Indulge me, will you? I am going to flood you with photographs today, although not nearly as many as the 631 images that come up when you do a Google search for “New Mexico Sculpture” and it guides you to a Dutch Pinterest site…..

I was fascinated with the numerous three-dimensional art works on display out in public in Santa Fe. I did not even enter any of the galleries’ sculpture gardens; just walking through town and along museum hill was enough to be bombarded with impressions. Some of the 3-D art was moving and/or thought provoking for this 2-D visual artist..

A lot, however, was residing on the Kitsch end of things. A common sight was fauna of all kinds, and a common denominator was size: things tended to be BIG. Maybe to match the size of the bank accounts of potential collectors, or fit the size of their front lawns in Texas and California (where many of the big-wallet-big-wigs seemed to hail from.)

Some sculptures, both serious and whimsical ones, could be glimpsed in private yards.

Some decorated the botanical garden, a small affair that housed supersized animals by Dan Ostermiller.

A lot was placed across town in public spaces,

and multitudes were located at the entrance of galleries. Not many of these had names attached, so they will be on display without artist information.

In addition to “your daily wildlife” heads clearly seemed to be en vogue.

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The most cohesive display could be found at a small plaza in front of the Museum for Indian Art and Culture, where the light hit it just right during my visit. Except for the Apache Warrior, all sculptures were created by Native American women, the exhibit titled Courage and Compassion. I regret not documenting all the artist information, but was still processing the visit to the museum and all the new facts I had learned, just wandering around in something of a haze.

Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer by Craig Dan Goseyun

Maybe it’s the dryness of the climate that allows for so much three-dimensional art to be safely outside. Maybe it’s the materials employed. Maybe it connects to the history of indigenous culture – the source below provides information in this regard. Whatever the reason, it is a feast for the eyes.

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/outside-walls-indigenous-public-art

And then there was this.

It certainly caught my attention – and left me wandering the city streets inanely giggling, leaving passers-by around me bewildered. Oh well, another one of those crazy tourists flooding town ….

(Difficult) music today presents Raven Chacon in a performance by Kronos Quartet – click on the white arrow in the red dot https://kronosquartet.org/fifty-for-the-future/composers/raven-chacon

I picked him because he is also part of a collective of American Indian artists that does three dimensional land art/sculpture/multimedia installation, check it out here:

https://www.wilderutopia.com/landscape/urban-art/postcommoditys-land-art-spans-u-s-border-repellent-fence/