Tony Vaccaro American Icons Exhibition Program: In Conversation with Agapita Judy Lopez on Georgia O’Keeffe

 Via Taliesin West

IN CONVERSATION – Agapita Judy Lopez on Georgia O’Keeffe
March 7, 2024

American Icons: Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe explores the similarities and differences between two American masters, born in Wisconsin, who found homes in the Desert Southwest, as captured through the lens of photographer Tony Vaccaro. Join us as Agapita “Pita” Judy Lopez discusses her time as working at Georgia O’Keeffe’s home Abiquiú as O’Keeffe’s secretary and companion, and her close relationship with Ms. O’Keeffe.

*Please note that this program grants guests access only to the program location. To see more of our property, please consider adding a tour to your program.

Time:
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Cabaret Theatre

Price:
Adults $35
Students (13-25 with student ID) $24
Members $31.50

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Members receive discounts on Cultural Programs, have access to special Member-Only programs, and more. Learn about Membership here.

Tickets here

Meet Our Presenter

Agapita “Pita” Lopez began working with American artist Georgia O’Keeffe in 1974, and became her personal secretary in 1978 until her death on March 6, 1986. A third generation employee, her grandfather and mother also worked for O’Keeffe as has her maternal grandmother, father, brothers, and sister. In 1986, Pita continued working with the O’Keeffe Estate, and then The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation as Secretary. She served as the Foundation’s Executive Director from 1999 to 2006. Currently, Projects Director of the O’Keeffe properties at Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, she oversees the maintenance and preservation of both houses and the seasonal tours offered at the Abiquiu home and studio. She co-authored a book on the houses with Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum released by Abrams in the fall of 2012. With her brother, Belarmino Lopez, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.

New Project "The Missiles On Our Land" investigates the human and environmental risks of a new Air Force Nuclear Missile program

 

Nina Berman: 

"This is a project I’ve been working on the last year with colleagues at Princeton and Columbia about the US nuclear arsenal and our plans to spend nearly 2$ trillion building more weapons. It will be published as a package (video, podcast, print pieces) on Scientific American and on our website missilesonourland.org on Nov 14. Like most things that concern the US military, there has been almost no public engagement around these policies and so I hope you find it informative."

View the full project here

Gallery Photographer Gabriela E. Campos Photographs Artist Judy Chicago For The New York Times

 Via The New York Times

October 12, 2023

The artist Judy Chicago in her studio in Belen, N.M., with her minimalist sculptures, “Moving Parts.” The anatomical shapes echo a feminist theme that still informs her practice today.

Credit: Gabriela Campos for The New York Times

Chicago with her piece “Grand Bronze Head with Golden Tongue” in her gallery and studio in Belen, N.M.

Credit: Gabriela Campos for The New York Times

Full article here.

Harwood Museum of Art Centennial

 Via Harwood Museum of Art

On view at the Harwood from June 2023 to January 2024, the Harwood Museum of Art Centennial exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the museum’s rich history. Touchstones will include the cultural history of the land where the museum now stands, and the many roles the property has served since it was purchased by Burt and Lucy Harwood in 1916. The property was the site for Taos’ first library and art gallery, including a permanent art collection from donors such as Mabel Dodge Luhan. It housed the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Taos County Project, the University of New Mexico Summer Field School of Art, and served as a nexus for the Taos Moderns.

The Harwood Museum of Art Centennial exhibition is a survey of the museum through time, the history of the town to which it is so central, and the role that art from Taos and its surroundings played in the larger artistic movements of the last century. Through unique historic and contemporary exhibition vignettes, the Centennial is a dynamic chance for guests to understand the evolution of one of the Southwest’s oldest museums. With a focus on the future, contemporary artists will be showcased through a series of community art installations and a juried artist commission.

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to have loaned a print by Margaret Bourke-White for the exhibition.

Margaret Bourke-White/©Life Picture Collection:  Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, (for TWA), 1935

Gabriela Campos Photo Feature in The Guardian

 Via The Guardian

December 27, 2022

Gallery photographer Gabriela Campos photographed the feature "Native American chefs are redefining the food truck scene while building a loyal customer base" for the UK Guardian Full article here.

Ryan Rainbird Taylor holds a plate full of indigenous soul food dishes that Yapopup is known for. We meet him in the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, not far from his grandmother’s home. 

