Long Chain On by David Garver

My name is Rivers Picasso Martinez I am 12 years old I attend TISA The video is entitled: "When You Level Up" I made it with my family. I enjoy playing video games

My name is Elijah Russell. I am a 6th grader at TISA. During this quarantine I have really been practicing my guitar skills. My favorite band is Green Day and my friends and I have a band called " A Rainy Sunny Day" I was proud of London Bridges because I was just playing around on the guitar and listening to the sounds and was able to put London Bridges together by sounding it out.

2020 Taos Talent: Painting demonstration by Eliana Kaysing

Elsie Clayton shares her drawing process in this live stop motion demonstration. Our latest Taos Talent 2020 video submission!

Abigailtaos09 shares her adorable TikTok dance videos with the Taos News. Another wonderful submission to Taos Talent! @abigailtaos09 This is for school

7th-grade student Brooklyn shares her love of filmmaking in this impressive Taos Talent 2020 video submission. A must-see!

A funky, trippy cool instrumental submitted by Laguna Menta:

Tenney Whedon Walsh shares some music she wrote for these times:

Margaret Nes  sent this in, combining some of her artwork and piano music: 

Maria Samora is one of the most well-known, contemporary Native American jewelers. Since winning first place at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 2005, she went on to win again in 2007 and in 2009. She was the poster child for Indian Market that year - the first jeweler ever. Since then, her jewelry has become highly coveted by influencers and collectors. Her designs are inspired by Pueblo Indian tradition but are elegant and timeless in their minimalist simplicity.

"The thing is I don't really feel like an artist," said Marianne Farhney as we walked together sharing the wide width of a dirt road in El Prado. Marianne Farhney is a local artist who arrived in Taos shortly after graduating from the San Franscico Art School with a BA in Fine Art in 2004. The bio on her website simply states "(She) was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in the D.C. area. She has been creating, making and crafting for as long as she can remember."

The Spanish flu swept through Taos 102 years ago and a curandera named Maggie Mascareñas saved many lives. She lived in Cañón when I knew her in the 1970s and she was already old. Back then I was an enjarradora, a traditional mud plasterer, and I did adobe restoration jobs. I was working on a very old building whose owner hired me on condition I put a certain relative on the job. I soon realized why. Nobody else would ever have hired him - I found beer cans in the straw. He got on his horse during the lunch hour one day, drunk, and got bucked off.

Heritage Fine Arts just handed a $1,950 check last week (April 28) to Marci Lameman, sister of well-known Diné/Navajo artist Andersen Kee. The check is the first of more hoped-for assistance to aid folks in dire circumstances in Navajo Nation - many of whom are elderly or without electricity or running water - who are especially at risk during this current coronavirus pandemic.

Tom Dixon may well be the most "underappreciated artist around," as his friend and fellow painter Peter Parks notes, but he is also one of the most respected and collected contemporary artists in Taos.

Normally an April article on fashion would be an enthusiastic look at the new colors and trends arriving in the stores for the new season. Instead, it's refreshing to be taking an entirely different approach to the seasonal wardrobe.

Going digital or giving up altogether are the choices facing art galleries and small businesses in Taos, and the world for that matter, while we all wait out the lockdowns caused by the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

I painted this in 2016 and it isn't the first painting that seemed to be eerily prophetic. Kurt Vonnegut says artists are like the canaries miners used to take underground to warn them of poisonous gasses humans can't detect.

Artist Relief, a new coalition of national arts grantmakers came together three weeks ago to protect the country’s artists in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have raised $10,000,000—enough to provide 100 artists with $5,000 relief grants each week between now and September.

Most conversations these  days do not begin with bright words. Words like hopeful, transformation and opportunity are all mostly nostalgic reminders of days gone by.

There's long been talk of an art renaissance in Taos. It seems counterintuitive when isolation is the mantra, and everything is closed. Taos artist Máye Torres said she thinks the time is ripe.

How self-imposed quarantine affects artists is something Tempo was wondering last week: how they're dealing with the self-imposed solitude and how different that solitude is from their normal creative space.

Exciting is how Taos photographer Kathryn Hayden describes her new world post-isolation. Originally located on Kit Carson Road, Hayden bought property in Lower Las Colonias, and during self-isolation set up her home and new studio there, where she's been busy painting, installing lighting and scouting locations for outdoor photo shoots on her property.

