Kelly’s picture of Swingle Canyon, above, gives us a glimpse of the home of Anne Sullivan and Sylvia.  Anne Sullivan, a transplant from New York City, has lived in New Mexico for 34 years.  After trouping all over the United States for over 30 years with Broadway musicals, she settled in Datil 17 years ago.

She lives there in Swingle Canyon happily amongst the ponderosa, aspens and snow with one dog, one cat and one horse.  The dog, Sylvia, writes a weekly column for the Mountain Mail, expressing her views on local politics as well as everything else she gets worked up about. Not to be outdone, Sylvia’s person has also written for New Mexico Magazine, New Mexico Wildlife, Route 66 Magazine and Southern New Mexico Online Magazine.

A determined Luddite, she has in addition to two typewriters and two word processors, a new second-hand Computer which wins every battle.

Mountainair – The town of Mountainair has put on a holiday face for the shopping season.  This year the town has dressed up the cowboy silhouettes on the lamp posts with red & green foil garland and planned a four-gallery holiday art show with over 50 artists, featuring unique but affordable fine art and crafts.

The galleries include Cibola Arts at 217 West Broadway, The Art Center at 207 West Broadway, Tierra Madre Gallery at Rte 60 and Main St. and The Out of Tyme Shoppe at Summit and Piñon.

The holiday show will be held from  Tuesday to Sundays from Saturday, Nov. 27th to Thursday, Dec. 23rd.  The program is sponsored by the Manzano Mountain Art Council. For more information contact (505)384-9767 or www.theartcenterofmountainair.com

Artists featured:

The Art Center

Addie Draper - holiday decor

Robin DesJardin - ceramics

Gary Fey - silk batik

Ruben Gallegos - retablos

Alberta Jonikas - crocheted silver collars

Frank Martin - photography

Geree McDermott - floor cloths, canvas bags

Alice Thompson - aluminum repoussé

Cibola Arts, Cooperative Art Gallery

Ann Adams - turned wood

John Davidson - giclée prints

Dale Harris - poetry

Marie de Maria - burned wood

Gerald McDowell - watercolors & oils

Ron Minnick - sculpture

Barbara Montgomery - Santa Claus art

Judy Mowris - paper sculpture

Anne Ravenstone - tin work

Mary Schultz - beads & photography

Shirley Simmons - oils

Rebecca Stoneman - baskets & painted gourds

Judy Wasechek - pottery

Ernie Washee - silversmith

Lore Wills - hand weaving

Teri Willett - fiber art

Timothy Wyllie - giclée prints, books & cards

Tierra Madre Gallery 

Ventura Bailon - jewelry

Doris Burton - ceramics

Clarence Chama - jewelry

Helen Chavez - embroidery

JoAn Dale - jewelry & pottery

Dean Delgado - oils

Bob DeRemer - artistic woodcrafting

Shannon DeRemer - jewelry & sage smudge sticks

Jenna Dobson - photography

Wana Beth Fox - drawings & woodburning

Marvin Fulfer - stone carving

Audrey Harris - wood carving & mat cutting

Leon Harris - stone carving

Bryan Jory - thrown pots       

Eugenia Lane-Olguin - tinwork

Susan Lone Eagle - leather, ceramics & jewelry

Lamar Moorhead - wood crafted minatures

Manuel Romero - oils

LeRoy Simmons - artistic blacksmith

Jim Spada - folk art

Keith Spencer - kachinas

Merle Volz - mandalas and dream catchers

Pleasant Wright - pottery

Out of Tyme Shoppe

Bryan Jory - pottery

Shannon Jory - tie-died fashions

Joan Page - chocolate art

Merle Volz - dreamcatchers

Tomé –  A weaver and a jeweler combine for a special exhibit at Tomé Gallery at the end of January, 2005. A reception for Greg Schwirtz, weaver, and Vern Deas, jeweler, is set for Friday, Jan. 28 from  6-8 p.m. The Exhibit continues on Saturday and  Sunday Jan. 29- 30, from 11 am – 5 pm.

Color and texture are the focus of beautiful hand-loomed fabrics by Greg Schwirtz.  He uses a 50-inch Harrisville four-harness loom to produce pieces of exceptionally inviting “hand”, or texture. Natural wool, cotton, rayon, silk and linen, with an occasional metallic accent, combine in fascinating color and design plays.

 Originally a potter, “weaving was the farthest thing” from his mind, until he saw a weaver at work.  Greg liked the creative and mechanical aspects of weaving, and immediately signed up for four days of private lessons.

Greg often weaves long scarves in sets of three, using the same warp, with a varied weft for different effects on each piece. After experiments with fitted garments, he concluded that unstructured shawls, wraps, ruanas and scarves are more versatile.

He is a  member of the local fiber guild of Belen, Fiber to Finish, a board member of Las Aranas, “The Spiders”, and a committee chairman of the State Fair Sheep to Shawl project.  Greg’s works have been shown in numerous juried shows in the midwest, and can currently be seen at the Tome’ Gallery.

Vern Deas enjoys experimenting with different processes for new effects in silver jewelry with semi-precious stones.  Unique and beautiful pins, necklaces, bracelets and rings sparkle with texture and design flare.  Some of the texturing is rolled onto silver with a rolling mill.  On other pieces, heat is applied to sterling-copper alloys to produce a molten finish reminiscent of meteorites. 

Vern continuously seeks new techniques for his favorite mediums, sheet and wire silver.

His silver and beadwork roots go back to the 50s and 60s, when he learned the craft from artisans in Greenwich Village and Provincetown.

Jewelry by Vern had been shown at the Arkansas Art Center Show, the Bela Vista Art Show, and in November at the Route 66 Society for the Arts Show at Isleta Casino.

Tomé Gallery is located at 2930 Highway 47, between Los Lunas and Belen. For more information, call 505-565-0556