Southwest. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 1996
Real Women Eat Chiles
Jane Butel
Chile as health food? According to the owner of
Albuquerque’s Southwestern Cooking School, “the real
secret is that spicy, flavorful food pleasantly fills one
up and it can be adapted to one’s food preference s and
lifestyle.” Sprinkled with quotes, stories, and pictures
from real New Mexico women, Butel's new cookbook
recommends a serving of chile everyday and offers a
recipe for chile tea for those days you miss your
allotment. Recipes average five ingredients and about
twenty minutes to prepare. Look for twists on old
favorites like Pinto Pâte and Spicy Hot Chocolate Mousse.
-- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
Recetas Y Recuerdos: Recipes and Recollections
Linda Jaramillo Hughes
Linda Hughes has traditional recopies of northern New
Mexico with memories of her grandmother and the
traditions her family cherished. Some recipes have been
updated to use modern appliances (Calabaza Microwave
Style) and save time, energy, and, sometimes, nutrients.
The ingredients -- and love -- remain the same. The
recipes (including three for Biscochitos) are divided by
subject and indexed and an appendix of nutrition hints is
included. Hughes’ new cookbook I’ll Be Home For Christmas
will be out in time for the holidays. -- Sabra Steinsiek,
POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
Reclaiming Church Wealth: The Recovery of Church Property
after Exploration in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara,
1860-1911,
Jose Roberto Juarez. Published in 2004 by the University
of New Mexico Press, hardback, 264 pages, 26 charts, 1
map, ISBN 0-8263-3162-9, $45.00.
This is heavy reading but very valuable. This research
covers art, property, commercial businesses, and the
Church. It sheds a new light on practices that have gone
on for a long time and which have contributed to the loss
of priceless works of art. If it happened here it also
happened elsewhere. This is a study in power, greed,
stupidity, and the way things are done. It is an intense
read but necessary. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 2004
Remembering Santa Fe
Willard F. Clark. Published in 2004 by Gibbs Smith,
hardback, $18.95, ISBN 1-58685-359-7, 112 pages, many
B&W woodcuts.
This is a charming little book and a great gift for a
person you like. It was first published in 1990 and
called Recuerdos de Santa Fe, as a limited edition by
Clark’s Studio. Then in 1990 as a book by Blue Feather
Press. Willard Clark is a printmaker and in the book he
has examples of adobes, Catholic Churches, residents, and
landscapes. There are many locations that you will
recognize. This is an art book with a personal text. It
is a glimpse of Santa Fe’s past. It also brings back
memories of books done years ago. NOTE: Gibbs Smith also
has a set of notecards of the same pieces that is sold
separately. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2004
Retro Fiesta: A Gringo’s Guide to Mexican Party Planning
Geraldine Duncann. Published in 2005 by Collector’s
Press, full color, hardback, $16.95, ISBN 1-933112-01-8.
This is a very fun book as a gift. The look is very retro
with retro colors and retro type. There are games,
recipes, and of course margaritas. If you or someone is
in the Southwest they need this book as a reference for
all your parties. Combine it with salsa or mixes and you
are ready to go for gift giving. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2006
Return To Abo
Sharon Niederman. Published in 2005 by UNM Press,
hardback, $24.95, 297 pages, ISBN 0-8263-3720-1.
To honestly disclose, Sharon Niederman has written for TR
and is someone we know. This is a purely fiction book
with undertones of what we know in the “Land of
Entrapment.” For many young people the opportunities in
New Mexico are few and far between after high school.
This is the story of someone coming home and dealing with
the rural land and its people. It is a good read that
gets you involved right away. It has women’s issues,
domestic violence, and the non-forgiving land as central
characters. For a good taste of ranch life in New Mexico
this is a good book to dive into. Maybe it is a good book
to read before moving to New Mexico? -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Revivals! Diverse Traditions: The History of
Twentieth-Century American Craft 1920-1945
Janet Kardon, editor, American Craft Museum, Harry Abrams
Publishers, New York, NY, 1994, 304 pp., 95 color plates
and 182 b/w photos ISBN 0-8109-1955-9
The catalog for the “Revivals! Diverse Traditions”
exhibit at the American Craft Museum, this book covers
the American Craft Revival from the New Deal and the WPA
Federal Art Project right through the Hispanic Craft
Revival in New Mexico. Works by Juan Sanchez, Ernesto
Roybal, David Salazar, Pedro Quintana, Domingo Tejada,
Jose Dolores Lopez, George Segura, Francisco Sandoval,
Tillie Gabaldon Stark, Crisotoma Luna, Jose Maria
Apodaca, Celso Gallegos, and Patricinio Barela are
featured in the book. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Winter 1996
Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever
Richard Scarry. Published in 2004 by Luna Rising, English
and Spanish, fully illustrated in color, 64 pages,
hardback, $16.95, ISBN 0-87358-873-8.
Every word a kid could ever want to know is in this book.
It is a great way for kids to learn Spanish but they
could also learn English by using this book. It is bright
and filled with things that will keep them occupied for a
long while. They also work for an ESL classroom or
library. It makes a good gift for anyone -- young or old!
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Roadrunner’s Dance
Rudolfo Anaya and illustrated by David Diaz. 2000,
Hyperion Books for Children, hardback, $15.99, ISBN
078680254-5, 29 pages in color.
We have a roadrunner who appears every day about noon. He
terrorizes the dogs and hunts for food. When people
gather at parties in New Mexico and talk turns to
wildlife everyone affectionately talks about “their”
roadrunner.
This book begs to be cut up and have the wonderful photos
mounted in frames on the wall. The illustrations are
stunning and no wonder, Diaz is an Caldecott Award
winner. The story is simple. Rattlesnake owns the road.
Desert woman creates a new animal named Roadrunner to
challenge him.
It is a simple tale, a beautiful book, and one we highly
recommend for children. It will help children respect
this funny bird in the desert. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2001
Robots.
Release on DVD & VHS September, 2005, $29.98, 84
minutes.
Animation has sure come a long way. Robots will be
released in September and Twentieth Century Fox sent us
an advanced copy. It will be out in Spanish and does have
an ode to Cheech and Chong. In fact, even though boys
will really love it there are enough inside jokes that
adults who have to watch with kids will like it too. It
has a big cast of celebs loaning their voices: Jay Leno,
Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear,
Mel Brooks, and many others. It is from the people who
made Ice Age and the kids will love it. Adults can find a
number of good themes. There is a story about a Robot boy
who can fix anything fights the forces of evil and saves
the Robot World. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall
2005
Romance of the Bells: The California Missions in Art
Jean Stern, Gerald J. Miller, Pamela Hallan-Gibson, and
Norman Neuerburg, The Irvine Museum, Irvine, California,
1995. 128 pages, cloth: $35.00, paper: $17.50.
This beautifully produced book was published on the
occasion of a joint exhibition at the Mission San Juan
Capistrano and the Irvine Museum, 17 June-14 October
1995. The exhibition and resultant book was made possible
through the interest and support of Joan Irvine Smith, a
noted connoisseur of California impressionist paintings,
and the founder of the Irvine Museum in 1992.
The book consists of seven well written essays that run
the gamut from a short history of Spanish California,
brief profiles of each of the Franciscan missions, and
the California missions in art from 1786 to 1930. Each
essay is by a renowned art historian. I was particularly
impressed with Gerald Millers’ “The Missions: A Story of
Romance & Exploration in California,” and the essay
by the late Professor Norman Neuerburg on “The California
Missions in Art: 1786-1890.”” The flowering of artistic
interest in the ruins of the California missions occurred
from about 1870-1900. During that interval Mission San
Juan Capistrano became the artists’ favorite romantic
focal point; accordingly the majority of the illustrated
oil paintings (53 out of 93) are of this very popular
mission.
The most outstanding feature of this book is the
selection of beautiful color reproductions of the oil
paintings; they are truly quite lovely. Another asset is
the short biographies of each of the artists, many who
came from the east as already established artists.
Although the book concentrates primarily on a selection
of California mission oil paintings, there is a
selection, in Neuerburg’s essay, on the distinctive
etchings of the mission ruins created by former Chicago
artist Henry Chapman Ford (1828-1894). He moved to
California in 1875 and most of his illustrated etchings
date from 1883.
This is a book to be cherished by art lovers and art
historians, specifically those interested in the
California missions and the era of California
impressionism. It should be remembered that it was
through the efforts of those California impressionist
artists that set the stage for twentieth century
restoration and reconstruction of the missions. In so
doing they were instrumental in preserving California’s
Spanish Colonial heritage. -- Don Toomey, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2000
Route 66; Spirit of the Mother Road
Bob Moore. Published in 2004 by Northland Publishing,
softback, oversized, 74 pages, full color with many
photos, $12.95, ISBN 0-87358-855-X.
