Anita Rodriguez uses brilliant color,and draftsmanship, magical realism, Jungian symbolism, Mexican mysticism, and humor to convey her distinctive perception of her beloved Northern New Mexico.
Descended from generations of native Hispanic Taosenos, her creativity was nourished in a richly diverse and complex cultural environment.
Her childhood was saturated with Native American ceremonialism, traditional curanderos, Mexican history and mysticism, Hispanic folk art, customs and religious art, and the living presence of the old Taos artists, their art and even traces of Crypto-Jews
© 2011 Anita Rodriguez. All Rights Reserved.
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11/1/04 ONE-WOMAN-SHOW - Martinez Hacienda - 708 Hacienda Road, Taos, NM
7/29/11 FLAMENCO CAFE - 226 N. Guadalupe St. Santa Fe New Mexico
8/1/10 ONE-WOMAN SHOW - Ouray’s fine arts, Taos, New Mexico
2/5/10 FAFA’S, EROTIC SHOW -Taos , New Mexico
2/10/10 TOWN HALL - Taos, New Mexico
2/25/10 ONE-WOMAN SHOW, GALLERY 13 - Taos, New Mexico
12/20/09 GALERIA DE LAS RANAS - Guanajuato, Mexico
7/28/09 AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION - La Fonda, Santa Fe, New Mexico
5/6/09 PINTORES GUANAJUATENSES - Meson de las Poetas, Guanajuato, Mexico
2/8/10 CASA DEL SOL- Guanajuato, Mexico
6/18/08 ALMA DEL SOL - Guanajuato, Mexico
6/12/08 CASA ESTRELLA - Guanajuato, Mexico
5/15/08 GALERIA DUARTE - Guanajuato, Mexico
3/4/08 CAFÉ LIBERTAD - Guanajuato, Mexico
11/2/07 GALERIA VALLARTA - Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
10/17/07 GALERIA SOL Y LUNA - Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
3/23/07 ONE-WOMAN SHOW - RB Ravens Gallery, Ranchos de Taos, NM
3/15/07 ONE-WOMAN SHOW - Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico USA
2/15/07 AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION - La Fonda, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
01/09/06 CAFE ZILCH - Guanajuato, Mexico
11/06 DIA DE LOS MUERTOS Guanajuato, Mexico
9/05 CAMINO DE LA PLATA - Casa Redonda, Ciudad Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico
3/05 ONE-WOMAN SHOW - Café Tazza, Taos, New Mexico, USA
5/04 CARAS CHICANAS - Gallery of the West, Denver, Colorado, USA, USA
2/04 CONTEMPORY ART/TAOS - Harwood, Taos, New Mexico
9/03 CONTEMPORARY ARTSTS OF THE SOUTHWEST - Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA
2/02 RAMFLAS TRANCENDENTALES - R.B. Ravens Gallery, Taos, New Mexico, USA
2/02 THE DEATH JOURNEYS TRANSCENDENT - Roswell Museum, Roswell, New Mexico, USA
7/01 RISING STARS - Desert Caballeros, Western Museum, Wickenberg, Arizona, USA
9/01 ONE WOMAN SHOW - New Directions Gallery, Taos, New Mexico, USA
5/00 NEW ART OF THE WEST - Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
4/00 LA MUERTE VIAJERA, ONE WOMAN SHOW - Alhondigas de Granaditas, Guanajuato, Mexico
5/99 ONE WOMAN SHOW - Gene Bryon Museum, Guanajuato, Mexico
8/98 TRECE PINTORES GUANAJUATENSES - Gene Bryon Museum, Guanajuato, Mexico
4/98 ONE WOMAN SHOW Casa de la Cultura, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico
1/98 ANITA RODRIGUES – NORTENA - Casa de la Cultura, Bacalar, Quintana, Roo, Mexico
6/97 PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY, THE HIDDEN JEWS OF NEW MEXICOAND PORTUGUAL
Mizel Family Cultural Arts Center, Denver, Colorado
5/97 THE BEST OF TAOS - Taos Inn, Taos, New Mexico
4/97 ONE WOMAN SHOW, A FAMILY SECRET, HIDDEN JEWS OF NEW MEXICO
Washington Hebrew Congregation, Washington D.C.
