FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 26, 2022 

Contact: Michelle Lanteri, Curator of Collections & Exhibitions, Millicent Rogers Museum 575.758.2462 x208, michelle@millicentrogers.org 

“SOUTHWEST REFLECTIONS: IN BETWEEN SHADOWS OF THE LAND” EXHIBITION FOCUSES ON NINE NEW MEXICO ARTISTS AS DOCUMENTARIANS OF THE LAND 

The Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico presents Southwest Reflections: In Between Shadows of the Land, an exhibition offering a diverse exploration of nine New Mexican artists’ documentations of environmental relationships and the ways these events become conveyed through shadows, reflections, and movements. Curated by Michelle Lanteri, Millicent Rogers Museum’s Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, the exhibition opens to public audiences on Saturday, October 8, 2022, and it will be on view through January 29, 2023. The concept of “in between shadows” references the contrast of light in the land in tandem with the decisive moments that shape the future of particular places in the Southwest region, including the artists’ practices as actions of intervention and change themselves.

Offering a common thread to life, everything that exists bears a shadow. As the second installment of the Millicent Rogers Museum’s “New Mexico Artists” series, Southwest Reflections: In Between Shadows of the Land focuses on New Mexican artists’ direct reflections of Southwest lands through shadow-driven processes. These art forms include pottery, book arts, paintings, prints, photography, videography, and weaving. The featured artists—Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel, Dora Dillistone, Juanita J. Lavadie (Chicana/Taoseña), Lorraine Gala Lewis (Laguna Pueblo/Hopi-Tewa/Taos Pueblo), Pola Lopez (Chicana), Collette Marie (Mestiza/Chicana), Brandon Adriano Ortiz (Taos Pueblo), and Will Wilson (Diné [Navajo])—approach the land as a site of truth-telling from several cultural perspectives. 

Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel make large, cotton cyanotypes at the U.S./Mexico border zones to record ongoing change. Dora Dillistone creates dirt paintings made by rain, burned paintings of found matter, and ink drawings of explosions. Juanita J. Lavadie’s paintings convey the four elements, the social landscape of the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, and woven shirts paired with scrapbooks to remember earlier ways of life in New Mexico. Lorraine Gala Lewis’ pottery creates a tether to the first millennia CE through recreations of Southwest ancestral pottery designs. Pola Lopez’s paintings reflect on the fires in Mora, New Mexico as an emotive response to destruction and regeneration of familial homelands. Collette Marie’s prints on paper and wood speak to the influence of Mimbres and Hispanic art forms of the Southwest, focusing on local animals. Brandon Adriano Ortiz’s micaceous pottery renews an Indigenous connection with the Tiwa lands of Taos, and the fire clouds create imprints of the process of transforming clay. Will Wilson’s aerial photographs of the Navajo Nation document the ongoing damage of uranium mining to the land and look to Indigenous ways of healing these toxic sites. 

In the Southwest region, an area known by many names, these artists create their work through strategies of regeneration, or acts of regrowing after experiences of loss, within the ever-shifting envelope of shadows in the land. They grapple with ongoing inscriptions on the land and drastic

changes in climate and ecologies—all emerging out of the politics of resources, labor, survival, and love, within layered contexts of impermanence and permanence. They employ their art to investigate cultural impacts on the health and regeneration of the Southwest environment. Physical movements both among species and in between shadows reveal interdependent relationships with visible influences, particularly between art practices, cultural politics, and land. 

The exhibition includes a series of “Curated Conversations” roundtable discussions with the artists and an associated series of kids’ art workshops. The discussions seek to offer audiences more insights into the artists’ relationships with the land. The themes of the roundtable talks focus on the artists’ influences, source material, and cultural dynamics embedded into the artworks on view. The exhibition and roundtable programs are sponsored by New Mexico Arts. 

Offered as a free and drop-in activity for all ages, the kids’ workshops facilitate opportunities for conversation and questions. They focus on the interrelationships of people and settlement patterns with earth elements, land formations, characteristics, and use of resources. The kids’ workshops are sponsored by Taos Community Foundation and Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

Schedule of Events (All events at the Millicent Rogers Museum): 

October 8, 2022-January 29, 2023, Exhibition on View 

October 8, 2022, 5:30-7:30pm, Public Reception (Curatorial Walkthrough 6pm; Refreshments Served. Free event.) 

October 9, 2022 

11am-3pm, Kids Workshop: Serigraph: Exploring the Art of Screenprinting 1-2pm, “Mirrored Reflections: Ancestral Influences in Art” Roundtable, 

Collette Marie and Lorraine Gala Lewis 

October 16, 2022 

11am-3pm, Kids Workshop: Dancing Shadows: Exploring the Art of Movement and Shadow with Katie Martin of Taos Dance Academy 

1-2pm, “Cultural Imprints: Light, Shadow, and Transformation in Art” Roundtable, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Julie Chase-Daniel, and Brandon Adriano Ortiz 

October 23, 2022 

11am-3pm, Kids Workshop: Bug Reflections: Exploring Color and Nature Patterns with guest artist, Dora Dillistone 

1-2pm, “Locational Memories: Reflecting Time and Place in Art” Roundtable, Juanita J. Lavadie and Dora Dillistone 

October 30, 2022 

11am-3pm, Kids Workshop: Cyanotypes: Exploring Sun Prints 

November 6, 2022 

1-2pm, “Land: Reflection, Regeneration, and Art” Roundtable, Will Wilson and Pola Lopez

The Millicent Rogers Museum celebrates and shares the arts and cultures of the Southwest through its exhibitions and programs focused on the creative expressions of communities throughout the region, with an emphasis on Native American and Hispanic makers. Millicent Rogers (1902-1953), a jewelry designer, was the granddaughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers, one of the founders of the Standard Oil Company. In 1956, Millicent’s son, Paul Peralta-Ramos, established the museum both as a memorial to his mother and to showcase the arts and cultures of the region that inspired her during her years in Taos. Peralta-Ramos dedicated much of his life to building the museum’s extraordinary collection of more than 7,000 objects. 

Museum hours are 10am to 5pm. It is open seven days a week through October 31. The museum is closed on Wednesdays during Winter Hours (November 1-March 31). General admission is $12, with free admission daily for veterans, members, and children 12 and under. Taos County residents receive free entry to the museum every Sunday.