Axle Contemporary
a mobile artspace based in Santa Fe, New Mexico
AXLE CONTEMPORARY PRESS
Since 2011, Axle Contemporary Press has published 25 titles, documenting exhibitions and projects of Axle Contemporary, and also other projects of interest by New Mexico-based artists. Our books are available at our mobile artspace in Santa Fe and through online retailers. Or order from your local bookstore.
E Pluribus Unum: El Norte
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The book is the result of Axle Contemporary’s mobile portrait project which took place in Northern New Mexico in August, September, and October, 2022. The book contains 1300 photographic portraits, images of the project in action, essays by the artists and a poem by Taos Poet Laureate Joshua Concha. The Axle Contemporary free portrait studio was open to all people, in the communities of Los Alamos, Espanola, Chimayo, Pojoaque, Ohkay Owingeh, Truchas, Peñasco, Dixon, Taos, El Prado, Questa, Costilla (Garcia CO), Raton, Watrous, Clayton, Roy, Mosquero, Tucumcari, Las Vegas, Mora, Abiquiu, and Chama. Each participant held a small personal object in their portrait. Photos were immediately printed in the mobile studio --one given to the participant and one pasted to the exterior of the mobile studio-gallery. The cover is a blend off all the portraits.
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Paperback : 475 pages
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ISBN-10 : 1736935267
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ISBN-13 : 978-1736935262
Santa Fe For Art's Sake: (the book)
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by Burning Books, Theater Grottesco, and Axle Contemporary
Santa Fe For Art’s Sake treats the “survey” as a new form for generating experimental theater and visual art. Bouncing between the absurd and the suddenly profound, questions and answers address topics relevant to the arts and culture of Santa Fe, New Mexico, while engaging nationally and internationally with generous respondents.
This book is a distillation of the “greatest hits” from the (unedited) survey responses, as well as some pertinent background information with, hopefully, a few entertaining facets of today’s inscrutable world.
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ISBN-10 : 1736935259
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ISBN-13 : 978-1736935255
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48 pages
Everything Feels Recent When You're Far Away
Poetry and Art from Santa Fe Youth During the Pandemic
Purchase online at Collected Works here or at Axle Contemporary
COMMUNITY, a series of five Coloring Books
Created by visiting artists and students from Santa Fe Public Schools
A project of ARTsmart and Axle Contemporary
Community: A Coloring Book Aspen Community School Santa Fe
With Visiting Artist Andrea Vargas
Purchase online here or at Axle
Community: A Coloring Book E.J. Martinez Elementary Santa Fe
With Visiting Artist Israel Francisco Haros Lopez
Purchase online here or at Axle
Community: A Coloring Book Ramirez Thomas Elementary School Santa Fe
With Visiting Artists David Sloan, Brian Fleetwood, and Jerry Wellman
Purchase online here or at Axle
Community: A Coloring Book Tesuque Elementary Tesuque, New Mexico
With Visiting Artists Stephanie Lenchard Warren and Jerry Wellman
Purchase online here or at Axle
Community: A Coloring Book El Camino Real Academy Santa Fe
With Visiting Artist Brian Fleetwood
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The book is the result of Axle Contemporary’s mobile portrait project which took place in Southeastern New Mexico in October, 2018. The book contains over 900 photographic portraits, images of the project in action, essays by the artists and a foreword by Joshua Wheeler. The Axle Contemporary free portrait studio was open to all people, in the communities of Roswell, Lovington, Hobbs, Alamogordo, Tularosa, Carrizozo, Ruidoso, Mescalero, Carlsbad, Artesia, Portales, and Clovis. Each participant held a small personal object in their portrait. Photos were immediately printed in the mobile studio --one given to the participant and one pasted to the exterior of the mobile studio-gallery.
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Paperback: 339 pages
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ISBN-10: 0996399151
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8.5 x 0.8 x 11 inches
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2.1 pounds
THE BLUE FOLD
Explorations at Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas National Park
Matthew & Julie Chase-Daniel
In 2017, Matthew and Julie Chase-Daniel were awarded a residency on Loggerhead Key by the National Parks Arts Foundation. This small island is part of the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, and 80 miles north of Havana, Cuba. The Dry Tortugas National Park encompasses seven small islands and is part of 2,900 square nautical miles of protected marine sanctuary. Loggerhead Key houses a decommissioned brick lighthouse built in 1858, a small bunkhouse, a 1935 brick Light Keeper’s cottage, and a boathouse now falling into the sea. Power is produced by photovoltaic panels and water by a reverse-osmosis desalination system. The island has no telephone, cell phone or internet service. The month-long arts residency provides uninterrupted time to work and immersion in a natural environment free from many of the distractions of twenty-first century life.