This is a fun book to take home from a trip to any of the
eight states featured or to send to someone coming out
for a visit. It has a nice overview of Rt. 66 and all of
the sights on the road. The one criticism we have is on
page 37; the picture is not “some local artists
displaying their work on the Plaza” -- it is of Spanish
Market, the largest market of Hispanic art in the U.S.
Funny, but Indian Market isn’t even mentioned. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Sacred Land: Indian and Hispanic Cultures of the
Southwest
Taylor Museum for Southwestern Studies of the Colorado
Springs Fine Arts Center, 24 pp. catalog, 10 color plates
and 17 b/w photos, of the Museum Permanent Exhibition.
This fine catalog documents the Pueblo, Navajo and
Apache, as well as the Hispanic arts in the Taylor Museum
Collection. It gives a good brief history of the various
aspects of Southwestern culture, featuring textiles,
basketry, pottery, and jewelry of the Indian cultures and
the weaving/colcha, furniture-making, leather chests and
boxes, ironwork, silverwork, straw-applique, tinwork,
santos and architecture from the Hispanic culture. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1996
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American
Indian
edited by Christopher Cardozo
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American
Indian, edited by Christopher Cardozo, celebrates the 100
year anniversary of the release of Curtis’ monumental
20-volume work, The North American Indian. The current
book is a compilation of Curtis’ finest photos from
around the country, presented in photogravure, albumin,
cyanotype, platinum, and gold prints. Divided into
geographical areas and supplemented by essays, as well as
pieces on ceremony, daily life, and spiritual life, the
various-colored images are a joy to behold. The
Southwestern section, in particular, showcases Curtis’
special love for the region, especially his fascination
with the Hopi Snake Dance. This volume is a work for the
ages, as it memorializes a bygone era at the turn of the
20th century when many tribes still roamed their
traditional lands. Curtis’ photographs have instilled new
pride in many Indian nations and have been instrumental
in encouraging Native peoples to reclaim their culture
and history. -- David Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall
2007)
Saints & Saint Makers of New Mexico
E. Boyd, revised and edited by Robin Farewell Gavin,
Foreword by Donna Pierce and Appendix by Charles
Carrillo. 1998 Western Edge Press. ISBN 1-889921-02-5.
114 pages, 24 color plates, b/w photos. $24.95.
The first time this book was published was in 1946 by the
Laboratory of Anthropology in Santa Fe. Today a first
edition, signed sells for $325. In the original
Introduction by Maurice Ries (not in the new edition) he
states, “ Once having read this book, you will discover
that you are an authority on the subject of santos.” How
things change with time.
It is fun to sit down with the two books and see where
the revisionists say we have come in fifty years. The new
book does not have the charming illustrations by P.G.
Napolitano but it does have 24 wonderful color plates.
The new edition also has additional black & white
photos.
For her time E. Boyd was on the cutting edge but time has
shown that some of her ideas no longer hold water. The
new edition makes a beginning at pointing out some of
those errors but Robin and Donna probably error on the
diplomatic side due to their affiliations. After all, E.
is still a goddess up on the hill. The new edition begins
to fill in holes left by E. in the first version.
Charlie Carrillo has a good essay on pigments. It will
help those who don’t understand this aspect of santos to
have more insight. There is a new Bibliography but it is
lacking some recent work on santos that should have been
included.
In many ways this is a good book for a beginner to use in
studying santos. For seasoned collectors this does give
more color plates of important historic pieces which is
always appreciated. And, Robin is right, this book does
give the reader a glimpse into E. Boyd’s personality and
scholarship. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1998
Saints & Seasons: A guide to New Mexico’s Most
Popular Saints
Ana Pacheco. Published in 2005 by La Herencia, ISBN
0974302264, 124 pages, softback, $19.95, many full color
pictures.
This book goes in the category “I Wish I Would Have Done
It.” There are great artists represented: Charlie
Carrillo, Nicholas Otero, Arlene Cisneros Sena, Victor
Goler, Ramon Jose Lopez, Polly Chavez and many others.
Each illustration has a picture of the saint by a New
Mexican artist, the feast day, churches dedicated to the
saint and other information. The one problem we have is
some of the illustrations are fuzzy. The photography is
some cases was not very good. And there is a plethora of
blue. All of that being said it is a good guide to saints
all year long in New Mexico and with a little retablo
would make a great gift. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2006
Saints of the Southwest
Jim Griffith. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2000. Hardback,
$14.95, ISBN 0-9700750-1-4. 62 pages, many color photos.
This is one of those great size books for gifts. A cute
size, attractive, and affordable. It features 31 of the
most important saints in the Southwest. Each saint has a
brief biography and why it is important in the area.
The source locations for the photos are a little puzzling
- Clint, Texas; Tucson; Sonora, Mexico; Santa Fe;
Chimayo; and Velarde. One wonders why the great
depository at the Heard Museum wasn’t used or collections
in Taos and Albuquerque. But that may be nit picking. The
book explains that it intentionally wasn’t looking at
museum collections but rather pieces used in everyday
worship. It was a little irritating not to have all
photos or all art in photos identified. Again, it is
probably nit picking.
Some of the great artists of New Mexico are featured:
Alcario Otero, David Nabor Lucero, Ramon Jose Lopez,
Ricardo Salazar, Charlie Carrillo (spelled in some places
wrong), Nick Herrera (misspelled as Heresa), Manny
Gurule, Frankie Lucero, Arlene Cisneros Sena, J.D.
Martinez, Jr., and Zoraida Ortega (Eulogio probably
helped).
The histories are a little lacking in current research
but good enough for most people. It is an attractive
introduction to the devotional traditions of the region.
It could have explained why these geographically diverse
areas have a similar tradition. Since some of the art is
in private chapels and not available to the public this
book does give the public an “insider’s” view. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
San Xavier: The Spirit Endures
Kathleen Walker, photography by Arizona Highways
Contributors. Arizona Highways, 1998. ISBN 0-916179-72-9,
80 pages color & B/W. Softcover $14.95.
Anyone who knows the Arizona Highways magazine or their
books is aware of their reputation for wonderful
photography. This book is no exception. The many moods of
Mission San Xavier del Bac are beautifully represented in
historic photos, black and white and color. Our favorites
are the sunsets and the Mission with snow -- can’t image
it!
The Mission is located outside of Tucson and is
spectacular to see in person. On the site of a Kino
Mission, this third generation church was completed in
1797 and serves the Tohono O’odham people. Called the
White Dove, the Mission has been compared to the
Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and is considered the finest
example of Spanish Colonial architecture in the United
States. It is truly breathtaking to drive up to it in the
middle of the desert.
The Spirit Endures chronicles the history of the Mission,
its restoration, and its art. It is beautifully done. It
will be a major souvenir for everyone who visits the
Mission and may prompt many more to drive the few hours
from Phoenix for a tour. This book is a model for future
books on historic buildings anywhere. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 1998
Santa Fe and Surrounds
John & Cassidy Olson. Published in 2005 by Schiffer
Books, 128 pages, color, $24.95, hardback, ISBN
0-7643-2301-6.
My first problem was Schiffer and the authors don’t know
what year this book was published --you can’t find it in
the book like it is supposed to be. You have to go to the
website. My second problem was the type. What is this
about? It is primarily a picture book of Santa Fe dealing
with buildings and views. There is some information in
the captions. It is a good gift but it has no real
information. It is also an attractive book. But be aware
it has no real information on the Hispanics, Native
Americans, or Anglos, that settled Santa Fe or history.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Santa Fe Hispanic Culture: Preserving Identity in a
Tourist Town
Andrew Leo Lovato. Published in 2006 bu UNM Press,
paperback, $17.95, 140 pages, B&W with photos and
maps, ISBN 0-8263-3226-9.
We all know that Santa Fe isn’t the city we all knew even
a few years ago. Andrew Lovato interviewed a number of
prominent Santa Feans to find information in this book.
Included are: Charlie Carrillo, AnaMaria Samaniego, Ramon
Jose Lopez, Mayor Larry Delgado, and others. In Lovato’s
section on Spanish Market he explains that Hispanic
artists are frozen in time for the medium they use and
they resent that no artists in Market are on the Board.
Good points. We have been saying that for years but it
falls on deaf ears - Market bigwigs don’t read. Lovato
does have an interesting book. One photo is mismarked -
the art was actually done by an Anglo. His bibliography
is lacking some really important books on Hispanic art.
The book is a good beginning but it lacks depth. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2005
It has to be said the Santa Fe has got many problems
dealing with the Hispanic culture. The housing alone is a
big issue. Many of the things that have defined the town,
anglos want to change. It is a good look but an
incomplete look. The list of references is far from
complete and that shows Lovato’s distance from many who
already know the problems. His interviews are also
incomplete. It is a good book for a start but...... --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Santa Fe Houses
Christine Mather with Sharon Woods and photography by
Jack Parsons. Published 2002 by Clarkson Potter, ISBN
0-609-60647-6, hardback, $45.00, 252 pages, 400 color
photos.
