Culture - The Daily Lobo

Culture

Downtown Growers Market brings fresh produce to city

Elisabetta Mackin | April 15

On Saturday morning, vendors from across the greater Albuquerque area gathered at Robinson park to kick off this season's Downtown Growers Market. “We are the longest running farmers market in Albuquerque,” said Danielle Schlobohm, the assistant manager of the market. The market was held at the grassy park under a canopy of trees where you could find all sorts of fresh produce, handmade art, artisan bread, fresh tea and free-range eggs. Dogs and children played in the grass while live musicians performed, free yoga and Zumba classes were held and authentic New Mexican breakfast burritos were prepared and served.

Culture

UNM's Annual Sustainability Expo is back

Amanda Britt | April 15

The 11th annual University of New Mexico Sustainability Expo will be held Thursday, April 18, from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Cornell Mall – just east of the Student Union Building on UNM’s Main Campus. This one-day event will feature local farmers and food trucks, live music from Eryn Bent– a Santa Fe folk artist, a clothing swap and a variety of opportunities to learn about sustainable practices and connect with community partners. The event is presented by the UNM Sustainability Studies Program. According to the program’s online home page, they provide hands-on, community-focused learning that informs student’s academic work, careers and personal lives.

Culture

Student's art exhibit includes how-to-cook videos

Luisa Pennington | April 15

Small electronic screens decorated the University of New Mexico's College of Fine Arts Downtown Studio as part of Zac Travis' thesis exhibition, “Recipe for Disaster." Last Friday Travis showcased his installation of videos and photographs. “Recipe for Disaster” featured five how-to-cook videos. The room was dark, except for the light from the exhibit pieces, with the only sound in the room projected from the speakers in sync with the screens. At a first glance, the exhibit seemed to host standard cooking videos. The videos included clean countertops that featured a point-of-view perspective of two hands. After patrons took a closer look, the intricacies of Travis’s exhibit came to view — not all of the ingredients were appropriate to consume.

Culture

UNM student gives crochet lessons at Duck Pond

Anthony Jackson | April 11

If you walk past the Duck Pond on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., chances are that you’ll see Lyndsey Ross teaching students how to crochet. Ross, a psychology major and art minor, graduates this May. She’s spending some of her time outside with many balls of yarn. “I’ve been crocheting for over 10 years,” Ross said. Ross said she first got the idea from a friend who interviewed her for a podcast about things they can do to change the world.

Culture

SUB to give away planted pots for "Uni Night"

Megan Holmen | April 11

The University of New Mexico Student Union Building "Uni Nights" will be hosting a plant night on Friday April 12. According to graduate student and organizer Anders Flagstad, this will be the third plant night hosted by the University. Flagstad is the projects coordinator of the SUB, he is studying educational leadership. He said "Uni Nights'" motto is: always free and always different.

Culture

Popup Exhibit celebrates indigenous knowledge

Sophia Sambrano | April 11

LOOM Indigenous Arts presented its first popup exhibit, "Indigenous Feminist Spatiality: Celebrating Indigenous Knowledges + Bodies" at the University of New Mexico's School of Architecture and Planning (SAP). The exhibit features a range of artists from the Albuquerque community, and what is now known as the greater United States, and features many themes such as community, resilience and celebrating culture. Building community and showcasing indigenous knowledge production were key features of the exhibit. Community involvement and collaboration were especially important in this event, seeing as it is LOOM Indigenous Arts' first exhibit in Albuquerque. The LOOM Indigenous Arts Gallery's home is in Gallup, New Mexico. The gallery aims to showcase innovative and contemporary Indigenous artists. Allison Johnson, a master's student at UNM's IDPI, conceived and curated the show.

Culture

Poetry slam held at Canvas Artistry

Elisabetta Mackin | April 11

Last Thursday, local poets congregated at Canvas Artistry to showcase their best slam poems and compete for a chance to win poet of the night. The open-mic event was hosted by the Burque Revolt Poetry Slam in collaboration with the Lobo Slam team. “We welcome and embrace the stories of women of color, our LGBTQ community, our youth and our college students," said Mercedez Holtry, president of the board and co-founder of Burque Revolt. "We hold a space for people to be themselves through spoken word, poetry, writing and creative writing.” At the event poets performed in 30 minute rounds and were scored by patrons of Canvas Artistry. A local DJ performed in between rounds, and a percentage of food and beer purchased throughout the evening was donated to the Burque Revolt and Lobo Slam teams.

