2023 Faith & John Gaw Meem Preservation Trades Internship Report by Giulia Caporuscio

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Front Wall Saga  

  The summer started with a week of getting to know the lay of the land at El Zaguán as the Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s (HSFF) 2023 Faith and John Gaw Meem Preservation Trades Intern. Any spare time I had I spent familiarizing myself with the Foundation’s preservation easements. The second week HSFF Preservation Projects and Programs Manager Jacob Sisneros and I went straight to work plastering El Zaguán’s front wall. Don Sena, from Cornerstones Community Partnerships, collaborated with us, supplying the materials, and teaching us the tricks of working with adobe. The mixture was equal parts sand and clay, with a slightly gray hue. The wall was not in terrible condition but had a few holes in places. The previous mixture had been too sandy, and a colony of ants took up residence in the top. With Don, Jacob, and I working on the wall we finished in three days, with half a day spent mixing and hauling more sand and clay. A bonus was going with Don to San Miguel Chapel where he gave me a full tour of the work and renovations there and pointed out some archeological finds. This visit included laying electrical cables in adobe walls, hard troweling, applying lime plaster, and dry packing around windows and doors.   

  The rain on June 25, took down the cap of the wall. On July 26, we replastered the cap with the leftover mix we had from the second week. This time we tried adding Elmer's glue to the mix, to see if the polymer would help against monsoons. This trick is used at Las Golondrinas for all the final plaster. The addition of Elmer's glue changed the consistency of the mud mix, creating a non-Newtonian liquid, making it easier to trowel onto the wall but harder to hold and place the mud. It also made the mixture drier. I noticed that the wall needed to be soaked before the mixture was applied, then I would throw the mud on, wet that, then trowel it smooth. Then for good measure wet the new patch before troweling again. The final cap came out smooth and more scratch proof than with the previous mix. It did not hold up against the rain of August 8th. Parts of the new cap remained, but the wall was still wet two days after the big rain. The moisture in the wall meant that more of the plaster peeled off during the next day. In one spot the adobes were exposed, the same spot that had a huge hole at the beginning of the summer. (It appears that the tree next to the wall directs water into that spot). It is discouraging the damage done to the wall, but it is a reminder that this is just mud, it is a material that came from the earth and will return to it, it is still in sync with the climate and reacts to the weather. It is a material that does what is needed but requires more maintenance, however, does not exploit or harm the environment when it fails. The process of remudding the wall is in tune with the cultural practice of New Mexico and mirrors the reality of generations of people in the greater Southwest.   

Las Golondrinas Adventures  

    My main project at Las Golondrinas was the rebuilding of an horno. The original horno was over twenty years old and the adobe walls had become too thin to hold heat and properly roast the green chilis it was most often used for. The first job was to demolish and haul away the dirt from the old horno. After this I discovered that the floor of the horno was originally a cement circle, with a packed earth floor beneath.  The next process was clearing out and leveling the ground to lay bricks to create an even, easy to clean floor for the horno. Then came the process of laying the adobes. The adobes were trapezoidal blocks specially ordered from Adobe Man in Santa Fe.   

  I played around with the layout of the adobes to determine the best size and structural pattern. Since the layout was circular, I soon realized that I needed to fill the mortar in between neighboring adobes with adobe shards so that there were not huge gaps of mortar that would change shape as the horno dried. This process was slow. Every level had to dry completely before building the next round to prevent settling. That and the summer temperatures required a water break every fifteen minutes. When I was four courses in, I plastered the interior before I would no longer be able to fit my arm inside. Then I finished the arch with a keystone. I added a port at the back and closed off the horno in two more courses. The rest of my time on the horno was spent evening things out and creating a dome on top, rather than a flat top. I plastered the exterior with the Elmer’s glue mixture, then we lit the inaugural fire inside.   

  The rest of my time at Las Golondrinas consisted of plastering and wall repairs. These projects included a pair of buttresses, the wall along the ram enclosure, the comal, and a small wall next to the sheep enclosure. There was some relief in this work since most was shaded. Really hot days required the workday to start at five in the morning to avoid the sun. The heat could also be seen in the plastering. Many places had some minor cracks in the plaster since the new work would dry too quickly. Las Golondrinas was a quiet place to work and plaster, especially when I would get there hours before the visitors or other workers. I made friends with a goat in the ram enclosure, saw hawks, ospreys, vultures, hummingbirds, hundreds of lizards, toads, frogs, and scorpions.  I answered many questions from tourists, most often about what was in the mixture.   

