Dream workshop for Seniors - Tomorrow

When Eugene Kovalenko met his wife, Birgitta, in 1976, he had a dream about how she was going to play a big role in his life. The couple corresponded by mail until 1993, when they got married. 

These days, the first thing that they do in the morning is to share their dreams.  Doing this makes it possible to get to know each other at a deeper level and helps them understand where the other person is in life.

When Kovalenko met Birgitta, he was just beginning to understand the profound impact that dreams can play in real life.

Several life-changing nightmares prompted him to keep track of his dreams. He continued the practice for over forty years. During that time he developed a unique system for recording and analyzing dreams, called CREEI, that fosters creative and spiritual growth and also helps you identify problems and issues. When a dream is puzzling, disturbing, or thought provoking, CREEI offers a technique to help you gain further insight.

On Wednesday, December 15^th, from 10:00 am- 2:30 pm, he will present a free dream workshop at the Senior Center Conference Room. The workshop will give senior citizens an opportunity to share the wisdom of their dreams and learn how to find deeper meaning in any dream.

Kovalenko has presented dream workshops in many situations, such as church groups and business groups who are facing a morale or operations problem. After experiencing a dream workshop, many groups have wanted to continue on with more in-depth dream seminars.

This is the first time Kovalenko has presented a dream workshop tailored to a specific age group. By doing so he wants to “honor the elders” by giving them the opportunity to put their visions and concerns upfront and thus have a shot at showing us the way. He said, “I don’t know what will happen. I’m confident that they’ll see something valuable that they’ll want to pursue.”

The workshop is limited to ten participants, who will come with a dream in mind (they don’t have to share the contents of their dream). “I find that if people are motivated enough to bring a dream, that dream will have a meaning that they’re not even aware of,” said Kovalenko. “They will see themselves in a way they never thought of.”

Coming together as a group is one of the things that make dream workshops so rewarding.  For Kovalenko, discussing dreams is a powerful way to connect with people. “When my children tell me a dream, I know who they are, what they’re feeling – sometimes even before they do,” he said.

He plans to form a group called the Los Alamos Deep Democracy Open Forum (LADDOF) to encourage spirited, involved and motivated community discourse.

He explained, “[Los Alamos] is very cerebral, thinking and rational. By discussing dreams we provide a place for the spirit, for the emotions, for a whole different dimension. Los Alamos has a slogan ‘Where discoveries are made.’ So far it seems like people think of those discoveries as being inventions, technology and hardware.  I want there to be more of a spiritual discovery…. to open the door to discussing spirituality and show people how to find their spirituality through the creative process.”

Fresh Start for Two Local Artists

Fresh Start for Two Local Artists

By Mandy Marksteiner

On November 19^th from 5-7 pm, two artists who will be welcomed into Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery at their holiday open house and reception. Their work couldn’t be more different: Janice Parker Muir paints landscapes that transport the viewer to a peaceful place and Pat Soran is a master woodworker who makes wooden vases and jewelry boxes. But they do have one thing in common… they’re both reinventing themselves.

Pat Soran sitting at a desk that he made

Pat Soran is a retired nuclear engineer who has found a new side to himself through woodworking. He said, “Though I am an engineer at heart, I find that designing graceful, creative wooden objects has brought out a new side of me that I did not know existed.”

He first became interested in woodworking many years ago when he needed a relaxing hobby to help him unwind from his stressful job. He made furniture for his family. When his daughter got married he fashioned a bed as a wedding gift, and later made a rocking cradle when the couple had their first baby.

After retirement he brought his woodworking to a more artistic level by applying to a two-year woodworking course at the Northwestern Woodworking Studio in Portland, Oregon. Gary Rogowski, a regular contributor to Fine Woodworking magazine, taught the course. “It really opened my eyes to the artistic side of woodworking,” said Soran. “We were encouraged to see the lines and angles of the product and to stretch our imaginations to the beauty of the finished product.”

