In Oracle Bones from Red Butte Press, a writer and an artist wander the Utah wilderness to mystically discern the future. Then it comes true. A view from the production process of the fine-press book Oracle Bones by Terry Tempest Williams and Gaylord Schanilec. Courtesy Red Butte Press, University of Utah. Oracle bones—particularly the scapula of an ox or the underside (the plastron) of a tortoise’s shell—were used in ancient China, mainly during the Shang dynasty, for divination. When Utah-based author Terry Tempest Williams first saw oracle bones in China, “I remember how I felt… that they’v ..read more

Diné artist, writer, and educator Brendan Basham approaches writing as he does life: as a process of transformation. Diné artist and debut novelist Brendan Basham. Courtesy the author. Words can provide a scaffolding for experience—novels, entire homes. For New Mexico-based writer Brendan Basham (Diné), a book begins with a feeling. In the case of his debut novel, Swim Home to the Vanished, which HarperCollins released last fall, two words encapsulated the feelings he wanted to write into.  “I was obsessed with the [Portuguese] word saudade,” Basham says, which “is this extreme sadness wi ..read more

Join art book publisher Radius Books for Artist Weekend 2023, a free community celebration with artists, writers, and collaborators in New Mexico. Wendy Red Star, Scratches Herself, ïsaashpuushí (Cheyenne), ca. 1900, American Museum of Natural History, collected by Mrs. Walter Shirlaw, 1912, “In The Spirit Of Green Skin”, 2023, acrylic, graphite, kitakata paper, marble paper, 22 x 30 in. Courtesy the artist. Radius Books Artist Weekend 2023 August 4–6, 2023 Radius Books, Santa Fe Radius Books is proud to announce Artist Weekend 2023, with more than eighty notable artists, writers, and curators ..read more

Southwest Contemporary’s staff—Roman Aragón, Natalie Hegert, Steve Jansen, and Lauren Tresp—pick their favorite reading materials of 2023. Book covers: D.V. by Diana Vreeland (Ecco Press, 2011). Deep Color: The Shades That Shape Our Souls by Keith Recker (Schiffer Publishing, 2022). Call us nerds or dorks—we don’t mind—but the staff here at Southwest Contemporary are just a tad obsessed over media, particularly books and podcasts. What we’re reading and listening to is one of our favorite things to discuss, and that’s why our 2023 reading list is one of our favorite stories to compile. In case ..read more

Fiction Happiness by Aminatta Forna Atlantic Monthly Press (March 6, 2018) Happiness begins as a quiet meditation on the ongoing challenges of coexistence between animals and humans. Brief histories of wolfers in New England, who rid villages of wolves in the 1800s; the evolution of the coyote and its migration from the west to east coast cities; and the reciprocal threat of foxes in contemporary London center the narrative on the ecologic. Both protagonists, Jean, a biologist more interested in tracking animals than her family, and Attila, a Ghanaian psychiatrist who specializes in postwar P ..read more

Jeannie Vanasco, The Glass Eye, Tin House 2017.Nonfiction The Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco Tin House Books, October 3, 2017 What begins as a remembrance of her lost father swiftly transitions to a writer wrestling with her own uncertain identity. Jeannie Vanasco shared a first name with her long-dead half-sister Jeanne, and after she introduces Jeanne in the memoir, the narrator refuses to stay put. Soon she is questioning her own memories, her recounting of her father and her mother’s stories, and how she can best serve a telling that is entirely her own. Through diligent and nearly constant ..read more

Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art edited by Miranda Lash and Trevor Schoonmaker, Nasher Museum of Art and Duke University Press, 2016   The exhibition Southern Accent: Seeking the South in Contemporary Art debuted last year at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and is currently on view at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky (April 30 – October 14, 2017). The show addresses various Southern themes, both historical and cultural: soul food, Christianity, blues and country music, slavery, civil rights, poverty, agrarianism. Curators Mirand ..read more

Denver-based poet Nicky Beer’s third collection, Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes, is a clever, probing look into the collective desires and fears underlying our love of illusion. Cover art of Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes (Milkweed Editions) by Nicky Beer. Courtesy Milkweed Editions. Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes by Nicky Beer Milkweed Editions, 2022, paperback and ebook, 104 pages. Advance praise: A Lambda Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Book of March 2022. For fans of: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman and Magical Negro: Poems by Morgan Parker. The penultimate season of Amazon ..read more

A book series diving into historical and current alternative art establishments in major stateside cities visits Texas in Impractical Spaces: Houston. Here are five current H-Town favorites from the book. Cover photo of Impractical Spaces: Houston, edited by Pete Gershon. Courtesy Impractical Spaces. With world-class art institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Menil Collection, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Space City has firmly established its position as a Texas mecca for art. However, alongside the growth of these larger institutions is a rich history of ..read more

Breadth of Bodies: Discussing Disability in Dance spotlights the voices, experiences, and art of dancers with disabilities. Yulia Arakelyan is seated behind a large red cube, her hands resting on top. She stares intently ahead. Blue tube-like strands float behind her. She is wearing a gray halter top. The words “[do] not take no for an answer…” curve above her head and “…more can be done to include diverse bodies…” appear etched into the front of the cube. Illustration: Liz Brent-Maldonado. Courtesy of Emmaly Wiederholt. Debates over inclusion and representation have become a ubiquit ..read more