Student Workshop  

    One of my favorite events from the summer was the student workshop with the Santa Fe Children’s Museum Youth Conservation Corps. Five high school students participated in the workshop. I enjoyed showing them how to mix mud for the adobes and lay them into the forms, while trying to answer their questions on how to identify a true adobe building around Santa Fe.  

Wood Working   

An unexpected skill from this summer was learning some basic woodworking skills from Jacob. I had used some power tools before, but I gained more confidence with them, learned more safety precautions for them, and ultimately how to respect the tools. The first project was building a frame for the arches built at the youth workshop. This included working with an electric jigsaw and cordless drills. Our biggest project was building a crate to protect an artifact. This taught me how to use a circular saw to cut all the wood pieces to size. The last project I briefly worked on was refurbishing a table. This taught me about belt sanders and orbital sanders.  

Preservation Knowledge  

The skills I can add to my resume following my internship at HSFF include conditions assessment, site maintenance, fundraising and party planning, preservation easements, and familiarity with nonprofits.  As I said going into this, I wanted more practical experience in historic preservation, and I am so grateful for what I have gained this summer. I saw my skills in plastering, creating mud mixes, and estimating how much material is needed increase greatly.  I have seen so many beautiful examples of historic preservation from the J.B. Jackson House to Los Pinos Guest Ranch, Oppenheimer’s house, and behind the scenes at El Zaguan, Las Golondrinas, San Miguel Chapel, and a few easement properties.  

I am most grateful for the people I have met this summer and the insights I have received from them. Pete, Melanie, Hanna, and Jacob at HSFF, Sean and Cesar from Las Golondrinas, and Don Sena from Conerstones Community Partnerships. As well as the HSFF Board of Directors and Property Committee Members. 

Olive Rush and Her Legacy

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INTRODUCTION

Following is an article written by Bettina Raphael regarding Olive Rush, and her home and studio at 630 Canyon Road. Listed on the Historic Santa Fe Foundation Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation as the Olive Rush Studio, it is a significant property that spans three distinct periods of the history of Canyon Road– as a farm house, the agricultural roots so difficult to see now on the street, the early Santa Fe artists colony, and finally, the long period of use for the Friends Meeting. It is a distinctive and quiet place on the bustle of the street. - Pete Warzel, HSFF Executive Director

WRITER’S BIO

Bettina Raphael is an art conservator in private practice. A professionally trained objects conservator, Bettina Raphael graduated with an M.A. degree from the Art Conservation Program in Cooperstown, NY in the 1970s. After a year’s internship at the Smithsonian Institution she went on to work with conservation studios in Virginia, Birmingham, England, at the University of Denver, and the Museum of New Mexico. Raphael has spent the last 30 years working in the Southwest focused on the preservation treatment and care of objects of archaeological, ethnographic and historic origin in museums and private collections. Raphael’s research interests have included the life and work of the 18th cen. restorer in Venice, Pietro Edwards; the construction and care of Southwestern tin decorative arts from the early 20th century; and most recently, the career trajectory of Olive Rush, the versatile and inspired painter who settled in Santa Fe, NM.

 

PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMONE FRANCES FOR OLD SANTA FE TODAY (5TH EDITION)

PHOTOGRAPH BY SIMONE FRANCES FOR OLD SANTA FE TODAY (5TH EDITION)

OLIVE RUSH AND HER LEGACY, AN ARTICLE BY BETTINA RAPHAEL

In 1966, the small Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Meeting in Santa Fe, NM came to occupy its recent home, the historic house and garden of the painter, Olive Rush. It is an unlikely occurrence for a Quaker meeting to have a patron and even more so for the benefactor to be an artist, given Friends’ long history of disparaging the arts as frivolous and vain. Thus, Santa Fe Meeting’s relationship with our “patron”, Olive Rush, is quite unique and has been a source of pride as well as of controversy.     

A birthright Quaker born in Fairmount, Indiana, Ms. Rush spent most of her 90+ years pursuing her artistic calling, first as an art student on the East Coast, later as a young illustrator and easel painter in New York, Indianapolis and Europe. During her last 46 years, 1920-1966, she settled in Santa Fe, the art colony of the Southwest, where she was often termed the “First Lady of the Arts”. In 1948, Ms. Rush was a founding member of the Santa Fe Meeting, a small group of 6 -8 members who met usually in each other’s homes. At her death, Olive’s 100 year-old farmhouse on Canyon Road provided a permanent meetinghouse to this group of Friends and a future center for Quaker activities that would also serve as a memorial to her parents and her own religious, artistic, and civic values.  