Upon completing the course, Soran became an accredited Master Woodworker.

Being a part of an art gallery is like being in a whole new world. “It’s interesting to be in the same room with well known artists like Sec Sandoval, Janice Parker Muir, Richard Swenson and Karen Wray. I like it!”

“I’m pleased that Karen is going to carry my pastels,” said Janice Parker Muir, who is well known for her landscapes in oils, pastels and acrylics.  “It’s motivational for me because I’m going through a major transition phase in my life.”

Even though the Muir’s fresh start is a result of events that were out of her control, she is open to the next stage of her artistic career.

Last year Janice’s studio was flooded four times and her rotator cuff surgery was unsuccessful, which means she will now have to overcome physical limitations to create art.

“The way I’ve done art in the past – I can’t do it anymore,” she said. “I’m not sure where I’m going from here, as far as my style. I have to remain true to my emotional connection to the environment, the sky and nature. That’s still part of who I am. I’m just not sure what it’s going to look like.”

She plans to get back into the studio on the first of the year. “The new year will truly be a new start.”

The community is invited to see Muir’s original pastels and Soran’s sculpted wooden boxes and vessels at the Holiday Open House from 5-7 pm on November 19^th at Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery, 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2. 

There will also be exciting door prizes, refreshments and new artwork with lower prices for gift giving by Secundino Sandoval, David A. Trujillo, Richard Swenson, Melissa Bartlett, Sue Ellen Hains, Lene Bryson, Bhasweti Gewhas, and Karen Wray. The Exhibit will continue through February.

The Fuller Lodge will Be showing children's art next week

The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera

Last Saturday Quinn and I went to opening night of The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera to celebrate Quinn's birthday (which was about a month ago). It was the first time I've seen The Magic Flute, or been to the Santa Fe Opera, so it was a great experience. 

It's so cool to drive down a windy desert road to get to the opera. The stage is curved and the back is open, so when we sat down we saw the sun set over the mountains. As it got dark, fireflies were twinkling around the colorful birds that they had set up. 

I was surprised at how funny the opera was. Especially the opening scene where the prince (gosh, I left my program in the car.... and I forgot all the characters' names!) was struggling in a giant snake's mouth. Three women came out and saved him and then spent the next five minutes arguing over who should stay and look over him - because he was so good looking. 

I think, or at least I gather from hearing about other people's trips to the opera, that the Santa Fe Opera likes to mix and match their costumes, using different time periods. In this case, it made it really obvious what different characters would be like. The Queen of the Night and her ladies were dressed in lavish full dresses, like Queen Victoria. The bird catcher, Pappageno, was wearing a baseball cap and a t-shirt and dorky shorts that came mid-calf - he was just a regular guy. The bad guy, a guard who was constantly trying to rape the heroine, was dressed like a Nazi. The people who were in the hall of justice were dressed like founding fathers, or puritans, and in their scenes there was a big table that took up most of the stage that reminded me of paintings of the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the Last Supper. In contrast, the hero and heroine were dressed very simply. 

I've listened to The Magic Flute, but it wasn't until I watched it with the lovely benefit of having a translation right in front of me, that I could make a connection between the music and the characters. The Queen had by far the most virtuosic part. I noticed that when she really started singing her complicated high pitched runs, she was in the process of trying to get someone to do her bidding. The first time she was convincing the hero to rescue her daughter. She said, if you do this, she can be yours forever, and after saying "forever"she just went off with her voice. The prince was just nodding, like you do when someone's talking and talking. Anyway, those high notes were very convincing because the prince did what she asked. 

But then later, she did the exact same thing when she was trying to talk her daughter into stabbing the leader of the hall of justice. She sang the same high notes, but they sounded a little more desperate and crazy this time. 

Anyway, we had a great time!

Jackie's Dream - In Memoriam

I just wanted to share Michelle Stump's newest blog post. She's made a new greeting card in memory of Dr. Kristine Weaver, a vet from Los Alamos, MN.

