An Introduction to Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico
by Dr. Jack Copeland (former owner, Copeland-Rutherford Gallery)

Tony Hillerman has described New Mexico as a place where edges meet, a place of contrasts. Indeed, a blend of art and science, ancient and future, community and rugged individualism characterizes northern New Mexico. And Santa Fe, the City Different, rests at its center.

Founded in 1607-1610 by Don Pedro de Peralta of Spain, La Villa de Santa Fe (The City of Holy Faith ) is the oldest capital city in the United States. In 1680, Pueblo Indians revolted under the leadership of Taos Pueblo chief Pope, and drove the Spanish south to what is current day El Paso. Twelve years later, in 1692, Don Diego de Vargas recaptured Santa Fe for Spain, with a newfound respect for the Pueblo peoples. This peaceful reconquest is celebrated each September in a community event known as Fiestas de Santa Fe. Begun in 1712, it represents the oldest continually observed community celebration in the United States. Unique secular and religious events characterize La Fiestas, from the colorful pagan ritual burning of Zozobra (Old Man Gloom ) to the reverent candlelight procession of the closing ceremony at the Cross of the Martyrs.

Four flags have flown over the city of Santa Fe: Spanish, Mexican, Confederate, and United States. Mexico seceded from Spain in 1821, putting Santa Fe under Mexican rule. The year 1821 was also important, because in that year the Santa Fe Trail was opened by William Becknell, allowing trade with the northeastern United States for the first time in New Mexico's history. In 1846, the US Army of the West claimed Santa Fe in the US-Mexican War, under the leadership of General Stephen Watts Kearny. Kearny's administrative residence was established as Fort Marcy. In 1848, the Treaty of Hidalgo formally ceded New Mexico to the United States. It was to remain a US territory until 1912, when New Mexico became the 47th state of the Union. For a brief time during the Civil War, in the early Spring of 1862, the Confederate flag flew over Santa Fe until Union forces reclaimed New Mexico in the Battle of Glorieta.

This thumbnail sketch of New Mexican history underscores the dominant tricultural makeup of the region. Native American cultures form the foundation. As author Frank Waters has observed, "we are slowly inclining to the Indian belief that nature is not inanimate, but imbued with one common life force...in an indivisible unity of biological and spiritual ecology." Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache influences in agriculture, architecture, culinary arts, jewelry, pottery, and weaving are abundant. The Spanish influence is equally powerful, from the design of its cities ( built around central plazas ), to its mission churches, and to its quiet pastoral villages. With the advent of the Santa Fe Trail, and later the railroad, Anglo-Saxon cultural influences would profoundly alter the mix in the 19th and 20th centuries. These influences ranged from mercantilism to artists' colonies to the birth of the atomic age.

The exotic Native American and Spanish cultures of New Mexico, combined with the magical quality of its light and the salutary nature of its air gave rise to artists colonies in both Santa Fe and Taos in the early 20th century. Mabel Dodge Luhan's Taos salon attracted artistic and literary luminaries including D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Ansel Adams, to name just a few. These artistic and literary traditions flourish today, and Santa Fe has become this country's third largest art market, trailing only New York and Los Angeles in dollar volume art sales. In 1957, John Crosby founded the Santa Fe opera. The New Buffalo Commune, one of the first hippie communes in the country, was founded in Taos in 1967. More recently established institutions such as the Santa Fe Institute, Site Santa Fe, and the Institute of American Indian Art provide cutting edge, often iconoclastic thinking, in science, art, and education.

To conclude, there is a dramatic dialogue here between Mother Earth and Father Sky. Its language is visual, in the form of double rainbows and surreal sunsets. Its language is olfactory, with ever-present piñon and cedar scents, musky autumn chamisa, and fragrant spring lilac. And its language is auditory, with whispering soft breezes, booming thunder, and the sweet silence of a snowfall. So eavesdrop on this conversation, and enjoy. See the azure blue sky that inspired Willa Cather, feel the proud morning sun that D.H. Lawrence felt, and walk the earth that has sustained Native American potters for centuries. Within an hours' drive of Santa Fe, one can visit ancient Pueblo ruins or explore the birth of the atomic age. Indulge your senses with scores of quality galleries, museums, restaurants, and musical venues. And before you retire each evening, gaze upon the Milky Way and recover a sense of newfound adventure and mystery.