Our title, The Blue Fold, is taken from Julie’s poem exploring the perspective of the island itself. Indeed, we hazard multiple views here, folding them into one another, exploring how all perspectives are generative and always-already unfolding from within, even as they are situated and interdependent. Far from discovering the end of the earth, the distant horizon where ocean meets sky is where we caught a line and leapt into the origami cosmos, to see what we could see.
HOLY MISERY
Guy Cross
a photo graphic novel
Holy Misery tells the tale, through Cross’ words and photographs, of a cocaine and sex-fueled descent into darkness paranoia, and insatiable hungers during the 80s in Santa Fe and Los Angeles. It is a tale of a time when idealism had evaporated, greed had spread through the cites, and compassion was in short supply. This novel simultaneously repels and attracts the reader, as it draws us in—page after page—in a fever pitch of a human thirst for meaning, satisfaction, and redemption. Through Cross' narrative and an abundance of often grainy and seedy images, Holy Misery has its own unique pitch and is reminiscent of works of Bukowski, Kerouac, Burroughs, and Hunter Thompson. Cross has created an original narrative that draws the reader into a strange, foreign, yet familiar world. More info here.
Text by Joe Hayes, Lily Hoang, Melody Sumner Carnahan, Nasario Garcia, Jamie Figueroa
Five New Mexico-based creative writers, each composed a short, image-rich story for this coloring book. These colorful stories use a variety of styles and cultural references, both local and universal. Jamie Figueroa and Lily Hoang bring us fantastical images of giants and monsters. Nasario Garcia pulls us into old-time small-town Norteño fiestas and dark back roads imbued with mystery and magic. Joe Hayes shoots us to the stars and back with a coyote tale, and Melody Sumner Carnahan spins us in circles (while reminding us to keep breathing) with a dizzying array of imagery. When the stories were complete, we invited artists, known to make coloring book style line drawing illustrations based on the stories.
Artists who contributed their drawings to this book: Joshua Atlas, Jamison Chas Banks, Rita Bard, Jeff Benham, Crockett Bodelson, Victoria Carlson, Susan Case, Hye Coh, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Lisa de St. Croix, Erin Currier, Donelli J. DiMaria, Clare Dunne, Alexandra Eldridge, Joerael Julian Elliott, Betsy Emil, Andrew Fearnside, Brian Fleetwood, Lisa Flynn, Jason Garcia, Miranda Gray, Holly Grimm, Linda Guenste, Hans Harland-Hue, Nicola Heindl-Watson, Sienna Heinemann, Yubi Kim, Shakti Kroopkin, Celeste LaForme, Mary Lawler, Katherine Lee, David Leigh, Israel Haros Lopez, Nina Mastrangelo, Abby Mattison, Kathleen McCloud, Daniel McCoy, Mary Moegenburg, Sabra Moore, Eliza Naranjo Morse, Aidan Mott, Matthew Mullins, Joel Nakamura, Arlene Ory, Larry Bob Phillips, Mikey Rae, Janet Stein Romero, William Rotsaert, Iren Schio, Rose Simpson, Mark Spencer, Rick Stevens, Laurinda Stockwell, Dianne Stromberg, Linda Swanson, Tricia Tusa, Linda Vi Vona, Erika Wanenmacher, Tracy Cook Wein, Jerry Wellman, Raina Wellman, Gwen Wells, Anastasio Wrobel, Aaron Yazzie, Francesca Yorke, Debby Young, Bette Yozell.