Jackie's Dream - In Memoriam

Nicholas Straight's art blog

Nicholas Straight is a friend of mine from high school.  Although he could probably take or leave a lot of classes in school, he had a single-minded obsessive drive to make it as an artist. It was very cool.  And so I can't help but get excited to see that he's still making art and finding opportunities.  Anyway, take a look at his blog: http://nicholasstraight.blogspot.com/2010/06/hot-off-presses.html

Plein Air Pastel show in Eldorado this weekend

Sally Hayden Von Conta and Janet Shaw Amtmann will be showing their work together as part of the Eldorado Studio Tour this Saturday and Sunday (May 15th and 16th) from 10-5.

My husband bought me one of Sally Hayden Von Conta's pieces for my birthday last year. I really like her work.

They will be located at Studio 41, 16 Herrada Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87508.

Melissa Bartlett discusses the importance of composition

Before doing anything else, Melissa Bartlett spends a lot of time figuring out the composition of her pieces.

In her opinion, if you have a strong composition, it makes a big difference.  People will be drawn to it. But if you have a bad composition, nothing will save it.

This is how Bartlett described a good composition: "The eye is drawn through the painting. There's some drama.  A little unexpected pattern that's unusual or eye catching."

It can be a little mysterious, but once you understand this concept the little details aren't as important.  The best way to develop a sense of good artistic composition is to keep your eyes open and to experiment.

Bartlett was at an occupational therapy (in addition to being an artist she is an occupational therapist at an elementary school) conference where they had to sit at long tables with white table cloths. On the tables were glasses filled with cheap hard candies.

She spent the entire time composing pictures of the candies in her mind. She said, when it was time to leave, "I dumped them in my purse and spent the morning experimenting.  Taking photos."

Anyone who saw her dump the candy into her purse might assume that he has an addiction to sugar. But really, this is the type of thing that artists do.

In Bartlett's case, she doesn't really paint candy.  She likes to do landscapes and animals.  She said, "Every once in awhile the light will attract me to something different (like the candies). It's what art is.  You look at something in a different way.  Get a different view of something.  Take something ordinary and make it startling."

Although Bartlett is the type of artist who works quickly and usually has more ideas than she has time to complete, there have been a couple of times when she didn't know what to do with a piece and it slowed her down.

"One time I gave my husband a certificate that said I'd do a picture of a fish that he caught," she explained.  Bartlett's husband loves to fly fish and she spends a lot of time sketching on the side of a river while he fishes. "I dragged my feet for a year. I couldn't wrap my mind around it.  Finally, I decided it was a still life.  But it still took a long time.  [In the photo] the fish was on mud, and that was ugly.  So I took pictures of pebbles in water."

Melissa Bartlett's artwork is available at the Karen Wray Gallery of Fine Art.

Sec Sandoval's teachers encouraged him to do his own thing

Sec Sandoval just isn't into painting nude models. When he was young he took an art class with Randall Davey and a model came in and disrobed. Sandoval left to go outside and paint birds.

Later Davey said, "If you want to be an artist you need to draw what you want to draw, not what I tell you to draw."

He's been drawing since he was five, but never took formal art classes (at least not the kind where he had to draw what the teacher told him to). What makes his art stand out is his unsurpassed familiarity and love for Northern New Mexico.

That is something that comes from getting out and painting what you want to paint every day.

"When I came here in '43 it was the first time I painted aspens," he said. "I just fell in love with them. I said I'm going to keep painting aspens until I get it right."

Just because he didn't seek out art instruction doesn't mean that he didn't care about school. "Los Alamos has been good to me in every respect," he said. "When I came here I couldn't read, speak much English, communicate or get along with the other kids on the playground. I started out at the very bottom of the class....But the teachers straightened me up. I graduated seventh in my class, was the class president and the captain of the football team. But I didn't let that get to my head. I had a very old fashioned family. My father was very strict."

He stayed in touch with some of his teachers until they passed on.



