“Join us for a weekend of fun in Santa Fe,” the email read, but it wasn’t as corny as it sounds. If anything, Family Weekend at SFUAD—student showcases, awesome food, and a trip to Albuquerque—was just a front. The truth? Parents wanted to see their kids and the kids (admit it!) wanted to see their parents. I was still reluctant when my mom asked if we could do Family Weekend. I’m a senior, I thought, it’ll just be freshman families. Or I’m from Santa Fe, I’m not far enough to miss them. But it wasn’t just parents of freshmen who attended this weekend and as soon as I saw my mom, dad and brother Friday night, I couldn’t wait for the events to start. My mother, Jeanette, had attended the College of Santa Fe for a year while pursuing a degree in landscape design. When she read the email about Family Weekend, she turned to my dad, Edward, and said, “would you like to see your daughter?” He was in. My brother, Jesse, graduated last year from New Mexico Tech and is now a full time employee of the Los Alamos labs. He wanted to see his sister. He didn’t care what we did. Art, in general, is not discussed much in my family, but after checking in on Friday and drinking some wine (or sparkling water in my mom’s case) and eating some cheese in the library, I sent them into the Garson Theater to watch Middletown. Afterwards, they had the following to say: Mom: “You’re born, you die, it’s about everything in between.” Jesse: “It’s the little things in life.” Dad: “It was different.” Saturday began with a good lunch and it ran into some student showcases, including a visit to the...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Oct. 18-24 Birth of the Living Dead, Vietnam and Zombies! Ever wonder where the billion dollar zombie industry came from? In 1968, college dropout George A. Romero shocked a society, already infected by the Vietnam war, by creating a film in which the dead arose to eat the living. In his low budget film, Night of the Living Dead, Romero horrified his audience with gruesome action and detailed makeup. This documentary explores how one brave move of cinema redefined counterculture and commented on the realities of war. Rebecca Alvin of the Provincetown Magazine calls it a “brilliant deconstruction of [a] classic groundbreaking movie.” Opens Friday. Opening Weekend Screening Includes Double-feature with Night of the Living Dead Shepard and Dark, the Untold Story of Sam Shepard’s Closest Friendship In the early 1960s, Sam Shepard, Pulitzer Prize winner and Academy Award-nominated actor (The Right Stuff), meets Johnny Dark, a homebody who becomes Shepard’s friend and pen pal. Despite dramatic differences in their lives, Shepard and Dark remain friends, even living together when Dark marries an older woman whose daughter would become Shepard’s first wife. In 2010, Director Treva Wurmfeld begins filming the friends after they agree to publish their many years worth of correspondence. Treva’s documentary captures the bond of two unlikely men sifting through history, acknowledging all the good and bad memories. David Fear of Time Out New York calls the film, “an ode to a long-lost era of bohemia, an insightful look into male psychology and pathology, a valentine to the art of letter writing and an illustration of how the past is never dead, because it’s not even past.” Opens Friday. Featuring Introduction and Q/A with Director Treva Wurmfeld Fri. Oct. 18, 7 p.m. Tickets on sale now. Live: Spartacus...
Ready, Set, SFIFF
posted by Charlotte Martinez
“The best short films are student shorts,” says Jacques Paisner, executive director and co-founder of the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. In its fourth year, the festival’s four-day event, Oct. 16-20, will be held at the Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Lensic Performing Arts Center, The Screen, and the newly opened Jean Cocteau Cinema in downtown Santa Fe. Dedicated to screening independent films, Paisner shares that a good amount of the festival’s 2013 submissions, as of March 1, came from the student population. Filmmakers, like those from SFUAD’s Film School are provided resources, “great equipment,”as Paisner puts it, which allows for the ideal collaboration experience. “If you’re in directing class…you’ll work with a writer from the writing class and that creates a really good short film,” he says. Furthermore, the shorts can act as a “calling card” because, according to Paisner, the festival circuit is one of the only places students gain exposure. It is here they can say,”‘look I’m a student filmmaker, collaborate with me.” For two of SFUAD’s own film students, the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival was a tremendous opportunity to expose their work. “We were planning on entering the festival before we shot the film,” says SFUAD film major Seth Fuller, whose film U46-Anomaly (Anomaly in the SFIFF listings) will be screened for the SFIFF at 9 p.m., Oct. 16 at the CCA. “We went into it trying to make it as polished as possible, to be a product to showcase what we are capable of. With that being said, we wanted to focus on the local community first since we are local filmmakers.” Fuller’s 13-minute short, shot last year in collaboration with New Mexico local Scott Hussion (producer) and fellow student Emmett Meade (producer/editor), is categorized as a sci-fi drama and...