Hey Beer Farmers,

We hope your work week is coming to a thirsty end; we have the taps primed and we are putting out the patio chairs. There is still some time left to soak up some patio goodness – and when the sun goes down, we have quite the show INSIDE for your eyes, tonight! If you’ve been following our offerings, you know that tonight, we OPEN: All Our World’s Futures, a collaborative art exhibition, conceptualized, and curated by our very own Marisa Valdez. “Mari,” as many of you know her, put a call out, and has worked with many artists that we host here for events, on the Beer Farm, and others who are coming to our walls for the first time, in order to put up an incredible multi-artist, mixed media, collaborative and critical show. The show itself deals with the “worlds,” we are creating for our future children and generations, to inherit. It is heavy, in a good way! Looking to unwind, but maybe be engaged, intrigued, and meet some incredible artists, tonight? We think you should be! There will be MANY artists in the building, starting at 7pm – and there will be one artist of sound at 9pm: DJ Wae Fonkey is going to spin, starting at 9pm – so come on out, mix, mingle, and soak it all up – here’s something to preview, before you step through the doors tonight. We tracked down 7 of the artists in tonight’s show and asked them to list their: name, piece and the media used to create it, and some background behind their piece, and a little about who each one of them is too… enjoy! See you tonight! Take a sneak peek at the work and read event info HERE. 

Jamie Berry

Asphyxiate’
oil on canvas
30″ x 20″

This is part of a set of pictures inspired by California. They are literal, and tightly done, and open to interpretation; they are colorful and monochromatic, repetitive and random. They are waves that have broken shore for me during our time here.

‘It’s the only world we’ve got. Let’s protect it while we can. That’s all there is, and there ain’t no more.’ – Jello Biafra, from ‘Hellnation’, by Dead Kennedys

No beaches in California, not even the most elite or erudite, have escaped the legacy of our human presence, our human industriousness – our human dominance. I have often wondered what the land must have looked like to the original inhabitants, when the sky was clear, when the distant mountains didn’t induce a heart attack at having suddenly appeared out of thin air on one of the scant few green days in the valley.

It is something we created, and our capacity to endure the discomfort we have ourselves wrought is truly astonishing. Changing ourselves seems the more arduous task. We enjoy our conveniences and the money they produce and have little time or care for foresight or sorting out their repercussions.

This is a mindset, something fluid, something we can change and from which ultimately all change comes. How much easier would it be, and how much better would our lives be if we chose to work in tandem with the natural forces from which our very being has arisen? How much more would we prosper with consciousness and conscientiousness?

We need the Earth, and we need the land. We are of the land and on the land. The land asks for very little in return.

The Earth does not need us, nor does the land need us. It was here millennia before we made our first faltering steps, and it will remain long after we have released our final breath into the sky.

Who in that scenario truly holds dominion?

Stewardship and ownership are two very different concepts, and it is a distinction it would behoove us to learn.

A personal postscript:

California is actually my father’s city of birth. He left as a very young man, never to return in his lifetime but once, to visit me. During my own 2.5 years in California, I suffered from chronic nosebleeds, burning eyes, and a weakened cardiovascular system in spite of being extremely physically fit. My wife developed chronic acid reflux environmental asthma, crippling migraines, and a host of allergies she had never experienced before in her life. Having been gone for a number of months, 100% of these issues have disappeared completely without any direct intervention from us other than removing ourselves from the environment. As our polluted states in The U.S. haven’t quite achieved the same threshold as some of our foreign neighbors, it’s not too late to turn it around (and to its credit, the state of California takes this very seriously and has indeed made great strides). We are truly foolish, however, if we do not believe our actions are taking their toll on us in myriad ways.

http://www.jamieberry.com/california-asphyxiate/

Jodie Herrera

Mothers Gun
Mixed media
20″x13″
290$

This piece represents the appalling attachment to loose gun laws that some Americans hold. We are so concerned with the sentiment of freedom that we forget or choose not to see the fatal effects of our selfishness, the stronghold to petty yet lethal ideologies. It should be more concerning how accessible guns are to everyone. They are not toys, yet they fall into the hands of children every day and are more accessible to people with mental illness then therapeutic treatment. Gun reform is long overdue.

The straw in the Budweiser represents troubled youth. The pose illustrates the neglected inner torment experienced by the perpetrator. The fact that she is not showing her face reflects that she feels invisible, which is a motive for most gun massacres. The weight of her decision weighs heavy on her shoulders, a decision that should have never been an option.

