New Mexico August E-Newsletter Articles

New Mexico Tourism Department, Hyatt Regency Tamaya Offer
‘Let's Go New Mexico’ Vacation Giveaway

tamaya

Two lucky travelers will find themselves exploring “The Best Place in the Universe” in style as guests of the fabulous Hyatt Regency Tamaya, located on Santa Ana Pueblo between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Brought to you by the New Mexico Tourism Department and the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, this amazing vacation features out-of-this world delights, valued at $4,000, including:

  • A three-night stay in Executive Suite;
  • Breakfast each morning;
  • Dinner for two in the Corn Maiden Restaurant;
  • A 60-minute spa treatment for two in the Tamaya Mist Spa, recently ranked eighth in a list of the “Top 25 Hotel Spas” in the continental U.S. and Canada in a Travel & Leisure Magazine World’s Best Spas poll;
  • Trail ride for two at the Stable at Tamaya;
  • Hot-air balloon ride for two;
  • A $100 gas card for Warrior Fuel;
  • Golf for two at the Twin Warriors Golf Club, a Golf Magazine Silver Medal Resort, that stretches across grassy knolls and ridges dotted with sage, juniper and piñon; skirts 20 ancient cultural sites; and provides golfers with scenic, high desert views and a course to challenge all skill levels.

The experience at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa is truly one-of-a-kind. Recognized by Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List “Among the World’s Best Places to Stay” in 2008, and ranked 33rd by Condé Nast Traveler’s “Top 50 Mainland U.S. Resorts” in 2007, Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa’s enchanting combination of setting and hospitality leaves guests with a unique feeling of serenity and rejuvenation.

Visit www.newmexico.org/sweepstakes to enter!

World’s Largest, Santa Fe Indian Market, is August 23-24

indian market

The Santa Fe Plaza is host to the most prestigious Native American arts show in the world - the annual Santa Fe Indian Market – on August 23 and 24, 2008.

The Santa Fe Indian Market has long been the place where Native American art meets the world. Each year the Santa Fe Indian Market includes 1,200 artists from about 100 tribes who show their work in over 600 booths. The event attracts an estimated 100,000 visitors to Santa Fe from all over the world. Buyers, collectors and gallery owners come to Indian Market to take advantage of the opportunity to buy directly from the artists. For many visitors, this is a rare opportunity to meet the artists and learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures. Quality is the hallmark of the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Demonstrations by Native American groups and artists allow visitors a chance to learn more about different tribal and artistic traditions. A book booth sells educational and informative books, some signed by Native American authors. From Indian tacos to chili stews to mutton on fry bread, a unique taste of Native American culture is available from early morning until the market closes.

Santa Fe Indian Market is sponsored by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA). Their mission is to advocate for Native American arts and cultures (particularly those in the Southwest), and to create economic and cultural opportunities for Native American artists by producing and promoting the Santa Fe Indian Market as the finest Indian art event in the world; cultivating excellence and innovation across traditional and non-traditional art forms; and developing programs and events that support, promote, and honor Native American artists year-round.

Visit www.swaia.org/market.php

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture to Exhibit Pottery of Cochiti
and Santo Domingo Pueblos

pueblo art

'A River Apart: The Pottery of Cochiti and Santo Domingo Pueblos,' a new exhibition at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (Camino Lejo off Old Santa Fe Trail), presents ceramic masterpieces of Cochiti and Santo Domingo Pueblos. The exhibit opens October 19, 2008, and continues through June 6, 2010. This exhibit is a fascinating case study in how cultures develop; how art, culture and community are interwoven; and how art is created, interpreted, valued, bought and sold.

To decipher what discoveries can be made and identities established through the nearly 250 pieces in the exhibition, visitors are provided with a choice of viewpoints: art historical, anthropological, curatorial and artistic. This multi-vocal approach reveals that the pottery represents more than anthropological artifacts or art for the marketplace. From this exhibit, we learn much about the Pueblos' history, communities, and the various artists' responses to influences from the outside world. This exhibit is a fascinating case study in how cultures develop; how art, culture and community are interwoven; and how art is created, interpreted, valued, bought and sold.

Separated by the central Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, Cochiti and Santo Domingo Pueblos shared a ceramic tradition for centuries until increasing contact with outsiders ushered in tumultuous changes that set the pueblos on divergent paths. Cochiti Pueblo more freely modified its traditional forms of painted pottery to appeal to new markets created when the railroads started bringing in tourists from the East in 1898, while the Santo Domingo Pueblo shunned the influences of the tourist trade and art market, continuing an artistic tradition that was conservative and insular.

An often-repeated story told by former curator of ethnology Edmund Ladd, which he swore was true, illustrates the profound, and yet commonly held misunderstanding of America's indigenous populations. Tourists, returning from a visit to the several northern New Mexico Pueblos, were convinced that the Museum peopled the villages as a living exhibit. "They don't really live there, do they?" the tourists asked.

To combat this widely accepted and romanticized view of Indian people as mysterious past occupants of abandoned ruins, this exhibit presents the cultures of Cochiti and Santo Domingo, expressed through their individual pottery traditions, as the dynamic and living people they are today.

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture is located on Museum Hill in Santa Fe. "Here, Now and Always," a major permanent exhibition at the, combines the voices of living Native Americans with ancient and contemporary artifacts and interactive multimedia to tell the complex stories of the Southwest. The Buchsbaum Gallery displays ceramics from the region's pueblos. Five changing galleries present exhibits on subjects ranging from archaeological excavations to contemporary art. In addition, an outdoor sculpture garden offers rotating exhibits of works by Native American sculptors.

The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

For more information contact
Valerie Verzuh, Exhibit Curator, 505-476-1296 or valerie.verzuh@state.nm.us;
Steve Cantrell, PR Manager, 505-476-1144 or steve.cantrell@state.nm.us;
or visit www.indianartsandculture.org.
The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 

New Mexico Sports Authority Presents
Legendary Pete Sampras in "Pit" Exhibition

Pete Sampras

The New Mexico Sports Authority, a program of the New Mexico Tourism Department, is joining ProLink Sports-Entertainment-Media to host “the greatest tennis player of all time,” Pete Sampras, and ATP Tour star Sam Querrey in an exhibition tennis match on September 12, 2008, at University of New Mexico Arena (the Pit) in Albuquerque.

Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon winner and holder of a record 14 Grand Slam tournament singles titles, will play Querrey, a member of the U.S. Olympic team, in a two-out-of-three-set exhibition.

The pair will headline the first-ever Tennis Classic, which will also feature local players in an innovative tiebreak shootout format. The format highlights the skills of area juniors, wheelchair athletes and local college players. All proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the UNM Children’s Hospital.

Sampras is still on top of his game and is excited about the opportunity to come to Albuquerque and play American Sam Querrey. Querrey staked his claim as one of the top players in the word last year when he defeated No. 10 James Blake to advance to the ATP semifinal at the 2007 Indianapolis Tennis Championships. In his win over Blake, Querrey fired a career-high 36 aces, including a record 10 in a row.

“Sam is playing great and he should be match tough following the Olympics and the U. S. Open," Sampras said. “And, as a huge basketball fan, it will also be an honor for me to battle it out in the Pit. It is a legendary arena that has such great sports history and tradition.”

Tickets for the Tennis Classic are available on line through www.unmtickets.com, at select Albertson stores in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area or by calling 505-925-5858 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ticket prices are $28.50, $48.50 and $88.50.