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Oct. 11- 17 Music Majors, I have two words for you: Muscle Shoals! The true story of the small town with a big sound credits Tennessee’s spiritual “Singing River” as the birthplace of America’s most celebrated music. From the FAME Studios of Rick Hall, blacks and whites work together in the heat of Alabama’s racial hostility to create what is called the “Muscle Shoals sound.” To attest to Shoal’s reputation are artists Greg Allman, Bono, Clarence Carter, Mick Jagger, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Keith Richards, and Percy Sledge. In a documentary “propelled by gorgeous music and rich anecdotes,” David Gritten of The Telegraph calls the story of Shoals “joyous, uplifting and as funky as the music at its heart.” Opens this Friday. Intro with co-producer Raji Mandelkorn opening night, Friday Oct. 11, 7pm. Tickets on sale at https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?w=14f6950e134574f6487b9ca0ea89aabf&t=tix Saturday, Oct. 12 7pm, The Jewish Film Festival presents Defiant Requiem From late 1943 to June of 1944 at the Terezín Concentration Camp, imprisoned Czech conductor Rafael Schächter led a chorus of his fellow Jewish prisoners — most of them doomed to the gas chambers at Auschwitz — in 16 performances of Verdi’s Requiem, including once before the very Nazis who had condemned them to death. With only a single musical score, this group of 150 fated Jewish prisoners would learn and sing Verdi’s momentous work. Over 60 years later Conductor Murry Sidlin, accompanied by a handful of survivors, returned to Terezin to conduct a memorial concert of the Requiem. The story of Terezín (aka Theresienstadt), the Requiem, and of Conductor Murry Sidlin’s return to conduct a memorial concert is eloquently told in director Doug Shultz’s powerful new documentary Defiant Requiem. One of the most complex and demanding of chorale works, Verdi’s 1874...
2013 Launch of Shoot the Stars
posted by Charlotte Martinez
Tuesday, Sept 24, Film School Chairman Chris Eyre officially announced this year’s Shoot the Stars scripts, directors and producers. Two teams, two stars, two films! “These were extremely difficult selections,” Eyre writes in his email to film students, some of whom were disappointed not to see their names on the list of directors and producers. “We have so many talented students here at The Film School,” Eyre continues, “Hollywood, of course, is a place where ‘no’ is said a lot more than ‘yes.’” Last year, Eyre initiated the first of the Shoot the Stars projects, announcing that every year in November the Film School would hire two well-established “star” actors to work under two student-assembled film crews. The product would be two short films, produced entirely by the Santa Fe University of Art and Design Film School. For seven students, the announcement of scripts, directors and producers was taken with relief and great anticipation. “I’m dying to be a director,” says Joshua James, the official director for Baxter Smith’s screenplay, Mister Stapleton. When he was called for his interview, James explains, he didn’t know what to expect. “The email said you had to have a pitch ready…but when I got in there, it wasn’t so much a pitch as it was a conversation.” Similarly, Bonnie Burchfield, the Producer for Mister Stapleton, describes the interview with Assistant Chair Paula Amanda and Hank Rogerson, film production instructor, as a conversation between acquaintances.“It was very calm,” Burchfield says. “I didn’t feel like I was going into a tense situation. Hank has such a warm vibe about him anyway, he’s so soothing that it made me feel really confident.” Hank Rogerson, in charge of Shoot the Stars’ production team, explains that in selecting candidates for director and producer “faculty goes by class experience,… applications, GPA, and year. And then,” Rogerson adds, “it comes down to how they present themselves in the interview, through preparation, presentation and vision.” As upper classmen, both James and Burchfield share the benefit of having worked with the Film School staff. In anticipation of Shoot the Stars 2013, they’ve directed and produced their own students films. “What made the final selections stand out,” Rogerson says, “was how much they presented a whole package—from vision for the projects to track record in the department.” For those unfamiliar with the tasks of a film producer, Burchfield considers it the job suited for “real problem solvers.” “They’re there to do the business end,” she says. “The end that the director doesn’t want to think about.” In charge of budget for pre-production, production and post production, Burchfield says, “they stay with it through to the end, into marketing, into the film circuit.” The problem solving, Burchfield describes, comes in when the director’s vision does not match the boundaries of the budget. “They have