Writer. Author. Contributor. Critic. Essayist. Journalist. Novelist. Poet. Reporter. Storyteller. Scribe. Wordsmith.

Courtesy School of American Research Press Painting the Underworld Sky: Cultural Expression and Subversion in Art by Mateo Romero with a foreword by Suzan Shown Harjo, School of American Research Press, 100 pages, 50 color illustrations, $60 hardback, $29.95 paperback. Courtesy School of American Research Press“Four Worlds, Four Tides,” Mateo Romeo’s acrylic on canvas from…

I spent the last Thursday of October at Jess Leggett’s home in Durango talking about art with Leggett, an abstract painter and collage artist, Niara Isley, a mixed media artist, and Maggie Remington, an earth painter. The three women are relative newcomers to the Durango arts scene, having all moved here within the last five…

“Winter Fences,” computer generated art by Anna Ursyn The work of Anna Ursyn is graphically intense. Her cityscapes are busy and forceful with movement and color. Rural landscapes provide resting places for the eye, splotches of intense green or sky blue color. Call it digital collage or high-tech art or even algo writs, as the…

Earlier this summer, cosmetics-heir-turned-art-collector Ronald Lauder paid $135 million for a portrait by Gustav Klimt: Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Obviously collectors like Lauder are willing to pay that amount for a painting for other than economic reasons. Perhaps it is prestige, status, ego or even a passion for collecting. In Lauder’s case, he has spent huge…

“Undulating Vase,” Peter Karner; “Continuum 3-D” and “Continuum 042004” Intuition Markers by D. Michael Coffee; “Yell Fire,” ceramic and wood by Judy Brey; “Moonhouse,” “Labyrinth,” “Echo Canyon,” and “Spirit Walker” by Boots Brown; “In-Situ” Intuition Marker by D. Michael Coffee. Review: Ceramic art is born in fire. The work of Boots Brown in the fifth…

Jackson Clark at Toh-Ahtin Gallery has spent the last year putting together a collection of pottery for the Fall Colorfest Gallery Walk this Friday. Other gallery owners and managers also have diligently prepared to highlight new artists and new work from represented artists. Toh-Ahtin will feature work by the legendary potter of San Ildefonso, Maria…

“Spiritual Sentinel,” “Deco Dude,” and detail from “Tattoo Totem,” all screenprint on cotton canvas by Edward Lambert Review One might suspect looking at the murals hanging in the Durango Arts Center that Edward Lambert, who painted them, must be one of the tattooed men in his imagery. But Lambert, according to all published reports, has…

How do entrepreneurial business owners balance the passion they have for their product and the demands of the consumer? Savvy, successful enterprises manage to achieve equilibrium. Many small businesses fail because they cannot strike this balance. I live in a small town with a tourism-based economy. Summer is the busiest season in spite of our…

Pagosa Springs is getting a new road sign. The sign will recognize Pagosa as a Preserve America Community. The Preserve America Community program is a White House initiative that encourages and supports community efforts “to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage, use their historic assets for economic development and community revitalization and…

I work with creative people: artists, writers, photographers. Many are highly imaginative, prolific, brilliant even. Some are not. The thing about artists is that they are often so right brained they cannot function in any other mode. They want to make their art and then they want someone who is linear and logical and business…