The year 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of Olive Rush’s arrival in Santa Fe. It was also a critical moment in the development of the Meeting she helped found, as it struggled to integrate the group’s current spiritual and space needs with the responsibility of maintaining a significant historic property. It is an appropriate time to acknowledge both what this pioneering artist contributed to her Southwestern community and the difficult challenges the Meeting now faces in honoring her wishes to preserve the property she donated.

Born on an Indiana farm, Rush Hill, in 1873, Olive was one of seven children of the Quaker minister, Nixon Rush and his wife Louisa Winslow Rush. She showed a gift for drawing at an early age and was encouraged by her parents. Apparently their own artistic interests had been discouraged under earlier Quaker restrictions. At seventeen she left home to study art and history at Earlham College in nearby Richmond, Indiana. After a year, she entered the art program at the Corcoran School of Art in Wash. D.C., and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York City, the Pennsylvania Academy, and the Boston Museum School. Studying with the renowned illustrator Howard Pyle in Wilmington, DE, she honed her drawing skills, began an interest in mural painting and shared studio space there with her life-long friend and fellow painter, Ethel Pennewill Brown.  

By the age of thirty, Rush had established a successful career as an illustrator in New York City, working on various publications including children’s books and women’s magazines of the day. She also painted portraits on commission, particularly of mothers and children. She made two trips to Europe to study with painters and to witness first-hand the modern art movement germinating there.

In 1914, at the age of 41, Olive accompanied her father on the minister’s missionary trip to Arizona and New Mexico. With his encouragement, she painted as they traveled. At the end of her first venture into the West, Olive’s art was acknowledged with an invitation to show her paintings in a one-woman exhibit at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.   

Inspired by memories of the beauty and drama of the Southwest and in search of new modes of artistic expression, Olive returned to New Mexico in 1920 and became “the first important American woman artist to settle in Santa Fe.” 1 With savings and a small inheritance from her parents, she purchased an old farmhouse on Canyon Road, which was to become the center of the burgeoning art colony.  Once established in Santa Fe, Ms. Rush entered a new world of inspiring influences described here in her words:

 

“Artists are spiritual adventurers and the strange beauty of the Southwest country, splendid and generous, lyric at one turn, dramatic at another, invites us to dare all things. Compositions are marvelously made before our eyes, offering lesson after lesson in form and color.”2

Olive was a true pioneer, not merely for her inspired trek west to the newly recognized state of New Mexico, but for what she was able to achieve over her forty-plus years of residence here. It was a time when many considered this high desert destination a “wild territory”, and Olive arrived alone, a single woman at forty-seven years of age, a self-supporting artist from a modest Quaker background. She brought with her an open and inquisitive attitude and a hardiness developed through farm life,  education, and exposure to modern values. Sometimes misrepresented as a “retiring spinster”, Olive Rush was in fact one of the “New Women” of her time: a suffragette, an adventurer, a teacher, and a risk-taker seeking a less confined way of being a free woman than what was customary under the social strictures of life in the Midwest and the East Coast. She joined with many other free-spirited and courageous female transplants to the Southwest in exploring new possibilities, relationships, forms of activism, and creative expression. 

Once settled in Santa Fe, Olive found herself surrounded by the cultural traditions of both the Spanish and Indian communities and the presence of experimental artists who, like her, had been drawn to the art colony seeking a new way of seeing and painting. Olive’s artistic expression changed significantly as she moved beyond her bread-and-butter reliance on commercial or literary illustrations and family portraiture in oil on canvas. Rush turned to a more intimate scale and style, using watercolors often as her medium and subjects from nature and local life in New Mexico. At the same time, the artist became even bolder as she ventured more deeply into the realm of mural painting, having taught herself the Italian “old world” method of fresco painting on fresh plaster. She found the traditional adobe walls of Southwest architecture an ideal “canvas” for her fresco work. With these novel artistic ventures, Ms. Rush built a new public reputation in the region and joined in close camaraderie with many local artists, writers, anthropologists and cultural adventures. A regular exhibitor at the new Art Museum in Santa Fe, Olive was also a frequent participant in national juried shows, and group exhibits of Southwest modernists and women artists, gaining recognition by collectors far outside the Southwest. Today her drawings and paintings can be found in at least twenty major museums.  

After painting the adobe walls of her own home with lyrical frescos, Olive was commissioned to create larger murals in the homes and gardens of friends, including the heiress Mary Cabot Wheelwright, folk art museum-founder Florence Bartlett, and in public venues such as the dining room in the popular La Fonda Hotel. These initial experiments led to even more ambitious projects during the 1930s as Rush was commissioned to paint murals in the local public library, post offices and university buildings under the federal New Deal program.  One of these postal murals in Florence, CO, was recently commemorated with a U.S. postage stamp. At age 60, Olive Rush was still balancing on scaffolding while painting her water-based colors into wet plaster high up on public walls.