Everybody selling homes, decorating homes, or making
crafts for homes in Santa Fe should have a copy of this
book in their office so customers can just open it and
show them what they want. It covers everything, iron,
blue, water, painted walls, santos, Native American art,
folk art, furniture, adobe, you name it. Though it
implies by the title that Santa Fe houses are used there
are in fact houses in Tesuque and our neighbors the
Rembes with Los Poblanos/La Quinta Inn. It is beautiful
and a lot of ideas are covered.
Our one criticism is that all major art needs to be
identified. They cite examples by Felix Lopez, Felipe
Archuleta, Sergio Tapia, and Benjamin Ortega, but failed
to identify a huge shot of a Charlie Carrillo, along with
Alcario Otero, David Nabor Lucero, and other artists of
all races. We want to know who did the art and if you
identify one you have to make the effort to identify all.
Yes, it is petty but that is what we like. But it is a
great book and needs to be given to anyone moving to New
Mexico so they can salivate. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2002
Santa Fe With Kids From A to Z
Mary Catherine Mathews & Kelsey Daly. Published in
2005 by Sunstone Press, paperback, 116 pages, B&W
with illustrations, $16.95, ISBN 0-86534-467-4.
If you take kids to Santa Fe you need this book to occupy
them happily. There are suggestions, costs, facts, an
annual calendar of events, and the trips outside of Santa
Fe are all over the place. On second thought, if you have
someone visiting you with kids give it to them and make
sure they get out! They need to see and feel the flavors
of New Mexico. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer
2007
Santero: Art of Devotion
a fifty-one-minute documentary film video by writer/film
director Kirk Ellis. Shadow Catcher Productions, 3205
Lowry Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90027. Tel. & Fax (213)
953-9573. $29.95.
This is the first in a proposed series of documentary
videos on New Mexican santeros by Texas native and
Hollywood writer and director Kirk Ellis. This
introductory video captures both the scope and the heart
of the New Mexican santero and his devotional art. Aided
by such luminaries as Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa
Fe and Father Tom Steele, S.J., the film outlines the
basic concepts of Catholic devotional art as practiced by
present day New Mexican Hispanics. It emphasizes that the
santos are mirrors of heavenly persons whose lives were
lived in the true reflection of their faith, and who are
honored as the special friends of God. Through the santos
the artist reconnects with the past and in the process
comes to know what it is like to be a Hispanic in New
Mexico. The primary distinction is that with God we
worship him and profess adoration, whereas with the
santos we express veneration. All of this plays a most
vital role within present day Hispanic communities and
represents one way for the faithful to find the true
relationship between Christ and the world.
The video emphasizes three distinctive components: La
Cultura, La Familia, and La Tradicion. With respect to
the culture it is noted that santeros hold deep spiritual
values, a cultural spirituality which imparts to them a
definitive cultural identity. They take their religion
seriously and in so doing are touched by the holiness of
their calling. This of course is readily apparent to
today’s masses, many of whom are in search of tangible
spirituality. One might even venture to say that the
santeros’ devotional art is a symbolical response to
those deep spiritual yearnings. Still it is something
that is deeply rooted in contemporary Hispanic culture.
Today’s santeros have banded together and regard
themselves as one big family, a family that mutually
benefits by the intercessions of the santos in a special
way that allows them to continually renew this bond. This
is made abundantly clear in that section of the video
dealing with the dedication of the Capilla Familiar of
santero Manuel Gurule de Gurule of Santa Fe, and in which
Church and santeros came together to consecrate a
memorial to the santero’s mother.
Santeros regard La Tradicion as the handing down of
something that is religious, artistic, and surely
traditional within a family setting. This might involve
the indoctrination of both religious and family morals on
the younger generation. It might also involve developing
inherent cultural artistic qualities such as retablo
painting. It can also mean coaching up-and-coming younger
artists so that teacher and pupil learn from one another.
This approach is demonstrated in the video with santera
Arlene Cisneros Sena’s approach to working with young
santero Gabe Vigil and other aspiring artists. This
traditional approach is also emphasized by santero
Filimon Aguilar’s “Retablo Painting School” in which he
serves as a role model in helping the youth of Bernalillo
maintain and perpetuate their traditional cultural
identity.
The video also presents a number of the more renowned
santeros and santeras describing and explaining their
personal practice of art and religion. This particular
facet is perhaps the most meaningful. All in all this
video demonstrates the unique position that the santero
and his devotional art gives to this corner of the
southwest called New Mexico.
Future videos in this series will concentrate on the work
of individual artists and their specific approach to
devotional art. This introductory video will appeal to
all interested in the overall development of New Mexican
santero art and especially to collectors of this unique
artform. -- Don Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1999
Santos: Contemporary Devotional Folk Art in Puerto Rico
Published in 2003 by the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art,
University of Florida, Cultural Plaza, Gainesville,
paperback. 60 pages, full color, ISBN 0-9629384-9-1,
$19.95.
This was an exhibit at Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art that
was covered in TR Winter 2003. This exhibit is the
private collections of Hector Puig and Tricia Sample. The
Collectors’ Statement begins with a comment on Frank
Brito of New Mexico. This is a wonderful book on the
worldliness of santos and how they effect the people of
many different Spanish countries. The images are crisp;
there is a list of all the art in the exhibit; and it
contains a number of essays. You may have trouble finding
this book so call the University Store directly at
352/392-9826. There is a $3.00 charge for shipping. We
have heard that the exhibit will travel and always hope
it will come to New Mexico. The Art Museum also has a
website www.harnmuseum.org. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 2004
Santos: Enduring Images of Northern New Mexican Village
Churches
Marie Romero Cash. University Press of Colorado, 1999.
Hardcover, ISBN 0-87081-494-X, $39.95. 296 pages, 221 b/w
and 16 color photographs.
Many people believe that E. Boyd, the late curator of the
Museum of New Mexico, was the most important authority on
New Mexican devotional art, and santos in particular.
Boyd was a prolific writer, authoring many articles in El
Palacio as well as writing the definitive study on New
Mexican santos, Popular Arts of Spanish New Mexico. Very
little new research has been written on santos or
santeros since that monumental work in 1974. With the
exception of work by Father Tom Steele and Charlie
Carrillo, no new santeros have been identified from the
classical period of santo-making for over twenty-five
years. Most historians feel that over the last two and a
half decades everything is a footnote to Boyd. Her
Popular Arts book is considered by many to be the Bible
on Spanish Colonial art. But, it may finally be time to
move Popular Arts over and retitle it as the Old
Testament, because a new, exciting book has just been
published by the University Press of Colorado.
Marie Cash’s Santos: Enduring Images is a refreshing,
exciting, and comprehensive new study of the santos of
New Mexico. It focuses heavily on the santeros, and what
each of their artistic attributes are. This book is a
real joy to someone like myself who loves to learn new
things about something that is very dear to my heart; in
this case, santos. Along with my wife Barbe, I have been
extremely fortunate to have been able to assemble one of
the largest and most extensive private collections of
santos in the country and Marie Cash has played a role in
that assemblage. She has acquired pieces for me and she
has identified others. Marie is one of only a handful of
people around today to whom the title “expert” really
does apply. Marie, an accomplished folk artist and
santera (maker of santos), has been working on the
research found in this tome for over a dozen years. She
has visited and studied the santos in every church in
northern New Mexico.
After exploring all the previously known information
about each of the one dozen and a half major santeros,
Cash pushes the research up a few extra notches and
dispels several myths about several of the santeros. She
has even provided enough convincing evidence about two
previously anonymous santeros to present an argument for
naming them; the 18th century Novice as Fray Juan Jose de
Toledo and the Laguna Santero as Fray Ramon Antonio
Gonzales.
Richly filled with scores of photographs, this book fills
a gap in the study of santos and santeros that has
remained since E. Boy’s time. This is an indispensable
field guide that will always be with me as I travel the
high roads of New Mexico, helping me learn more about its
art and culture. This book will surely encourage other
scholars to continue work in this area.
Cash has made one of the most important contributions to
scholarship in this field in the last quarter century.
Few other persons living today can claim that title. We
may have to look at this work as the start of the New
Testament. -- Paul Rhetts, Tradicion Revista, Fall 1999
Santos Al Desnudo
Nitza M. Totse. Published in 2005 by D’Vinni Ltd.,
Hardback, 303 pages, full color, $50, ISBN1-933352-26-4.
This may be the definitive book on Puerto Rican santos.
It has an extensive bibliography that is worth reading.