Photograph: Gabriela Campos

Gabriela Campos, born and raised in Sante Fe, New Mexico, began cultivating her photography skills in high school and her camera is now a vehicle for telling powerful visual stories

 

Via Culturelines

Gabriela Campos, born and raised in Sante Fe, New Mexico, began cultivating her photography skills in high school. Seduced by the magic of the dark room film process, Campos slowly (and intentionally) transformed a creative outlet into her lifeblood. Her camera is now a vehicle for telling powerful visual stories, building community, connecting with strangers and showcasing the people and stunning natural beauty of her home state. As a freelance photographer, her incredible work has been featured in several noteworthy publications, including The Guardian, High Country News, Al Jazeera, VICE, The Daily Beast and various local publications. She’s also exhibited in Washington, D.C. alongside fellow photographer Nathaniel Tetsuro Poalinelli. 

I connected with Campos to explore the genesis of her career, her creative vision and the importance of being a homegrown creative. 

When did you know you wanted to be a photographer?

Gabriela Campos: I first fell in love my senior year of high school. I switched to a new high school and they had this program where you could take photography classes at the community college. I was always interested in [photography] because my dad used to be into [photography]. I took black and white number one, got my dad's old Pentax camera and I experienced the beauty and magic of the dark room — where you just watch something come out of darkness. From that first class, I was hooked.

Why is it important to tell New Mexican stories?

Gabriela Campos: Some people are always seeking to go outside of themselves, and they don't see the potential of their home. There are so many culturally significant things in New Mexico. I'm going through a phase where New Mexico is very much a muse. I am so inspired by the people, the places, the textures, the landscape. It's important to tell the stories that you feel passionately about.

How do you build trust when you go into a new space?

Gabriela Campos: There are two different ways that I approach it. For [The Santa Fe New Mexican] newspaper, I have to be thrown into new situations every single day and feel I can create that sort of intimacy. I show up and I'm interested, and I'm curious. I like to ask people questions. I feel genuine interest goes a long way. Because, it's not often that people get to show off their worlds. Sometimes it's about talking to people. Sometimes I go on assignment and I take photos for the first five minutes, but then people just want to sit down and tell me their story, what's really going on in their lives and the worst of their worlds. 

Have you learned a lot from other creatives?

Gabriela Campos: I learn a lot from watching other photographers work. I've been in situations where there's five [or] six photographers and we're all covering the same event. Everybody approaches it a little differently. It's fun to see if people are throwing themselves directly in there, if they're standing far back in the corner trying to get environmental things or if they're trying to get close. I try to remind myself to touch on all the things. Sometimes, I have to say, “step back, show a little bit more, there's more to the story than just people.” 

Why is natural lighting your preferred environment?

Gabriela Campos: When you step into somebody's world, you don't often have the luxury of being able to orchestrate all the details. It's about working with what you have, because then you're never reliant on having a flash or a strobe; you're equipped to do what you need to do anywhere if you just train your eye to seek out that natural light. There's nothing more beautiful, [when] it hits in that perfect way.

What’s better, color or black and white?

‍Gabriela Campos: Sometimes colors can be a little bit distracting. Certain colors, like reds and yellows, are really flashing and people are drawn to them. But maybe you're drawn to it for the wrong reasons. Maybe what I like about the frame is the expression of the person, the shapes, the lines or the way the light hits something. There is definitely a place for colors, because sometimes I'm really attracted to the vibrancy of something. 

Could you ever imagine sitting behind a desk?

 Gabriela Campos: No, I always wanted to be interacting with people and entering people's worlds; photography is the most absolute, ideal situation for that. Every day I get to be something different. Some days, I'm a firefighter. Some days, I'm a doctor. Sometimes, I drive an Impala around. It lets me see life from [different] perspectives. 

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Monroe Gallery of Photography was honored to donate a print by Gabriela E. Campos to Christus St. Vincent's Hospital

 

On Friday, Nov. 19, Monroe Gallery of Photography was honored to donate a print by Gabriela E. Campos to Christus St. Vincent's Hospital.

"A nursing station in the Frost 19 unit, Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, Santa Fe, NM, December, 2020" was taken during a surge in Covid-10 cases, and was part of a series that resulted in a first place New Mexico Press Association award. View the full essay here in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Gallery Photographer Gabriela Campos Receives 2 New Mexico Press Awards

October 31, 2021

Via The Santa Fe New Mexican

 The New Mexico Press Association recognized the best of New Mexico’s newspaper writing, photography and advertising at the Better Newspaper Contest Banquet on Saturday.