Robert Parsons formed the Swing Dusters as a dance band specializing in Western swing classics and standards from the American songbook. This January the Swing Dusters held a CD release party for their first album, "That's Your Red Wagon." One of the songs from that CD has been nominated for New Mexico Music Awards Best Cover Song.

Jackson Price has been a fixture on the Taos music scene for more than a decade. Price came to Taos from Los Angeles, California, where he spent 15 years doing bit parts in movies, guest spots on TV shows and commercials. After playing lead guitar in a Los Angeles-based blues band called the Mighty Mojo Prophets, he decided to move his family to New Mexico.

Taos in summer is a living pageant of near weekly concerts and events, centered around Kit Carson Park. This summer, of course, will be different. Town Manager Rick Bellis said, "Nothing is happening till at least Labor Day."

"One day I was rehearsing, sewing, set designing and building, and the next day my calendar was blank." These are the words of Kristen Woolf, director, actor, set designer, trained opera singer and performer. When recognition of the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic hit, she was mid-sentence directing Edward Albee's "Seascape" for Taos Onstage. "I had a wonderful cast and we were a few weeks into rehearsal, planning to open mid-April 2020. I was also doing the sets and the costumes."

Americana singer-songwriter Max Gomez spoke to Tempo recently from his home in Los Angeles about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected his life and plans. Originally from Taos, Gomez splits his time between the City of Angels and his hometown when he isn't out on the road. Gomez has been billed opposite musicians such as Shawn Mullins, James McMurtry, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Patty Griffin and John Hiatt.

By now, the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has sunk in. We are in this for the long haul. This article is devoted to highlighting some of the resources that are available to musicians who have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

Join Americana singer-songwriter Max Gomez this coming Saturday (April 25) and Monday (April 27) as he broadcasts two special online concerts from his home to yours. Gomez grew up in Taos, but is now based in Los Angeles. He tours nationally and has been billed opposite musicians such as Shawn Mullins, James McMurtry, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Patty Griffin and John Hiatt.

Written and performed by David Garver. Recorded mixed and mastered by Greg Thum in Taos New Mexico. First single and video from the EP ILLINOIS. Go to davidmgarver.com for more info and music.

Cynthia Freeman-Valerio, who had to postpone her much-loved Night of 1,000 Stars event due to COVID-19, shared this wonderful free online event with Tempo – a musical special to support front-line health care workers and the World Health Organization.

Earth Day Live has released the lineup for its three-day live streaming event online. Political and cultural leaders from all over will participate in the event, which is being hosted from April 22-24 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

Like musicians everywhere, those in Taos find themselves suddenly unemployed and at home. Here's what they're doing with themselves:

While most of us are getting used to social distancing and staying at home in response to the global coronavirus pandemic, Joanne Forman said she hasn't noticed much of a change in her daily life. The Taos composer is used to spending most of her time at home, and she is keeping to her regular routine.

It's a different world than last week, and by the time you read these words, more will have changed as we take active steps to ward off the common threat of a microscopic virus, and the isolation that comes with it.

You're all alone on a gravelly path when something stirs in the fields ahead. Read the latest intuitions for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces!

Maria Samora is one of the most well-known, contemporary Native American jewelers. Since winning first place at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 2005, she went on to win again in 2007 and in 2009. She was the poster child for Indian Market that year - the first jeweler ever. Since then, her jewelry has become highly coveted by influencers and collectors. Her designs are inspired by Pueblo Indian tradition but are elegant and timeless in their minimalist simplicity.

It was a strange end to a very strange school year, with kids missing out on all the usual in-person festivities like graduations, field trips, field days and yearbook signings. We applaud all the creative efforts of schools to re-create these opportunities for students - from ice-cream Zoom parties to balloon-decorated drive-bys. Taos High did a great job of commemorating the class of 2020 and every school made sure students got to celebrate and say goodbye to classmates before heading off into a summer of unknowns.

When New Mexico went on lockdown, Tempo invited Twirl to contribute a weekly column while schools were closed, geared toward helping families keep their children occupied in quarantine.

Do you have a closet, storage shed, garage or even an entire house that has turned into a Bermuda Triangle for clutter? Ronald Usherwood has answers. He owns Taos Estate Sales. His life's work is helping people liquidate, downsize and close estates. Tempo asked him a few questions about how it works. Here are his edited answers.

