Santa Fe artist Jerry Wellman, co-creator of the experimental art space Axle Contemporary, has been developing the Navigator project for more than five years. The work began during residencies at Vital Spaces in Santa Fe and the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming. In 2025, Wellman presented three installments—one each in Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque. Ultimately, he envisions as many as forty distinct iterations appearing in galleries and unexpected sites, accompanied by an artist book of sketches, observations, and reveries.

“Navigators: On the Edges of Becomings” is a spirited, mythopoetic shrine-installation composed of diagrams, language, ceramics, works on paper, sculpture, light, and sound. Spilling across the floor and descending from the ceiling, the installation creates the sensation of stepping into a living book. Through this constellation of objects and signals, Wellman offers visual resources and imaginative tools for orienting ourselves.