Archive for January, 2009

Aeromexico, Mexico’s largest airline is beginning non-stop air service between Albuquerque Sunport and Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico.

The new non-stop flight is the result of an agreement between the chief executives in both states to pursue an international flight route between Albuquerque and Chihuahua City.

Aeromexico will be providing an Embraer aircraft for this much-anticipated route. This plane seats 52 passengers. The flight lasts 80-minutes. The Albuquerque Sunport has already set up a special terminal for international visitors complete with an Immigration check point.

The flight is set to begin February 9, 2009, with three flights a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In 2007 Mexico ranked second in international visitation to the US with a total of 14.3 million, just behind Canada. (Source: Department of Commerce). Mexican travel to the U.S. generates 26 percent of all overnight visitors to the U.S., making it the second largest inbound travel market (only slightly behind Canada).

In addition to Chihuahua, other major cities that will benefit from this flight are Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.

For more information visit http://www.aeromexico.com/usa/english/index.html

Every photograph tells a story. Some are personal, others resound with universal themes. All are documentations of our pilgrimage through life. Throughout the month of March, New Mexico native David Salcido will celebrate his return to the land of his birth with an exhibition of 16 photographs documenting his journey back, entitled Pilgrim’s Progress. Exploring roads both familiar and exotic, the exhibition is a retrospective study of form, function and a fascination for relics of the past, both manmade and organic. The exhibition will open with an artist reception on Friday, March 6, 2009, from 5 – 7pm, as part of the Downtown Art Ramble, in the El Paso Electric Gallery at the historic Rio Grande Theatre, in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Born in Ruidoso, raised in Tularosa and a graduate of NMSU in Las Cruces, David Salcido has spent the last 25 years exploring other states and states of mind. Making his living primarily as a writer, he has published over 1000 articles, poems and short stories in national and regional magazines, newspapers, journals and anthologies. Art and photography, however, have always been driving interests. His very first art exhibit was at the now-defunct Las Cruces Community Center for the Arts at 207 Avenida de Mesilla (now Mesilla Pointe) and he has since taken part in group and solo shows in such diverse cities as El Paso, San Francisco and Phoenix.

Among his many other accomplishments are a stint in the movie industry with Paramount Pictures; the creation and publication of a series of children’s books, exploring ecology; founder and publisher of a critically-acclaimed literary arts journal; founder of two alternative theater companies; founder and co-owner of a Los Angeles-based public relations company catering to the independent film industry; founder and proprietor of a popular gallery and performance space in Phoenix, Arizona and writer of three produced plays. He currently finds himself back in Las Cruces. Where he goes from here is anybody’s guess.

Pilgrim’s Progress is open to the public throughout the month of March 2009. The El Paso Electric Gallery is located in the lobby of the newly refurbished Rio Grande Theatre, 211 North Main, on the Downtown Mall in Las Cruces. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm and on Saturday from 9am to Noon. For more information on this exhibit, call the artist at 602-384-7756 or send an e-mail to MythCreant@gmail.com. For information on the Rio Grande Theatre, call 575-523-6403.

Additional Las Cruces information

New Mexico Magazine, a division of the New Mexico Tourism Department, is proud to announce the winners of its eighth- annual Photo Contest, co-sponsored this year by the Eloquent Light Photography Workshops. The winning images appear in the magazine’s February 2009 issue, available on newsstands now.

“This is the most competitive contest we’ve ever hosted,” said Publisher Ethel Hess. “It speaks volumes to the creative talent of residents and fans of New Mexico, as well as the natural beauty of our great state.”

Seven winners and 12 honorable mentions were selected from approximately 1,500 images captured by 357 nonprofessional photographers. Half of the entries were from New Mexico residents. The other half came from residents of 35 other states and three foreign countries.

The Grand Prize winner, Anne Fleshman of Baltimore, Maryland, will enjoy an Eloquent Light Photography Workshop, six nights’ lodging at The Lodge at Santa Fe, a Bogen 055MF3 tripod with RC head, a Lowepro Vertex 200 photographer’s backpack, a portfolio published in a 2009 issue of New Mexico Magazine, and a year membership at Photoworkshop.com.

Other winners include: First Place Color—Elliot Framan of Corrales; First Place Black & White—Gail Diane Yovanovich of Edgewood; Second Place Color—Roger Reynolds of Morrison, Colorado; Second Place Black & White—Shiela Cantrell of Santa Cruz; Third Place Color—David Mandel of Nogal; and Third Place Black & White—Reece Parker of Bishop, California.

Honorable mentions: James Wray of Albuquerque; Nena Roberts of Glorieta; Kim Ashley of Albuquerque; Nancy E. Dvorak Blumberg of Citrus Springs, Florida; Yoshiyuki Nakao of Albuquerque; Jan Palmer of Santa Fe; Leroy G. Chavez of Cimarrón; Stephen Buettner of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado; John Palmer of Albuquerque; Sharon Sperry Bloom of Albuquerque; Shelly Moore of Santa Fe; and Jerry Robinson of Santa Fe. 

Each contestant was permitted to enter up to six photos. The only qualifying factors for the contest were that the image must have been shot inside the state of New Mexico, the image must not be a photo composite, and the photographer must not earn more than half of his/her income through photography. 

Judges for the contest were Fabian West, art director of New Mexico Magazine; photographer Craig Varjabedian, executive director of the Eloquent Light Photography Workshop and author of the forthcoming book “Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby” (University of New Mexico Press); and Catherine Whitney, director of 20th Century American Art and Photography at Santa Fe’s Gerald Peters Gallery.  

Additional images of note (photographs New Mexico Magazine editors felt were particularly strong in composition, humor, and/or feeling) in addition to the winners and honorable mentions can be viewed in a slideshow at www.NMMagazine.com.

New Mexico Magazine was founded in 1922.  It is the nation’s first state magazine and third largest by circulation.

For more information contact New Mexico Magazine, 505-827-7447, 505-827-6496 (fax) or www.NMMagazine.com

For high-res photos, contact New Mexico Magazine Art Director Fabian West at fwest@nmmagazine.com.

Addtional New Mexico information