to provide other options,” Burchfield says, “that stay within the creative vision of the director.” Speaking of directors, Joshua James, a senior of the Film School, says he had been thinking of signing up for Shoot the Stars since January. In anticipation, James directed and produced a student film in the Spring called Nightmares and Daydreams in hopes the addition to his resume would give him a leg up. With plenty of film directing under his belt, James says his theater background, five years acting and directing plays in high school, also came up during his interview. “Mister Stapleton is written a lot like a play,” James says. “Baxter described it as kind of a gloried sketch that can be performed live if it weren’t for particular elements. When Chris [Eyre] told me that I got the position, he told me that my theater experience was a big reason for it. He thought I’d be comfortable with the actors and I’d have a good understanding of how to communicate with them.” Terry Borst, screenwriting instructor for the Film School and...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Oct. 4 – 10 Short Term 12, Most Recommended by Students! Winner of best actress and director in the Locarno Film Festival, Short Term 12 has been raved by SFUAD students as a must see! An excellent example of Independent filmmaking: great actors, great plot, and it guarantees moments of tears. Richard Roeper from Chicago Sun-Times calls it “one of the best movies of the year.” La Camioneta, the Journey of One American School Bus La Camioneta follows the migration of a US school bus to the city of Guatemala, where it is revived and used by the vast majority of workers. J. Hoberman of ARTINFO.com calls it “a poetic, even dream, film that ultimately conveys the mystical sense of a transmigrated (mechanical) soul.” Opens this Friday. You Will Be My Son, the amazing 35mm print is still showing! Come see some awesome film projection. The Screen’s Fall Performance schedule is up. These high definition Operas and Bellets come to you from theaters like the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, the Royal Opera House in London, the Teatro Antico di Taormina in Italy, La Scala in Milan and Sydney Harbour in Austrailia. Visit http://thescreensf.com/streaming-opera-in-theaters#.Uk2xTmRVR9T for performances and performance times. Visit thescreensf.com for movie times 505.473.6494 1600 St. Michael’s Drive Santa Fe, NM 87505 thescreensf.com...
The Screen Goes Digital
posted by Charlotte Martinez
“It’s all George Lucas’ fault,” says Peter Grendle, the Screen’s cinematheque manager, dispensing news of the world’s steady conversion of film projection to digital projection. According to Grendle, when director George Lucas filmed the last of his famous Star Wars episodes from 2002-2005, he loathed the idea of his precious turn-of-the-century movies going up on what Grendle calls the “shitty mall theaters” (whose projectionists pay little attention to presentation). Determined to get the best possible picture, Lucas shot Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 100 percent high definition and premiered them in select theaters using digital projectors. Even if the mall theaters failed Lucus, at least the final prequels were forever in high definition. Since then, filmmakers have followed George Lucas, the “father of digital cinema,” into the inevitable future of digital. Hence, the annihilation of film! That’s a bit dramatic. Hence, movie company’s slow change from film to affordable new age cinema. And, for better or worse, the Screen, part of the 10 percent of theaters still capable of 35mm film projection, has finally gotten the boot: its 35mm projectors are retiring. A digital cinema package (DCP) will take their place. “We’ve been essentially an all blue ray theater for the past year,” Grendle says, “we do as many 35mm [films] as possible…but we have to [install] digital if we actually want to play movies. Otherwise the theater is just a place with, you know, great seats and a white wall.” Expert projectionist Barbara Grassia believes that the Screen’s transition is a positive change because “digital’s visual quality has been improving.” Grassia has participated in Film Festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Traverse City, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Telluride, Turner Classics, and Durango Independent Film Festival. “While the quality of 35mm presentation has been steadily declining,” Grassia says, “many multiplexes have allowed 35mm equipment to deteriorate to the point that presentation is seriously compromised.” Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Director Jason Silverman, who recently converted CCA’s primary film projection theater to digital, also points out that “DCP is pristine start to finish. Audio and picture quality are easily adhered to the filmmaker’s and studio’s intentions and we’re finding lots of interesting DCP content to show.” The creator and curator of the Screen, Brent Kliewer, agrees that “the benefits [of digital] will far outweigh anything negative.” He adds, “digital is where the industry is headed and to keep up we (meaning all independent theaters) must move forward.” It’s been a long time coming for the Screen, Grendle explains. Three years ago he received a letter from Fox, the high budget movie company whose films the Screen doesn’t play anyway, informing theaters that the company will no longer make 35mm prints. From there, Grendle was badgered by numerous companies to switch earlier rather than later. What was the final blow? The big companies gave in. The Regal Cinemas, a major branch of movie theaters, upgraded last year and according to Grendle, once the “big guys” convert, it means everyone else will follow. For a while, however, the 15 percent of film geeks, or independent filmmakers and theater owners, protested the digital conversion and treaded the pool of their financial difficult for the sake of saving film. “All the indies are exactly the same,” Grendle says, “They’re pushing out these small weird art movies for a small weird art crowd in small weird art theaters.” He explains that the Screen, like the CCA and newly opened Jean Cocteau in Santa Fe, was founded on “a love for film.” Furthermore, Brent Kliewer, original founder of all three respected cinematheques, is himself a “film junky,” a believer in projection and acoustic perfection. The Screen, for example, was built on an old soundstage and the 35mm projector bulbs burn so bright that they’re moved away from the body of the projectors so the film doesn’t burn. Regarding the art of film projection verses digital, Grendle...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Sept. 27- Oct. 3 Short Term 12, the Best of Drama Directed by Destin Cretton and starring Brie Larson, this drama explores a young woman’s kind-hearted relationship with the kids who have slipped through the cracks of the system. When a challenging case comes along, however, this young woman must learn to make peace with her troubled past and open up to those around her. Winner of best actress and director in the Locarno Film Festival, Richard Roeper from Chicago Sun-Times calls it “one of the best movies of the year.” You Think You Know the Legend? What About the Man? Watch The Trials of Muhammad Ali, the Story of Ali’s Choice of Faith Over Fortune Academy award-nominated director Bill Siegel investigates boxing icon Muhammad Ali by following his life away from the ring. This documentary exposes the man who caused controversy in his race, his religion and his government, by refusing to serve in the Vietnam war. John DeFore of the Hollywood Reporter says the film “captures the thrill of Ali’s personality even for viewers with little interest in the sweet science.” Beckett on Film, Last Sunday of the Series Beckett on Film is a celebrated five part series of Samuel Beckett’s 19 plays, filmed by some of the world’s most talented directors, and featuring actors like Julianne Moore, Jeremy Irons and John Hurt. Beckett was awarded ‘Best TV Drama’ at the Sixth South Bank Show Awards Ceremony in 2002 and is called a celebration of artistic achievement. FREE ADMISSION every Sunday of September- 11 a.m. Doors will open at 10:30 a.m.. This Sunday, Sept. 29 watch the shorts Rough for Theater 2, directed by Katie Mitchell and Check the Gate: the Making of Beckett on Film. FYI, You Will...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Sept. 20-26 You Will Be My Son, Rivalry of the Winery on 35mm Film! A must see for all film students, this film print is one of the last to be played on the Screen’s 35mm projectors. You know…with scratches, flickers and surround sound. Called a fable and parable of a tale, this French drama includes all the necessary suspense of a father verses son complex. “Unfolding like a thriller,” as Eric Hynes of Time Out New York says, the French succeed again in a fantastic display of cinematography. Opens this Friday, Sept. 20 Deceptive Practice: the Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay. Magic on the Screen! Literally The amazing, fabulous, hilarious Ricky Jay is not just a documentary on a performer’s prestigious career in magic, acting and writing— it’s a documentary on deception! Featuring stock footage of some of the most famous magicians in the world, Jay guarantees a story to remember. Opens this Friday, Sept. 20 Bidder 70, “It’s time to Rush the Field and Stop the Game” For students who feel disempowered by higher government, Tim DeChristopher would say: you are not. In 2008, the college student DeChristopher demonstrated an act of civil disobedience during a federal auction, in which 22,000 acres of Utah land was being offered to mining and energy industries. Falsely bidding $1.7 million, Tim DeChristopher was sent to prison, but not before igniting the climate justice movement. According to Gary Goldstein of Los Angeles Times, “Time DeChristopher’s staunch and inspiring journey after that fateful auction is efficiently tracked in this vital and involving documentary.” ONE NIGHT ONLY- Tuesday, Sept. 24 7pm. Featuring Q/A with Filmmakers. Tickets on sale at thescreensf.com Presenting to You Theater Majors, Beckett on Film Beckett on Film is a celebrated five part series...