The practice of wall painting led Olive to a new meaningful “calling”.  When asked to paint the walls of the dining room in the local Federal Indian Boarding School, she offered to teach the students how to create their own murals there. The work by nine artists from mostly Southwestern tribes was a resounding success and this began a long relationship of encouragement and promotion by Ms. Rush of Native American artists. She managed to bring the work by young painters from the Indian School to the exhibition at the 1933 “A Century of Progress International Exposition” in Chicago. She later arranged travel and exhibits for the students to national museums including the Corcoran Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art, and promoted the sale of their works in galleries from Santa Fe to New York.  Olive felt a close resonance with these young artists, admiring the simplicity and directness of their artistic styles, the integrity of their spiritual traditions, and their respect for Nature.

Local Pueblo Indians, Hispanic neighbors, and cowboys from surrounding ranches found warm encouragement, welcome support and sometimes a place to stay at Olive’s studio on Canyon Road. This “ministry of hospitality” was generously offered to fellow women artists, young Quakers traveling across country, and family members as the Olive Rush Studio provided refuge for many. Throughout her life, Rush held a moral commitment in aid of the needy, the disenfranchised, and socially neglected.  Her advocacy included marching for women’s rights, promoting social activism in her classes for art students in Nebraska, joining local groups in the defense of Native Americans’ rights to practice their cultural traditions, and in the 1940s, volunteering on relief projects for refugees after World War II. 

In her later years, Olive’s art grew increasingly unrestricted by old criteria and less representational. As in the artwork of her chosen mentors (El Greco, Kandinsky, and Japanese brush painters), figurative interpretations of “reality” became less important and abstraction took on a larger role in her work. Some of her strongest work in the 1930s and 40s are watercolors depicting deer and antelope in airy, natural and sometimes ephemeral settings. These are often lightly painted, gentle in feel and “open” in the space she created on the paper. The quietness of these scenes has been compared to the silence of a Quaker Meeting, and it is possible that her repeated choice of depicting vulnerable, tentative, creatures such as these deer was Olive’s way of representing the soul or the tenderness of spirit she honored in all things.  

Throughout her life, her subjects as well as her innovative painting styles reflected her religious principles and Olive Rush often acknowledged the spirituality of art:  

 

“The task of the artist, she writes is to 'explore in his own way the spiritual possibilities of his art. Until he does that he is guilty, along with the man in the parable, of misuse of talents the landlord has given him.’” 3

“I believe that all art should carry without effort ‘the outward signs of an inward grace’.  You must learn your own best way of living and creating. You are an individual in art as in life.” 4

“For Rush, art could not be separated from how one lived one’s life, and likewise no aspect of life could be separated from her spirituality; thus, her studio and place of worship became one.” 5

Since Olive Rush’s death in 1966 until last year, her residence has served as the primary meetinghouse for Santa Fe Friends. The building’s interior retains the feeling of a private home with built-in features and cabinets from its first owner’s time and a lingering sense of calm that comforts many long-time attenders and visitors. Housed in the old adobe building is a range of original furnishings, Native American and Hispanic artifacts, personal memorabilia, and a variety of finished paintings and sketches by Olive. These along with archival records form the Olive Rush Collection. The combination of the historic structure, its forty years of use by the artist, its Quaker history, and the remains of original contents have come to embody the unique remembrance of a life and a period of Santa Fe history. 

The house is now only one of two original artist studios remaining intact on Canyon Road. Over the years under the Meeting’s care, the historic building of mud walls and weathered wooden beams have required constant maintenance and occasional restoration projects just to keep it stable and functional. Up until recently, a portion of the Meeting’s limited funding had gone toward general up-keep and repairs of the building. Long-term preservation and conservation projects for the exterior structure and interior collection have had to be postponed. 

In July 2022 the Santa Fe Meeting purchased a new property in the town to accommodate its need for a larger and newer space. This facility is appropriate to the group’s future plans. The age and intimacy of the old Rush facility, once valued as a comfortable “spiritual space” are now not so relevant and the stress of its upkeep today is considered a burden by many Friends. In recent months, the Meeting has explored selling the property, which would, I believe, override the original commitment made to Olive Rush to preserve and protect the studio and land for social not commercial use. Undoubtedly a property on Canyon Road could sell for a great deal of money with the likelihood of being converted to yet another gallery or residence or tourist shop, none of which were the uses Olive originally envisioned for her home and studio.