Puerto Rican santos are different than New Mexico santos
but the same. The text is enlightening and will make you
a fan of this distant cousin art form. Individual artists
are examined and many photos give the reader
illustrations of various saints. This “study” turned out
to be a lot bigger than first imagined but it documents
an art that needed to be written down. You may have
difficulty getting this book since it was published in
Puerto Rico. Or you can order it at NMBookCoop.com. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
Sarape Textiles from Historic Mexico
William Wroth with Zoe Annis Perkins. St. Louis Art
Museum, 1999. 88 pages with color plates. ISBN
0-89178-079-3, Softcover
The sarape collection of Paul R. Cahn of St. Louis is the
focus of the exhibit and book on these distinctive
Mexican textiles. The exhibit closed in November, 1999
but had some wonderful examples of the weavings that were
used for warmth by the Mexican people.
The book has an extensive history of sarapes and how they
are made. It also has a detailed glossary of textile
terms relating to sarapes. The color plates are wonderful
and give the reader a true sense of how unique the serape
was in design.
There are many New Mexican connections to this
collection, notably Andrew Nagen who seemed to have
pointed everyone in the right direction. For anyone
interested in textiles, this book will be a valuable
resource. We always applaud museums who document special
exhibits and collections so that the value of all that
work and expense lives on past the close of the project.
If you have difficulty locating the book try calling the
Museum directly, 314/721-0072. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 1999
Savory Southwest
Judy Hille Walker. Northland Publishing, $12.95. ISBN
0-87358-501-1, paperback. 133 pages. Color illustrations.
This book is a collection of recipes from seven cooking
contest sponsored by the Arizona Republic newspaper in
the 1980s. There are recipes from native arizonians,
out-of-towners and Native Americans. These are very
unusual recipes that people use in their own kitchens.
There is Dust Devil Soup (using a dust devil that has
been cleaned of debris), Mexican Christmas Tree Salad,
Hot Chocolate on Ice, Blender Gazpacho, and Prickly Pear
Cheesecake.
Out of all the cookbooks listed here, this was the one
that has a recipe for Verdolagas. Also known as purslane,
this weed (yes it really is) can be found in most yards.
We were introduced to it by Charlie Carrillo, and it
tasted very good. We wondered why no cookbook ever had
the weed, especially since natives of all sorts regularly
depended on it for protein. The result is a
spinach-tasting veggie.
Of all the cookbooks, this one has a sense of humor and
recipes that span the continuum.There are even Threshers
(now if you are from Maryland you know Thrashers but with
an e?). Threshers are a cereal leftover recipe. This book
will give the chef who has done it all something else to
do! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
Secrets of Light Latin Cooking
Alexandra Drijanski, Esther Guindi, and Mabel Killer.
Originally published in 2002 (translated in 2004) by Rio
Nuevo Publishers. $24.95, hardcover, ISBN 1-887896-57-0,
168 pages, 65 full color photos.
Yummy! the pictures are great. The recipes are easy with
all kinds of hints. And they are healthy. Who knew! There
are also tons of charts, a glossary, things in English
and Spanish, and secrets. The mango smoothie was to die
for. The rice tabouli was easy to make and good for
parties. This book is great for a gift. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2004
Seeds of Struggle: Harvest of Faith History of the
Catholic Church in New Mexico
edited by Thomas J. Steele, S.J., Paul Rhetts, and Barbe
Awalt. LPD Press, 1998.
1998 marked the 400th anniversary of the Spanish entrada
into New Mexico. It was also the anniversary of the
founding of the Catholic Church in this “land of
enchantment.” To commemorate those events, LPD Press
published Seeds of Struggle - Harvest of Faith, a
collection of twenty-three essays that focus on the
history of the Church in the life of the people of New
Mexico. The book was an outgrowth of the scholarly papers
presented at the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s Cuarto
Centennial Symposium held at the Santuario de Guadalupe
in 1997.
In this volume one can explore various aspects of Spanish
Colonial history, church politics, architecture,
genealogy, religious orders, the clergy during the
colonial period, Archbishop Lamy’s legacy, the Church
during the Mexican administration, a most interesting
inquiry into the role of pioneering Hispanic women as a
facet of rural Catholicism, and many other subjects.
Authors include New Mexico’s premier historian Marc
Simmons, Nancy Hanks, Fr. Jerome Martinez y Alire, Jose
Antonio Esquibel, Felix Almaraz, James Ivey, Pauline
Chavez Bent, Fr. Thomas J. Steele, to mention a few. Some
of the authors have published extensively; for others it
is their first literary endeavor.
In the foreword the editors and publishers note that they
have approached this book differently from their previous
publications, simply because it is a quite different
book! This is a book that does not overwhelm with colored
photographs of devotional art, instead it gives the
reader access to important historical information, much
of which has never been published. Admittedly, the tone
of the volume is what one would describe as academic, but
for a persevering reader it is a gold mine of pertinent
information, especially if read in digestible increments.
In the introduction to the volume, Archbishop Michael J.
Sheehan makes us aware that the overall thrust of the
collection records the desires, struggles, and
accomplishments of the colonists that came to the
Northern Frontier, this remote outpost of the Spanish
Empire. He says “the thread that runs through the fabric
of 400 years is clearly a strong faith in God that has
had such a powerful influence in the lives of the
people.” -- Don Toomey, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1999
Selected Works: The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the
University of Oklahoma
Eric McCauley Lee and Rima Canaan. Published in 2005 by
the University of Oklahoma Press,softback, 292 pages, 280
color photos, $39.95 (hardback also available), ISBN
0-8061-3680-4.
Yes, it is Oklahoma but in the collection are New
Mexicans: Allan Houser, the Taos Society of painters,
Georgia O’Keefe, Helen Cordero, Maria Martinez, Margaret
Tafoya, and many others. The catalog has over 101 pieces
of art and was published to coincide with the opening of
the Museum’s new wing. It is a beautiful book and one an
avid collector will want on their shelf. If you are
having trouble finding it call 1/405-325-2000. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Shopping in Oaxaca
published by American Express Mexico and the State of
Oaxaca. Softback, 64 pages, 120 color photos with maps.
We purchased this book from Jack Isaac at Hispaniae for
$29. We thought it was a great gift for someone who
collects the Oaxacan wooden/painted animals. It would
also make a great gift for someone going to Oaxaca for
the first time. The book is in four languages and the
book was printed in Leon, Spain with the brilliant color
reproduction that European books are known for.
It is nicely organized into chapters dealing with things
one would want to buy in Oaxca. There are baskets, foods,
pottery, textile, wood, leather, metal, handicrafts, and
jewelry. Each chapter has wonderful pictures along with
shopping suggestions and specifics on the items made in
the region. This is truly a tourist-oriented book, but
sometimes you need a good one; for a first time shopper
to Oaxaca this is the best. To order call Hispaniae at
505/842-6656. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
2000
Silent Voices Of World War Ii: When Sons of the Land of
Enchantment Met Sons of the Land of the Rising Sun
Everett M. Rogers and Nancy R. Bartlit
Personal accounts of WWII experiences are the backbone of
this excellent account of the war’s affect on the people
of New Mexico. Chapters include the Bataan Death March,
The Navaho Code Talkers, Los Alamos, and the Japanese
Interment Camp in Santa Fe. The personal stories lend a
vitality that makes the events real to new generations.
The well-written prose makes this book highly readable
for those interested in the troubled time it chronicles
and indices, bibliography, and extensive notes will
appeal to World War II scholars. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Winter 2006
Sing My Whole Life Long: Jenny Vincent's Life In Folk
Music And Activism
Craig Smith. 26 b&w photos, 175 pages. University of
New Mexico Press, 2006, $19.95.
Born in Minnesota and raised near Chicago, Jenny Vincent
moved to northern New Mexico in 1936 at the invitation of
D.H. Lawrence's widow, Frieda. She has remained here ever
since. Introduced to international folk music at an early
age, she has become a champion of this music of the
people, and has sung during her life with Pete Seeger,
Woody Guthrie, Earl Robinson, and other social activists
who have used music as a voice for world peace and human
rights. Jenny supported such causes as the Salt of the
Earth strike, the Chicano rights movements, and Native
American rights. Blacklisted during the McCarthy Era, she
nonetheless continues her music and advocacy to this day.
– Amazon.com
Sleepytown Beagles, Oh, Brother!