Art for Everyone
posted by Charlotte Martinez
They look at me as if they don’t understand. “What does Progressive Art mean to you?” I ask again. The two women smirk at one another. Maybe I’m missing something. They are the organizers of the Santa Fe Art Resource website, after all, the information booth for everything art in Santa Fe. One is Julie Ruth, an out-of-practice artist, and the other is Christy George, a sculptor who previously taught at SFUAD. They both sit at their booth, Sunday Sept. 15, during Santa Fe’s 3rd Annual AHA Festival of Progressive Arts, a community-sponsored event dedicated to its local artists. “If someone called me a progressive artist,” George begins, “I might want to slap them, but I’m not sure. I mean I am a progressive artist, but how do I feel about that?” They look at each other again. Ruth is fixing her shoe with duct tape. “Progressive in the sense that it’s designed to make progress,” George says. “It’s part of the community…that’s one of the problems with contemporary art these days, in that it exists in these sterile white wall environments and it’s intimidating.” “They’re taking art to everyone,” Ruth says. “Kids can interact with it…there’s something for everyone here.” She’s right. As families take in the booths of AHA Fest, the kids color on “sterile white walls,” run through installations as if they were monkey bars, and reach out to touch red-haired Rag and Tag, the clowns of Flying Wall Studios Puppet theater. Remember this? Playing? Garson Dance Company from SFUAD definitely has fun contributing to the progressive afternoon. Wearing white muscle shirts, jean shorts and black canvas shoes, the seven dance majors ease and speed their way through the Farmer’s Market side street and onto the train track sidewalk with some exciting train mimicry and smooth moves. “I’m tired,” freshman Stephanie Martinez says, after what is to be the first of many performances. “Half way through I was like ‘I need water!’ You wouldn’t think it’s tiring, but…” Martinez marks an extraneous kick and sticks her tongue out in exhaustion. Message received. Martinez explains that though she has done some experimental Summer intensives, she’s never done site-specific dance. “It was very different,” she says. Speaking of site-specific dance, I am drawn next to the gallery space at Site Santa Fe, across the street from the Farmer’s Market, where a mesmerizing collaboration with Arcos Dance company takes place. Camouflaged by grey walls and the dark shadows of Enrique Martinez Celaya’s art, these dancers ease, like drops of honey, from installation to installation until they all merge and break out in full body dancing. Their faces, never breaking character, stare off into the paintings hung on the wall or into the faces of the audience members, who can’t help but stare back. When I return to the main AHA Fest sidewalk, there is much more play occurring. I say play, because what else would you call young women screeching and screaming to unsteady and unpredictable noise other than play for adults? Helen Gruhlkey and her partner Vodi Grontis call it “Distortion by Design,” a mixture of environmental sounds and noise. In addition to soundboards and vintage music sheets, Gruhlkey’s installation exhibits photos of garbage and street litter. I ask about those. Gruhlkey explains that many of their sounds come from the large amounts of trash they pick up from their community and, if I’m not mistaken by the connection here, they hope to call attention to the waste problem by performing their “sounds” for the public. And it is quite the whaling sound. And “Distortion By Design” is not the only sound cascading through the side street of the farmer’s market. Anyone within three blocks of the Railyard can hear the hard rock rage from the band stand, which throughout the afternoon includes performances by Alamo Sun, Lady Gloves, Accordion Crimes, Lily Taylor, Jupiter Spiral, Evarusnik, Adam...
Zozo’s Return
posted by Charlotte Martinez
“I’ve been coming to Zozobra since I was four,” says native Santa Fean and security officer Kenny Garcia. Since then, “it has lost its theme and become like a rock concert.” “It just got out of control,” says Diego Baca, whose family follows Zozobra religiously. “They weren’t playing New Mexico music, there was a lot of commercialized stuff.” Last year, additional complaints included the $20 ticket price and the tedious wait for Zozo to burn. This year, though they showed up with concerns from the previous year, Garcia and Baca shared a hope for Zozo’s 2013 make over. For those of you who don’t know, Zozobra was created by William Shuster in 1924 as a pagan tribute. With the building and burning of the ugly old man, who held glooms in his white garments, Shuster hoped to integrate the art community into the Roman Catholic celebrations. His very first Zozoba was burned in his back yard and later, when the event was big enough, the city brought him to Fort Marcy Park as the official and appropriate kick off to fiestas, which itself dates back to Don Diego de Vargas’ re-conquering of the city from Pueblo Indians. In many ways, stuffing the 50-foot puppet with the written glooms of the city, burning it, then celebrating with a weekend of fiestas, is Santa Fe’s very own New Year celebration. “It’s an amazing ritual,” says University of New Mexico freshman Katrina Pederson, previous member of Santa Fe High Key Club. “After Zozobra and fiestas, everyone calms down and is ready for a new year.” Kiwanis, the organization which orchestrates the event, was also ready for a new year after the complaints of the 2012 burn. They got to work right away. “The planning started the...