Publication Date::Jul 11 2017
ISBN/EAN13: 0996399127 / 9780996399128
Page Count: 156
US Trade Paper, 8.5" x 11"
The book is the result of Axle Contemporary's mobile portrait project which took place on and adjacent to the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona in September, 2016. The book contains over 700 photographic portraits, images of the project in action, essays by the artists and Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum and a poem by the Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, Laura Tohe
The Axle Contemporary free portrait studio was open to all people, in locations on and near the Navajo Nation from September 2 through September 13, 2016, visiting Gallup, Prewitt, Toadlena, Window Rock, Chinle, Shiprock, and Farmington. Each participant held a small personal object in their portrait. Photos were immediately printed in the mobile studio --one given to the participant and one pasted to the exterior of the mobile studio-gallery.
ISBN/EAN13: 0996399119 / 9780996399111
Page Count: 286
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 8.5" x 11"
not this, not that
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For millennia, humans have struggled with the linguistic conundrum of describing what is inherently indescribable, in naming the unnameable. As soon as words are used, meaning is lost. The same conundrum exists in science and art. This exhibition is a method of enquiry into this philosophical, scientific, religious, and artistic topic. Inspired by artists and writers such as Yves Klein, John Cage, Agnes Martin, Gertrude Stein, and T.S Eliot, we draw on thinkers from Maimonides to Lao Tzu, Werner Heisenberg, Jean-Paul Sartre, and more.
Evolving Intentions in Public Art
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Edited by Christy Hengst
How can public art have a meaningful impact on the people who experience it? In recent years, public art has grown beyond the display of monumental sculpture in bronze and stone, to explore projects that push the conventional definitions of art, finding new ways to engage people. Increasingly, public art often involves ephemeral works, guerrilla actions, and social interventions. People may come across these projects in the midst of everyday life, opening an unexpected window of interaction. This book is the transcription of a day-long symposium from September, 2014, which took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, produced by the Kathryn Street Art Festival, The Center for Contemporary Arts, and Axle Contemporary. Contributions by: Bobbe Besold, Paula Castillo, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Aly Kreikemeier, Michelle Laflamme-Childs, Christy Hengst, Vince Kadlubek, Dominique Mazeaud, Issa Nyaphaga, Sanjit Sethi, Alysha Shaw, Molly Sturges, Edie Tsong, Jerry Wellman.
Dollar Distribution
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In the summer of 2014, artist Matthew Chase-Daniel raised $1,500 and then left it, one dollar at a time, on the streets of Santa Fe New Mexico. The book contains 176 color photographs and an essay describing the project.
The Renga Project
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The Renga Project is a new take on an ancient traditional collaborative form of Japanese poetry. 52 weekly stanzas were written by a diverse group of New Mexico poets. We also invited 52 New Mexico artists to create a linked drawing with each artist responding to a writer's stanza. The poem was displayed on a large sign in the Santa Fe Railyard for one year, with new stanzas added weekly. The drawings were exhibited in the Axle Contemporary Mobile Gallery during the summer of 2014. The book contains the full poem, all the drawings, and two essays.
POETS:
Britta Andersson, Helena Andolsek, Erin Bad Hand, Will Barnes, Amy Beeder, Hakim Bellamy, Sherwin Bitsui, Sonja Bjelic, Chee Brossy, Paige Buffington, Chuck Calabreze, Lauren Camp, Deborah Casillas, Ungelbah Davila, Jon Davis, Matt Donovan, Joanne Dominique Dwyer, Jamie Figueroa, Ann Filemyr, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Greg Glazner, Lise Goett, Veronica Golos, Gabe Gomez, Richard Greenfield, Renee Gregorio, Joy Harjo, Elizabeth Jacobson, Christopher J. Johnson, Stephanie N. Johnson, Donald Levering, Dana Levin, Jane Lin, Monty Little, Joan Logghe, Jessica Helen Lopez, Valerie Martinez, Dora McQuaid, Carol Moldaw, Malena Morling, Sawnie Morris, dg nanouk okpik, Margaret Randall, Jamie Ross, Miriam Sagan, Henry Shukman, Jonathan Skinner, James Thomas Stevens, Catherine Strisik, Leslie Ullman, Connie Voisine.
