Valerie Martínez

12/12/11

Santa Fe Poet Laureate (2008-2010)

                   For more information about Valerie's tenure, see below and/or follow this link:  www.sfpoetlaureate.blogspot.com

On This Page:

• Farewell Reading

• Excerpt from "This is How It Began" (Palace Press Edition) aka "And They Called It Horizon" (Sunstone edition)

• Lines & Circles Community Project

• Valerie's Readings & Events as Poet Laureate (March 2008-March 2010)

Farewell Reading

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Noon
Santa Fe Arts Commission Gallery
 

Free and open to the public
Light lunch provided

From This is How It Began (Palace Press)/And They Called It Horizon (Sunstone Press) by Valerie Martínez:

"Today we say Santa Fe, our Santa Fé

in the sierra madre, in the cradle between

the Pecos Mountains, Cerro Piñon,

Tano Point, Caja del Rio, Tetilla Peak.

But there was a time, long ago,

before names, dream before dream.

Aho niishnee, principio, the beginning.

It was a seed, imagine it, smaller

than the eye’s dark pupil, smaller

than the tiniest yellow idea of seed,

and tinier. Inside, the dream

of something blue and unbelievably wide,

something rising to blue, algún encuentro

magnífico de marrón y azul.

And the seed there, buried.

Perhaps it was the eye behind the eye

of some great Being, or the eye

of a fantastic explosion, or the spot

on the tail-flick of a lizard

with red and black ridges on his back.

The seed nestled inside what became an orb,

an orb hurtling through indigo space,

then a spinning, whirling mass of blue

become this planet we call Mother Earth.

And it hung there, at the center,

weaving a garment of brightness.”

                                                 Valerie Martinez ©2009

Please Join Us…

from Poet Laureate Valerie Martínez

and the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission

 Lines & Circles: Mixed Media Works and Original Poems

by Eleven Santa Fe Families

Exhibit Dates: January 15-March 19, 2010

SF Arts Commission Gallery, Santa Fe

The Families: Akers Covelli Hunt, Brown, Carmona, Goler Baca, Gottlieb Shapiro Bachman,

Ingram, Martinez Ridgley, Ortiz Dinkel, Quintana Gallegos, Salazar, and Strongheart

Learn more about the Lines and Circles Project below.

        Photo: The Ingram Family 

Lines and Circles:

A Celebration of Santa Fe Families

2008-2010
 

Project/Artistic Director: Valerie Martínez, Poet Laureate
A project of the City of Santa Fe Poet Laureate Program/

Santa Fe Arts Commission
 

This project brought together three generations of eleven Santa Fe families, each to envision and then create a unique family work of art. The works reflect the family name, family history, or simply the intergenerational collaboration that happens during the project. Each work will be accompanied by an original poem authored by each family, by the Poet Laureate with the family, or by the Poet Laureate on the family’s behalf. The finished pieces will constitute an exhibit entitled Lines & Circles: A Celebration of Santa Fe Families to be presented to the city on Friday, January 15, 2010. Over the course of the project, families have also generated family histories, migration maps, lists of family traditions, heirlooms, recipes, old and contemporary photos, and other information that will be featured in a book about the project to be published by Sunstone Press, also in January 2010.

The goal of the Lines and Circles project is to nurture and celebrate the Santa Fe community, encourage positive relationships within and between families, nurture meaningful community dialogue, and generate a body of art and poetry that commemorates city life.

The Lines and Circles families include the Akers Hunt Covelli Family, the Carmona Family, the Goler Baca Family, the Ingram Family, the Jones Brown Family, the Martínez Ridgley Family, the Quintana Gallegos Family, the Ortiz Dinkel Hasted Family, the Salazar Family, the Shapiro Bachman Family, and the Strongheart Family.

About the project, by Poet Laureate Valerie Martínez:

"The families in the Lines and Circles Project are a testament not only to the history of Santa Fe but the promise of days to come. The future, of course, rests upon the beautiful, complex, rich and contentious past of this place, the capital city of New Mexico. All places worth living in, I believe, are complicated. So are their people. While many tout the landscape of Santa Fe as the city’s richest asset, the truth is that the people of Santa Fe, those that are here to stay, are its gold. They know its past and present and they cut, carve, and burnish its future. Their family lines extend into the past (of this place and others) and the circles they trace, day to day in this city, fashion the shimmering design that is the lifeblood of our community... The project has affected all involved. The families will tell you that in addition to creating and preserving an important family work that will stay with them for generations, they have come together, even more meaningfully, as families. We/they also have met, worked with, and become friends with families they didn’t know, across the “invisible lines” that sometimes tend to separate us, as city residents. Together, we have also journeyed into the past, revisiting our own stories, learning the stories of others, telling the collective story of Santa Fe.”