The Santa Fe New Mexican captured 24 first-place honors and 18 second-place finishes and was the winner of the General Excellence award Saturday night in the New Mexico Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

The contest honors work in all aspects of a news platform, including website and advertising content. The New Mexican competes in the largest category, daily newspapers with a circulation above 11,000. Journalists from throughout the state received their awards at a banquet Saturday night at Santa Fe’s Eldorado Hotel.

“In one of the most difficult years ever faced by newspapers, I’m so proud of the work our staff produced,” said New Mexican Publisher Tom Cross. “The General Excellence award is the mark of effort, dedication and talent across our entire newsroom and with our advertising staff. We’re proud of every member of our team.”

Photo Series: First Place, Gabriela Campos

Online Photo Gallery: First Place, Gabriela Campos

VACATION SEPTEMBER 8 - 12, 2019

Ernst Haas: White Sands, New Mexico, 1952

The Gallery is closed for vacation September 8 - 12, 2019. We will resume normal business hours of 10 - 5 on Friday, September 13. "Living in History" continues through September 22; Stephen Wilkes "Day To Night" opens with a reception and book signing on October 4.

Photographer Craig Varjabedian discusses “Landscape Dreams” at 1:30 today at the Albuquerque Museum

 

This photo titled “Welcome to New Mexico” was made near Chama. (CRAIG VARDJABEDIAN FROM ‘LANDSCAPE DREAMS, A NEW MEXICO PORTRAIT’)

 

Review: Captivating panorama

Via The Albuquerque Journal

By David Steinberg / Journal Staff Writeron Sun, Dec 16, 2012

 Which one to choose for publication? A San Marcos cowboy holding a saddle with his canine friend Buddy next to him? A roadside descanso in Mora? Quaking aspen in Red River? Chile fields near Hatch?

I reviewed and re-reviewed the many wondrous black-and-white images of Santa Fe photographer Craig Varjabedian in his new book “Landscape Dreams” before deciding on the accompanying one you see.

I was taken by the tilt and the architecture of the “Welcome to New Mexico, Chama, New Mexico” sign. How 1950s New Mexico it was. I was also enraptured by the shimmering cool leaves, the curving vale, the stand of trees in the middle ground, the upward slope of the hill to the sky.

As the first full-page photograph in the book, it welcomes the reader to a journey – a journey into Varjabedian’s work – into a thoughtful essay on the Land of Enchantment, into an explanation of the photographer’s themes and artistic philosophy and into the how and why of his own coming to New Mexico.

I asked Varjabedian about the “Welcome to New Mexico” photograph.

“The sign is a kind of metaphor for New Mexico,” Varjabedian said. “As real and truthful as it looks, it is not really truthful. Ultimately what I am trying to say is that I’ve been calling this book my love letter to New Mexico. Whatever tools, tricks I can use as a photographer, I use. The sign was shot up. There were holes in it.”

The fact that the sign is a bit off-kilter, Varjabedian commented, says that there’s something “wonderfully different” about New Mexico.

He took the photograph in 2010. Since then, he said, the state Highway Department has replaced the sign with one that is more vertical.

“It’s a new sign and it doesn’t have the quality of its older relative,” he said.

Craig Varjabedian discusses “Landscape Dreams” at 1:30 today at the Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain NW. In addition, Jeanetta Calhoun Mish and Jennifer Simpson read from essays in the book. Rebekkah Varjabedian, the photographer’s daughter, introduces her short film “Landscape Dreams.” UNM Press director John Byram talks about the press’ collaboration with Varjabedian and the importance of physical books.

To Varjabedian, the sign signifies something more.

“There’s something magical, enchanted and turned a little different about this place, which brings it its charm … and delights me to want to photograph it. I’m struck by those things that are turned a little bit differently, whether a sign or some historical fact,” he said.”

On the facing page of the “Welcome” sign is part of historian Hampton Sides’ foreword. In it, Sides touches on New Mexico’s road to statehood. The state “worked its way into the national consciousness,” he wrote, “and, as it nearly always does, won people over.” It was a reference to a welcoming act on Jan. 6, 1912 – membership into the Union as the 47th state.

Varjabedian’s public love letter was published in the same year as the New Mexico Centennial.

An exhibit of images from the book is up through Dec. 31 at William Talbot Fine Art, 129 W. San Francisco St., Santa Fe.

David Steinberg is the Journal’s Books editor and an Arts writer.