ARTISTS:
Terry Allen, Ernest Bell, Jeff Benham, Charlie Carrillo, Claire Coté, Lisa de St. Croix, Luke Dorman, Nina Elder, Alexandra Eldridge, Betsy Emil, Danny Green, Fran Hardy, Karina Hean, Bart Johnson, Juan Kelly, Caity Kennedy, Celeste LaForme, Katherine Lee, Joanne Lefrak, David Leigh, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Nina Mastrangelo, Elizabeth McNitt, Eliza Naranjo Morse, David Nakabayashi, Joel Nakamura, Timothy Nero, Gene Newman, Lara Nickel, Larry Bob Phillips, Ron Pokrasso, Prakash, Gail Rieke, Janet Stein Romero, Sam Scott, SCUBA, Rose Simpson, Gerry Snyder, Mark Spencer, Rick Stevens, Linda Swanson, Gina Trujillo & Sonya Gonzales, Peter Voshefski, Erika Wanenmacher, Jerry Wellman, Kappy Wells, Jerry West, Todd Ryan White, Robin D. Williams, Cedra Wood, Debby Young, Greta Young
This book documents Axle Contemporary's 2013-2014 project where community-sourced miniature porcelain sculptures were baked into loaves of specialty breads by local bakers in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Breads sold were accompanied by individualized crowns with community-sourced writings about bread: Poems, essays, and aphorisms. Portions of the project, inspired by the tradition of Kings Cake, were exhibited at Axle Contemporary's mobile gallery and at SITE Santa Fe. The book includes photographs of 269 sculptures and 57 pieces of writing about bread.
ISBN/EAN13: 0985811668 / 9780985811662
Page Count: 180
US Trade Paper
6" x 9"
Black and White with Bleed
E Pluribus Unum: Albuquerque
Purchase online here, at Axle Contemporary
or at 516 ARTS in Albuquerque
E Pluribus Unum: Albuquerque contains over 600 portraits taken in the the Axle Contemporary mobile gallery on the streets of downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico from January 6-12, 2014. There are also numerous shots of the portrait-covered vehicle on the streets of the city, as well as writings by Albuquerqueans on what "E Pluribus Unum" means to them. The cover is an image created by blending equal portions of all of the portraits.
ISBN/EAN13: 098581165X / 9780985811655
Page Count: 232
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 8.5" x 11"
Publication Date: Jan 14 2014
Jerry Wellman, through drawings, essays, reveries, and poetry, explores concepts of death and deathlessness. An ongoing project since the passing of his brother, almost 35 years ago, the book is inspired by his investigations of Eastern thought, funerary architecture, poetry, and philosophy.
The title for the book, Emblems of Hidden Duration, is directly inspired by the writing of Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza proposes a difference between eternity and durations. He suggests eternity as the place that exists outside time, and that durations exist as a series of overlapping and interconnected events. More recently quantum mechanics theorizes: Physical reality is a stack of events that exist as the ever-changing indefinable now. The book takes the form of an internal conversation with Wellman himself, at the time of his imagined death.
ISBN/EAN13: 0985811633 / 9780985811631
Page Count: 118 Black and White
Binding Type: US Trade Paper 8.5" x 8.5"
Autophotography: Self Portraits by New Mexico Photographers
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Photographs by: V. Amore, Henry Aragoncillo, Laurie Archer, Phillip Augustin, Brad Bealmear, Jonathan Blaustein, Gay Block, Iscah Hunsden Carey, Matthew Chase-Daniel, Carola Clift, William Clift, Eric Cousineau, Guy Cross, Ungelbah Davilla, Antone Dolezal, Dianne Duenzl, Jennifer Esperanza, Steve Fitch, Patricia Galagan, Kirk Gittings, Lydia Gonzales, Sondra Goodwin, Meggan Gould, Lauren Greenwald, James Hart, Sol Hill, Megan Jacobs, Jen Judge, David Michael Kennedy, Lisa Law, Willis F. Lee, Louis Leray, Patti Levey, Tamara Lichtenstein, Herbert Lotz, Jessamyn Lovell, Richard Lowenberg, Helen Maringer, Gabriella Marks, Elliot McDowell, Nick Merrick, Philip Metcalf, Lia Moldovan, Duane Monczewski, Delilah Montoya, Sarah Moore, Jonathan Morse, Joseph Mougel, Teresa Neptune, Nic Nicosia, Clay Peres, Jane Phillips, Daniel Quat, Dave Reichert, Meridel Rubenstein, Janet Russek, Kate Russell, Ward Russell, Tara Raye Russo, Key Sanders, Celia Luz Santos, Suzanne Sbarge, David Schienbaum, Jennifer Schlesinger Hanson, Andrea Senutovitch, Frances Seward, Laura Shields, Brandon Soder, Catie Soldan, Nancy Sutor, Anne Staveley, Sharon Stewart, Jamey Stillings, Dianne Stromberg, Jim Stone, Martin Stupich, Carrie Tafoya, Laurie Tumer, Lisa Tyrrell, Marion Wasserman, Melanie West, Will Wilson, Baron Wolman, Francesca Yorke, Joan Zalenski, and Zoe Zimmerman.