For more information, contact Valerie Martínez, Poet Laureate for the City of Santa Fe (2008-2010), at sfpoetlaureate. blogspot.com. You may also contact the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission for more information about the Poet Laureate Program.

Lines and Circles is supported by the City of Santa Fe, the Lannan Foundation, the Santa Fe Literary Education Endowment at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, the First National Bank of Santa Fe, and Littleglobe, Inc.
Photo: The Quintana Gallegos Family

Valerie Martinez:  Poet Laureate Readings, Events, Appearances

April 27, 2010         

 Judge:  National Poetry Out Loud (POL) Finals. Washington, DC.

April 16, 2010        

Reading:  Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque

April 11, 2010          

Panel Presentations:  Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference Women Writing the West and Write the Relationship: Poetic Friendships, Denver.

March 27, 2010       

Poet/Performer: Form & Function: a spoken word/collaborative performance in response to the Form  & Function exhibit at 516 Arts, Albuquerque, with poets Jasmine Cuffee, Lauren Camp, and Jamie Figueroa. 516 Arts, ABQ, 8 p.m.

March 25, 2010         

Moderator:  9 for 5: Presenting Nine Albuquerque Poets.  A reading by nine poets in Valerie’s Advanced Poetry Workshop conducted in the fall of 2009. Part of Women & Creativity Month 2010.

March 8, 2010            

Reading:  Mayoral and City Councilors Swearing-In.  Lensic Performing Arts Center, 6 p.m.

March 6, 2010           

Poet/Performer: Salve: Women on War and Warriorship, a spoken-word and music piece based on interviews with women war veterans, part of Women & Creativity Month, 2010.  A Littleglobe collaboration with Littleglobe, Bing, and the NHCC. Journal Theater, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 7 p.m.

January 1, 2010

Workshop:  Annie Leibovitz and the Intimate Image.  A free writing workshop in response to Annie Leibovitz photographs.  Art & Leadership Program for Women.  Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  Museum Annex.  Tuesday, 6-8 p.m.

December 19 & 20, 2009

November 21, 2009

Reading, Benefit for the Santa Fe Watershed Association.  Inn of the Governor's/Del Charro Grill, 5:30 p.m., Santa Fe

November 6, 2009 

Burque Poetico, Cervantes Institute, Roundtable discussion of Latino Poetry in the Contemporary World, 7 p.m.

November 5, 2009         

Panel: “Creative Voices.”  National Hispanic Leadership Institute Conference, University of New Mexico, 2-4 p.m.

November 4, 2009          

SAGE Magazine/Albuquerque Journal Luncheon celebrating “Twenty Women Who Have Made a Difference,” 11:30 a.m, Sandia Resort

October 30, 2009         

Reading: Dia de los Muertos Community Celebration, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 5:30 p.m.

October 29, 2009

Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Santa Fe Community Convention Center, 6:30 p.m.

October 22, 2009        

Visit with Santa Fe High School, Julie Hasted’s English Class and the SFHS Poetry Club.  Reading, Writing, and Spoken Word Activities with students.

October 16 & 17, 2009    

The Santa Fe Book Arts Group (BAG):  Celebration of the Book.  Southside Library. Exhibition of Art Books (made by members of BAG), bookmaking and poetry activities with members of BAG and Poet Laureate Valerie Martínez.

September 26, 2009          

Reading:  The 2009 National Book Festival, NEA Pavilion, Washington, DC.  Other NEA writers/readers included Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate; Jane Hirshfield, Ed Hirsch, Ana Menendez, Ayar Zafisi, and Tim O’Brien.

July 23, 2009          

Writing and Art Workshop (with visual artist Gary Myers).  “The Letter: The Visual Poetics of Written Correspondence” in conjunction with the Santa Fe Opera world premiere of Paul Moravec’s “The Letter” and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum exhibition Georgia O’Keeffe: Beyond Our Shores.”  10 a.m.-12 p.m. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Education Annex. 