Bio:

Jodie Herrera is a visual artist and curator from Taos, New Mexico. Herrera is experienced as an illustrator, muralist and multi-media artist but predominately works as an oil painter. Her first memory is of drawing on her mother’s lap when she was a baby and has no other identity other than an artist, except maybe a world traveling wild child, circus runaway (true story). Her semi-photorealistic paintings focus on the female figure/portrait where she seeks to create a conceptual homage to the female experience. She does this by illustrating her subjects’ personal stories of hardship and transformation through symbolism. Herrera’s work strives to celebrate the raw beauty and resilience of women. Herrera received her BFA with honors from the University of New Mexico. She currently resides in Albuquerque and works as a professional artist, co-curator for The Pop-Up Collective and does curatorial freelance. http://chromaj.wix.com/jodie-herrera

Angie Poynter

Bones and Feather
Oil on Canvas
9 x 12 inches
$150

Resting Heart Rate
Oil on Canvas
6 x 12 inches
$90

Out On A Limb
Oil on Canvas
9 x 12 inches
$150

These paintings are symbolic of a rare genetic birth defect that I was born with that effected the development of my arms, hands and heart.  Although, they are representative of my personal struggle with overcoming physical restrictions, they also carry with them a message regarding the current state of our environment and the impact humans have had on the deterioration of our planet’s animal life. The juxtaposition of birds and human anatomy are illustrative of how humans have neglected to uphold a symbiotic relationship with nature.  If we could learn to flock as a community in effort to rekindle what we have lost we might just have a chance to rise like the Phoenix, and if not, we’ll be left hung to dry like skeletons in the sky. http://www.angiepoynter.com/

George Evans

George Evans
Oil on canvas

The image is called slow moving progress. It is a sloth with the head of a manic girl. She is pouring crude oil over a coal power plant. The image is painted in oils and gold. The gold is to signify the opulence cherished by energy company tycoons, going up in golden smoke. The women/sloth is covered in wind turbines. My art bio can be found on my website, but a short synopsis would be that I am an Abq born working artist with my BFA from UNM. I am currently working on my masters degree in Art Ed. I have found the greatest benefit for me from my art and the art of others is that it has opened a whole new form of communicating and relating non-verbally. The images I make usually feature themes of mental illness and fringe mental states. The works I have been producing recently include much of the same techniques and imagery, but with a world awareness/ political/environmental push. I have found an identity, meaning, and another world through visual communication and would very much like to do the same for my future students.

My website is GeorgePierreArt.com.

Thomas Tomlinson

iDols
Acrylic on wood

Inspired by the many questions about human interaction in the digital age. This art piece explores contemporary society’s relationship with mobile devices as a form of worship.  It is a commentary on how the devices (cell phones, etc) we use, often times, discourage actual physical human interaction but at the same time unite us creating a global community.  The art piece additionally speaks to our relationship with technology through the use of both digital and hand-made processes.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TTDesignShop

Justin Thor Simenson 

We are Neighbors
Photography
11×14

Post-WWII America was built on the idea of neighborhood and community. The all-American house with the white picket fence and manicured lawn were symbolic of this sentiment, while the automobile became the ultimate icon of freedom. We Are Neighbors turns to the structural landscape of the American neighborhood for questions. What should our priorities be? Why don’t we know our neighbors? Why have we separated our places of work from our homes? The following photographs reflect this isolation, yet at the same time offer an honest look at a place we call ‘home’.

http://weareneighborsproject.com/

Scott White

baltic birch plywood low-back chair
100% plywood, handmade and sculpted.

In the current environment where ‘disposable’ is practically shoved down people’s throats, my longing is to make objects
that will outlive the owner. This culture needs to revive the art of craft wherein the pieces that reside in your space will effect you even
when you aren’t physically there. They possess the energy of the maker where the hand touches everything and they think about every line. It’s a totally conscious and deliberate process and I see the chair as a perfect example.

Bio

Furniture has always been a powerful draw in my life.

As a teen, I pored over Architectural Digest and home-interior magazines, losing myself for hours in a world of beautiful objects. My first job out of college was stuffing pillows in a custom-furniture business. Later, when things bottomed out for me in the early nineties with a stay in drug rehab, it was factory work at a furniture plant that saved my life. No longer on the sidelines drooling over glossy pictures or fulfilling a mindless unskilled task, I was where the real action was, building something. Table tops and drawer panels, to be specific. I worked the glue reel; a huge automated clamping machine. The job was physically demanding and I loved it.