8.5" x 11" Full Color on White paper 180 pages
Axle Contemporary Press ISBN-13: 978-0985811648 / 0985811641
Named a Best Book of 2013 by THE magazine
LANDINGS: birds in the park
by Christy Hengst
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This book documents Hengst's traveling public art installation. Since 2008, Hengst has been "landing" her porcelain birds in public spaces around the world. The birds contain text and imagery relating to war, peace and personal histories. The book includes essays by both Hengst and Henry Shukman. The birds have landed in over sixty locations, including Central Park and the UN Headquarters in NY, many locations in Santa Fe, beaches along the coast of California, the National Mall in Washington D.C., Chartres Cathedral in France, the weapons development site of Peenemünde, Germany, and have migrated as far as the Galapagos Islands.
2012 8.5” x 8.5” paperback color ISBN: 0985811617 / 9780985811617 117 pages $23
Seeing Inside
by Joan Halifax
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Joan Halifax Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has explored the medium of photography since she was very young. She has captured striking images of the people and places she has encountered in her extensive travels in Tibet, Burma, throughout Asia, and elsewhere. This book, published on the occasion of her seventieth birthday, is a selection of her compelling and heartfelt photographs and an essay on her experience of seeing. Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Upaya Zen Center and Axle Contemporary.
Also available at Upaya Zen Center
122 pages 8.5” x 8.5” paperback color ISBN:0985811609 / 9780985811600 $30
E Pluribus Unum: Santa Fe
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In March, 2012, Axle Contemporary produced a 10-day project in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We rigged our mobile gallery as a portrait studio, and photographed all who stopped by in 11 locations around the city over the course of 10 days. Photos were distributed free on-site, pasted to the side of the mobile gallery, and projected in an exhibition at SITE Santa Fe. All the photos were composited at the end of the project, creating one image that represents all 566 participants. All the photos as well as essays about the project are collected here in this book.
Publication Date: 2012 ISBN: 0615628826 / 9780615628820 194 pages paperback b/w 8.5" x 11" $20
Body
by Matthew Chase-Daniel
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In Chase-Daniel's 2011 series of black and white flatplate scanner photographs of the human body, we are engaged with a rare blend of intimacy and anonymity. As we move through this series, we are by turns seduced and repulsed, the anomalous becomes beautiful, the individual becomes universal. By the end, our sense of boundaries are blurred, between male and female, the beautiful and the ugly, the sacred and profane, youth and old age, self and other.
2011 182 pages 88 photos paperback 8.5" x 11" Black and White ISBN:0615574610 / 9780615574615 $14
Haiku Roadsign
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This book documents our 2011 project with photos, the Haiku, poet bios, and essays about the project by Joan Logghe (Santa Fe Poet Laureate); Laura Addison (curator of contemporary art at The New Mexico Museum of Art); and Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman (Axle Contemporary).
Poems by: Debbie Adams, Burning Books, John Brandi, Lauren Camp, Seth T. Cohen, Deborah A. Cole, Eve De Bona, Teresa Gallion, Jenny Goldberg, Grace Henderson, Cheri Ibes, John Knoll, Wayne Lee, Jane Lipman, Brian Leekley, Sandra D. Lynn, Dara Mark, Don McIver, N. Scott Momaday, Ursula Moeller, Marian Olson, Dru Philippou, Elizabeth Raby, Skip Rapoport, Stella Reed, Barbara Robidoux, Miriam Sagan, Katherine Shelton, Rick Smith, Susan Swab, Charles Trumbull, and Marguerite Wilson.
2011 80 Pages paperback 8.5 wide × 8.5 tall color ISBN: 978-0-9858116-2-4 $25