The store is chock full of fabulous spring and summer pieces, from sun hats to sandals. We can't wait to see you!
]]>“Things are not always what they seem.”
Santa Fe artist Rita Bard learned this dictum at an early age, growing up in a family “that was poor in resources but rich in exposure to art and culture.” Rita’s new work continues her dialogue with deconstructing the zeitgeist, utilizing found objects, paint, and photography to create a kaleidoscope of comical, honest, and tender vignettes. Meet Rita at her opening reception on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 4 – 7 p.m. at the ART.i.factory. The exhibition is presented by Curate Santa Fe.
Rita spent her childhood in Kentucky, where she was exposed to architecture and classical art. She built a career as an architectural glass artist, and spent 20 years working for architectural art glass firms in New York and Kentucky. She loved the work, but craved a deeper relationship with fine art. Rita left glass work to pursue a BFA in printmaking at Maine College of Art.
Today, Rita avails herself of a sumptuous plethora of materials, techniques and technologies, incorporating her belief that art is both a mirror of one’s lived experience and a portrait of the heart’s longing for understanding. Her creative expression interfaces digital with the analogue to create a liminal space that serves as an opening where new questions, myths, narratives and iconographies can come into being.
Rita has shown at the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Box Gallery, Eight Modern, Launch Projects in Santa Fe and many other galleries throughout the United States. She founded freeform art space in 2014 as part of her community art practice: freeform serves as a venue for guest curators and artists to show “commercially risky”, challenging and/or underappreciated artists’ work.
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Groove to live music! Make a tee-shirt! Adopt a pet! Celebrate local artists! You’ll find all of this and more at the Fifth Annual Baca Street Bash on Saturday, July 20, from 4 – 8 p.m.
This year, circus performers from Wise Fools joins the fun; Auntie Kackle and the Cole Slaw King plays some funky tunes; and Oasis Paleteria offers up yummy paletas (Mexican ice cream bars). The fun starts at the intersection of Baca and Cerrillos. Check back for details on participating venues.
]]>The Shrine Show Pilgrimage started as a street art movement in the late 1980s and gained momentum through the 1990s to become a destination art event. Now, a new group of artists are reviving the show with three destinations and some two dozen participants. The first reception is this Friday at the ART.i.factory inside Art.i.fact, from 5 -7 p.m.
On Saturday, Calliope Gallery in Madrid (2876 Highway 14) will host the second reception from 3 – 6 p.m. The third will be on Sunday at Hat Ranch Gallery on the Turquoise Trail from 2 – 5 p.m.
The original shrine show was launched by three women who sought gallery space to exhibit two-dimensional work inspired by local shrines. Shrine art was, and still is, influenced by Hispanic and American Indian cultures in the Southwest, which is rich with santos, roadside crosses (descansos) and garden shrines.
This original group of Northern New Mexico artists snowballed into a passel of 28 enthusiastic artists. Their work consisted of paintings, sculpture, mixed media, assemblage, photographs, videos, performance pieces and more. These personal expressions ranged from the sacred to the comical, and from the political to the spiritual.
This year’s Shrine Show will feature a similar array of expressions, mediums, and forms. Among the participating artists are Barbara Harnack, Max Lehman, Bunny Tobias, Janet Stein Romero, and Art.i.fact’s own Michael Gullberg. The show at the ART.i.factory runs through July 13.
]]>The numbers are startling: One out of every three women in New Mexico is a victim of domestic violence. They are women like Carla, a mother of three, who was nearly strangled to death by her first ex-husband. She remarried, but he turned out to be an abuser as well. After years of enduring trauma, Carla finally found help through the Esperanza Shelter in Santa Fe.
Founded in 1976, Esperanza has grown to operate a 34-bed emergency shelter, a 24/7 crisis hotline, and a comprehensive menu of services including counseling, substance abuse therapy, and more. Art.i.fact supports Esperanza’s good work with regular donations of clothing and monetary contributions. This month, however, we want to do something special.
For the month of May, we’ll hold our first “Share Beauty” campaign: Bring in a new, unopened personal care item (or items!) through the end of May and receive 10% off a non-sale garment, a pair of shoes, a purse, or an accessory. Please bring items that offer a little luxury to women in need, including:
In addition, on Saturday, May 11 (which is the day before Mother’s Day), we’ll donate a percentage of the day’s sales to Esperanza. Let’s come together and help those who are helping women like Carla. With Esperanza’s guidance, Carla was able to recover from the trauma of abuse and make positive changes in her life. She is a new mom to her fourth child with a kind, loving man. For her, the Spanish word “esperanza” truly means “hope.”
]]>Art.i.fact is thrilled to be a part of “The Chemistry of Couture,” a fashion extravaganza featuring local and national designers, 75 models, food, music, a pop-up shot – and even a live horse. The event is from 6 – 11 p.m. Friday, April 12, at the Center for Contemporary Arts (1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe). Tickets are $20 at the door.
Art.i.fact, which is the only consignment store to participate in the event, will feature six ensembles curated from the current collection. In addition, the catwalk will feature vintage, streetwear, and runway looks. It promises to be a wild night – don’t miss it!
]]>Children involved with the Earth’s Birthday Project have learned to grow sunflowers from seeds, delighted in the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies, held live insects in their hands, and shared published stories about animals, natural habitat, life cycles and water conservation. Those children have also contributed over $6 million – mostly in small change – to protect more than 625,000 acres of endangered habitat in 12 countries through our partnerships with international conservation organizations.
In 2019, Earth’s Birthday Project will turn 30 years old and will be renaming itself Celebrate Planet Earth.
Make your shopping dollars stretch further and join us in supporting this worthy organization!
]]>Slow Art Day started in New York eight years ago and has grown into an international event, with more than 250 museums, galleries, and art spaces participating around the world. To take part, simply come to Art.i.fact at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, and spend 10 minutes each with five of Ilona's art pieces. At noon, Ilona will join you at Counter Culture Cafe to discuss your experience and talk about her work. The first 10 attendees will get a free coffee at Counter Culture.
After your Slow Art experience, we invite you back to Art.i.fact for Ilona's reception the same day from 4 - 7 p.m. The show will be on display through May 31.
Ilona's work utilizes the light of her current home in New Mexico, the fleeting rush and speed of New York City where she lived previously, and the waters of the Danube river in Linz, Austria, from where she hails.
“Three days after I spent time photographing in the subway systems of New York City, Hurricane Sandy hit these very places,” Ilona says. “Six months after my return from Austria where I was searching for reflections of architecture in the waters of the Danube, the river flooded parts of the city in a 100-year flood.”
These events made Ilona question the notion of memory, permanence, the way we remember, and the distances between time and place as they change over time in reality and in memory.
The artist’s screen prints on wood and steel panels become tablets recording the intersections of sight and thought processes, present and past. They are fragments of a place, a history, and a measure of memory. Each of the prints are hand-pulled, some are painted over, and they all capture unique qualities of moments in time.
Her sculptures, which interact with the prints, are measuring devices, gauges, and reflectors. They attempt to measure and reflect on the memory. “Our instruments of measure used in everyday life,” Ilona observes, “seem arbitrary and too incomplete to be capable of measuring memory and recording its constant changes.” With her art, she seeks to correct this deficiency.
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