Las Cruces Metal Artists for Metal Sun Wall Art

S. Derrickson Moore

LAS CRUCES – Santiago Santanova says he'due south glad to be dorsum in Las Cruces and happy to be carrying on a rich legacy established here with his tardily wife Zandra.

"I feel close to her hither," said Santanova, whose wife died in June 2013 in Denver, Colorado.

Back in Las Cruces, he also can be in touch with a rich body of piece of work the couple completed together in southern New Mexico.

Santiago, a multimedia creative person, photographer and sculptor, is peradventure best known for his large works, including sculptures in regional industrial parks, homes and churches. His creations range from free form abstract sculptures to collaborative projects with his wife that included installations at Holy Cantankerous Church.

"I would estimate there are about 10,000 of our smaller sculptures in homes in the Mesilla Valley and at least 1,000 of our monumentals, our large sculptures. Our piece of work is all around the U.s.a. at present, too, and the earth, in Israel, Iraq, England, Ireland, Africa," he said before.

"Often she would pattern things, from pocket-sized things to large sculptures, and I would figure out how to fabricate them. We worked on our ain projects and nosotros created things together. In a mode, nosotros however do," he mused, as visitors paused to examine his creations at his booth at the Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market.

"I'thousand also old to do the big stuff. I piece of work on a smaller calibration now," he said, showing off an imaginative array of intricate metal work.

"Corner lizards" curlicue neatly around post and pillars. The silhouettes of iconic Chihuahuan desert cactuses, plants and critters, including coyotes, roadrunners and quail, decoration wall hangings, plaques and license plates.

"I really like his work. You just don't detect things like this where I live," said Don Kuhn of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who selected a metallic Zia with 3 crosses.

"A lot of these were inspired by Zandra'due south designs. I've added some of my ain twists,"  Santanova explained.

Many of his creations featured dappled paint surfaces that add together a unique and colorful southwestern patina.

How does he practice it? "If I told you, I'd have to impale you lot," he joked.

The Colorado native said he "studied hard at the Academy of Colorado and learned well-nigh painting and sculpture."

With his wife, he ran a gallery in Denver, and later on established ii galleries in Las Cruces, on Madrid and U.South. 70.

"The galleries were off the beaten path. But and then over again, and then are we," Zandra once noted.

"I heard nearly Las Cruces from my brother, who came through here and said if he ever retired, he wanted to live hither. That made me curious," Santanova said.

The couple lived here from 1995 until 2009, when they moved to Colorado to help care for elderly relatives.

Over 2 decades they embraced and were embraced in plough by the cultural community here, participating in the determinative stages of Dia de los Muertos festivals and celebrations, ArtForms For the Love of Fine art Calendar month, and numerous other arts, religious and cultural organizations, programs and projects. They exhibited at several museums and galleries hither, too as Denver and Santa Fe and were longtime vendors at the Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market.

Santiago worked with Zandra on projects that garnered a 2005 Doña Ana Arts Council Fine art in Public Places Award for a body of work that includes a sculpture for the Offset Step Center, images for urban center park fences, and several works for Holy Cantankerous Catholic Church, including icons, a sculpted window slice, stands and lecterns, metal crosses for the church'southward exterior, a Stations of Calorie-free series and installations for the Holy Cross Columbarium. The couple planned to both exist interred there.

"Zandra idea her art there was the virtually of import thing she had done, and she wanted to exist at that place in Las Cruces, a place that she loved," Santiago said at memorial services for his wife.

"Finally, a mode opened up and I moved dorsum here from Colorado," he said.

Religious traditions, nature and southwestern, American Indian and borderland cultures that influenced his wife'due south art go on to inspire him, he said.

"The modest metal work is my principal thing at present, but I'm also doing photography and painting, and I'm in the process of restoring an Airstream trailer with a retro interior for an airbnb. When it will be done, only God knows and He's not telling," Santanova said.

In the meantime, encounter his work Saturdays at the Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market, Sundays at the Mesilla market from noon to 4 p.m. on the Mesilla Plaza, and at Center of the Desert shops at 7288 U.S. 54 in Alamogordo and at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Route, in Las Cruces.

S. Derrickson Moore may be reached at 575-541-5450, dmoore@lcsun-news.com or @derricksonmoore on Twitter.

Santanova's work

What: Pocket-sized metal sculptures, plaques and other items, photography and notecards,

When: 8:thirty a.m. to i p.m Saturdays

Where: Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market

Info: 575-200-4936

Plus: Mesilla Farmers and Crafts Market, Sundays on the Mesilla Plaza, and at Heart of the Desert shops in Alamogordo and the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.

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Source: https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/life/sunlife/2016/06/19/artist-week-santiago-santanova/85668946/

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