Timothy Glass, Published by WingSpan Press, 2007. $13.95,
978-1-59594-178-7
Ben has gotten a new puppy, a little male dog he names
Tyler. Two of Ben's other dogs, Gunner and Penny, greet
the puppy, but Ben's third dog, Panda, is less than
excited about the new arrival. Tyler is clumsy and in
learning things, he makes several messes. Panda is less
than kind about Tyler's mistakes and wants to send Tyler
back to where he came from. Ben also learns that his mom
is expecting a new baby, and instead of the baby brother
he wants, he's getting a sister. Ben and Panda both have
to learn to recognize that a sibling is a gift, whether
or not it's the opposite of what we want. Sleepytown
Beagles Oh Brother! is a great book for a family that is
about to expand with a new brother or sister. Children
will learn that while new babies (and puppies) make
messes, we need to work with them to teach them things,
and as they grow, they will learn to love each other. The
story is cute with colorful illustrations that kept my
five year old interested. She even laughed out loud at
some of the antics Tyler got into. I like the little paw
prints on each page. I think that all children will enjoy
this, whether they are getting a new baby sister or
brother, or even a new puppy. Or maybe even if their best
friend is having an addition to their family. Pick up
your copy today. Armchair Interviews says: A portion of
the author's royalties will go to support animal rescue.
-- armchairinterviews.com, August 14, 2007
Small Strawbale: Natural Homes, Projects & Designs
Bill Steen, Athena Swentzell Steen, Wayne J. Bingham.
Published in 2005 by Gibbs Smith Publisher, softback,
$29.95, 240 pages, 125 color photos, 50 line drawings,
ISBN 1-58685-515-8.
In Albuquerque most of the homes are adobe but as you go
north the homes are log and small strawbale. It is a
constantly evolving industry and this book on small
strawbale is a good place to start and dream. If you are
interested in what is new this is a good book to begin
the search. It has a resource guide and has attractive
pictures of actual homes and projects. It is an
interesting way to go for a second or vacation house as
well. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
Snap Me A Future
Connie Gotsch
Connie Gotsch has written a great southwest mystery in
Snap Me A Future. Former investigative reporter and
aspiring art photographer Shelby McCoy has retreated from
the newspaper world and now works as in public relations
for an arts mall in fictional Mesa Vista, New Mexico for
a particularly unpleasant boss who eventually gives her
enough reason to take the plunge back into journalism as
the arts editor of the Mesa Vista Times. What should have
been a safe and easy assignment is complicated by the
discovery of pottery thefts from nearby Indian ruins and
Shelby sets off to find the truth. Shelby’s the kind of
character you’d like to hang out with and I hope that
Gotsch, program director for Farmington’s KSJE-FM public
radio station, plans on bringing her back soon. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2007
Southwest Flavor: Recipes and Stories from New Mexico
Magazine
Adela Amador 2000, New Mexico Magazine 128 pages, color
illustration, Spiral bound, ISBN 0-937206-61 -X, $9.95.
This could be one of the best cookbooks we have seen on
New Mexican cuisine It is simple, inexpensive, easy to
use in the kitchen and all of the best recipes are
included. It is organized in an informal, seasonal way:
wind, winter, Lent, new year and along food lines with
chile, roots, staples, spices, tamales, and breakfast
There are no fancy color pictures but the recipes are
easy to follow and have a nice essay about the context of
the foods in each chapter. There are old favorites and
new variations. There is a glossary of terms.
Adela Amador has been writing for New Mexico Magazine
since 1993. This would make the perfect holiday gift with
a bag of dried posole, chile, beans and other New Mexican
staples. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2000
Southwest Flavors: Santa Fe School of Cooking
Susan Curtis and Nicole Curtis Ammerman. Published in
2006 by Gibbs Smith Publishers, hardback, $24.95, full
color, 224 pages, ISBN 1-58685-697-9.
Never look at a good cookbook when you are hungry. The
pictures in this book are great. This book is a little
different because it has FAQ like “what is the difference
between Mexican and New Mexican food” or a bunch of stuff
on chile. It also has biographies on all the chefs, a
bibliography, classes, sources, and tons of recipes like
lemon Southwest rice, salsas, purple potatoes, sauces,
tacos, and jicama salad. Cookbooks are great for the
holidays, especially this one. Put it with salsa or red
chile and you are good to go. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2006
Southwest Slow Cooking
Tammy Biber and Theresa Howell. Published in 2004 by
Northland Publishing, paperback, $16.95, 128 pages, 25
color photos, ISBN 0-87358-856-8.
Slow cookers or crock pots have made a comeback. They
have been around for 25 years and in that time we have
learned a lot about slow cooking. There are many cook
books on slow cooking but this one has a Southwestern
flair. There are 101 recipes with the use of mole,
chipotle, torillas, carnitas, machaca, green chiles,
fajitas, piñon, tequila, black beans, and many more. This
is an attractive book that give a new slant on cooking.
Combine this book with some of the ingrediants and you
have a great gift. PS. For reviewers this book was
packaged with a wooden spatula -- a simple but nice
touch!! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Southwest Style: A Home-Lover’s Guide to Architecture and
Design
Linda Mason Hunter and photography by Peter Vitale.
Published in 2000 by Northland Publishing, $40.00,
hardback, 198 pages, full color with many pictures, ISBN
0-87358-767-7.
This is a beautiful book and the photography of Peter
Vitale is great. We know him from other projects and he
lives in Santa Fe. The text by Ms. Hunter is also more
interesting than the usual coffee table book. It is a
great gift for anyone in the decorating world or just
wants to be. The book contains a sources guide and a
bibliography. Some of the chapters are dedicated to
states like New Mexico and have examples that haven’t
been done to death. A truly eye-popping book worth
having. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Spanglish
released for DVD sale 2005.
Yes, it is a video but Sony sent us a copy to review and
we will. Someone there did their homework and thought
since we did art of the Hispanic Southwest we also might
like a video of Mexican and LA styles crashing. It did
make us not want to move to LA. The movie is about
parental control or lack of it and preserving heritage,
primarily Mexican. Spanglish has strong performances by
Cloris Leachman, Tea Leoni, and Paz Vega. It is not the
best movie in the world but it is interesting to view
with the bigger picture in mind. It is also interesting
to see how other countries view us. The Mexicans were
willing to learn English but the LA types were not
willing to learn Spanish or even Spanglish. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2005
Speaking for Themselves: NeoMexicano Cultural Identity
and the Spanish-Language Press, 1880-1920
by Doris Meyer, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1996, 279 pp, 14 halftones, ISBN
0-8263-1749-9, $29.95.
When New Mexico became a territory of the United States
in 1848, the Hispanic population faced an influx of
Anglo-American immigrants. The neomexicanos, residents of
some of the oldest Hispanic communities in the United
States, found their lifeways disdained, their communal
property threatened, and their very existence as American
citizens called into question by aggressive invaders.
They quickly began efforts to protect their language and
culture against enforced assimilation.
One of the major outlets for this resistance was the
Spanish-language newspaper. Here poetry, oratory,
letters, fiction, and essays helped bridge the gap
between the largely oral cultural expression of the
region and the print-oriented culture of the Anglos.
Meyer’s pioneering archival research examines these
newspapers and their writers. The work of Jose Escobar,
Felipe Maximiliano Chacon, Luis Tafoya and Benjamin M.
Read, as well as that of less well known and anonymous
writers, displays the diversity and complexity of this
literature and its role in the construction of a unique
cultural identity. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Spring 1997
Spread Your Wings and Fly
Mary Chloe Schoolcraft Saunders, illustrated by Carla
McGregor Mihelich
My number one pick for children is Spread Your Wings And
Fly: An Origami Fold-and-Tell Story by Mary Chloe
Schoolcraft Saunders, illustrated by Carla McGregor
Mihelich. This is a book that gently pulls parent and
child together to create the origami fold that’s hidden
in the story. The story begins, “Think of two of your
good points and bring them together,” the first of the
positive reinforcements that are found throughout the
book. Exquisite illustrations in bold colors include
fanciful animals and children. Detailed folding
illustrations partner with the story that ultimately
creates an origami flying bird and a message we all need
to remember. This is truly a book that every child should
own and teachers will want to add to their collections.
Author Saunders (mcspossibilities@yahoo.com) has a very
few of the first edition books with purple cover still
available but a new edition with yellow cover is readily
available in local and online bookstores. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Winter 2006
Star of Luis
Marc Talbert, Clarion Books, 1999. Hardback, $15.00, ISBN
0-395-91423-X, 181 pages.
If you have a young reader (3rd to 5th grade) on your
Christams list, this would be a good present. Especially
if it is a boy. There are so few books for young boys
that deal with the multi-cultural issue. This is the
story of Luis who lives in World War II Los Angeles and
is uprooted to his mother’s home town of Las Manos, New
Mexico, when his father enlists in the army. There are
some interesting plot twists that make it different from
the usual move-from-big-city story. There is a lot of
colloquial/conversational Spanish thrown in and the
Glossary at the end will help. The author lives in
Tesuque, New Mexico. Nice book, nothing fancy but a good
book for a winter day. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista,
Fall 1999
Stitching Rites: Colcha Embroidery Along the Northern Rio
Grande
Suzanne P. MacAulay. Published 2000 by The University of
Arizona Press. Hardback, $35.00, ISBN 0-8165-2029-1, 220
pages, 8 color photos, 10 b/w photos.