Fast forward to 2005. A medical emergency struck: my right leg had a deep vein thrombosis that kept me confined to a brutal hospital bed for 5 days. I’d heard stories of people who died from blood clots and got spooked. I questioned what I wanted from my future, and started out with a first step of rearranging my apartment, revitalizing a stagnant space by stirring up the energy. I needed a coffee table and went shopping but found nothing I cared for, so I built one. Then another. The process thrilled me and time became nonexistent. The only problem was my apartment became a dust collection system. I needed more space. And I needed more tools to make this stuff because ideas were flooding my head so fast I felt schizophrenic.

I needed a…..could I say the word? ‘shop.’ I made one phone call and a month later I met a cabinetmaker-turned-philanthropist, John S. After a brief tour of his shop John handed me the keys. Now this was no ordinary shop. Everything I needed/wanted was available: saws, drills, taps/dies, routers, even a dust collection system.

http://www.gohomeandsit.com

David Santiago

NSFW
12”x13”
Charcoal, Pastel, & India Ink on Birch
$300

Statement 

We refuse disgusting as offensive

We welcome beauty as discomforting

We deny gruesome as grotesque 

We accept natural as reprehensible 

Bio

Devoid of clothing, the women of St Jame are known for being nude. However, a closer examination reveals a deeper level of exposure. Each work is built atop a wood panel hand-picked by the artist, with a variety of mediums – primarily charcoal and pastel, but also acrylic, ink and makeup, bringing them to life. Yet, even staring back at you, blushing with awareness, they reveal a transparency preserved despite the layers of mediums, a hint of wood grain that recalls what they are really made of. This inception of meaning, details within a detail, continue across each face – their freckles, “sun spots,” are actually stars in disguise, a constellation hidden somewhere within their array. Even the artist’s signature “St Jame” is something of a puzzle, a derivation of his last name – St Jame > Saint James > Santo Yago > Santiago.
Santiago was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM, and spent his early years as a Hawaiian shirt wearing – rolly-back pack pulling superfan of the film Titanic. Eventually, he forsook the former and embraced the latter, becoming a charcoal artist specializing in female portraiture. A graduate of the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, Santiago discovered many of the techniques and mediums he still uses, as well as a love of art, and work ethic that can only be born from architecture school’s rigorous sleep depriving demands during his college tenure. Santiago is the exclusive artist of Tractor Brewing Company, and has shown, and been published nationally.
For Santiago, art is a passion, constantly evolving through artistic experimentation and experience. Each piece is defined not only as a final product, but also through the process, materials, and ideas that went into its creation. In observing a glimpse of its wood grained origin within the final product, viewers are allowed to be part of the artistic journey and reflect on their own path to that moment. It allows them to delve deeper, be reflective, exposed, naked with the art.

CHRISTOPHER Z. LÓPEZ

ATRAPADO EN EL SOL / TRAPPED IN THE SUN
MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS (GICLEES UPON REQUEST)
28”X36”
$300

ARTIST STATEMENT

Born and raised in Northern New Mexico, where I learned to create art, to
farm, raise animals and grow food. I come from a long line of educators
and artists. This has helped shape me into the person I am today. I am an
active artist, and I incorporate my education as an artist to set a positive
example for anyone who is working on the path of art or creativity.
The spirituality of telling stories I feel is important and moments in time
that represent my visions and memories. I also work out my problems and
feelings in the work. We have felt pain, pleasure, stress, love, happiness,
sadness…normal emotions that we all share, some more powerful than
others. I create because I have to, it spills over into my life and all I do. If I
am working in the garden, I think of what I can do to make these plants
beautiful and how can I treat them so they in return to share their
sustenance with me. When people look at my work I hope that they feel and
remember things that relate because I feel we all want to relate in one way
or another, that is why I create!

How we live our lives from beginning to our end…belief systems that guide
us can either help or hinder us from living life to the fullest. It is a vision of
“Global Warming”. The two figures in this image are struggling as they are
stuck in a rising river, close to drowning. The figure on the left is both
panicking and praying. The figure on the right is struggling to hold on to
his/her soul and has a raised arm with roots exposed and disconnected.
There is a fire on the shore so this keeps the figures from finding a safe
place to go to keep from drowning. The spirit of the Phoenix flies out of the
flames to survive and free itself from the bonds…