Features

The Fuller Lodge Art Center will open its newest exhibit “Spirit Lines” from 5-7 p.m. March 23.

Through a myriad of mixed media, over 40 artists have shown us the spirit within their artwork.

Whether through totems or religion, Shringar or Wabi Sabi, or even just seeing beauty in the broken parts of the world, “Spirit Lines” captures the soul of each artist on display. The public is invited to by and celebrate life as it is…perfect in its imperfections.

Compassionate Touch Network will also be opening their exhibit, “PhotoVoice – Untold Minds,” in the Portal Gallery at the same time. This show is a dynamic approach to sharing photos, telling stories, and changing communities. At the heart of “Untold Minds” is the belief in giving voice to the individual and collective experiences of individuals living with serious mental illness.

Elizabeth Brosha will be playing the harp through the evening. Meet the artists, listen to the music and enjoy free refreshments.

The exhibits will remain on display through May 5.

Like most of Adam Baker’s paintings, it all started with a gunfight.

Baker, a painter who commonly depicts Western themes and is active in the reenactment scene in New Mexico, dreamed he was racing across the desert with a friend. They were reenacting a gunfight scene on horseback, giving chase across a dusty landscape. Guns were blazing and it was a chase reminiscent of any cowboy movie.

There was just one problem: Their horses were metal.

They were also coin-operated.

“I woke up laughing.” Baker explains. “I thought, ‘I have to paint that.’”

Today, the “Quarter” Horse series contains six paintings and will be a prominent part of Adam Baker’s upcoming exhibit at the Karen Wray Gallery. The artist is considering expanding the series out and developing a calendar (the sale of which hopefully won’t require patrons to pay in quarters).

Humor is nothing new to Baker. He’s perhaps best known for his emotional portrayals of Old West cowboys and gunfighters. But he’ll add light touches and humor whenever it feels appropriate. And if a funny Jack Russell Terrier catches his eye, he’s just as likely to make it a subject of his art. His inspiration is strictly “whatever inspires me lately.”

The community is invited to a student-led community forum from 6-7:30 p.m. March 20 at the Los Alamos High School Speech Theater.

The purpose of this meeting is to give students the chance to be heard and for the community to be involved in the discussion about school safety.

All interested students, parents and community members are invited to join the round table discussions to engage in dialogue about what the district is currently doing and what can be done moving forward to make a difference in the safety of schools.

This week, I wanted to catch you up on a few things that I have been working on lately.

I started out the year on a health kick, as one of 12 evolving New Year’s resolutions. I have been doing pretty good and sometimes it isn’t that hard at all, so perhaps that is creating habits.

Then we rolled into February, and I used that time as thank-you note writing time. I selected random people or businesses that may never get thanked for the work they do every day. I really enjoyed that and will try and be more liberal with adding to the list.

March has more of a personal, as well as health focus again, and I’m trying to keep up with some personal goals. We will see how it goes, but this year, I really see that setting goals doesn’t have to be painful or ridiculously monumental.

A while back, I asked for your help on gathering good news about former Los Alamos High School teacher Joy Handsberry and trying to accumulate 50 stories, memories or pictures prior to her 50th birthday on April the 5. I still could use some help there, so head on over to Facebook if you would like to assist or call 695-139.

Del Norte Credit Union (DNCU), northern New Mexico’s hometown financial cooperative finishes strong during an annual Grateful Gram campaign between employees.

The initiative aims to raise funds for one of the leading organizations that feed underprivileged families across northern New Mexico, The Food Depot.

“The goal is to remind each other of the great work that we do for our members and the communities we serve”, says Talent Development Specialist, Kathy Ritschel. “Together we can show appreciation while being kind to one another.”

Employees are able to purchase grateful grams for a small donation, write a thoughtful note to the receiving employee about a time when she or he helped or inspired them during the year. The recipient is also given a Del Norte Credit Union star sticker, entitling them to a casual dress any day of the week. In total, $787 was raised from $1 donations – all from DNCU employees.

“The success of this campaign is meaningful as it shows that our employees are willing to get involved for a good cause, but it also speaks of great team-work throughout the year – and the celebration of those accomplishments”, says Del Norte Credit Union CEO and President Chuck Valenti.

This month’s League of Women Voters’ Lunch with a Leader will be on March 20 at Mesa Library at 11:45 a.m.

This month’s speaker will be analyst Robert Gibson. He will briefly recap the most recent legislative session, but will focus on what he has learned about the legislative process beyond Civics 101 in an innovative manner as you might surmise from the title: Making Sausage:  Observations of a Fly on the Wall at the Merry Roundhouse.

Gibson has served on the Los Alamos County Council, Board of Public Utilities, Transportation Board, the first Charter Review Committee, and most recently the Future Energy Resources Committee. For the past four sessions of the New Mexico State Legislature, he has been a bill analyst, researching proposed legislation for three different House committees and the Senate minority caucus.

When not engaged in developing public policy, Gibson is a physicist and engineer, retired from LANL but pursuing other projects. He also continues to fly part-time as a professional pilot and pursues several hobbies. He and his wife Lori Heimdahl Gibson, an educator and artist, reside on North Mesa.

March is the perfect time to learn the tricks to extend the growing season for your garden. Natali Steinberg will teach everything you need to know to start and care for your veggies and annuals before the last frost from 1:30-3:30 p.m. March 18 at the Los Alamos Nature Center.

This class will teach gardeners how to start seeds indoors, transplant successfully into the garden, and start some veggies directly in the garden.

There will be handouts and demonstrations, but no seed planting during class.

Steinberg has taught this class for 20 years at a nursery/greenhouse in Boulder. She had a large vegetable garden on her farm, and she sold produce at the Boulder Farmers Market. Steinberg also raised and sold bedding plants.

The cost is $25, and Pajarito Environmental Education Center members save $5. Advance registration is required. To register or learn more information about this and other PEEC programs, visit peecnature.org, email programs@peecnature.org or call 662-0460.

The Fuller Lodge Art Center has a long list of classes for students of all ages this spring.

Many of the instructors have become a household name within the art community. This year, the center would like to introduce another fantastic artist and teacher, award-winning artist Roberta Remy, whose work can be found in corporate and private collections throughout the U.S., Brazil and Europe.

Remy, who will be teaching an upcoming pastel course designed for adults and teens, attended Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League of New York.

There, she studied painting with master painters Frank Mason, George Passantino, David Leffel, and Sherrie McGraw, and drawing and anatomy with Robert Beverly Hale.

Formerly a New York-based illustrator whose clients included Macmillan Publishing, Playskool, Cabbage Patch Kids and McDonalds, she now makes Santa Fe her home base, where she’s been expanding her teaching activities since 1995.

President Emeritus of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Stanford University Research Professor Dr. Sig Hecker will be the guest speaker at an elegant dinner and talk set for 5:30-8:30 p.m. March 19 at Las Campanas Clubhouse, 132 Clubhouse Dr., Santa Fe.

Seating is limited at this event and reservations are required by March 16.

Hecker will offer his thoughts and opinions on the exclusive “nuclear club,” focusing on North Korea, Russia, and the Iran deal among many other urgent issues in a presentation entitled, “A Tour of the Nuclear World.”



Hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science, global threat reduction and nuclear security.

As discussed recently on 60 Minutes, Hecker has made some extraordinary visits to North Korea to assess its plutonium programs and advances in nuclear weapons – a development that now directly threatens the United States.

Hecker is a professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He was co-director of Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) from 2007-2012. From 1986 to 1997, Dr. Hecker served as the fifth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.