by Dan Roblee
Tradition, talent and tip-top weather converged Dec. 1 at the kickoff of the 32nd Annual Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch (MHSR) Studio Show. That combination led to a great day for vendors, Christmas shoppers and longtime friends of the Ranch who showed up for the occasion.
“On this day last year it was very difficult to get here because the road to Silver City was closed due to snow,” said exhibiting photographer Mitchell Clinton.
This Saturday, on the other hand, “could not have been more perfect,” said show co-organizer and exhibiting potter Kate Brown, who's been around since the very first MHSR studio show in 1980. “There have been more crowded Saturdays,” she added, “but this is a good one.”
Chef Brenna Brown said nearly 50 people bought full-plate lunches on Saturday, with numerous others sampling soups and single dishes. Longtime exhibitors guesstimated that the total number of guests approached 200.
Sundays are usually the slower half of the two day fair, but that didn't stop show organizers from pulling out the stops with live music, door prizes and good food to complement the art on display. Vendors offered everything from paintings, clothing and jewelry to hand-crafted knives, carved or fired kitchenware and found-art holiday ornaments starting as low as three dollars.
“It's a can't miss for Silver City arties,” said Fred Pineda, a massage therapist who offered either table or chair massage sessions to guests after helping his wife Robin Parsons set up her pottery display.
For Daria Tallman, a 16-year Mimbres Valley resident and three-decade metalworker and jeweler, the fair demonstrated the growth she's seen in the Grant County art scene since her arrival, both in scope and in the overall explosion of galleries. “People are being more innovative,” she said. “Culturally, I'm seeing changes. Styles are being accepted that are outside the purely Western style.”
Not that Tallman has anything against Western art. Her cowgirl hat, in-barn studio and gallery, and much of her jewelry and sculpture demonstrate her own Western – with a twist – sensibility. Tallman, who's been exhibiting at the MSHR show for four years, said she finds it a great place to network with other artists, as well as a potentially lucrative venue. “I have a following from here that comes to see me every year,” she said, adding that the show “has a way of bringing people from afar.”
Nancy Evey, a Silver City resident finally able to move home after years in Santa Fe, came mostly for the eclectic crowd itself. “I really like to watch the people,” she said. “I like it even better than the art.”
One unique facet of the show was the kids' room, where younger artists displayed their work. “First it was all our children, and some of the kids now are the second generation in there,” Brown said.
One of the children on hand, Ben Horner, 13, was one of the few folks of any age to double as both exhibiter and performing musician. On break from his exhibit of found-art ornaments, he played a set on the fiddle above his bill-sprinkled case. Horner later explained the process that went into his ornaments. “I went into the yard and sheds, found rusty cans and bolts and wire and stuff, got a drill and drilled holes, and screwed bolts in to make robot heads and other creations.”
For Orien MacDonald, a neighbor from down the valley who sold hand-crafted knives, exhibiting was possibly secondary to the trip down memory lane he took returning to the Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch. A friend of residents' children, he was hanging out there during the same formative years he spent first trying to fit blades into handles. “If when I was nine I knew I'd be a professional knife maker in my thirties, I'd have been super-excited,” he said.
Photographers Mitchell Clinton and Dan Roblee recorded the 2012 Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Studio Show in photos.
Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonThe crowd begins to thin as shadows fall over the courtyard at the Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Studio Sale Dec. 1.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonOrien MacDonald of Old School Tools http://www.oldschooltools.etsy.com/ eats one of Brenna BrownG??s lunches behind a display of his hand-crafted knives and tools.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy http://www.clintonphoto.com/ WhoG??s manning the booth? WellGǪ it should be Mitchell Clinton, but heG??s shooting pictures, as usual.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonCedar Smith smiles while chatting with show goers above her display of hand forged copper and silver jewelry.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonLynnae McConaha, of Chamomile Connection http://www.chamomileconnection.com/fabrics, and a fairgoer look over some jewelry.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonRomaine Begay shows off his pottery at one of the showG??s indoor booths.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo courtesy Mitchell ClintonArt afficionados look over paintings by Marilyn Gendron.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeCamren Feldmen, 6, plays in the grass while enjoying the fine fiddling of the Irish Session Group.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeKate Brown, http://www.katebrownpottery.com/, a founding organizer and exhibiter at the MHSR Studio Show, describes the process she used to mold and fire one of her unique pieces of pottery.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeMassage Therapist Fred Pineda of FredG??s Massage Works gives a chair massage to a tired exhibitor as SaturdayG??s show winds down. fpinedamassage@gmail.com
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeFrom left, Cherie Polly, Brooke Feldman and Camren Feldman, 6, get the Desert Woman herbal remedies and gifts booth set up early Saturday morning.
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeLarry Taylor of Flutes by Uskala strums a melodic medieval tune while fellow musician Lynda Aiman-Smith takes a break.dancefifer@hotmail.com
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeIn the kids' room, from left, Ben Horner, 13, Zach Horner, 15, and Escher Bowers, 12, display their wares, which consisted largely of found-object art
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Mimbres Hot Springs Ranch Art Show Photos
Photo by Dan RobleeLynnae McConaha of Chamomile Connection shows one of her homespun garments to Monica Rude while Janice Tripp knits on steadily.
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