This book won the Border Regional Library Association
Award in 2001 the same time one of our books did so we
became very aware of how good this little book was. We
had been using it for research since it is one of the
only comprehensive books on colcha in Northern New Mexico
and Southern Colorado. It documents some of the early
stitchers and their attitudes toward their craft. For
anyone interested in colcha this is the book to read for
enjoyment and to gain a true understanding of the art of
a people. Of interesting note, although Dr. MacAulay is
an expert in Hispanic textile arts, she is currently
heads a school of fine arts in New Zealand. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
Strong Stuff: Herakles and His Labors
Gary Baseman. Published in 2005 by the J. Paul Getty
Museum, hardcover, $16.95, 32 pages, 17 color
illustrations, ISBN 0-89236-784-9.
This isn’t your mother’s kid’s book! When it first
arrived we were taken aback. There is the book, CD, store
hanger, articles, review sheet, bio, and the kitchen
sink. The Getty knows how to send a book for review. This
isn’t sugar and spice but the tale of Herakles, his
labors, maps, old Greece but in modern terms. Boys will
probably like this best. Give it for Christmas and you
know nobody else will duplicate your gift! -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
Surviving the Winter: The Evolution of Quiltmaking in New
Mexico
Dorothy R. Zopf, University of New Mexico Press, 2001.
ISBN 0-8263-243-3, $19.95 paperback, 118 pages, many
color photos.
This is one of those books that make regional publishing
great. Granted this is probably a book women will
appreciate more than men and crafty women at that; but it
is a nice documentation of a utilitarian craft that has
basically gone unnoticed in New Mexico. Quilts in the
east, south, and mid-America are prized and bring in top
prices. For a while even Ralph Lauren was buying them up.
The book is a survey of who is and was doing quilting, by
hand, in northern New Mexico. There are examples of
classic patterns and more primitive looks. There are
stories of the quilters, basics of quilting construction,
and a data base. The one quilt and story that stood out
is the woman who traveled cross-country, collecting
pieces of red fabric in every town she visited, and then
turned all of her souvenirs into a quilt.
Anyone who collects or makes quilts, even on a sewing
machine, will like this book. It is genuine and shows the
author’s love for the women she met doing her research.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2001
Sustaining Thought: Thirty Years of Cookery at the School
Of American Research
Leslie Shipman with Rosemary Cartens. Published in 2006
by SAR Press, paperback with spiral, 210 pages, $19.95,
all B&W with many photos, ISBN 978-1-930618-83-1.
For SAR devotees this is the bible. Food was served to
visiting scholars for many years and now we have the
recipes. It gives a glimpse into SAR and shows a side
that we don’t normally see. The brief essay on altitude
is helpful. A fun book - pair it with New Mexico food
stuffs and you have a perfect gift. Or use it yourself!
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
Talavera Poblana: Four Centuries of a Mexican Ceramic
Tradition
Margaret Connors McQuade, curator. Published by the
Americas Society, Hispanic Society of America and Museo
Amparo, 1999 (distributed by the University of New Mexico
Press). Hardcover, $30, ISBN 1-879128-19-5. 112 pages, 36
color photos, 10 B/W.
The first thing that strikes you about this book is the
nice size it is with a pleasing cover - almost like a
favorite piece of pottery. This book is bilingual and
explores the development of Talavera Poblana tin-glazed
pottery from the 17th century in Puebla, Mexico to
present.
For a lover of this type of pottery, you simply can’t
live without this book in your library. There is a
bibliography, fine photography, and archival photography.
The exhibit that opened in New York at the Americas
Society, closed in December, 1999. But this book still
provides a wonderful record of the pieces shown. Our
favorite piece was a tile panel of the Immaculate
Conception. Many pieces in the exhibit were lent by the
Museo Amparo in Puebla. An exhibit that demonstrated that
many organizations in different countries can work
together with beautiful results. This book is a little
gem like much of the pottery in it. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Spring 2000
Tamales 101: A Beginners Guide to Making Traditional
Tamales
Alice Guadalupe Tapp. Published in 2003 by Ten Speed
Press, paperback, $19.95, 208 pages in color.
It must have been in the cards that we would be receptive
to this book. It came Christmas Eve and we had a
refrigerator full of Bueno and Tamale Molly tamales. This
book has over 100 recipes from many Spanish-speaking
countries. The author has over 50 years of tamale making
experience and in the book are every kind of tamale
including dessert types. It also includes sauces to go
over or in the tamales. The book has a step-by-step
traditional approach including how to steam the different
types--something we did not know. All tamales are not
made equally and this book walks you through all of them.
It is a beautiful, mouthwatering book that would make a
great present to get now for next Christmas and include
with it a few of your own creations or the makings. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2003
Tangled Webs
Margaret Tessler
Margaret Tessler will add a new book to her series
starring San Antonio attorney, Sharon Morgan, first
introduced in Tangled Webs and Class Disunion. In Black
Widow/ White Lies, Sharon abandons San Antonio and
Zapata, Texas for a vacation in the cool mountains of
Chama, New Mexico by way of Carlsbad Caverns and
Roswell’s UFO Museum. Drawing on her personal RV
experiences recounted in her non-fiction Life In The Slow
Lane, Margaret helps with the details as much of Sharon’s
extended family comes along. As you might expect, the
vacation is anything but restful! Margaret used a
misspelling in her high school year book to create the
pseudonym, Mara Garett, that she used while writing for
UNM’s Daily Lobo in the late seventies. She can be
reached through her website,
http://www.ABQ-Talespinner.com. -- Sabra Steinsiek, POSH
New Mexico, Summer 2005
Tears from the Crown of Thorns
Charlotte Bell. Published in 2005 by Charlotte Bell, 128
pages, softback, 232 photos in full color, $30, ISBN
0-9764955-0-3.
This may be a one-of-a-kind book - the pictures of the
Easter celebration at San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.
The text is in Spanish and English. Although the pictures
are beautiful to look at the book has a feeling of you
are in the middle of the celebration and the pictures
don’t have the polished or edited feel. Instead they feel
almost surreal with an in your face appeal. There are
pictures of processions, art, people, buildings, and
daily life during Easter Week. For those who vacation in
San Miguel this book will bring back memories. It also
documents an important part of their traditions. It is a
nice gift. You may have a little difficulty finding the
book so email char@charwolf.com -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Fall 2005
!TEATRO! Hispanic Plays for Young People
Angel Vigil, Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press,
Englewood, CO, 1996, 169 pp. ISBN 1-56308-371-X, $25
Vigil has also recently released !TEATRO! by Teacher
Ideas Press. Designed for educators, these reproducible
scripts can be used in classrooms or for larger
audiences. The plays are appropriate for grades 3-9.
Vigil is Chairman of the Fine and Performing Arts
Department and Director of Drama at the Colorado Academy
in Denver. He is a recipient of the Colorado Governor’s
Award for Excellence in Education and a Master Artist
Award from the Colorado Council on the Arts. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1996
¡Tequila! A Natural and Cultural History
Ana G. Valenzuela-Zapata and Gary Paul Nabhan. Published
in 2003 by the University of Arizona Press, paperback,
$14.95, ISBN 0-8165-1938-2, 160 pages, 20 b/w
photos/drawings.
I am a photo person and am sad that a few beautiful color
photos of tequila or tequila drinks couldn’t have been
used in the book. It is superficial but it would have put
me in the mood. I am also a tequila person and watch all
of the programs on it on the Food Network. This book does
go deeper and deals with the current agave blight and how
the industry will solve the crisis. It is timely and goes
beyond mix and drink. They also deal with the impact of
tequila to Mexico. It is everything you needed to know
about tequila and were clueless to ask. Combine this
little book with a bottle of good tequila and you have a
gift to go. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring
2004
Texas and Christmas
Joyce Gibson Roach. Published in 2004 by TCU Press,
paperback, $12.00, ISBN 0-87565-298-1, 96 pages, 36
B&W drawings/photos.
This is a cute little book especially if you need a gift
for the Texas-aholic among us. Yes, it is multicultural
with a Hispanic story by Pat Mora. It has essays on food,
traditions, customs, activities, and decorations. Authors
include: Judy Alter, Larry Chittenden, and the editor. A
nice remembrance for a Texas kid especially one far from
home. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2004
Texas Hill Country
John Graves and photographs by Wyman Meinzer. Published
in 2003 by University of Texas Press, hardback, ISBN
0-292-70218-3, $39.95, 75 color pictures.
This is a beautiful book that has big, wonderful pictures
of the Texas Hill Country. Having been to Austin and San
Antonio, we have found the area to be diverse, and filled
with wonder. There is the Spanish history of settlement
and the lens obviously loves the countryside. It is a
great gift for those from Texas or have visited and love
it. There is a list of all the locations and the text
explains the importance of the area. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Winter 2003
The Alabados of New Mexico
Thomas J. Steele, S.J. Published in 2005 by UNM Press,
401 pages, hardback, 32 pictures, $49.95, ISBN
0-8263-2967-5.
