Outings: Carrizozo
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| Gallery 408 is a bright spot in the small town of Carrizozo. |
Pet Project
An unassuming street in Carrizozo is as unlikely a location as any to find a mirror-adorned ceramic burro casting a disco-ball effect on the sidewalk. But that’s just what you’ll find at Gallery 408, which this month celebrates its fifth anniversary. Founded and operated by Warren and Joan Malkerson, the gallery hosts the annual Burro Serenade through Carrizozo, population 1,407 and the Lincoln county seat, 75 miles southeast of Socorro on U.S. 380.
Taking up an idea popularized in such metropolises as Chicago and Seattle, and locally in Santa Fe’s Trail of the Painted Ponies Gallery 408 crafts burro sculptures, commissions area artists to paint or embellish them, then auctions them for charity—in their case, the funds go to Miracle PAWS for Pets, an animal-rescue group, and the local veterinarians who help them. The result is a public-art project comprising a parade of 30-some pink zebras, Diego Rivera–esque murals, and other shades in a kaleidoscope of artistic expression that meanders along Carrizozo’s historic 12th Street and downtown area each November.
Year-round, Gallery 408 is a bright spot for contemporary and modern art. When I visited, earth-toned landscapes by artist-in-residence Estelle L. Roberge tumbled across the gallery’s walls. Inspired by the rocky outcroppings of Colorado Mountain Plateau, her native coastal Maine, and, more recently, central New Mexico, Roberge examines our human relationships with wilderness. In its artist-in-residence program, Gallery 408 provides living and studio space so that artists can devote themselves to their work for periods from a week to as long as several months. Up to 15 artists can rent small studio spaces from the gallery, and community members can participate in the classes they offer throughout the year.
Gallery 408 also displays whimsical, vintage-inspired prints by local artist Alisa Day-Kenyon, whose signature image of a gorilla carrying red chile adorns many Lincoln County walls, as well as dynamic, symbolic paintings by gallery owner Joan Malkerson. The Malkersons blend local talents with others discovered on the East Coast and near their home in Minnesota.
“I like that we can keep different artists moving through the gallery. There’s a liveliness to the work we show,” says Joan. In the a back room of this historic home turned gallery is a delightful gift gallery selling such items as wind chimes, altered books, and pottery.
Serendipity may have brought the Malkersons to Carrizozo when they were combing the Southwest for a place to retire to, but it’s this modest town’s community curiosity, spirit, and passion for the arts that have sustained Gallery 408.
408 12th St., Carrizozo; (575) 648-2598, www.gallery408.com—Ashley M. Biggers
