Where We Meet: Conversations from New Mexico and Beyond Taos Center for the Arts

Our guest today is Yvonne Montoya. Montoya is a New Mexican choreographer whose current work, Stories from Home, is grounded in her identity and her family’s stories. With her company, Safos, they presented workshops at the Wildflower Playhouse and will present their dance performance on TCA’s stage, on Sunday, April 21st, 2024.



Stories From Home premiered in Washington DC, at the Kennedy Center. It received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and a multitude of Arizona based funding as well.



In this conversation with Alice Morillon, Montoya talks of the aesthetics and uniqueness of New Mexico, and how she incorporates them into her work. She shares the centrality of family in her life and creative endeavors. She reflects on the erasure of this region’s history on a national scale and frames her work within this context.

Estelle Laure is the author of ten published and/or forthcoming picture books and young adult novels, including acclaimed novel This Raging Light and Disney's City of Villains trilogy. Laure was raised in Taos where she still lives and works today. She is an english language arts teacher at Taos Academy and is the young writers program curator at SOMOS and runs a youth writer group.

In conversation with Sawyer Sides and Julia Edmonds, she talk about the work she completes at SOMOS, how it impacts the youth in the community, and how she came to be at SOMOS.

Sawyer Sides and Julia Edmonds are interns with TCA and seniors at Taos Academy. They are a part of the work Estelle Laure has completed within Taos Academy and SOMOS.

Our guest today is writer Miriam Sagan. Sagan has written over 30 books of poetry, novels and essays. She has been a writer in residence in many places around the world.

Since 1984, Sagan lives in Santa Fe, where she created and taught the creative writing program at the Santa Fe Community College. Her latest work, Commune of the Golden Sun, came out in January 2024.

In this conversation with Alice Morillon, Sagan tells us about the writing scene in Santa Fe in the 80s. She shares the importance she sees in supporting other writers in getting their work into the world, along with the complexities of that task. She touches on the role of inheritance in her creative work, and what education can do for one, both in personal and professional realms.

Ray Archuleta is a soil scientist and farmer, who lives in Seymour, MO and grew up in Espanola, NM.

For 30 years, Archuleta worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service before retiring in 2017. He then focused on teaching Biomimicry strategies and Agroecology principles for improving soil function on a national scale.

In this conversation with Alice Morillon, he discusses the principles of Regenerative Agriculture before considering its application to Northern New Mexico.



References:

Kiss the Ground (documentary)

Allan Savory, Holistic Management

Gabe Brown, Dirt to Soil



 

Carlos Hernandez is a multimedia artist that has worked out of Taos since 2019. He holds an MFA in Video and Performance Art, and has pursued many fields of art including, sculpture, sound, film, painting and drawing.

His exhibition, Eros in the Ether: Figurative Architecture, will be shown at the Encore Gallery March 1st - April 14th 2024. It showcases a series of oil paintings that focus on perception of space and the relationship between individuals and their surrounding environment.

This is a live conversation with Alice Morillon.

Francisco El Comanche Gonzales is a community activist and educator whose practices center on the heritage of the Comanches. With his community, he leads dancing, singing and traditional customs. Los Comanches de la Serna are located in Ranchos de Taos.

This radio program is supported by the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area.