After high school he got a position at the Los Alamos National Lab as a mechanical designer and illustrator. He has a painting by his staircase that was influenced by his technical job. But after working for the lab he was soon anxious to follow his own artistic path. He quit 37 years ago.

According to Sandoval, his boss said, "Good for you. If I could paint, I'd quit too."

While he went through the art in his house, showing me what he has done over the course of his career, every now and again he would come across what he considered to be a dud. Mainly they were abstracts that made him exclaim, "What was I thinking?" or "That won't put any tortillas on the table!"

What he mainly does is landscapes of Northern New Mexico. He has done everything from the Santa Fe Mountains to Valle Grande, to Taos. He's painted the Black Mesa so many times that he could do it in his sleep. He said, "You don't have to go very far to find something to paint."

He doesn't like to paint outside because the conditions are too unpredictable. Instead he takes pictures of his favorite places. But recently what he likes to do more than take pictures is to sketch a rock or a tree or a bush and then make his own composition based on the sketches. the place in his paintings ends up being fictional.



Sandoval doesn't like to travel, be in big cities or fly. He went to Alaska once, and took some pictures for paintings but decided that you really need to live somewhere to paint it well. "Here, I go out for walks, see the beauty, see my friends and neighbors....I need to stay home and paint."



He told me about how he first realized that he was permanently attached to New Mexico. "It was the first time I came home on leave from the army. I looked at the Sandia Mountains and I had tears rolling down my face. They were so beautiful!"

Donate your artsy junk

I saw a sign while I was walking around town that said you can donate art supplies to the Santa Fe Children's Museum by dropping them off at Village Arts. Josephine at Son Shine Art is organizing the collections. I'm going to drop off my gazillions of wine corks and packing peanuts and fabric.

David's Folly

David Trujillo tells me that in Great Britain they call it a "folly" when someone builds something just for the hell of it. He certainly considers the medieval tower that he build next to his house to be his folly. But it's a folly that would make anyone proud. From the top he has one of the best 360 degree views in Los Alamos.



In n fact a few years ago a tree got hit by lightning in the canyon in his backyard. The fire fighters couldn't get access to it, and so someone told the fire chief that no only could you see everything from the tower, but there was a path that led to the very spot. So the tower got to function as a fire lookout as well.



His world travels inspired him to build something like a tower.... The Great Wall of China and Machu Picchu were inspirational. But his visit to to the city his ancestors came from before settling in New Mexico generations ago had the biggest impact. Trujillo, Spain had 17 towers!



David just got into scrap metal sculpture last June when he retired from his job as an engineer at the Los Alamos National Lab. His art seems to be another "folly", something to do just for fun, but there's more to it than that.

His neighbor, John Brolley, was a physicist and a prolific sculptor. Brolley gave David several pieces as gifts, and according to David he was the inspiration for the block.

Brolley died in 2008. Shortly after Richard Swenson moved into the neighborhood and was hoping to connect with Brolley to learn from him. Instead he became David's mentor in scrap metal sculpture.



Although Swenson has shared a lot of his techniques with David, David is drawing upon different experiences to come up with his ideas. Swenson has a lot of experience working with horses and observing marine wildlife, and some of his animals are very realistic looking. David has made a lot of southwest animals, like snakes and armadillos, kokipelli. He just finished a miniature Saint James slaying a dragon.

You can see his work at the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery at 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2, in Los Alamos, NM.

Richard Swenson says that the parts add meaning to the whole

Richard Swenson, an artist exhibiting his work at the Art Stroll at the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery, was raised on a farm in North Dakota, in a very art-free environment. He said, "The farmers in the area maybe had a picture of grandpa on the wall. But that was it."

Before joining the Navy SEALs Swenson worked with horses a lot and attended agricultural college. After his time with the SEALs he went to the University of North Dakota to study nuclear physics. He went on to have a science career studying the behavior of sound in the ocean (anti-submarine warfare), which enabled him to travel all over the world.

