art
New Art for our collection by Ryan Singer
Maura and I went to the Blue Rain Gallery in the Railyard Art District yesterday in Santa Fe and discovered a local artist whose work we fell in love with. This is his Bio from Blue Rain Gallery’s website:
Ryan Singer is a Diné (Navajo) artist and painter based in Albuquerque, NM, known for his unique blend of traditional Navajo heritage and science fiction artistry. His work weaves together childhood memories with nostalgic pop culture elements, including science fiction imagery. With a strong presence in the “Indigenous Futurism” movement, Ryan’s artwork often features characters from Star Wars, a passion he’s had since 1977. He also creates contemporary, realistic portraits of Native subjects, capturing their essence with a modern appeal. Ryan’s work has earned numerous awards, including recognition from the prestigious SWAIA’s Santa Fe Indian Market, and is held in collections of museums and private collectors worldwide. Currently working towards his BFA at the University of New Mexico, Ryan continues to expand his artistic practice, collaborating with the Tamarind Institute and working towards his MFA.
We loved the whimsical yet serious nature and style of his work and the combination of imagery from his Navajo culture and SciFi/pop culture. There were several pieces that we were tempted by but we decided to wait and think about it. The folks at the gallery told us we could email them and they would ship anything we like and also mentioned that they were hosting an opening for Ryan in a couple of hours, if we wanted to meet the artist. We walked around the Railyard, ended up going to the Nuckolls Brewery for a couple of beers and decided to go back to the gallery for the opening. It was great to meet Ryan and chat with him about his work, which makes purchasing art even more special.
The piece we ended up purchasing is titled: “A Brief Moment of the Carbon Cycle”. It’s a 16” X 20”, acrylic on canvas painting done in 2024. there were some really fun Star Wars themed pieces, and a cowboy ET drinking beer, but this one stuck with us as we walked around thinking about the show. You can check out his other work on his instagram page!
Introducing My Next Tattoo
I got my first tattoo on my first wedding anniversary with Maura. I’ve been trying to decide what to do for my second the moment I walked out the door of Exile Tattoo. I’ve toyed with various ideas - cephalopods, skulls/bones, mechanical parts, etc. and couldn’t really decide on anything. I also knew I wanted to have one of the many talented artists I know create it, but everything was up in the air until the Two Headed Beast approached me about coding their website.
The Two Headed Beast is Chris and Mirna Stubbs, two very talented artists, a designer (Chris), and an illustrator (Mirna). I told them I would code their site in trade for a tattoo design. Chris had designed some tattoos for himself and I have to admit that I was a little jealous. I explained my initial to Chris and after some design and critique back and forth, this is my next tattoo:
Yesterday we met with Chet at Mercy Seat and I have a tentative date set to start inking! He seems excited to work on Chris' designs, yesterday he said “It’s not worth doing if it’s not a challenge”. It should take between six to eight hours in at least two sessions to complete.
In an email today, Chris sent me some fundraising ideas to fund our tattoos. They cracked me up and I had to add a few of my own! He’s getting one soon as well, after having designed mine, he went to work on an idea he’s been mulling around for a while for himself - Chris' Tattoo. They’re both pretty big and very detailed, they’re not going to be cheap.
His list:
- temporary lawn service: "grass for tats" (I call weed wacking)
- donate blood. it will be symbolic of the needle in the arm thing.
- 1st Fridays we claim a corner and give crash courses in web design/ photoshop on our laptops.
- shoe shine stand
- donate sperm... okay no
- a non-violent bank robbery achieved through the annoyance of begging
- counterfeit with bills that have subliminally printed the phrase "thanks for the tat honey"
- we sell advertising space on our bodies and get logos,etc tattooed in various places. Price depends on size and location...
- scooter delivery service, delivering small items, not scooters
- sell body parts, obviously not ones we’re having tattooed. Do we really need two of everything?
- sell our hair for wigs and paint brushes, it’s big money and if there’s one thing I have in abundance, it’s hair!
Money
Very cool video, featuring all sorts of faves:
Maura's New Studio
I'd like to present to you the newest addition to the Fowler/Cluthe home:
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We’ve been spending most of our free time working on Maura’s new studio and it’s all been worth it! In fact I took a week of vacation to help with the siding. We’re so excited to see it near completion. There are only a few more small details and it’ll be ready for Maura to move back in!
I've been obsessively taking pictures of the whole process. You can see them all at my Studio Renovation Gallery. Thanks to our friend Mike Mastin and his crew, Mike, Pete, Chris, Randy, and everyone else that helped. They do great work if you need anything done to your house!