In the spirit of full disclosure, Tom is a friend of
ours, writes for this magazine, and we have published
books by him. That being said, we also know this
collection was a labor of love for Tom and spanned many
years of research. This is not the kind of book you buy
for the pretty pictures. This is a compilation of
alabados in New Mexico. This book documents them for the
ages. It needed to be done. It is a well done book that
in fact sold out at Spanish Market. Every school and
library in New Mexico needs to have a copy on their
shelf. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
The Beginning of the Casa San Ysidro in Corrales, New
Mexico, and The Provenance of its Spanish Colonial
Artifacts
Tony Garcia. Published 2004 by the author, 45 pages,
B&W, archival photos, $10.
This is not your usual book. We picked it up on the way
out of the Corrales Heritage Days in October. This is a
first person account of getting the things in Casa San
Ysidro though it doesn’t come close to telling the story
of all or most of the artifacts. It is also written and
presented in not conventional book style. There are some
errors. But the story of how Ward Alan Minge used a
“picker” or a “source” to get things is interesting. A
lot of folks we know are in the book -- the Rembes, Robin
Gavin, Horatio Valdez, to name a few. It is an
interesting little book to have for those who like
history. We have told the Casa folks for years they need
a book on the estate. This isn’t it but for $10 why not
get the book? You can not get it in bookstores, so call
505-898-3751. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter
2004
The Best Recipes from New Mexico’s B & B’s
Steve Larese. Published in 2004 by New Mexico Magazine,
Spiral bound with a hard cover, $14.95, 40 color
photographs, 128 pages, ISBN 0-937206-85-7.
This is a really attractive book with killer recipes. The
bonus eight recipes cards are bound professionally in the
book. At the end of the book is contact info for all of
the B & B’s that have recipes in the book. There are
breads, margaritas, pound cakes, soups, salads, sweets,
muffins, eggs, and more. Most of these would be great for
a party. Combine this with salsa and you have a gift to
go. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 2005
The Centinela Weavers of Chimayo: Unfolding Tradition
Mary Terence McKay & Lisa Trujillo, published by
Centinela Traditional Arts (distributed by Museum of New
Mexico Press in addition to CTA), 1999. Paperbound $24.95
ISBN 0-9668862-0-8, 96 pages, 19 BW photos, 56 color
photos, map.
It is nice to see a family document a living tradition is
such a professional and beautiful way. There is a family
tree and many stories to show how weaving has played a
major part in the Trujillo family of Chimayo. The photos
of the weavings are wonderful and show the expert
craftsmanship of both Lisa and Irvin. Fans of weaving
will want to add this to their libraries.
The book does jar the reader just a bit with the Limited
Editions section in the back. You don’t know if it is a
catalog or a book. But it is a self promotion, done with
great pride, and a few things can be forgiven. The
Trujillo family, arguably, is the first family of
Hispanic weaving in New Mexico. This book gives us some
great, long lasting reasons why. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Fall 1999
The Changing Faces of Tradition: A Report on the Folk and
Traditional Arts in the United States
NEA in 1996, many B&W photos, 96 pages, Free.
If you are interested in folk and traditional arts, this
booklet gives you a better understanding what the whole
nation has as a treasure that many ignore. It has essays
on many subjects including what organizations are out
there. Every museum and library should have all of the
NEA books. Order from the NEA website. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2007
The Chile Chronicles: Tales of a New Mexico Harvest
Carmella Padilla and photos by Jack Parsons. ISBN
0-89013-313-1, $45.00 Cloth, $29.95 paper. Museum of New
Mexico Press, 1997. 136 pages, 163 color photographs.
The Chile is God in New Mexico, and this book tells the
story of chile all through New Mexico. The book covers
the economics, the blights, the season, the harvest, and
the market. The photos are beautiful and lush while the
text emphasises the people who are tied to the chile,
especially the people of Hatch, New Mexico. Everything
from “red or green?” to the heat factor is covered. This
is an especially nice present for those “know-it-alls”
who just eat it as hot as possible and don’t appreciate
what went in to the process of growing the chile or how
dependant New Mexico is to this culture of the chile. --
Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 1998
The Collecting Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon
Published by the Heard Museum, 2004, paperback, 88 pages,
$24.95, ISBN 0-934351-71-6.
In the spirit of full disclosure we know Dennis and Janis
Lyon and obviously Charlie Carrillo. We also know Larry
Frank. Diana Pardue wrote an essay for our first book. We
have seen the Lyon collection several times. That being
said, the book from the Heard show is great. All of the
best experts wrote essays for it: Charlie Carrillo, Larry
Frank, Diana Pardue, Deborah Slaney, Barbara Moulard, and
Richard Spivey. There are sections on historic pottery,
santos, personal adornment, carvings of Leekva,
contemporary pottery, and the obligatory personal
statement of the collectors. The pictures are to die for.
The exhibit by the same name ran from May 1 through
September 5, 2004, and was curated by Diana Pardue. The
easiest way to get the book is call the Heard store in
Phoenix. The book is on par with what the Heard does
best. Every exhibit in every museum should have at least
this much. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2004
The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico
Erlinda Gonzales-Berry and David R. Maciel. 2000,
University of New Mexico Press. Paperback 0-8263-2199-2,
$19.95, 314 pages, B/W photos
It is a relatively new movement in New Mexico to have
history analyzed and written about by Hispanic scholars.
Sure, there were periodic pieces done from the beginning
but lately there is a large and respected group of
scholars who are trying to give the other side of the
historic picture,
This book is a collection of essays -- 12 in all -- by
scholars such as: John Nieto Phillips, Carlos Herrera,
Anselmo Arellano, the editors and others. It covers a
wide range of topics like: santos, contemporary writers,
Mexican immigration, the Spanish language, occupation,
Old Town, and, of course, the Chicano movement in New
Mexico.
It is an interesting perspective on history and the
results of historical events. It is sure to be used as a
text in many classrooms but it is also a source of
personal information. The book also talks about current
newsmakers, especially politicians and their role A must
for the well-rounded historian. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Winter 2000
The Corn Woman
Angel Vigil, World Folklore Series, Heather McNeil,
editor, Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press,
Englewood, CO, 1994, 234 pp, color plates ISBN
1-56308-194-6 $28 ($33.50 outside North America)
Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press has announced the
release of The Corn Woman: Stories and Legends of the
Hispanic Southwest in both Spanish and English. The Corn
Woman is a collection of 45 cuentos or stories. The book
received the distinction of being selected by the New
York Public Library as one of the 1995 Books for the Teen
Age. The book is available in Spanish and English as well
as audiotape (ISBN 1-56308-394-9, $12 for English; ISBN
1-56308-394-7, $12.50 for Spanish). Libraries
Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press can be contacted for a
catalog at Dept. 9645, PO Box 6633, Englewood, CO
80155-6633 or FAX 303/220-8843, E-Mail lu-books@lu.com or
by calling 1/800-237-6124 ext. 1 and ask for Dept. 9645.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Winter 1996
The Crafts of Mexico
Published in 2004 by Artes de Mexico and distributed by
the Smithsonian, 359 pages, hardback, full color, $70 in
Mexico City, ISBN 970-683-102-9.
This is a huge book; it is also a beautiful book. There
are essays on ceramics, textiles, tin, mata ortiz pottery
and talavera pottery to name a few. The essays are by
well-known people like Octavio Paz. The pictures are
large and very fun. There is also a suggested reading
list. To say this is a must have for the Mexican crafts
expert is an understatement. You will probably have a
little trouble finding the book.-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2005
The Demise of Bobby Mac
Barbara Leachman
The Demise of Bobby Mac by New Mexico author Barbara
Leachman begins with a horrific crime when bad boy Rob
McGruder breaks into the home where Paige Lewis is
housesitting. The confrontation and outcome are riveting
before the story diverges to their separate lives after
that night. To tell much more would be to give away the
ending of this roller coaster of a story that’s sure to
keep you turning pages long into the night. -- Sabra
Steinsiek, POSH New Mexico, Summer 2007
The Desert Home
Tamara L. Hawkinson. Published in 2002 by Northland
Publishing, hardback, $40.00, ISBN 0-87358-796-0, 176
pages, full color.
If you had an extra $1,000,000 or so, some of the houses
you would be interested in would be in this book. It is
beautiful and shows off desert living to its fullest.