"In my leisure time I visited museums," he said. At this point he was in his mid-thirties, and wasn't interested in specific artists, or art history, or anything formal. He said, "I just like to look at the stuff. Especially in Polynesian areas."



When he retired he had yet to create a single piece of art. He said, "My wife (an epidemiologist) is younger than me and she was super busy and I needed to find something to do to get out of her hair."

So he started to collect John Deere tractors. Soon he amassed and restored a complete collection of all the John Deers built in the 50's. In the process he had accumulated a ton of spare tractor parts. "i started looking at the geometry and making figures out of it," he said. He put his completed sculptures in the yard of a county restaurant in his neighborhood in Mississippi.



When he started to exhibit his work he was amazed by how people liked to look at his scrap metal art. A couple of years ago he displayed 30 pieces, in conjunction with an exhibit from the creators of Sesame Street, at the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum, and it was a very successful show. "The guards at the museum said that it was the best show they ever had."

Just last weekend he won the Best in Show at the Lacombe Art Show.

"Here I am, a physicist. I had no idea that this was art. I just think it's fun to do," he said. "I simply weld this stuff together."

He may say that it's a simple thing, but I've been to his house, and it is bursting with sculptures. My favorite is a life sized seal hung high on the wall, so it looks like its swimming. There are other animals too, like a llama, pigs, rabbits, fish and horses. He said that horses and fish are his favorite things to do, because he grew up on a farm and understands horses, and did a lot of skin diving as a scientist, and has spent a lot of time observing marine wildlife. Right now, in his garage, he's working on two 15' whales!

He had an interesting theory about why people are drawn to his sculptures, and want to spend a lot of time looking at them. He thinks that the pieces of scrap metal have something to say. They add to the figure. When people recognize the parts as something that they've used or something they remember, it adds a depth of meaning that he couldn't achieve working with bronze or marble.

"If I make something with kitchen utensils, women will like it," he said. "Then if I make something with car parts, men will be drawn to it."

Sec Sandoval will show 35 new watercolors at the Art Stroll

Six Los Alamos artists will be at Karen Wray Fine Art

An artists reception and opening will be held Friday April 23 from 5-8 pm and Saturday April 24 from 10-3 pm at Karen Wray Fine Art, 2101 Trinity Drive, Suite B-2 in Los Alamos. There, people can meet the six local artists in the show: Sandoval, Karen Wray, Melissa Bartlett, David Trujillo, Fran Stoval and Richard Swenson.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that every wall in Sec Sandoval’s home is covered in paintings. Many of them are of flowers.

“My wife loved flowers,” Sec Sandoval said. “Before a show she used to hide all the paintings of flowers under the bed or in a closet.”



Sandoval’s wife passed away almost a year ago after battling cancer for 29 years. Even though he doesn’t normally get attached to his pieces, he doesn’t want to let go of the flower paintings.

“I feel like I would be giving my wife’s things away,” he said and then added, “I still haven’t cleaned out her closets. That’s going to take years – she loved to shop!”

Sandoval used to do between 12 and 15 shows in the tri state area each year but he hasn’t shown his artwork in over two years.

“I had great difficulty at first,” was how he described his creative process after his wife died. “I was very slow. I slowed down to one or two paintings per week. At first the paintings were very moody, but I wanted to get back to the bright colors.”

He is now starting to bring his work to galleries. 35 of Sandoval’s newest watercolors will be on display at the Karen Wray Fine Art Gallery for the Spring Art Stroll.

Wray opened her gallery on March 13, 2009. She wanted a place to display her oil paintings and exhibiting fine artwork from established local artists and talented new artists. Karen also uses part of the space as her art studio and frequently can be seen working on her newest paintings or teaching others.



Collaborating with Ken Nebel at Village Arts to revitalize our art community, Wray’s gallery will compliment both Village Arts and the Art Center at Fuller Lodge.

