The Santa Fe Experience
March 3-7, 2010

We remember, and therefore we are. We record, and therefore we will be.

For 100 years, artists have flocked to Santa Fe, attracted by its arid beauty and the chance to re-create themselves. The work of those artists who are Jewish incorporates an understanding of their heritage and of themselves as modern Jews—some embrace and redefine that heritage, while others rebel against or reject it—and with resonances that may illuminate a deeper struggle with the past than is obvious on first glance.

Life in Santa Fe is influenced by the subterranean existence of the hidden Jews, the Conversos or Marranos, and their descendents who survive in Spanish outposts like New Mexico. Jews in Santa Fe live in this paradox. They have the freedom to be or not to be Jewish—and yet they are surrounded by ghosts of Jews who were not free to make that same choice, who were forced to give up Judaism but preserved their heritage nevertheless, in odd traces that survive as family custom and lore. This historical irony is not lost on those who live in the realm of imagination and story, and finds expression in the artistic and religious life of this community.

The Santa Fe Jewish community lives alongside two other communities that struggle to keep their cultural heritage: Native Americans, with their extraordinary baskets and carvings, and Hispanics, with their tapestries and folk art, are engaged in the same paradox of how to remain affiliated and proud within the larger forces of assimilation, homogeneity, and modernity. We learn from contrast and example what it means to be a people in the ethnic mix that is modern America.

On this trip, the Jewish Women's Archive will explore the rich mix that uniquely defines Santa Fe and provide participants with an inside view of this fascinating community.

Final Itinerary

Wednesday, March 3

All Day   Check in to the Hotel Santa Fe, the city's only Native American owned hotel. This beautiful facility is located in historic downtown Santa Fe in the heart of the new Guadalupe Railyard District, considered the Soho of Santa Fe. Museums, galleries, shops, and restaurants await you just outside its doors. The Hotel prides itself on its dedication to maintaining the traditions of the past while providing modern comforts of the present.

7:00 PM   Visit to Betsy Ehrenberg's home to view her private glass collection.

Thursday, March 4

7:00 AM   Begin your day with local yoga expert Rima Miller
Buffet breakfast in lobby.

8:30 AM   Orientation by Susan Berk, your local guide
Keynote speaker: Lois Rudnick

9:30   Travel to the studio of poet and artist Lorraine Schechter, whose work affirms the struggle for a more bountiful life.

11:30 AM   Depart for School of Advanced Research (SAR), for private Native American cuisine lunch (provided by Chefs Walter Whitewater and Lois Ellen Frank of Red Mesa Cuisine) and tour of the collections. SAR illuminates questions of fundamental human concern through research and dialogue among exceptional social scientists, artists, and humanists. Over its 100 year history, SAR has played an important role in promoting the professionalization of anthropology and the recognition of Southwestern Native American arts and artists.

 

2:30 PM   Museum Director Fran Levine guides you through an introduction to the new New Mexico History Museum, a cultural venue featuring stories on the long life of an ancient land that became New Mexico.

4:00 PM   Return to Hotel Santa Fe to freshen up and relax

5:30 PM   Depart for a wine reception at Casa Nova Gallery, highly regarded for its unique blend of color, art, craft, contemporary design, and furnishings. Owner Natalie Fitzgerald welcomes you to an environment that is urban, edgy, and vibrant with echoes of the traditional forms of old Africa and the exotic, energetic forms of New Africa.

6:15 PM   Depart for Quail Run, for private dinner. Guest speakers: Miriam Sagan, Pat Shapiro, and Judy Fein.

Friday, March 5

7:00 AM   Refresh your body; clarify your mind at morning yoga with Rima Miller.

8:00 AM   Depart for Patina Gallery, for breakfast with Allison Buchsbaum Barnett and Ivan Barnett

9:30 AM   Private tour of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Research Center Library, the single largest repository in the world of O'Keeffe's work.

Noon   Luncheon at the library of the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi, Santa Fe's most lauded hotel with guest speakers: Joan Logghe, Carol Franco, James McGrath Morris, and Nancy King. Chef Oliver Ridgeway's contemporary American cuisine celebrates an innovative approach to food, focusing on seasonal ingredients.

1:30 PM   Take a trip up historic Canyon Road. Meet the artists: Lena Keslin at the Edge Gallery, Phyllis Kapp at Waxlander Gallery and Sculpture Garden, and the Jane Sauer Gallery.

4:00 PM   Return to Hotel Santa Fe to freshen up and relax

6:00 PM   Depart for La Posada Hotel for Shabbat dinner Santa Fe-style led by Rabbi Malka Drucker and Cantor Cindy Freedman.

9:00 PM   Return to Hotel Santa Fe

Saturday, March 6

Morning   Breakfast on your own
Free morning for Shabbat services, shopping, or museum hopping on Museum Hill

Noon   Lunch on your own

1:00 PM   Visit the extraordinary new facility of the Santa Fe Art Institute in a private tour. The SFAI provides a unique opportunity for emerging artists to pursue an intense period of study with critically acclaimed visiting artists. Bringing together prominent individuals and institutions in the arts, sciences, and humanities, SFAI enlivens local, national, and international discourse through residencies, lectures, workshops, publications, exhibitions, and educational and outreach programming. Their exceptional complex of gallery, exhibition, and studio space is a new landmark on the local arts scene. Guest speakers: photographer Gay Block, anthropologist Doris Francis, artist Gloria Abella.

4:00 PM   Return to Hotel Santa Fe to freshen up and relax

6:15 PM   Join celebrations at Lensic Performing Arts Center and hear renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz speak as she is presented with the 2010 Women of Distinction award from the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.

8:15 PM   Depart for a sumptuous farewell banquet at the Geronimo Restaurant on historic Canyon Road. Executive Chef Eric DiStefano designs the menu at this cutting-edge restaurant with award-winning cuisine.

Sunday, March 7

8:45–10:45 AM   Brunch with Stanley Hordes, author of To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico. Stanley will discuss the remarkable story of Crypto-Jews and their tenuous preservation of Jewish rituals and traditions over the past 500 years, from their origins in medieval Spain and Portugal to their efforts to escape persecution by settling in the far reaches of the northern Mexican frontier.

Noon   Check out of the Hotel Santa Fe and prepare to return home with memories of an extraordinary time in Santa Fe.