Spencer Beckwith On The Arts Spencer Beckwith

An interview recorded in 2016 with Antoine Predock.

In the early years, rock 'n' roll posters were pretty basic -- large legible print, studio photos of the performers and one or two primary colors as accent. In the 1960s, responding to changes in music and society, there was an explosion of new ideas about what a rock poster could be. An outstanding collection of these posters, Dreams Unreal, is on display through April 12 at the Albuquerque Museum.

Over 500 people crowded into Albuquerque's Harwood Art Center last year for the opening of Recycled Heart, an exhibit of artwork made from cast-off objects. The proceeds from that night's sales, over $3,000, went directly to the artists, many of whom lived on the streets. That annual exhibit is back this month, presented by ArtStreet, the community art studio of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless. Barbara Jensen, who runs ArtStreet, explains how this open studio provides AHCH with "a natural venue for engagement with folks who are on the street."

Covering Super Bowl XLIX in Phoenix a few years ago, New York Times journalist Michael Powell, disheartened by the commercialism of the big game, drove north into Navajo country to spend time with a community known for its love of basketball. He ultimately spent six months with the Chinle High School Wildcats as they pursued a state championship. The result is his book, Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation. "Basketball is a passion play there. In a town of 3,000," Powell told KUNM, "5,000 will show up on the night of a big game."

Towns in 18th Century New Mexico were built as enclosures. Outside adobe walls were windowless and doorless, facing inward were homes and a place of worship, and at the center was a plaza. New Mexico's last such remaining structure is the timeworn but largely intact Plaza Del Cerro in Chimayo. In 2017, hoping to save this historic place, the Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association teamed up the Santa Fe non-profit Cornerstones Community Partnerships. Cornerstones Director Jake Barrow spoke with KUNM about the significance of the plaza and what the partners have done to preserve it.

When her husband Alfred Stieglitz died in 1946, Georgia O'Keeffe left New Mexico to settle Stieglitz's complicated finances in New York. She wound up having to stay in the city for three years. One of her few paintings from that disruptive period is a memory of her New Mexico home. Spring from 1948 remained in O'Keeffe's private collection until her death. The painting is now in the collection of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and last fall the Museum received a grant for a much-needed restoration of Spring. Head Conservator Dale Kronkright spoke with KUNM about the work he and his colleagues will be doing during that year-long process.