Culture

Students have blast at Fiestas

Justin Garcia | April 8

It’s unclear how many people attended this year’s Fiestas. But whatever the headcount was, the place was packed. On Saturday, Johnson Field played host to the annual Fiestas music festival. Eight performers took the stage from one o'clock to just after 9 p.m. The headliner was Ookay aka Abraham Laguna, a Los Angeles based DJ. The event is partially funded by the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico, who allocate a portion of student fees to student organizations. ASUNM dolled out about $83,000 to SSE for Fiestas this year, according to the Student Governing Accountant Office. That is down from last year’s total of about $99,000.

Culture

Inside the Fine Art Library's massive vinyl collection

Sophia Sambrano | April 8

In the depths of the Fine Arts & Design Library lives The "Archives in the Grooves," a collection showcasing the range of the University of New Mexico's large LP collection. The various cases on display showcase a select few of the 20,000 LPs kept by UNM Libraries. The showcase covers a range of musicians and styes such as African American Classical Musicians, a Cecil Taylor display case, as well as displays dedicated to flamenco music, blues music and audiobooks. LPs, or long play records, hold importance in 20th century history, and the collection aims to showcase the multiple ways that these recordings are important. This is not only through musical recordings, but through audiobooks, oral histories, broadcast recordings and the infamous album artwork of the LP. The display cases were curated by UNM Library staff Stephenie Akau, Jonathan Hartshorn and William Kinney. Stephanie Akau, a library information specialist, curated the display case dedicated to African-American classical musicians, and discussed not only the volume of LPs available, but the range of different materials hosted in the showcase.

Culture

Art show calls for reflection on experiences

Amanda Britt | April 8

Can I reflect? – A question that not only asks you to think deeply, but a common question asked in the field of pathology. “We always have to ask during our examination, before we open up the head, we ask them ‘can we reflect’. That means reflecting tissue back,” said Alivia Magaña, a master's of Fine Arts student at the University of New Mexico. Magaña came to UNM in 2016 from Junction City, Kansas looking for a “ground shaking experience." She found just that working as a forensic photographer for the Office of the Medical Investigator.

Culture

NM Humanities Council hosts talk on album artwork

Luisa Pennington | April 6

Last Thursday, members of the Albuquerque community gathered to discuss album artwork and the personal sentiments that listeners attach to them. The New Mexico Humanities Council launched their exhibition, “Stories on the Sleeve,” with an opening reception. Walking into the exhibit, visitors were immediately drawn to the records displayed along the tall white walls. At eye level, cover art of albums created by the Rolling Stones, Joy Division, Dolly Parton, Rush and Iron Maiden illustrated the sounds of the physical copies within them. On the wall next to each album sat little black letters, telling the contributors’ stories. According to Jodi Hedderig, program officer for NMHC, the organization put out a call for entries. He said the idea behind the exhibit was to get community members to communicate about the common grounds found within music.

Culture

Albuquerque High School celebrates mural restoration

Katie Monette | April 6

Last Friday, April 5, Albuquerque High School hosted Nuestra Juventud, a celebration of the mural adorning Albuquerque High School. The event was hosted by the Chicana and Chicano Studies Preparatory Program and Pathway to Careers, which is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and local high schools. “Gracias por esa pelea,” one presenter said, thanking the audience for fighting for the mural. He called the mural an expression of New Mexican culture on the very walls of the school. Several prominent New Mexicans were in attendance, including Lieutenant Governor Howie Morales, artist Francisco LeFebre, UNM Dean of Arts and Sciences Mark Peceny, UNM Chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies Irene Vasquez and several members of the Albuquerque Public School board.

Culture

Review: 5th Annual Food Truck Festival

Cade Guerrero | April 5

Last Saturday the Food Truck Festival took over Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park. 27 food truck vendors, were lined up next to 26 beer vendors, for the public to enjoy. Cover band, SourPuss, entertained the hundreds of food truck fans in attendance. My first stop at the festival was Cheesy Street, a food truck that ran off variations of grilled cheese sandwiches. I grabbed the “Yo Mamma’s” grilled cheese and the bread pudding. The sandwich was a bit underwhelming due to its basic ingredients, there was nothing special about it but the bread pudding made up for it with a blend of milk and cinnamon that melted in my mouth.