Each Friday during the school year I share with staff, volunteers, nonprofits and contracted personnel who work with our students at Roots and Wings Community School a communication titled "Solid Roots, Fluttering Wings," which reviews the past week and previews the coming week. The goal is to reflect on challenges and to celebrate successes, while preparing to deliver a richer educational experience for our students and a more gratifying professional experience for our educators in the weeks ahead. What it means to be "solidly grounded" or "fluttering with enthusiasm" has changed significantly in the last two months.

The missive from Salon X in Tempo's mailbox alerted us to the fact that it was time to start thinking about hair trims and other seemingly frivolous matters.

With the lockdown having shut down the town, from music venues to art galleries, theaters to parks, we are witnessing a virtual boom on the web. The folks at Seco Live have also been hard at work online this spring, creating digital opportunities to support the artistic community in Taos.

With Mother's Day upon us, we've curated an issue dedicated to all the mothers who are experiencing "COVID fatigue," a real malady, if not as dangerous as the virus itself.

The Spanish flu swept through Taos 102 years ago and a curandera named Maggie Mascareñas saved many lives. She lived in Cañón when I knew her in the 1970s and she was already old. Back then I was an enjarradora, a traditional mud plasterer, and I did adobe restoration jobs. I was working on a very old building whose owner hired me on condition I put a certain relative on the job. I soon realized why. Nobody else would ever have hired him - I found beer cans in the straw. He got on his horse during the lunch hour one day, drunk, and got bucked off.

Our house sits surrounded by fruit trees, on two quiet acres with a spectacular view of the mountains. It's large enough that its two, sometimes four, occupants don't feel crowded but not too large that some rooms are superfluous. The decor reminds one friend of a Bedouin tent. It's not without its problems. The man who built it consulted neither an architect nor his wife when designing it, nor did he think to put space for a refrigerator in the kitchen, and the living room is weirdly narrow.

Arron Shiver was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 40 some years ago, and spent a great deal of his youth in Taos. Here is where he discovered acting quite early on in life at high school with famed Taos High School drama teacher Nancy Jenkins, and in the rich community theater that has long thrived here. He was married for several years, to artist Anaïs Rumfelt (who appears on our cover with their son, Jackson). He has appeared in many motion pictures and television shows, as well as onstage. He lives in Los Angeles but visits often. His mother, Melody Swann, founder of Cowgirls Design, still lives here, and Jackson Shiver splits his time between LA and Taos.

Taos poet and teacher Lise Goett conjures up poetry in response to COVID-19.

Taos Children’s Theater is living proof that the show must and can still go on. In response to the COVID-19 lockdown, director Karen Thibodeau and assistant directors Victoria Ortiz and Christopher Heron developed a Zoom format for rehearsing their current production of "The Dancing Princesses." They envisioned a video possibility for the final production, and then it all came together.

'To be a poet is a condition, not a profession." That quote is attributed to Robert Graves, and if one does in fact have the courage to call oneself a poet, they most probably would agree. It's a heavy weight to bear, and few carry it lightly. So while April (National Poetry Month), draws to a close, we here at Tempo are celebrating all things poesy, and honoring the poets who bring forth the muse's gifts.

People still need to eat. Right now in Taos there are restaurants, cafés and food carts facing financial challenges that could make or break them. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, dine-in is no longer an option.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history, Plato said, and throughout history, words and verses have been used by everyone with a message to share – from lovers, revolutionaries, prisoners and politicians. Poems – and the poets who write them – have a way of uplifting, empowering, sobering and humbling us with only a few lines. The art form's ability to express the things that roil and rage within us is its singular gift.

Most conversations these  days do not begin with bright words. Words like hopeful, transformation and opportunity are all mostly nostalgic reminders of days gone by.

Taos poet and teacher Lise Goett conjures up poetry in response to COVID-19.

How any of us wind up anywhere is a mystery. We set out on a path bound for somewhere and arrive in a place we likely did not intend on going at all. The forks in the road aren't always easy to spot, and sometimes we wind up on the low road even though we intended to take the high one. Oftentimes, it is as if the name of the road changes suddenly while upon it.