Featured are the Chihuahuan Desert, the Sonoran Desert,
the Mojave Desert, and western influences. There are tips
on where to buy items and how to decorate. The High
Desert of New Mexico is somewhat ignored but this is
still a great book for those interested in home decor. It
is really a good gift for someone moving to a new desert
location and thinks they will be living in a ranch shack
as their only alternative. High tech and traditional are
covered. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Spring 2003
The Essence of Santa Fe: From A Way of Life to A Style
Jerilou Hammett, Kingsley Hammett, and Peter Scholz.
Published in 2006 by Ancient City Press and imprint of
Gibbs Smith, hardback, $50, 450 color & B&W
photos, 256 pages, ISBN 1-58685-406-2.
Santa Fe is from a different solar system. We loved this
book because it shows a lot of the pictures of places we
have talked about. It has humor and recollection. The one
thing that drives us crazy is many of the pictures of
people have no names. Of course this makes it easier to
produce the book but… . There are historical pictures,
contemporary pictures, and great essays. This would be a
perfect present for an exiled Santa Fean. Or it would be
a good book on a New Mexico coffee table. -- Barbe Awalt,
Tradicion Revista, Summer 2006
The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico
Museo Franz Mayer and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Published in 2002 by the University of Texas Press,
paperback, $40, ISBN 0-89090-107-4, 379 pages, 180 color
photos and 20 b/w.
This is the newest and finest book to come out on Mexican
viceregal art (1521-1821). There are fine examples of
furniture, silver, books, saints, paintings, and more.
There are scholarly articles on the period and the
pieces. The exhibit will be in Houston, Delaware, and San
Diego and will be worth seeing. This exhibition catalog
is large, lush, and a must have for anyone interested in
Mexican colonial art. The text is in Spanish and English.
-- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2002
The Great Southwest Activity Book
Published in 2004 by Rising Moon, full color, many work
pages, $7.95, 56 pages, softback, ISBN 0-87358-844-4.
This book was done by a whole lot of people to make kids
stop saying “Are we there yet?” There are puzzles, bingo,
word finds, secret codes, coloring, dot-to-dot, and many
more. This is perfect for a road trip or going on an
airplane. It is a secret weapon or a great gift. It is a
colorful book that any kid will love and maybe adults
will too! -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Fall 2005
The Gullywasher: El Chaparron torrencial
Joyce Rossi, Rising Moon from Northland, third printing,
2000, paperback, ISBN 0-87358-728-6, $7.95, 30 pages in
color.
The Gullywasher is a tale of a grandfather telling his
granddaughter about the biggest gullywasher when he was a
vaquero. It is beautifully illustrated and tells of
various folk tales wrapped up into one story line. It is
a nice book for girls especially to share with their
grandfathers. It contains a Glossary of Spanish terms and
a brief essay by the author explaining these tales and
putting it all in context. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Summer 2001
The Holy Family in Art and Devotion
Joseph F. Chorpenning, O.S.F.S., St. Joseph University
Press, 1998, Paper ISBN 0-916101-25-8, 109 pages, B/W
photos.
For anyone doing research on the Holy Family, this is an
information-packed book on various aspects of the image
and the devotion. 1996 was the seventy-fifth anniversary
of the extension of the Feast of the Holy Family to the
liturgical calendar of the Universal Church. A exhibition
and symposium entitled “The Holy Family as Prototype of
the Civilization of Love: Images from the Viceregal
Americas” was held at St. Joseph University in
Philadelphia.
The essays in the book were selected from papers
presented. One of note is “Images of St. Teresa of Avila
With the Holy Family in Spanish Colonial Art” by
Christopher C. Wilson. Mexican, European, and Cuzco
School of Peru paintings are discussed. There is also an
interesting essay on “The Devotion of the Holy Family in
Canada.”
Our only complaint is that the beautiful illustrations
are not in color, but we do understand the economics of
printing. A nice book to add to any library. -- Barbe
Awalt, Tradicion Revista, Summer 1999
The Invisible Made Visible: Angels From The Vatican
Though this would be considered one of the season’s mega,
traveling exhibits, it hasn’t gotten the huge crowds that
the Pollack, van Gogh, or Degas shows received. That is
probably a blessing because crowds would detract from the
intimate feeling the show has especially at the Walters
Art Gallery in Baltimore where we saw it. We don’t know
if all the venues were handled in the same way the
Walters did, but hope they were because the Walters did a
splendid job.
After paying admission you were handed an angel medallion
-- an angel for your pocket. Many of the mega shows
charge extra for the audio tour. At the Walters you were
given a personal player for no extra charge and the tape
had been customized for Baltimore with comments by Bishop
Keeler of Baltimore and the Walters curator. The tape was
well done.
The Walters is a wonderful setting for any religious art
exhibit and at Christmastime it glowed. The display felt
as if it were in a religious setting. Some of the most
stunning pieces were huge monstrances of gold and silver.
A reliquary of Saint Francis Xavier was breathtaking in
its gold, silver, and precious stones.
Angels came in all forms -- paintings, sculptures,
vestments, fresco fragments, tapestries, chalices,
crosses, jewelry and ceramics. Some angels are
contemporary while the majority are ancient (9th century
B.C.) and historic. In many cases the angels pictured
take a minor role in a particular Biblical story of
massive proportions. There are over 100 pieces of art on
display in the exhibit. Some masters who are represented
include: Salvador Dali, Georges Rouault, Raphael, and Fra
Angelico.
Accompanying the exhibit is the huge, coffee table style
book by the same name (published by Art Services
International in hard and soft cover -- $60 and $35, 320
pages). It is one of the nicest art books that we have
seen in a while. It is elegant and filled with color
plates. It contains a letter from the Pope as well as
many essays, maps of the Vatican and a total listing of
the items in the exhibit. The exhibit is sponsored by the
Chrysler Corporation and others.
The exhibit previously traveled to the Armand Hammer
Museum at UCLA, the Saint Louis Museum of Art and the
Detroit Museum of Arts. The final venues of the exhibit
are the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida
(until April 4, 1999) and Ontario Gallery of Art in
Toronto (April 24 through June 20). We can only hope
other locations will be booked at the last minute so more
people can enjoy this exhibit. -- Barbe Awalt, Tradicion
Revista, Spring 1999
The Jicarilla Apache by Nancy Hunter Warren.
The Jicarilla Apache: A Portrait is a modern day,
photographic glimpse at this Southwestern nation by Nancy
Hunter Warren. The stunning black and white photographs
are accompanied by Veronica E. Velarde Tiller’s
informative essay about the Jicarilla’s culture, history,
and government. With the exception of ceremonials, gone
are the traditional modes of dress, replaced by jeans,
boots, and cowboy hats. Yet it is evident that the
enterprising and indomitable spirit of this people
remains unchanged. Various celebrations, such as the
Little Beaver Parade, powwows, and the rodeo, are
revealed in marvelous detail. The Go-Jii-Yah Feast, with
its symbolic and ceremonial footrace between the Olleros
and Llaneros clans, is especially memorable. The annual
September celebration is also a time for families to come
together and celebrate the past, present, and future. The
Jicarilla Apache: A Portrait promises to be the next
influential landmark in historical photography,
particularly as the Jicarillas now prohibit anyone from
photographing their traditional ceremonies. -- David
Corwell, POSH New Mexico (Fall 2007)
The Juan Paez Hurtado Expedition of 1695: Fraud in
Recruiting Colonists for New Mexico
John B. Colligan, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque, 1995; ISBN: 0-8263-1636-0 (Cloth, $24.95)
Following his military reconquest of New Mexico in
1692-93, don Diego de Vargas immediately began to recruit
settlers. One of Vargas’s key aides, Juan Paez Hurtado,
traveled to Zacatecas, Mexico, where early in 1695 he
reported enlisting forty-six families and then departed
on a three-month journey to Santa Fe. Two years later,
early in 1697, the now disgruntled and disillusioned
colonists denounced bo
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(January to June 2010)
#1 STARTIN' THE
FIRE #2. THE
GENIZARO & THE ARTIST #3. ONE NATION ONE
YEAR #4. NOT JUST NEW
MEXICO'S SENATOR #5. NAVAJO
& PUEBLO EARRINGS #6. SENATOR
DOMENICI'S LEGACY #7. THE INDIANS OF
ARIZONA & NEW MEXICO #8. OLD WEST
TRIVIA #9. THE SHOES FOR
THE SANTO NIÑO #10.
THE TALE OF THE PRONGHORNED
CANTALOUPEabout us
With a focus on the art and culture of the American Southwest, we publish books.
read more
books
Check out our books on Southwest art and culture here.
read more
SIGN UP HERE to receive our regular enewsletter for new releases and events for LPD Press & Rio Grande Books.
tradicion revista
The oldest magazine in the country featuring the art and culture of the Southwest.
read more
links
Links to artists, museums, galleries, and other resources for Spanish colonial arts are found here.
read more
nm book co-op
The New Mexico Book Co-op promotes and sells books by its 950+ members.
read more