Sometimes I imagine how much fun it would be to travel back in time. Then I remember that all my skill sets involve a QWERTY keyboard, and I become grateful for the impermeability of the fourth dimension. Fortunately, events like Heritage Day 2013 let us experience all the fun parts of the past while remaining in full possession of our contact lenses and hybrid automobiles. In Corrales this weekend, see how music, puppets, demonstrations, family activities and more can bring New Mexico’s storied history alive. Check out Churro sheep shearing, blacksmithing demos, baking in the horno and a talk about our culinary history (hint: chiles!). And how about a San Ysidro Cemetery tour? The kids can make retablos, paint rocks or shell corn. You’ll have plenty to spend your cash on at the traditional arts mercado, but the event is free. Located at the Old San Ysidro Church (966 Old Church Road) and Casa San Ysidro (973 Old Church Road) in Corrales, the antiquated fun happens on Saturday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 898-5017 or 311 for more info.
Culture Shock: Motion In The Picture Motion In The Picture
Site Unseen
Jessica Hudson
Dance and film intertwine their distinct sensibilities this weekend when the Wild Dancing West 2013/Dance For Camera Weekend takes place at the N4th Theater (4904 Fourth Street NW). Dance for camera—also known as dancefilm or videodance, among other names—describes dance created specifically to be filmed. And it describes film in which dance is the main expressive element. See what I mean by intertwined? Get a taste of the genre on Friday, May 17, with an hour-long screening of works by a host of New Mexico filmmakers and dancers. Saturday is the weekend’s big feature with Site Unseen, which combines live choreography with film of New Mexico landscapes. Cost ranges from $5 to $12; both events are at 8 p.m. at the VSA North Fourth Art Center. Visit vsartsnm.org/theater for more information and to buy tickets, or call 344-4542.
Culture Shock: Contemporary Wildernessless Contemporary Wildernessless
Erika Osborne’s “Looking for Moran,” 2012
Now that humans have gotten their dirty paws on everything, pristine wilderness is more an idea than a reality. At the Albuquerque Museum (2000 Mountain NW) this weekend, a new exhibition called Changing Perceptions of the Western Landscape acknowledges the truth: that highways, vehicles, billboards and fences are pretty much inseparable from our experience of the wild world. In Erika Osborne‘s oil on linen work “Looking for Moran,” for example, the Grand Canyon unfurls itself in all its unutterable richness, illuminated by beams of sunlight that pierce the stygian cloud cover, but the grandeur is bounded in the foreground by a cluster of decidedly unglorious tour buses. The exhibition’s other artists include Gus Foster, Woody Gwyn, Amelia Bauer, Wes Hempel, Joanne Lefrak, Jack Loeffler, Patrick Nagatani, Donald Woodman, Ed Ruscha, Mary Tsiongas and Vincent Valdez. The exhibition opens Saturday, May 18, and runs until Sept. 21. Hours and admission costs vary, so see cabq.gov for more information.