1/9 ONE WOMAN SHOW - New Directions Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
10/9 CINCO PINTORAS - University Art Museum Downtown, Albuquerque, New Mexico
5/96 DE COLORES - Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco, California
5/96 NEW ART OF THE WEST- Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
10/95 DIA DE LA RAZA - Albuquerque Museum of Art, Science and History, Alb. New Mexico
8/95 EXOTIC AND EROTIC SHOW - Spirit Runner Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
8/95 TAOS INVITES TAOS SHOW - Rio Grande Hall, Civic Center, Taos New Mexico
7/95 ANITA RODRIGUEZ, ONE WOMAN SHOW - Handsel Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
7/95 SPANISH MARKET - Town Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico
5/95 FIESTA ARTISTICA- Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
11/94 ARTISTAS CONTEMPOPRANEOS DE NUEVO MEXICO
Galeria de la Presidencia Municipal, Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Mexico
10/94 DIA DE LOS MUERTOS - Orange County Center for Contemporary Art,
Orange County, California
9/94 ENVIDIA - Martinez Hacienda, Taos, New Mexico
9/94 HISPANIC PERSPECTIVES - Martinez Hacienda, Taos, New Mexico
9/94 TAOS INVITES TAOS - Taos Civic Plaza, Taos, New Mexico
7/94 SPANISH MARKET - Town Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico
5/94 FIESTA ARTISTICA - Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
5/93 FOUR PERSON SHOW - Millicent Rodger’s Museum, Taos New Mexico
7/93 ONE WOMAN SHOW - Handsel Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
7/93 SPANISH MARKET - Town Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico
10/92 DIA DE LOS MUERTOS - Mexican Fine Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois
9/92 VISIONS OF HOPE, THREADS OF VISION - Dougherty Art Center, Austin, Texas
9/92 THE CRYPTO-JEWS OF NEW MEXICO - Handsel Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
7/92 FAST-FORWARD AN ALTERNATIVE ART SHOW- Firestone Building, Santa Fe, New Mexico
7/92 GOVENOR’S GALLERY SHOW - Capitol Building, Santa Fe, New Mexico
4/92 QUINCENTENNIAL SHOW - Stables Art Center, Taos, New Mexico
4/92 MEET THE ARTIST SERIES - Taos Inn, Taos, New Mexico, USA
3/92 EIGHTH ANNUAL JURIED LATINA ARTISTS’ SHOW - Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, Texas 9/91 HISPANIC ARTS EXHIBIT - State Fairgrounds, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Honorable Mention)
7/91 NOCHE, A ONE-WOMAN SHOW - Atelier Gallery Taos, New Mexico
6/91 HISPANIC ARTS COUNCIL ARTS SHOW - Mante’s Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
6/91 FOLK ART OF NEW MEXICO - Stables Art Center, Taos, New Mexico
5/91 ONE-WOMAN SHOW - Déjàvu Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
12/90 TAOS CALENDAR SHOW - Taos Inn, Taos, New Mexico
8/90 HISPANIC ART SHOW- Santa Fe Center for the Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexic
6/90 HISPANIC ARTS AND CRAFTS SHOW - State Fairgrounds, Albuquerque, New Mexico
5/90 TOM NOBLE, JIM WAGNER, ANITA RODRIGUEZ - Dejavu Gallery, Taos, New Mexico
4/90 CONTEMPORY HISPANIC ART IN NEW MEXICO - Stables Art Center, Taos, New Mexico
3/90 ONE WOMAN SHOW - First State Bank, Taos, New Mexico
12/89 HISPANIC FOLK ART OF NEW MEXICO - Stables Art Center, Taos New Mexico
11/89 DAY OF THE DEAD - Stables Art Center, Taos New Mexico
11/89 TAOS HISPANIC ARTS COUNCIL SHOW - Las Palomas de Taos, Taos, New Mexico
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
• New Mexico State Capitol, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Albuquerque Museum of Art, Science and History, Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
• Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico
• Centinel Bank, Taos, New Mexico
• Santa Fe Animal Shelter, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BOOKCOVERS, ALBUM COVER
• ALBURQUERQUE, by Rudolfo Anaya
• EL SANTO QUESO, by Jim Seagel
• MESA REVIEW NUMBER FIVE, University of New Mexico Press
• THE LOVE THAT SURVIVES, (album cover) by Larry Sargent
Anita's newest permanet collection is the National Hispanic Cultural Center
- New Mexico State Capitol, Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana
- Albuquerque Museum of Art, Science and History, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
- Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico
- Centinel Bank, Taos, New Mexico
- Santa Fe Animal Shelter, Santa Fe, New Mexico
In an imaginary, surreal landscape of intense spirituality,
Anita has just finished a book and is currently in the publication process. Like her paintings it defies traditional categories. It is, technically, a cook book . Many of the recipes are traditional foods that are part of the unique cuisine of Northern New Mexico.
But the book is far more. It is also the stories that surround the food. The book reaches into the lives of the cooks who created the food and people they fed and delivers them to you on gorgeous, vivid prose.