Coming Attractions
posted by Charlotte Martinez
The Screen Presents: Sept. 13-20 Presenting to Theater Majors: Beckett on Film Beckett on Film is a celebrated five-part series of Samuel Beckett’s 19 plays, filmed by some of the world’s most talented directors, and featuring actors like Julianne Moore, Jeremy Irons and John Hurt. Beckett was awarded ‘Best TV Drama’ at the Sixth South Bank Show Awards Ceremony in 2002 and is called a celebration of artistic achievement. FREE ADMISSION every Sunday of September at 11am. Doors will open at 10:30. This Sunday, Sept. 15 watch Come and Go, directed by John Crowley and Waiting For Godot, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Visual Artists and Mona Lisa Lovers, Resist the Mystery of The Missing Piece: Mona Lisa, Her Thief, The True Story Joe Medeiros’ documentary investigates the secret motives behind Mona Lisa’s 1911 theft from the Louvre. Creatively assembled and comically informative, Medeiros’ sources come straight from the lion’s mouth, the descendants of Mona Lisa’sthief, Vincenzo Peruggia. Opens this Friday, Sept. 13. Special Skype Q/A with filmmakers 1:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 15. Tickets on sale at thescreensf.com This Is Martin Bonner, Come Meet Him! Chad Hartigan’s live-action narrative between two estranged family men is, according to critic Andrew Lapic (The Dissolve),“beyond the hoary parable of most faith-based films.” It is an “understated drama with small words and big ideas.” Made in the US, this candid character sketch brings out the realism in film-based storytelling. Opens this Friday, Sept.13. Visit thescreensf.com for movie times 505.473.6494 1600 St. Michael’s Drive Santa Fe, NM 87505 https://www.facebook.com/thescreen, https://twitter.com/thescreensf...
Gotta Dance
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/ Photos by Amanda Tyler Seven pairs of parallel feet marching in sync is the perfect metaphor for the emerging dance department at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design—fuzzy socks and all! With Senior Maria Weckesser in lead, moving like the chug chugs of a locomotive, the six remaining “train cars” represent the entire population of the newly named Greer Garson Dance Company. Introducing freshmen Marielle Garcia, Brittany Kriechbaumer, Marisa Melito, Stephanie Martinez, returning sophomore Alex Chavez and transfer junior Mikyla Hutwohl. In their first rehearsal, this small but mighty group of young women already share an excitement for the coming year. Events span from site-specific installations to the annual Winter and Spring Recital in Greer Garson Theater. “It’s great because we get to help build everything,” freshman Melito says. Like her dance teacher Shannon Elliot, Melito grew up a military brat, moving from place to place. Beside her, Stephanie Martinez, previous resident of Portland, Ore., nods her head and adds that because the department “doesn’t have their ways set” it becomes more open to them. When as a group they’re asked what they hope to gain in the future, one shouts, “maybe some boys!” At the front of Garson dance studio, Shannon Elliot conducts rehearsal with charismatic poise, giving notes and welcoming ideas. She mimics the stance of a train. The movement is comedically rigid. “It should look like a racket wrench,” Elliot says. Luckily for the seven dance majors, their director Shannon Elliot, also the assistant chair of the Performing Arts Department, comes from a long career of professional dance and performance administration. With Hubbard Street, Canadian Dance Assembly, National Dance Institute of New Mexico and Moving People Dance Santa Fe under her belt, Elliot’s administrative career now includes five years as part time and full time staff at SFAUD. Today, the vibrant Elliot enters Greer Garson with dozens of ideas for her 2013-2014 school year. Working her black leggings, patterned skirt, pink shirt and wicked jazz shoes, Elliot demonstrates the shapes and sounds of her upcoming dance, the first official project of the department. The dance, Elliot explains, is meant for Santa Fe’s upcoming 3rd Annual AHA Festival of Progressive Arts, which she pitched as a perfect location for her students to move within “structures that currently exist.” The dancer’s stage? The inactive train tracks! The Festival, a community-sponsored event featuring local artists, takes place in and around the Railyard this year on Sept. 15. The event is one of many that Elliot, with her co-workers Layla Amis, Jonathan Guise, and John Kloss, hope to utilize in their pursuits of a dance curriculum. Along with scheduled rehearsals, classes this year include ballet three times a week, modern twice a week, and a tap taught by returning rhythm tapper John Kloss. “We’re a small entity now,” Elliot says, reflecting her seven brave majors. “But as we grow I think it will be a really interesting addition to the [artistic] mix.” She adds that because these students are pursuing dance as a career, the level of professionalism is “going to have a very positive impact, not just within the Performing Arts Department but all over campus.” John Weckesser, chair of the Performing Arts Department, says that the opportunity to create the major was “natural” because dance belongs with the performing arts. In the future he hopes to include additional dance space on campus so the program can become “as elevated as the Theater Department.” The staff has additionally booked two guest artists to choreograph for the future Winter and Spring recitals. Choreographer and ballet teacher Kelsey Paschich will set a contemporary dance to classical music and Jamie Duggan will workshop an Afro House Fusion piece, a mix of old school hip hop and African dance. Other events include a performance installation at SFUAD’s Outdoor Vision Fest and a Summer Collaboration Intensive...