Culture

SUB to host cannabis-related career fair

Amanda Britt | April 4

More than a dozen companies are signed up to be hiring at the medical cannabis and hemp focused career fair. It will be held in the Student Union Building Ballrooms this Friday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The companies hiring will vary from licensed non-profit producers and manufacturers, to CBD/hemp companies and medical card consultants. Among those participating in the career fair is The Marijuana Show, or "Shark Tank Cannabis." This series, available on Amazon Prime, was created to help entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry.

Culture

UNM readies for Fiestas

Shayla Cunico | April 4

This Saturday, Johnson field will be transformed into a gated performance space that will play host to DJ, Ookay and Boogie for Fiestas 2019. Every year the Associated Students of New Mexico Student Special Events (SSE) puts on Fiestas, an annual music festival held at the University of New Mexico. The festival starts at noon and will be lighting up the faces of attendees until around 9 p.m.

Culture

UNM community has mixed reactions to smelly trees

Danielle Prokop | April 4

The smell of spring is in the air at the University of New Mexico. The birds flutter and tweet, people and turtles alike sun themselves at the Duck Pond and the flowers are all a-bloom — some more noticeable than others. The Bradford Pear's flowers can be especially “pungent.” That’s how Alan Billau, the arboriculture supervisor for UNM, described the white blooms located around the Anthropology Annex, North Zimmerman and around the Student Resource Centers.

Culture

UNM researcher explores art through time

Katie Monette | April 3

This year, the University of New Mexico Art and Ecology Program's Researcher in Residence is Nina Elder. Her project “Deep Time Lab” currently resides in the University's Art Museum and features not only her own work, but submissions from UNM students, and friends around the world. “I created this project trying to help students at UNM and myself to find ways to say we’re in a time of incredible transition, and what are doing that attaches ourselves to time?” Elder said.

Culture

Movie Review: Tim Burton's "Dumbo" fails to entertain

Justin Schatz | April 3

The latest of Disney’s corporate ordered live-action remakes, Tim Burton’s “Dumbo,” benefits from the director’s trademark aesthetic, but fails to rise above its uninspired predecessors. The only inspired element of this movie of outcasts is a director who has made a career turning outcasts into empathetic characters. Despite its “play it safe” storytelling, “Dumbo” attempts, and largely fails to build on several themes presented within the first thirty minutes. “Dumbo” opens in 1919 with Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell), a former circus equestrian performer, returning home from the war to reunite with his two kids, Milly and Joe (Nico Parker and FInley Hobbins). A shaken and hollow Holt is without an arm and his kids are unsure of how to interact with their father. The relationship between a war-scarred father and his children never develops. The scars of both Holt and his children are immediately dismissed once Dumbo enters the story.

Culture

March celebrates civil rights leader Cesar Chavez

Makayla Grijalva | April 1

The steady beating of drums echoed through the streets Saturday as a long line of people marched from the National Hispanic Cultural Center to downtown Albuquerque. The march happens annually— it is now in its 26th year honoring the late civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez. “I think it's important for our community and young folks to really appreciate whose shoulders we stand on,” said Emilio Huerta, son of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta. “If not for the sacrifices of folks like Cesar, my mother and other labor and civil rights leaders, we would not have a lot of the rights we have today, that we enjoy today.”

Culture

Student org helps Lobos showcase their art

Luisa Pennington | April 1

The University of New Mexico's Arts Entrepreneurship Club was originally started by faculty sponsor Regina Chavez Puccetti of the UNM College of Fine Arts and Anderson School of Management, in collaboration with former President, Miguel Lastra, a Fall 2018 UNM Graduate, to aide students looking to meet art-focused entrepreneurs and broaden their network. "Students in all disciplines of the arts often don't take the time to develop solid entrepreneurial skills. In college, the focus tends to be only on developing their artistic talent,” Chavez Puccetti said. “The UNM Arts Entrepreneurship Club works to help all creative students build their network and find entrepreneurial opportunities... we want to help our graduates increase their chances of success as creative entrepreneurs."