This is the cover of the book “Landscape Dreams: A New Mexico Portrait” (courtesy of unm press website)

"Fifty Years Defending Freedom"

Via Syndication

In 1962 a group of dedicated civil libertarians came together to form the ACLU of New Mexico to defend and extend our most basic freedoms. Much has changed since then, and the ACLU has been such an important part of our state’s progress.


In honor of their fiftieth year defending freedom in New Mexico, the ACLU has produced the below short film, “Fifty Years Defending Freedom”. In this 17 minute film, you will hear from some of the key people from the organization’s past and present speak about the values that drive the important work of the organization and the historic civil liberties victories they have won over the past half century.

 

 

 

Check-out some ACLU NM News here, including:
 

• ACLU Sues Border Patrol for Retaliating against Agent for Political Beliefs
• Marriage Is About Love, Commitment and Family—Not Discrimination
• VIDEO: Voter Suppression in Albuquerque
• “I won’t fill your birth control prescription.”
• Real ID is Dead. New Mexico IDs Will Continue to be Valid.

With the help of local supporters, the ACLU has grown from a tiny, all-volunteer organization to the largest, hardest-hitting civil liberties organization in the state. Today, the government knows that if they violate people’s rights, the ACLU WILL hold them accountable to the law.



Related: Steve Schapiro

"NO FIREARMS ALLOWED"

Via Joe McNally's Blog:

The show at the Monroe Gallery I mentioned a couple weeks ago went well. You can always tell you’re having an exhibit in New Mexico when you see one of these:



Sorta makes you wish anybody who shows up really likes your work, ya know? More tk…." --Joe McNally



Related: Holiday Book Signing and Exhibit With Joe McNally

PHOTOGRAPHY IN NEW MEXICO

Collection Center for Creative Photography, University of Aizona (76.577.30) ©2010 The Ansel Adams Publishing Trust


New Mexico magazine, the nation's original state magazine, has an article on the history of photography in New Mexico and the many galleries featuring photography in Santa Fe. The article by Wolf Schneider titled "Shoot-Out: Why the New Mexico photography scene keeps getting more competitive" opens with:

"Used to be, New Mexico's fine-art photography scene meant historic images by Laura Gilpin, Eliot Porter, and Ansel Adams - especially Adams' famed Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941. There was a photo gallery or two in Santa Fe. Now the city has a half-dozen galleries dedicated to photography, and two dozen more that feature photography among other arts. Fine-art photography is on the rise world-wide, with modern image making propelled by digital technology, and with prints in limited and numbered editions all the rage.

'Over the last 10 to 15 years, there's been an explosion in fine-art photography' observed Sidney Monroe, 52, who opened Monroe Gallery of Photography with his wife Michelle in Santa Fe in 2002. 'We started in New York in the eighties, when there were only a small number of photo galleries around the world' he remembers. Monroe specializes in humanist and photojournalist imagery, representing internationally known photographers such as the late Margaret Bourke-White and Henri Cartier Bresson, and selling prints for $1,000 up. Ninety percent of the images Monroe sells are still shot on traditional film. Showing the work of nationally and internationally known photographers, he observes, 'For any other city of this size, you won't get the diverse photography you will see in Santa Fe'".

Andrews Smith states "We are the leading dealer of Ansel Adams in the world", noting that Adams' prints currently sell for $4,000  and up. Way up. "Most of the great collectors are collecting photography. Its an international trend. There are more photo galleries in Santa Fe per capita than anywhere in the world."

Read the full article here, turn to pages 20 - 23 using the e-reader. Also interviewed and featured are Jennifer Schlesinger of Verve Gallery, Anne Kelly of Photo-Eye, and several others.

Eddie Adams: Untouchable Children, India, 1978

"For any other city of this size, you won't get the diverse photography you will see in Santa Fe" says Sidney Monroe of Monroe Gallery of Photography, which recently exhibited works by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Eddie Adams.

Related: Loews Magazine: Collecting Photography

             Summer Gallery Scene in Santa Fe

BORN NOVEMBER 15, 1887: GEORGIA O'KEEFFE

John Loengard: Abiquiu, New Mexico, 1967

Georgia O'Keeffe
Born on November 15, 1887


Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American artist. Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe was a major figure in American art from the 1920s.

Georgia O'Keeffe visited Northern New Mexico in 1917 and fell in love with it then. But it was not until 1934 that she decided to make Ghost Ranch her summer home. She would spend her summers hiking, exploring and painting the area and in the winter go to New York. One summer she convinced the owner to sell her a small part of Ghost Ranch, which was a house and 7 acres. After her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, died, Georgia made Abiquiu (about an hour and a half north of Santa Fe) her permanent home.

