Art+Tea Podcast

Taos is privileged to have as one of its residents world-renowned artist Larry Bell. Larry’s work has been associated with the West Coast Minimalist movement called Light and Space. Light and Space artists designed objects and environments concerned with perception and illusion often using industrial materials and finishes.  Larry has been producing work and exploring a myriad of media and materials for more than 40 years. The artist has working studios in both Taos, NM and Los Angeles, CA commuting regularly between the two places. Larry’s work is featured in many major museums collections around the world. Larry had tea with us at his studio in Taos where we were joined by the artist’s constant companion, his dog Pinkie.

Agnes Chavez is a new media artist, educator, and co-director of The Paseo Taos. She collaborates with artists, programmers and youth, combining data visualization, sound and projection art to create participatory environments. She collaborated with two Berlin based artists, Marcel Schwittlick and Robert Schirmer, to create Origination Point, which debuted at the 2015 Havana Biennial in Cuba and is now on view at the Harwood Museum of Art until May 1, 2016. Agnes invited us to her studio on the mesa to share her passion for art, science and technology. 

TO JOHN DE PUY  Madman and seer,  painter of the apocalyptic volcano of the world — Compañero, I am with you forever in the glorious fraternity of the damned.  —Edward Abbey  The expressionist paintings of John De Puy conjure a sense of a life spent striving to capture the spiritual in art. John is a third-generation New Mexican. His grandfather, Chester De Puy, came to the Southwest in the 1880s and ran a grain mill in Mora, New Mexico. John’s parents moved east during the early years of the Great Depression, and John was born in New Jersey in 1927. His family soon returned to the Taos area.  After enduring severe injuries as a medic in the Korean War, John dedicated himself to art by studying expressionism with modernist Vaclav Vytlacil and abstract painter Hans Hoffman in New York City. John returned to Taos in the 1950s where he became part of the group of artists soon to be recognized as the Taos Modernists. It was at this time that he met renowned writer and environmental activist Edward Abbey who would become his closest friend for the next four decades until Abbey’s death in 1989. The two kindred souls made a vow to chronicle the landscapes of the Southwest – John through his painting and Abbey through his writing.   John invited us to his studio in Ojo Caliente, NM for our Art+Tea conversation. The Harwood Museum of Art is featuring John’s work in an exhibition through May 1, 2016

Rachel Preston Prinz defies easy definition; she is an architectural historian, a designer, a writer, a film producer and a compassionate advocate for making the world a better place.  Rachel believes that the built environment surrounding us plays an integral part in the formation of our lives. Her work investigates traditional and modern approaches to architecture, agriculture, culture, and landscape to address how we might not only survive, but also thrive, and to do so, sustainably. For our Art+Tea conversation, Rachel took us into the earth of an ancient underground dwelling called a ‘pit-house’. These simple and efficient homes found throughout the southwest were built and inhabited by native americans who lived here almost a thousand years ago.  Check out the Art+Tea website for photos including some of our tea party with Rachel. The site also features links on how to follow this podcast – and best of all, David’s recipe and tips.  Thanks to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, NM and Art of Flying for the music.

Debbie Long is a visual artist whose works engage the physical phenomena of light, color, and space and how these phenomena communicate outside the language of words. She refers to her process as a ‘corralling of happy accidents’, which seems to capture the sense of wonder in her work. One of Debbie’s recent artworks, Naima, 2013, is a chamber of purple light and glass hidden inside an unassuming rusty trailer. Hundreds of handmade cast glass objects collect light from the sky. The interior changes as light shifts throughout the day from sunrise to sunset. Each piece of glass is cast and the mold is destroyed in the firing process, making each element a unique sculptural element connected to the cycles of light and built to be experienced over time. Debbie invited us into the Naima Trailer for our Art+Tea Conversation where David served a Cashew Dream cake with Earl Gray tea. Check out the Art+Tea website for photos including some of our tea party with Debbie. The site also features links on how to follow this podcast – and best of all, David’s recipe and tips. Thanks to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, NM and Art of Flying for the music. 

For our first Art+Tea session, we had Earl Gray Tea and Peach Tarts with Taos-based artist-activist Scott Moore. Scott is the Director of the Beautiful Midden project. A midden is a term for a refuse pile or dump. The Beautiful Midden project stages artistic interventions addressing illegal dumping into Northern New Mexico’s fragile waterways. David and I were really curious about how the project uses art for social and cultural change.  For our discussion, Scott drove us out to the original Beautiful Midden site on the stunningly gorgeous mesa overlooking the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Pueblo rivers in Taos County. You’ll hear Scott talk about art, activism and what led him down his path.  Enjoy the conversation! Check out the Art+Tea website for photos including some of our tea party with Scott. The site also features links on how to follow this podcast – and best of all, David’s pastry recipe and tips (with reflective thoughts). Thanks to the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, NM Art of Flying for the music.