Form, Function, Design...
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/ Photos by Michelle Rutt Rebecca Alvarez, transfer from Mexico and senior at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design admits she sees things most people don’t. It’s not dead people. What she sees is very much in plain sight, yet overlooked in modern society. Alvarez sees it because she works with it, she slaves over it and has dedicated her college education to it. Some call it visual communication, others call it the art of persuasion. Alvarez says “more than anything [it’s an] aspect of functionality.” The secret is summed up in two words: graphic design. “Design could be related in any sphere like the government, politics,” Alvarez begins. The designer, for example, that created Helvetica, a typeface used especially on subways in New York, describes the influence of checkboxes on electoral ballots. Alvarez says “design could change how you as a voter go and vote.” “You have to kind of live with the idea,” Alvarez says, “that more often than not people won’t recognize that something is…” she looks up as if to form a thought. Because English is her second language, Alvarez’ thoughts move faster than her speech. She adjusts her black beanie and begins again. “Design is taken for granted. Sometimes you don’t even realize this is well done. You either like it or don’t like it. Does it function or doesn’t function?” Functionality is one reason Alvarez decided to transfer to SFUAD. Born in Austin Texas but raised in Queretaro Mexico, Alvarez says her decision to return to the States was due to the University’s vilification of graphic design as an art form. “In Mexico,” she says, graphic design “is not as appreciated. It’s not well paid and the culture [suggests] that it’s not needed.” She...
Night of Written Zen with Shodo Harada Roshi...
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/Photos by Natalie Abel From the wall paintings on St. Francis’s auditorium in downtown Santa Fe, an image of the catholic saint gazes with pastel eyes at the scene forming in the front of his pews. Three robed members of the Tahoma One Drop Zen Monastery from Whidbey Island are seated on the stage, peering indifferently at the audience as they file in. A fourth member stands, monitoring a pile of blank canvases and a bowl of black ink on the stage floor. Positioned in front of these tools is at camera that projects the image on a large screen. This, no doubt, is for the convenience of those audience members who just hate when they can’t see. Japanese Master Shodo Harada Roshi stands on Francis’s stage with his hands clasped against his long black robe. He, like the others, looks serene and statuesque in what I can only label as a zen zone, but looking at the wise wrinkles and slick head I can’t help but calculate the master’s age. If he was born in 1940, his face is that of a 73-year-old, but even this doesn’t seem right. His face is too shaped and his posture too perfect; could this be a side effect of a disciplined life? If I feel like shaking his hand to obtain wisdom, is that too “western” of me? His interpreter and facilitator, Daichi-Priscilla Storandt, sits next him with a kind-looking grin which contrasts the Roshi’s stoic one. If balance is essential in Buddhism, then the coupling is just short of perfect. Books on the Roshi’s calligraphy works are for sale in front and I wonder if St. Francis objects to this display. The Roshi perhaps feels this too, and despite his title, practice...
Oscar Night at the Screen...
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/ Photos by Christopher Stahelin It’s all about timing and planning for the unexpected. That’s the movie business for you. The sky is clear at 3:30 p.m., Feb. 24 on the Santa Fe University of Art and Design campus. The Screen, SFUAD’s independent movie theater and my work place, has a sidewalk leading to the entrance and though the concrete is cracked and dusty, I feel like I’m passing Hollywood’s red carpet. There’s a lot of excitement the day of SFUAD’s Oscar Night, but like I said, the movie business isn’t predictable. Here at the Screen, Oscar Night means a live stream of the 2013 Academy Awards for students and faculty of the Film Department. In addition, this event premieres the Film School’s first Shoot the Stars production, two student-made films featuring big name actors Wes Studi, from Avatar, and Canadian actor Luke Kirby. My red carpet disappears, however, when I’m told we’re running 20 minutes behind. Peter Grendle, manager of the Screen and professor at the Film School, strides in with his usual short-breathe grin (I’m convinced he runs everywhere). I tell him our last movie will let out 20 minutes late. He says he knows and we make a plan. It’s 3:45 p.m. I smile at the gathering audience and promise that they’ll be let into the theater soon. There’s some confusion as to when the student films will begin. “We’re playing it by ear,” I say. This turns out partially true. For the first 30 minutes my ear stays glued to the theater’s closed doors, behind which Peter struggles to stream cable to both the Screen and the monitor down the hall in Studio C, where the Oscar party begins. This party is legit! Red carpet, decorations, paparazzi, finger...