Georgia O'Keeffe may be the most photographed artist in history, given the artistic ardor of her photographer husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Beautiful at every age and serene in the camera's gaze, on the occasion of Georgia O'Keeffe's 80th birthday in 1967 Life magazine dispatched photographer John Loengard to her home in New Mexico to document a day in the life of the pioneering American artist.

Georgia O'Keeffe died on March 6, 1986



Related: The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

               Image and Imagination: Georgia O'Keeffe by John Loengard

NEIL LEIFER BOOK SIGNING EVENT DRAWS BIG TURNOUT IN SANTA FE

We started to write about this weekend's special book signing by Neil Leifer of his recent book, "Guts and Glory: the Golden Age of American Football". But another blogger did a better post. See below.


What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Copyright M.G. Bralley

These are Michelle and Sidney Monroe. They own the Monroe Gallery of Photography at 112 Don Gaspar, in Santa Fe.

It features post World War II photojournalism; mostly from the age of the weekly photo magazine; the LIFE and LOOK era.

Visiting the gallery and its 10 to 12 exhibitions each year chronicle recent history through the lenses of some of the most prominent photojournalist of the last 65 years.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

As is my practice, those who make it to my blog roll, right, do so only after having had a post written about them. These are the sites I read and recommend to my readers.

In this case, Sidney started it.

In the background of the host of this site, Blogger, there is a section that indicates people who regularly follow your work. Monroe Gallery of Photography is one such follower.

He also is a good editor of the art and photographic scene. He has his twitter site on his blogspot and it is worth following.

I was first introduced to Monroe’s through a University Art Studio class visit in 2002.

The gallery had moved from lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Though blocks away, their gallery was within what Sidney called “the zone,” the area that was without power for months following the attacks.

The Monroes knew Santa Fe and moved after 20 years.

The Monroes backgrounds as art curators stem from their work: Sidney is the economics end the business, who says he is not photographically inclined, he was the retail manager for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Michelle worked at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Senior Life magazine photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt turned to the Monroes to assemble his first exhibition and then to represent the sale of his work, above.

Over the years the Monroes came to know many of the photojournalists of the 20th and now 21st century whom they would go on to represent.

The gallery is a continuously changing museum of history.

This weekend they brought in Neil Leifer, left, the renowned photojournalist, possibly best known for his years of work at Sport Illustrated, for a book signing event.

I always knew I was not a sports photographer by simply looking at Leifer’s work.

Leifer’s biography is about a young man with great eye, timing, and a true understanding of sports.

One of his favorite subjects was Muhammad Ali, me too. I shot Ali, above, while he was banned from fighting.

Saturday afternoon I went to the book signing and ran into one of the biggest sports fans in New Mexico, Governor Bill Richardson. He owns a print of the photo of Ali taunting Sonny Liston after knocking him out in their rematch. The print was a birthday gift from political friends and staff according to New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs Secretary Stuart Ashman, who was also present.

Richardson dominated the conversation, yet no one seemed to have any complaint because the Governor drew out stories about historic sporting events.

Leifer turned the tables when he challenged Richardson to identify some of the men in the photo of President John Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson during an opening game at a Washington Senators' baseball game. For the ultimate sports and political fan, Richardson was unable to aid Leifer in trying to identify the unknown people in the Presidential box.

I recognized some, but they were the major political figures of the day from Capitol Hill. Leifer believes the unknown men to have been Baseball Commission officials.

The early 1960s is a long time ago. I was still playing little league. Richardson was already playing school ball. The Governor bought a copy of Leifer's book, Ballet In The Dirt: The Golden Age Of Baseball.

As much as I appreciate Leifer’s work, I can’t afford an original, a book or two, yes. However, Liefer asked that I send a picture of him with the Governor, so he has an MGB original.

About  M.G. Bralley

I am a retired law enforcement officer who has a life long interest in photography and journalism. I focus mainly on issues of local politics, though I will step off into state, national and international issues. I have a history of watching government closely with a particular eye on process. I look carefully for the unusual, quirky and any exceptions that are granted which cause unfair treatment amongst citizens or businesses. I view governmental activity first through a constitutional lens. Then I assess adherence to process, the rule of law and the rules that govern them. I look for and attempt to expose hypocrisies and inconsistencies. I also look for laws that do not forward the ideals of human rights. I will rail at bad, unenforceable, unconstitutional laws and those who create and attempt to enforce them. Original photographs, photographic and video services are available upon request.