Veronica Golos is a founding co-editor of the Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art, former poetry editor for the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and core faculty at Tupelo Press' Writers Conferences.

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history, Plato said, and throughout history, words and verses have been used by everyone with a message to share – from lovers, revolutionaries, prisoners and politicians. Poems – and the poets who write them – have a way of uplifting, empowering, sobering and humbling us with only a few lines. The art form's ability to express the things that roil and rage within us is its singular gift.

A memoir workshop in town that transitioned to online meetings on Zoom after the coronavirus pandemic ended the possibility of continuing face-to-face meetings unwittingly created a new virtual model for future workshops and classes offered by the Society of the Muse of the Southwest.

It was inevitable: the smell of Purell would always remind her of the winter of 2020. Maybe that will be the first line of my novel about life during the great coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic, the likes of which has not been seen since the Spanish flu of 1918, has swept rapidly across the globe, forcing humans to self-isolate and socially distance. Around the world, people are stuck at home. With no idea how long this might go on for, it's easy to feel panicked and claustrophobic.

Along with a zombie apocalypse and being abducted by aliens, one of the top fears people have is public speaking, even actors. The ability to deliver an effective speech or sales pitch and to read from a novel in a way that engages an audience are believed to be talents one is born with.

Levi Romero says he used to be a closet poet. Being a poet and a young Chicano male did not seem to go together. That is, until he recognized how much language and the love of stories lay at the heart of both his culture and the art of poetry.

Everything was going as planned. At the end of 2019, I had it all set up. I had sublet my apartment in Taos, and returned to Barcelona for the opportunity of a lifetime - to work on a documentary for Media 3.14, award-winning producers of documentaries like "Comprar, Tirar, Comprar" and "Me Llamo Violeta."

"One day I was rehearsing, sewing, set designing and building, and the next day my calendar was blank." These are the words of Kristen Woolf, director, actor, set designer, trained opera singer and performer. When recognition of the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic hit, she was mid-sentence directing Edward Albee's "Seascape" for Taos Onstage. "I had a wonderful cast and we were a few weeks into rehearsal, planning to open mid-April 2020. I was also doing the sets and the costumes."

Arron Shiver was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 40 some years ago, and spent a great deal of his youth in Taos. Here is where he discovered acting quite early on in life at high school with famed Taos High School drama teacher Nancy Jenkins, and in the rich community theater that has long thrived here. He was married for several years, to artist Anaïs Rumfelt (who appears on our cover with their son, Jackson). He has appeared in many motion pictures and television shows, as well as onstage. He lives in Los Angeles but visits often. His mother, Melody Swann, founder of Cowgirls Design, still lives here, and Jackson Shiver splits his time between LA and Taos.

Two films now available for streaming — “Extraction” on Netflix and “Rambo: Last Blood” on Amazon Prime —  are two examples of how the lone wolf action hero is depicted.   By Rick …

A film by Pedro Costa titled “Vitalina Varela” (2019) stands out because light is as refined a character as much as the actors, setting and story. Photographed by Leonardo Simões with a masterful use of chiaroscuro that recalls Caravaggio and Rembrandt, the film follows the journey of a Cape Verdean woman as she comes to collect her late husband’s remains in Lisbon, Portugal. 

One month ago, Jean Stevens, the director of the annual Taos Environmental Film Festival, canceled the film screenings to be held at the Taos Community Auditorium in response to the state emergency quarantine order for the coronavirus pandemic. Fast forward to Earth Day, April 22, thanks to the determined efforts of Society of the Muse of the Southwest, director Jan Smith and a stunning roster of local actors, poets, musicians and activists, a different, uniquely Taos community-inspired online gathering of artists will speak to these times. All the proceeds from online donations will go to Holy Cross Hospital to provide personal protective equipment for the staff.

It’s easy to forget how desperate people can be when deprived of freedom. Even today, with the world upended by a dangerous pandemic, freedom is often taken for granted in the west. 

It had to happen. Both movie theaters in Taos have closed for the time being in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The Taos Center for the Arts has closed both its Stables Gallery and …

Taos Pueblo filmmakers interested in developing their media-arts projects are eligible to receive funding through the newly established Senator John Pinto Memorial Filmmakers Fund. Individual Native filmmakers can use funds toward any aspect of production. This can include, film, TV, video games or audio visual projects.