Meanwhile, members of the extended Rush Family from around the country have recognized the need to intervene for the perpetuation of this historic structure and its artistic legacy. They are proposing to assume responsibility for the property through the creation of a nonprofit foundation. Their vision is to make the facilities open to the public as an historic site honoring Olive Rush’s achievements, her Quaker values, and the importance of the art colony of Santa Fe. The Friends Meeting has remained divided on this offer. Olive envisioned just such a recycling or regifting of the property in conjunction with its preservation, when the Quakers would no longer need it. 

This is a moment when history can be acknowledged and stewarded. The Olive Rush Studio, Garden, and Collection can remain a concrete reminder for all Santa Fe residents and visitors of Olive Rush’s contributions and the role Santa Fe played for over 100 years as the art capital of the Southwest. The Rush Home and Studio can continue as an active resource: the spacious garden a unique place of respite on Canyon Road, a home-base for resident artists and scholars, a venue for future exhibits of Olive’s art as well as the work of young artists like those Ms. Rush wished to nurture. Here is an opportunity for the community and art admirers to recognize the significance of the Olive Rush legacy, and maintain the integrity of this most important house, studio, and garden on Canyon Road.  

CONTACT INFORMATION

Bettina Raphael, art and artifact conservator: bettinaraphael@msn.com
Liz Kohlenberg, great niece of Olive Rush and Chair of the proposed Olive Rush Memorial Studio: geoliz@comcast.net
Clerk of Santa Fe Monthly Meeting of Friends: sfmmclerk@gmail.com

FOOTNOTES

1. Stanley L. Cuba, Olive Rush: A Hoosier Artist in New Mexico, Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, Inc. Muncie, Indiana. 1992, page 45.
2. Stanley L. Cuba, Olive Rush: A Hoosier Artist in New Mexico, Minnetrista Cultural Foundation, Inc. Muncie, Indiana. 1992, page 43. From an artist statement in a 1925 exhibition catalog.
3. “Successes of Past Can’t Be Copied Forever, Says Miss Rush”, Santa Fe New Mexican, January 19, 1945, page 5.
4. “Thetford Le Viness Writes of Olive Rush in Kansas City Times”, Santa Fe New Mexican, January, 19, 1948.
5. Carol Gish, “Olive Rush: Spiritual Adventurer in the Southwest”, a paper written for the course “New Mexican Art and the Mainstreams” at the University of New Mexico, November, 1994, page 4.

Los Pinos Ranch Added to HSFF's Register

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Los Pinos Ranch

At the August 25, 2022 Board of Directors meeting, the Education, Research, and Archives Committee recommended to the Board that Los Pinos Ranch be added to the HSFF Register of Properties Worthy of Preservation. The ranch was approved, adding another property with a fascinating history to the Register. Many of the guest ranches that once checkered northern New Mexico have now disappeared, as have many of the Spanish Log construction buildings in the region. Still operational and with great architectural integrity, Los Pinos Ranch is an enduring emblem of the economic activity and architectural typology that characterized the region during the early to mid 1900s.

Los Pinos Ranch, founded in 1912 by Amado Chaves, has operated as a guest ranch for a century. Part of the phenomenon of wealthy and educated individuals from the East Coast seeking outdoor recreation in a rustic yet cultivated atmosphere, Los Pinos Ranch was home to and the place of respite for many historically significant people. Notable figures who occupied the ranch include Charles Lummis, Marc Simmons, Paul Horgan, and Robert J. Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer frequented the ranch over a period which spanned decades, starting when he was a teenager. His horseback rides with Amado’s daughter Kia Chaves, a lifelong friend, eventually led Oppenheimer to the site of the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos.

Alan “Mac” Watson researched and wrote the nomination for the property on behalf of the ranch’s owners Alice M. McSweeney and William J. McSweeney. The McSweeney family is one of two families who owned and operated the ranch. The McSweeney and Chaves families both meticulously maintained guest registers, diaries, letters, photographs, and videos which provided Mac with a wealth of details on the ranch’s history. The property and its facilities, the history of its use through today, as well as the significance of the people associated with Los Pinos Ranch over a century, position Los Pinos Ranch as a place worthy of preservation and recognition. It is an honor to include such a remarkable property on HSFF’s Register.