Swenson has created over 3,000 scrap-metal sculptures. His subjects are dragons, metal fish that you can mount on the fireplace, jackrabbits, seals, pigs and ballerinas. He will have five pieces for sale at the show.



Trujillo started sculpting when he retired. Even though he has only been doing it since last June, he has already completed 43 sculptures and sold four.

Swenson became Trujillo’s mentor when he bought a house across the street. Since June, Swenson has taught him to develop his ideas, take car engines apart and weld the statues together.

“My style is different,” said Trujillo. “He does great big pieces and mine are smaller and more whimsical.”

Trujillo’s creativity is fueled by his extensive world travel. He has been to 29 countries and he said, “Everywhere we go we get a painting.”

Using transmission parts, camshafts, springs, rocks and steel saws, Trujillo has created statues of Kokopelli, Saint James slaying a dragon, horses and fish. His first dynamic piece is a life-sized corybustard, the largest flying bird in the world.



Bartlett, who has pieces by Trujillo and Sandoval in her living room, explained what it means to be a Los Alamos artist. “People get to know you in a town this small,” she said. “The land is so powerful. There’s so much to look at. New Mexico is an intense, spiritual place and you get drawn into that.”

“I am attracted by what the light is doing,” she said. “The play of light and dark.”

Her pastel of flamingos standing in a sunset demonstrates her mastery of light and dark. In it, the reflection of the sun on the water is pink while the shadowed flamingos appear to be black.

Animals have always played a large role in Bartlett’s art. Early in her career she co-authored a book with Jack Volhard called What all Good Dogs Should Know.

People from all around the country commission her to paint portraits of their pets. The portraits are usually gifts or memorials. “I try to make something that’s a good painting, and not just a likeness.”

Stoval is another Los Alamos artist who does special commissions. She especially enjoys doing stained glass projects for clients that want to emphasize a certain color. She shows her stained glass, mosaics and pastels in her gallery, located at 650 Canyon Road.

The art stroll is a part of the Earth Day Festivities sponsored by PEEC. This year’s theme is "The Difference a Decade Makes." There will be other Art Stroll events at the Mesa Public Library, Village Arts and UPEX.

Karen Wray Fine Art
2101 Trinity Drive Suite B-2, Los Alamos, NM
(505) 660-6382

Paint a birdhouse for cancer!

This spring Relay for Life is auctioning off birdhouses that have been painted by local artists. Anyone who wants to paint a birdhouse can stop by Village Arts to pick one up. Village Arts owner Ken Nebel would like to have the completed birdhouses back by earth day so that they can be displayed in the store and in other Los Alamos businesses. They will be auctioned off on June 25th and the proceeds will go to Relay for Life.

Congratulations to Ken Nebel!

He will be taking over management of Fuller Lodge. Read more about it in this article by Carol Clark.

Los Alamos Online News, Sports, Entertainment and information for Los Alamos, New Mexico

Council Backs Sculpture Series Plan

Click on the link to read the story in The Monitor

Los Alamos Online News, Sports, Entertainment and information for Los Alamos, New Mexico

What it means to be a New Mexican artist

I caught the last half of a presentation at the Fuller Lodge about what it means to be a New Mexican artist.

James A. Vigil was sharing a little about how his upbringing in the Jemez Pueblo influenced his art. What really struck me was how he didn't even realize that he was learning about art. He was just living his life, and absorbing the rich culture and traditions of his family.

In New Mexico, it wasn't long ago when most people were making a living through subsistence farming, and making everything that you need. When he was a young boy he lived on ranches where they were out in the fields all day and came home to the smell of fresh tortillas on the wood burning stove. His memories involve all the senses, and it comes into his work because he wants to capture his memories and the stories that his mom tells him of the past.

He showed an example of just such a story with one of the sculptures in the gallery. It was of a little girl holding a squirrel like a doll. His mother, and a lot of girls her age, used to have a doll that was made out of a stuffed squirrel found in the mountain. Since he completed the piece a lot of women have been coming up to him to tell him that they used to have a squirrel for a doll too. I wonder if that's the New Mexican equivalent of a corn cob doll.

