POET LAUREATE

Valerie Martínez

06/28/10

VALERIE WAS THE CITY OF SANTA FE POET LAUREATE: MARCH 2008 TO MARCH 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)
Valerie Martinez wins Sage Award for "Twenty Women Making a Difference"
Lines & Circles Community Project
Readings & Events

POET LAUREATE FAREWELL READING

by Valerie Martínez, Santa Fe Poet Laureate

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Noon-1 p.m,
Santa Fe Arts Commission Community Gallery

Light lunch provided
Free and open to the public

From This is How It Began 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.”

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For immediate release, August 2009

Valerie Martinez wins Sage Award for "Twenty Women Making a Difference"

Sage Magazine, the Albuquerque Journal’s monthly magazine for women, has announced winners of its "Twenty Women Who Make a Difference" awards, created to celebrate the magazine’s 20th anniversary. The award focused on 10 different professional fields. “When we launched this list, we knew many New Mexico women had moved into highly visible and influential roles on the state’s most pressing problems,” SAGE editor Carolyn Flynn said. “I’m inspired by not just their achievements, but the generous spirit and positive outlook they bring to their work.”

Recipients of the Sage Magazine Award are:

State Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces, superintendent of the Gadsden Independent; Karen Sanchez-Griego, Atrisco
Heritage Academy School principal; LaDonna Hopkins, vice president and chief development offi cer at the United Way;
Patricia Serna, co-founder and executive director of North Central Community Based Services; Supreme Court Justice Petra
Maes; Lt. Gov. Diane Denish; Rachel O’Connor, the state DWI czar; Linda Davis, a fourth-generation cattle rancher;
Tracy Hephner, co-owner of Wagon Mound Ranch; Bette Korber, an immunologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory;
Margaret Werner-Washburne, a UNM biological sciences professor; Joan Woodward, executive vice president for integrated
technology systems at Sandia National Laboratories; Susie Marbury, an architect who founded Sustainability Week and the
GreenBuilt Tour; Dr. Cheryl Willman, director and chief executive offi cer of the state-of-the-art UNM Cancer Center;
Dr. Arti Prasad, director and founder of the UNM Center for Life; Nancy Youngblood, an award-winning third-generation
Santa Clara potter; Valerie Martinez, Poet Laureate of Santa Fe and Executive Director of Littleglobe; Kathleen Avila,
philanthropist and businesswoman; Barbara Stoller, director of New Mexico Small Business Innovative Research.

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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 Community Gallery

Convention Center, 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. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

The Ingram Family, Working Together

LINES & 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.

(logo credit: Ilana Kirschbaum)

The Quintana Gallegos Family, Working Together

Valerie Martinez, Poet Laureate Readings and Events

--4/27/10

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

--4/16/10

Reading: Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque

--4/11/10

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

--3/27/10

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.

--3/25/10

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.

--3/8/10

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

--3/6/10

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.

--1/12/2010

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.

---12/19 & 20/09

Reading, "AS KINGFISHERS CATCH FIRE: A Celebration of the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins," James A. Little Theater, December 19 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, December 20 2 p.m., a Theaterwork production.

--11/21/09

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

---11/6/09

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

----11/5/09

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

----11/4/09

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

Sandia Resort

----10/30/09

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

----10/29/09

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

-----10/22/09

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

-----10/16-17/09

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.

-----9/26/09

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.

-----7/23/09

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.

-----6/28/09

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.

-----6/9-11/2009

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

-----4/18/09

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.

-----4/16/09

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

-----4/4/09

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

-----3/27/09

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.

-----3/22/09

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

-----3/15/09

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.

-----3/14/09

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.

-----3/3/09

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.

----2/14/09

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

-----2/14/09

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.

----2/8/09

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

Please re-visit this site for updates to the above list of events and readings.

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News Flash--March 20, 2008

Archived

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.