LEARN MORE ABOUT HSFF'S REGISTER

A satirical (and suddenly shelter-seeking) artist returns to El Zaguán

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By Anonymous

For those Historic Santa Fe Foundation members and supporters who were enjoying the El Zaguán gallery shows five years ago, images of oversize cartoons with a slightly satirical bent may trigger memories of former El Zaguán artist Dominic Cappello. Cappello moved into El Zaguán the Summer of 2012 and produced his first show called “GOV DOM”, featuring a series of large format cartoons that presented his fictitious campaign for governor. The polices he was pitching were all very real (Cappello’s background is in public health strategic planning) but the zany cartoons were not what one would expect in a real campaign. More than one El Zaguán artist resident asked, “Is this campaign real or what?” 

Cappello’s other shows were a shared show with Española fine artist Diego López that attracted art (and margarita) lovers from across Northern New Mexico. This was followed by his contribution to a group show that highlighted the political circus surrounding the launch of Obamacare. He also designed the HSFF newsletter as part of community service to the HSFF.

 

COURTESY OF DOMINIC CAPPELLO

 

Cappello left Santa Fe in 2017 for what he thought was to be a dream job in Seattle, developing a data-driven infrastructure-building program focused on ensuring health equity and care for vulnerable Washingtonians. His boss, after the first month, told him that she was not comfortable with data nor the term “data-driven” because “people are intimidated by numbers.” It turned out she was more comfortable with him facilitating convenings to talk about the problem of poverty instead of actually addressing it. “That surreal gig,” says Cappello with a grin,” turned into what I describe as my sabbatical year from hell.” 

This is where the El Zaguán connection comes alive, yet again. Upon returning to Santa Fe and seeking shelter, HSFF director Pete Warzel (proud collector of an original Cappello called “Zombies on Canyon Road”) told Cappello, “I have bad news and good news. First, we have no vacancies at El Zaguán but I do have a lead on a brand new state-of-the-art apartment complex going up in the Railyard and it might meet all your needs.” 

Dom jumped into his new Railyard Flats apt to begin work for NMSU on a statewide campaign called 100% New Mexico, providing leaders in all 33 counties with the resources to ensure all families had access to (what is coined in his book 100% Community co-authored with Dr. Katherine Ortega Courtney), the “ten vital services for surviving and thriving”–including healthcare, food security programs, fully-resourced community schools and stable, affordable housing. 

DOMINIC CAPPELLO (LEFT)

This is where the story gets ironic (though it might be a sign of the impending breakdown of the electrical grid heralding the apocalypse). It's now June 2022 and Cappello is visiting Las Cruces for a one week face-to-face course at NMSU, part of his doctoral studies. A call arrives from his Santa Fe apt. manager telling him in a sheepish tone: 1) The entire Railyard Flats building complex’s electrical system blew out, 2) it might take many months to fix because: “reasons”, and 3) you must find a new place to live in Santa Fe until the lights come back on. 

A suddenly homeless Cappello reached out to Warzel (altruist extraordinaire) and as luck would have it–the lovely Apt #1 at El Zaguan was going to be vacant for two months, awaiting the start of construction on the interior phases of the EZ Master Plan. Cappello’s misadventure in housing insecurity was averted thanks to the welcoming arms of HSFF. 

Cappello, in what might be called a cameo appearance at El Zaguán, will be busy with his full time initiative work, his studies, and his ongoing political cartooning. He hopes to find a way to do a show even though the El Zaguán gallery is booked up until 2024. “If I can’t get the El Zaguán gallery space, I might just put on the show in my cozy 400 sq foot studio but forgo the DJ, band, dancers and pop up bar,” shares Cappello, “Either way, I am thrilled to be back in this historic adobe, a far more secure and inspiring place than the so-called modern complex I was living in.” 

To see Cappello’s illustrations visit the book Attack of the Three-Headed Hydras (downloadable free-of-charge) at www.fighthydras.com. To view the groundbreaking “100%” initiative visit www.1ooNM.org. Cappello welcomes your emails to dominicpaulcappello@gmail.com. To read more about the displacement of Railyard Flats residents visit https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/when-crisis-hits-santa-fe-who-survives-and-who-thrives/article_40d26448-f80e-11ec-99f9-83f03b17354f.html.