He started sculpting in the 80's when there was a surge in Native American sculpture being done. He started helping a friend, Clifford Fragua, with his art and the relationship ended up being an extended mentorship. After a few years he started coming up with his own ideas for stone sculpture and by then he had the skills to complete the projects from his imagination.

It's easy to take radio for granted in the Midwest...

But here in Los Alamos, with mountains to your left and cliffs on all sides, things get a little more complicated. Gillian Sutton, one of the owners of KRSN, explained to me the real problem behind getting a radio antenna for the station.

There used to be an antenna on Hawks Landing, but the previous owner sold the land to for a residential development. At first, when I started hearing that they were trying to get an antenna, I thought it was just a matter of money. Maybe they are extremely expensive, I don't know.

But it turns out that the real problem is that an AM/FM tower needs to be in the middle of 2 1/2 acres to work and to follow FCC regulations. It has to do with the AM part. The tower goes as deep into the ground as it does in the air. AM waves are low frequency and travel in the ground. I think. (If there are any physicists reading this....Please leave a comment if you understand how this really works)

The only place that has 2 1/2 acres of flat land in Los Alamos is owned by the county itself. Gillian said that the Council is thinking of renting a space in the golf course, where the unused water tower is, that they can use to put in the tower. First they have to appraise the land, and make a contract. I hope it will work out for them. I think it's important for our community to be able to broadcast our own shows.

Fran Stoval

Last week I met Fran Stoval while visiting her gallery, which is located in her home at 650 Canyon Road in Los Alamos. She was in her garage working on a valance to put over the stained glass French door that she made for her studio. Each panel of the door had a different pattern of glass.

Projects like her French door, and doing commissioned stained glass projects for clients who may want a piece done in a certain color, are especially enjoyable for Fran, who said, "I like working with my hands directly."

She learned to do stained glass by taking a class at the Fuller Lodge. She said, "With Stained Glass I was really surprised. It had never occurred to me that I would like it."

She now teaches the stained glass class, which gives you a basic idea of how to start and provides the basic tools. "Once you've tried it I show you where to go to get supplies."

In her stained glass studio, she gave me a quick demonstration of how you lay a pattern down, cut out the glass, foil it with copper and, when all the pieces are foiled, you solder them together. It did look easy and fun.

In addition to stained glass she also has mosaics and pastels, which she does on high quality sandpaper. She likes to work in places like Taos and Black Mesa, taking pictures in the early morning and evening, when the colors are most exciting, and then working from the photos. "Usually people can recognize them," she said.

The New Village Arts

When I heard that Ken Nebel (along with his partner Jim O'Donnel, who also runs the movie theater) bought Village Arts, that it would be more than just a store. The new store, now located at 216 DP Road, will be a valuable local resource for all kinds of creative people.

Ken said, "I never saw myself as a business owner, but already I'm living out some dreams....I have al sorts of ideas forming in my head. It will take awhile to get to some of them."

Just walking into the store you can tell that he's approaching the business with a sense of fun and creativity. Monsters, hand made by Nebel and his co-workers Alicia Gore and Kelly Riebe hang in the front window.

The front of the store is currently featuring the photography of Peter A. Csahadi. Nebel is thinking of buying one of the photos of animals for the store and is asking people to vote on their favorite.

The cash register sits on the original bar from the historic Fuller Lodge - O'Donnel found in someone's basement and bought it. Behind that you can where they do the framing, and behind that there is the "one-fanny workshop," a woodworking shop, and a practice room for musicians. In February or March they will start to have classes there. The classes will be short workshops where people can complete the class in one day.

He's not going to sell home decor like they did in the old store, but instead broaden the art supplies section. He said, "There's a lot of things people do in town." He wants to be able to accommodate as many art forms as possible. He even wants to start yarn, needles and embroidery supplies. "If there's something you don't see, or need, just let me know."