Capitol Café Hustle
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/ Photos by Amanda Tyler Legislating at the Santa Fe Capitol (aka the Roundhouse) runs like an ant hill. Workers zig zag across halls, hierarchy command from their post, and staircases hustle with feet. The higher you go, the more prestigious it gets. It’s quiet on the top floor—perhaps the lush carpet hordes chatter and phones send coded rings directly to their receivers. The few who linger here have stoic or concerned expressions. They move as if they want to leave. The bottom floor, on the other hand, brings life back to the Capitol. Here, on the bottom floor, nestled first doorway to the left, is the Capitol Café, where conversing is informal and food is comforting. It’s not so much a café as it is a walk-in nook. Perhaps 12-by-6 feet of customer space and 15-by-10 feet of kitchen space. The area booms with laughter, clings with pans and sounds with friendly “hellos.” Two woman stand behind a counter, chatting. Chefs in the back spring from side to side, preparing orders. A young man in a suite strides in. He asks for a juice and brings out his wallet. “Can I write a check?” he asks. Behind the counter Debra Zamora, a lively middle-aged food server from Roe New Mexico, laughs. “Sure, I’ll just take interest on it, that’s all.” The man stops and smiles at her. He orders something else. “This kind of treatment doesn’t happen upstairs,” he jokes. Zamora nods. “This is the kind of service we offer.” “That’s why I come downstairs,” the man says, writing his check. “I even come order my lunch downstairs and take it upstairs.” He turns to leave. “Thank you very much.” Next, a woman comes up to the counter and orders a...
For the Flag
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/Photos by Michelle Rutt It was a Girl Scout camping trip and patriotism was lesson number one. Salute the flag of the United States of America, count the stars, sing the anthem, pledge your allegiance. As a Girl Scout I was very good at the triangle fold- holding both ends of the flag, folding twice vertically then tip to edge until the last corner can be tucked in. A fellow Girl Scout was not good at this and she accidentally flung a flag into the mud. Our scout leader rushed to pick it up, but the mud had seeped through the stars, it was damaged beyond repair. We were instructed to spread the flag over a picnic table and once this was done our leader set the corner ablaze. I stared as the stripes burned in the evening light, until there was nothing left. It was a retirement ceremony, our leader explained. It looked tragic, but I stood by, like loyal subject over a defeated king. Sappy maybe, but I was a Girl Scout and I was proud of my flag. John Rodriguez stands proud under his US flag too. Literally, Rodriguez stands beneath the US flag and beneath the Brazilian, German, Australian, British, and Mexican flags that he’s hung from the ceiling by his office at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. After some greetings beneath the flags, I asked the former International Director who’s idea it was to hang them. Rodriguez smiles. “It was my idea.” Currently director of Campus and Residential life, Rodriguez says he placed flags in areas like administration and the upper floor of the library to “encourage the concept of one student body,” even though, he explains, students come from everywhere. He looks up...
Peter Mugga: Culture and Music...
posted by Charlotte Martinez
By Charlotte Martinez/Photo by Michelle Rutt His humble demeanor complements his exterior; short black dreadlocks topped with a beanie, a leather jacket that gives him the “Ghost Rider” edge, a cross hanging from his neck, and casual yet calculated steps. Calm. Alive. Inspiring for all International students at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. “Come to my office,” he says. “You have an office?” “Yeah.” He smiles. “I coordinate the sound studio.” On the way, a music professor shakes his hand and a fellow student smiles at him like an old friend. The encounters are brief, but reverent, a reverence which Peter Mugga has earned and will not brag about. He has his own office! Second door to the right in a Benildus hallway. Small, but personalized. Like the influences of his two worlds, Uganda and the US, Mugga’s office seems to co-exist between his love of culture and his love of technology. His bookshelf holds several versions of a harp-like instrument called Ndungu, the likes of which resemble a human spine, but when played produce music suitable for Mount Olympus. A guitar leans in its holster, traditional and worn. Two others lie by his desk. To his right, the beads (perhaps shells) of his Shekere shaker sleep on a chair after a hard day’s rattling. Giant speakers and audio equipment fill the other half of the room. By the door, a giant drum called Mgoma, his favorite instrument, waits for him like an obedient canine. One semester away from a bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Music, the musician admits that his passion for recording, technology and sound was not “something I grew up with, but I found.” What Peter Mugga grew up with was a father who, in their home village, taught...
Jackalope Magazine is the student magazine of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Building on the interdisciplinary nature of our education, we aim to showcase the talent of our university and character of our city.
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