Note from Executive Director: It is quite obvious that this piece was written by Mr. Cappello, himself, in the third person, which is interesting in itself.  I find it necessary to correct some of the facts presented here. I did not, in fact, suggest the Railyard Flats to Dom, rather he asked if we had any connections there, which we made, obviously, successfully. Dom in fact loved the place until this unfortunate circumstance. It is ironic that a 160-year-old apartment is the safehouse following a modern design breakdown…a very good reason for preservation and use of historic structures in our city. - PW

Dr. Chris Keegan to Research New Mexican Identities in El Zaguán's Stilwell Room

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Article by Pete Warzel

The Historic Santa Fe Foundation welcomes scholar, Dr. Chris Keegan, associate professor of philosophy at State University of New York, Oneonta. Chris will be utilizing the space in our Stilwell Room for research and writing through mid-July, on a project that came to mind during a stay in Santa Fe in early 2021. He has received grants and is on sabbatical to complete his project. The impetus was the multi-layered social and cultural identities he encountered during his 2021 visit just following the 2020 summer and autumn of social unrest and protest in the wake of the COVID shutdown and the monument question nationwide.

The project is twofold:

  1. Understanding the ideological landscape that has created identity in New Mexico, and

  2. Using that empirical evidence to understand how Identity (universal, not just NM) is constructed.

His belief is that given the unique nature of New Mexico, it may hold the key to understanding the complexity of American Identity generally. Our state is in many ways still on the periphery of the United States, and so has always had, socially, personally, a great sense of independence. It is still something of a border that is not, or feels it is not, quite America. The ideological battle lines in the country may not make sense here.

Americans have an urge to pinpoint identity when in fact there is a multiplicity of the self. It is fluid, never stagnant. The advantage of approaching it from a philosophical discipline is that Philosophy asks the questions, hopefully the right questions, and has the discipline to clarify the answers.

Sitting with Chris, and making introductions to our friends and colleagues from other disciplines– history, anthropology, cultural preservation – it is apparent how complex the history and so the importance of place to social, political, personal identity, that New Mexico has to offer this project. Chris will share his work with us, and perhaps we can have him write a short article for our blog as he progresses in his research and thought.

His bio, developed for the grant process for this project follows.

Chris Keegan is Associate Professor of Philosophy and affiliate faculty in Africana and Latinx Studies at The State University of New York at Oneonta. He has published, presented, and taught on topics in philosophical psychology, urban philosophy, racial and ethnic identity, the philosophy of protest, and democratic theory. His current work explores the complicated forces—often unseen, misunderstood, or dismissed—that shape personal and collective identity and lead to distorted and confused personal, social, and national narratives. This work exposes the dynamics that lead to ideological and cultural prestidigitation and contribute to contested identities and civil unrest regarding monuments and memorials.

We welcome Chris Keegan to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation.

Mescalero Apache Tour Recap

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An article by Hanna Churchwell

St. Patrick Chapel by Pete Warzel

In April of 2022 Historic Santa Fe Foundation had the pleasure of hosting an architectural and cultural history tour of three churches on the Mescalero Apache Reservation with Frank Graziano, founder of Nuevo Mexico Profundo and author of Historic Churches of New Mexico Today. We were accompanied by 16 tour attendees and two speakers in addition to Frank: Harry Vasile and Father Dave Mercer. The tour commenced on Sunday, April 24 with a dinner and presentation by Frank on the history of the Mescalero Apache and St. Joseph Apache Mission which provided context for the tour the following day.

The Mescalero Apache have bravely fended for their people, way of life, and land for centuries, surviving war and subjugation by Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Throughout the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s the U.S. government imprisoned the Apache, attempted to destroy their culture through boarding schools, and continuously encroached upon the reservation established by Ulysses S. Grant in 1873. It was the Mescalero Apache’s welcoming of the Lipan and Chiricahua Apache in the early 1900s that eventually gave them the strength in numbers to combat the intrusion into their land by settlers and the U.S. government. Understanding this era in Mescalero Apache history is key to understanding the cultural and religious synthesis apparent in St. Joseph Apache Mission and the role of Catholicism in the lives of Mescalero Apache people today.

On Monday, we first visited St. Joseph Apache Mission: a tall Romanesque church in between Sierra Blanca and the Sacramento Mountains, two of four mountains sacred to the Mescalero Apache. Harry Vasile, Frank Graziano, and Father Dave Mercer told us about the past, present, and the future of the chapel. Built over the course of 20 years, starting in 1920 under the guidance of Father Al Braun and with help from Mescalero Apache and Franciscan volunteers, St. Joseph was constructed from materials that were locally sourced. Father Al Braun shaped the reputation, practices, and aesthetics we associate with the mission. He recognized the spirituality of the Mescalero Apache people, and rather than demonizing their religion and practices as the Catholic Church advocated for at the time, Father Al encouraged the Mescalero Apache to continue their traditions by utilizing the mission.