June 28, 2009           

Writing Workshop for Art Teachers, “From There to Here” in conjunction with the exhibition: Georgia O’Keeffe Beyond Our Shores.  Georgia O’Keeffe Education Programs. 9-11 a.m.

June 9-11, 2009  

Writing Workshop (3 days of creative exercises and writing). VOCES Youth Program, winner of an Arts Alliance Bravos Award, NHCC. 

April 18, 2009         

Arts Alliance Bravos Award Dinner in support of the VOCES Youth Program of the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC), serving New Mexico high school students, 6  p.m.,Albuquerque. 

April 16, 2009         

Reading. Poetry Jam, 2009, in support of New Mexico CultureNet’s Poets in the Schools (PITS) program.  7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center.

April 4, 2009           

Judge. National High School Poetry Slam Qualifying Competition, Santa Fe Indian School.  7 p.m.  Attendance: 50

March 27, 2009          

Ekphrastic Performance (with poets Maureen Seaton and Jasmine Cuffee) in response to a Sheri Crider installation. SCA Contemporary Art,  Albuquerque, 7 p.m. Women & Creativity Month, 2009. 

March 22, 2009           

Meeting of the Lines and Circles Poet Laureate Educational/Outreach Project Families. 2 p.m. O’Shaughnessy Performing Space, College of Santa Fe.                                       

March 15, 2009          

Spoken Word and Musical Performance. SALVE:  Women on War and Warriorship—based on interviews with women war veterans, in celebration of Women & Creativity Month, 2009.  A Littleglobe production with Molly Sturges, Linne Lalire, Alex Neville, Chris Jonas, Poppy Wilder, and J.A. Deane.  New Mexico Veterans War Memorial, Albuquerque, 2 p.m.

March 14, 2009         

Spoken Word and Musical Performance. SALVE:  Women on War and Warriorship—based on interviews with women war veterans, in celebration of Women & Creativity Month, 2009.  A Littleglobe production with Molly Sturges, Linne Lalire, Alex Neville, Chris Jonas, Poppy Wilder, and J.A. Deane. O’Shaughnessy Performance Space,  College of Santa Fe.

March 3, 2009           

Reading. Dear Eve, Lilith, and Emily…with writers Dana Levin and Robin Romm in celebration of Women & Creativity Month.  12:30 p.m., College of Santa Fe.           -March 14, 2009          

Reading & Panel Presentation: “Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections.”  Associated Writing Programs (AW) Annual Conference, Chicago.

February 14, 2009          

Panel Moderator: “Sibling Rivalries:  Spoken & Written Word Poetry and the Literary Tug-of-War,” Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, Chicago: with Jon Davis, Danny Solis, Jill Battson, and Michelle Holland.

February 8, 2009            

Judge. Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest—New Mexico State Competition Finals, 2009, 1 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium.

November 11, 2008 Writing Workshop: “The Art of Self-Image” (accompanying the exhibition of “Georgia O’Keeffe and the Camera: The Art of Identity”), Arts & Leadership Program, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 7-9 p.m.
November 16, 2008

Second Meeting of the Lines and Circles Families Poet Laureate Project.
November 11, 2008

Reading/Discussion with ArtWorks kids, grades 6-8, 10-11:30 a.m., Santa Fe.
November 8, 2008

Presentation. Letras Latinas Salon, hosted by Francisco Aragon (Director of the Institute for Latino/a Studies at Notre Dame), 4 p.m. Santa Fe.
November 8, 2008

Reading and Presentation: Poetry and Science. Santa Fe Institute “The Road Less Traveled” Gala Event, 7 p.m., Eldorado Hotel, Santa Fe
November 3, 2008

Talk and Slide Show Presentation: “Georgia O’Keeffe and the Art of Identity.” Breakfast with O’Keeffe, 8:30 a.m., Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
October 30, 2008

Reading: Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Community Convention Center, 6:30 p.m.
October 17, 2008

Reading and Discussion, Bear Canyon Retirement Community Center, as part of the Santa Fe Opera’s participation in the national Big Read Event.
October 2, 2008

First Meeting of the Lines and Circle Families
September 29, 2008

Reading followed by a writing workshop: International Conference on Creative Tourism, Santa Fe.