Enjoy this section of Chapter 6. We will keep you posted on the status.
The Kitchen of the Saints " Cocina de los santos"
Chapter VI - MY PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER’S KITCHEN
“Al hambre de siete días, no hay pan duro.” “For a hunger of six days, there is no stale bread.” A Mexican dicho.
I can’t, in good conscience, include any recipes from my paternal grandmother Hippolita, Mama Lupe’s mother, because she was a terrible cook whose food we ate anyway. So instead I will tell a few stories about the woman who didn’t fit the stereotype of benign grandmothers with halos of white hair who put children peacefully to sleep with bedtime stories.
Hippolita’s stories were dyed the color of her grim mood and were meant to terrify us into submission. She put her numerous grandchildren in the huge, sagging bed like sardines, head-to-toe, head-to-toe, under layers of heavy Navajo and Chimayo blankets - not to warm us - but to pin us down. She told stories of witches who changed themselves into owls and dogs, of curses that twisted the lives of ungrateful and disobedient children with grotesque tragedies.
Her stories were about La Llorona, of the Devil dancing with rebellious daughters who shouldn’t have gone to the wedding dance, about haunted places where terrible things kept happening because of a murder, suicide or blasphemy that took place there long ago. She told us about hiding from the Comanches and the Cheyennes in the chimney of one of those huge, double-mouthed adobe fireplaces called fogones de campana, how being scalped made your face collapse like a deflated balloon, and about the Cute Largo, the long-coated old man who did cosas cochinas to little girls who strayed too far from the Placita.
Hippolita’s bedtime stories so petrified us that at night we would never go to the outdoor común in the back yard alone, but only in whispering, squeaking clusters like terrified mice. We would make the sign of the cross continuously, without ever stopping, even while softening the Montgomery Ward Catalog pages we used for toilet paper with our left hands.
“Don’t scare me!” we begged each other. We saw shadows slinking into the cirguelas by the acequia, and we definitely heard La Llorona every night, every single night. The darkness was always just about to explode into shrieking, chattering terror and reveal all the secrets in one terrible moment of utter destruction.
Sin. That was the reason. Sin and secrets, and they were everywhere, except sin was the biggest secret of all so you could never know if you were doing one, you could only be afraid and remember never to ask.
Born and raised in Taos, New Mexico, Anita's family on her father's side has lived in her beloved valley for many generations. Her mother was also a painter who came to Taos from Austin, Texas to study art. Anita's art training began in her childhoog as play with her mother's brushes and paints. Her need and talent to create art is one of her earliest memories and has been a life long love. Anita had her formal art training at the University of Colorado.
But...the person creating this website is me, Anita's daughter Shemai. (Nice to meet you by the way.) And I want you to see who Anita really is as a person, because it is the personal resonance that people feel when they look at her art that adds such dimension to it's beauty. So, I am going to give you a less traditional view and describe her as I see her. My mom.
Her courage is boundless. Her norm is to defy the norm, which is reflected in her art as it is unique in style and content. One of our challenges in marketing her work has been the fact that it is difficult to categorize. Her life has been, and continues to be, filled with amazing adventures. She delivers lectures that I have seen move people to tears. She conducts challenging and emotional workshops on subjects as controversial as envy and racism. She is a fearless trail blazer. She stands in the face of challenge without hesitation.
Her imagination is vast. You can see this clearly expressed in her paintings, but her creativity penetrates into every aspect of her life. She designed and built, literally with her own hands, her unique home. She dresses beautifully, wearing wonderful colors and dramatic jewelry. She loves to create new recipes in her kitchen. She overflows with ideas for new projects. Her mind never stops creating.
Her passion is inspiring. Her integrity is flawless. She is an honest, generous, kind and loving person. I am truly blessed to have had her in my life.
Thanks for everything mom!
Anita is a regular participant in the Taos Artist Organization annual studio tour. Click here to see the 2011 info. She also hosts clients in her studio by appointment. It is a chance to hear the stories behind each piece which is what makes them a personal experience as well as beautiful art. You can contact us to arrange a studio tour. Serious inquiries only please.
6 new prints available framed and matted at Fine Art America
Anita is an indigenous part of the tradition that has made the southwest a powerful voice in American art.
Anita will be participating in the 2012 Contemporary Spanish Market.
Details to follow.
Anita is waiting for final details from the Spanish Market organizers.
COMING:
- Booth number and hopefully a map to her booth.
- Snapshots of the prep. Her booth will be beautiful!
- A preview of the art that will be available.
- And possible Tarot readings. We're trting to decide if it's just too much to try to do on top of everything else.