Apache traditions and values are incorporated into St. Joseph Apache Mission through paintings, stained glass, sculpture, seasonal décor, and performance. A tapestry honoring Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Saint, hangs near the altar. A depiction of Christ as a Mescalero Apache Medicine man by icon artist Robert Lentz hangs on one end of the church. At the opposite end, there is a mural which features crown dancers at the puberty rites ceremony, which is a four-day long rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood. The puberty rites ceremony is a highly important tradition to the Mescalero Apache that Father Al Braun fought against the Catholic Church to support instead of banning. Also lining the entryway of the church are portraits of Apache leaders including Geronimo. The stained-glass windows were sponsored by different families who were allowed to choose what their window depicted with the caveat that each window must include imagery associated with Mescalero Apache culture. One window depicts Mary as a girl wearing the buckskin dress associated with puberty rites and holding the baby Jesus in a traditional cradleboard. Another depicts Harry as St. Joseph and his son in garb traditionally worn by Mescalero Apache boys.

The left hand of a statue of St. Joseph holds one of the small trowels used to slowly fill the cracks between rocks with fresh mortar during the mission’s recent restoration. The restoration began in 2000 and was completed 14 years later, except for the bell tower which still requires maintenance. Over the years, Harry worked with a diverse and varying group of four to dig out the remnants of the broken-down lime-mortar cement and painstakingly apply new mortar. One participant stayed on for the entirety of the restoration, Tommy Spottedbird; others who participated included young Mescalero Apache women, men involved in job programs, and at-risk youth. The lime-mortar concrete used to construct the cathedral requires maintenance almost every 80 years and the process must be undertaken again by the end of this century.

In awe and slightly behind schedule, we continued to Three Rivers Petroglyph Site for lunch. As we headed back on the road, we observed several crosses perched on steep hilltops with well-worn trails before arriving at Santo Niño de Atocha Chapel. The small, white chapel is minimalist from the outside, but packed with religious paintings and votives on the inside. Santo Niño de Atocha is uncommon among New Mexican churches because much of the material culture contained within its walls alludes to the practices of Mexican Catholics. Under a statue of the child saint several votive offerings are placed, including a long hair braid. Paintings, toys, sculptures, and bandanas with hand-written messages are abundant in the space. One notable exception to this trend is a prayer for farmers which is written in English and takes up a large portion of the back wall. Frank Graziano suggested that Santo Niño de Atocha Chapel itself may have been built as a votive offering.

Only a few miles from Santo Niño de Atocha Chapel, the final church on our tour was St. Patrick Chapel (also known as San Patricio). St. Patrick Chapel stands beautifully in front of Sierra Blanca, its small arched windows bracketing the entryway. When driving up to St. Patrick, the arch which frames the chapel’s small bell also frames the clouds above the mountain. St. Patrick is sparse on the inside, with a few rows of wooden pews and four rectangular stained-glass windows. However, the windows, though simple, cast brilliant blue, red, and yellow light around the small space, making them the chapel’s most striking interior feature. The altar screen has several three-dimensional elements and replicates the same color scheme as the stained-glass windows.

St. Patrick was constructed in the late 1920s after being commissioned by two sisters from New York; it was named in honor of their parents. The chapel has since been associated with the Klinkole family who live nearby. At St. Patrick Chapel, Father Dave recalled the beautiful love story of Virginia and Bruce Klinkole. Virginia Klinkole, the first woman president of the Mescalero Apache, married Bruce after his military service in World War II. Shortly after the war, Bruce showed up on Virginia’s doorstep, telling her that hearing stories about her helped him survive the Bataan Death March. The love story associated with the chapel and its gorgeous backdrop of the Sierra Blanca give an air of romance to the small stone chapel.

We capped our tour with a return trip to and brief hike at Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, trying to absorb as many of the petroglyphs as possible in one short trip. These prehistoric images cover a wide area but are densely located and feature a wide array of imagery from people to geometric patterns to animals. They are varied and open to interpretation. To me, they were a reminder of how recently the construction of the churches occurred, our proximity in the grand scheme of things to the violence inflicted upon the Mescalero Apache people by Spain, Mexico, and the United States, and of the incredible resilience of the Mescalero Apache people in the face of dehumanization. Leaving Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, we had plenty of time to reflect on the history of South-Central New Mexico as we waited for one passing cargo train to make way for another as they intersected blocking the only country road leading back to Highway 54 and our journey home.

Frank’s book Historic Churches of New Mexico Today is currently on back order in our gift shop; however a copy can be purchased from Oxford University Press or Amazon. Read more about Nuevo Mexico Profundo’s restoration work and tours here.