September 27, 2008

New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival, Reading and Book-Signing, Museum Hill, Santa Fe, 2 p.m.
September 25, 2008

Reading followed by a writing workshop: International Conference on Creative Tourism, Santa Fe. Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA), Phitya Series Reading, 7:30 p.m.
September 14, 2008

Reading followed by a writing workshop: International Conference on Creative Tourism, Santa Fe.

September 13, 2008

Reading & Panel Presentation, “Integrating Poetry Into Life,” STIR: A Festival of Words. Harwood Arts Center, Albuquerque. 

September 12, 2008

Reading, Grand Opening of the new Santa Fe Railyard Complex, Santa Fe, 1 p.m.
September 2, 2008

Reading/Celebration for the Poet Laureate and the 20th Anniversary of the College of Santa Fe Creative Writing Program.
August 30, 2008

Women’s Focus Radio Program, KUNM (89.9 FM) Radio. Noon.
Reading: Fundraising Dinner/Reading for the Poet Laureate Program, hosted by Sallie Bingham, Santa Fe.
July 9, 2008

“Metamorphosis: Bookmaking and Poetry,” A Workshop for Teens, Southside Library, Santa Fe.
June 21, 2008

Interview: UNOBSTRUCTED, OnWord, Talk Radio, with Alaina Alexander. 3:30 p.m.
June 16, 2008

Reading and Music: Poetry & Jazz, Counter Culture Café, 7:30 p.m. (with the Southwest Jazz Orchestra).

May 14, 2008

Reading: Student Mentorship Celebration for Monte del Sol Charter School, College of Santa Fe, Attendance:
May 6, 2008

Reading and Group Writing Exercise, Monte del Sol Charter School (English Classes).
April 5, 2008

Poem-Palooza 2008 (a celebration of poetry in all its forms) Greer Garson Theater, 7 p.m.
April 2, 2008

Panel Moderator: “Sibling Rivalries: Spoken and Written Word Poetry and the Literary Tug of War,” College of Santa Fe.
May 10, 2008

Inaugural Reading, Santa Fe City Counselors and Judges Swearing-In Ceremony, Lensic Theater. Inauguration of Santa Fe’s second poet laureate.

                                                                                       ********************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--March 20, 2008

Valerie Martinez Named Santa Fe Poet Laureate
 

"The City of Santa Fe Arts Commission has named poet, translator, and teacher Valerie Martinez as the City of Santa Fe’s next Poet Laureate.
 

Valerie Martínez is the author of “Absence, Luminescent” (poems, winner of the Larry Levis Prize and a Greenwall Grant from the Academy of American Poets), "World to World" (poems), "A Flock of Scarlet Doves" (translations), "Reinventing the Enemy's Language" (anthology) and the forthcoming "Each and Her" (poems). Her poetry, translations, and essays have appeared in many literary journals and magazines as well as numerous anthologies of contemporary poetry
 

Martinez is the city’s second Poet Laureate, taking the reigns from Poet Laureate Arthur Sze whose term is now complete. Not wasting any time, Martinez’s first public appearance as Poet Laureate was at the Inauguration Ceremony for newly elected City officials on March 17, 2008.
 

The Poet Laureate program of the Santa Fe Arts Commission, established in 2005, strives to promote a meaningful poetic presence as part of the diverse cultural fabric of the city. This is an honorary position given to a person who has established a presence in the world of poetry, has demonstrated a commitment to and passion for poetry, and embraces the opportunity to engage in civic discourse.
 

The objectives of Santa Fe’s Poet Laureate Program are to:

• Enhance the presence of literary arts in Santa Fe.
• Create a focal point for the expression of Santa Fe’s culture through the literary arts.
• Contribute to the continued growth of the individual Poet Laureate.
• Raise awareness of the power of poetry and the spoken word.
• Provide a forum for cross pollination of art forms.
• Celebrate the spirit of the people and the special qualities of our city.
• Create a unique program that will become a model for other cities.
• Create, over a period of time, a body of work that commemorates the life of our city.
 

Funding for the Poet Laureate Program has been established through the Santa Fe Literary Education Fund, an endowment at the Santa Fe Community Foundation."