Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday, but it serves as a modest kickoff to the best time of the year: the Christmas and winter holiday season. I start the day after Thanksgiving and keep it going right up until Ash Wednesday. For me and my household, these winter months are a time to celebrate what and whom we hold close.

The house we live in now is the house we have lived in the longest. It is where we cared for both of my parents until their deaths. It is where we reimagined our lives and managed a business through the shock of the pandemic. And like many New Mexico homes, it is filled with art from local artists. None are from Santa Fe or Taos.

A number of the works are gifts. In the 1990s a Silver City artist drew an astonishing charcoal portrait of me and one of my mother, and one in color of one of my sisters. Nancy Sims worked full time in management at Gila Regional Medical Center but was drawn to the human face, perhaps from her career in nursing. Despite long hours at the hospital, she made beautiful art to give away. I don’t know if she ever had a formal show before her death.

Nancy took a photo a friend made of me while we were students at the Defense Information School and made a close-in study of my face only. It’s me, and it’s more than me. It’s so large (three times the size of a normal face), and so expressive (I see my own fears, bordering on despair, reflected back at me) it is more than just an accurate rendering. It is a statement about what lies behind a seemingly benign gaze.

A dear school friend gave me one of Harry Benjamin’s cinnamon angels for a wedding gift. She is ceramic, and well, cinnamon-y and comforting. Harry Benjamin was one of Silver City’s best-known artists, working in many media, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

I keep my angel propped in a niche just off my kitchen next to my favorite piece in the house: a woodblock print of Whitewater Canyon at the Catwalk in the Gila. I was in the Leyba & Ingalls gallery in Silver years ago and it leapt out at me. I was even more struck when I saw the signature – Philip Parotti.

Philip’s parents came to Silver City so his father, Abramo, could start the music department at Western New Mexico University in the late 1930s. I had heard stories about “Pep” as a little girl taking piano lessons from Philip’s mother, Jerry Parotti. Any of Mrs. Parotti’s students could tell you, piano lessons were fun! They were as much storytime as music instruction. Mrs. Parotti would tell you what Silver City and WNMU were like in the 40s and 50s, who dated whom in the faculty and eventually married someone else, and everything else interesting about the town. And her kids, Pep and Judy, were always part of her storytelling.

So I like keeping my cozy cinnamon angel and Pep’s Catwalk together. It’s my home sweet home corner. My brooding Nancy Sims portrait watches over them from a safe distance.

The incredibly flattering headshot I use for my column comes from a wonderful Albuquerque artist, Kyle Zimmerman. Kyle is a phenomenal photographer who made a name for herself as a commercial photographer while supporting multiple artistic endeavors before becoming a top real estate name in the metro area. Kyle sees the spark of light in everything she encounters, whether people or homes.

I can’t write about artists who move me without talking about the Independent’s former publisher. Leota Harriman knows how to do a lot of hard things that most of us don’t. She can distill a five-hour town council meeting down to 800 unemotional words. She can run a grueling seven-day-a-week business (news does not get days off).

Leota can also make art. Since selling her newspaper, she’s been featured in several art shows and has now opened a studio in Las Vegas. I am eager to visit it. On December 2, she has a solo show opening at La Galería at The Shaffer in Mountainair. While scrolling through the details for the show, I discovered another artist who used to live in Silver City, Dianne Doan, who also has her work featured at La Galería. I love how connected the art community is!

Perhaps one reason I am so fascinated with the visual arts is that they completely elude me. I have vaguely legible handwriting and that is the end of my fine motor skills. Back when times were lighter (2019?) this column was occasionally funny; writing and humor are creative outlets for me. Based on recent reader emails, I am doing at best a marginal job.

Heading into the winter holidays, I am eager to decorate, feast and gift. These are all important expressions for me, and art makes them better. Art is a lovely way to complete your holiday shopping lists; and the local art fairs are celebratory events themselves. I wish you all grace and peace.

Philip Parotti’s work can be purchased at Leyba & Ingalls Arts: https://www.leybaingallsarts.com/gallery/

Kyle Zimmerman is really busy putting Albuquerque families in great houses! One of Kyle Zimmerman’s best colleagues, Kate Rodriguez Duran, is a talented photographer in the East Mountains: https://katethephotographer.com/

Leota Harriman’s studio is live in Las Vegas: https://www.lotusbe.art/. For details on her solo show at La Galeria at The Shaffer, visit https://lagaleria-theshaffer.com/

Dianne Doan’s work is at La Galería and at her at her gallery in Mountainair: https://graydovesartgallery.com/

Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at news.ind.merritt@gmail.com.