The colors and patterns she creates are inspired by the landscape surrounding her studio in White Rock, in the mountains south of Los Alamos. There, Anne Podlesak hand knits with yarn she spins and dyes herself. Her work will be featured May 19-21 in the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council Fiesta at EXPO New Mexico. Anne's knitting, dyeing and design business is part of a global move toward "slow handcraft." For her, it's "a great way to focus in on that slow pace of creating something with your

In the 1960's and 1970's, young people from both coasts, borne on a passionate wave of new ideas, traveled to the Southwest and settled into a landscape and mix of cultures that they found enticing and inspiring. Their migration was part of what's now known as the "counterculture," and it's the subject of a new book from Museum of New Mexico Press and a new exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum.

When the New Mexico Philharmonic closes its 2016-2017 Classics Season on April 22 at Popejoy Hall, the concert's conductor will be under greater scrutiny than usual. Brazilian-born Roberto Minczuk is the last of six candidates under consideration to become the orchestra's first Music Director.

It was during his time in the forests of Northern New Mexico that Aldo Leopold first formulated his pioneering ideas about the environment. New Mexico continues its kinship with the great conservationist with a state-wide program that engages 6th to 12th graders in ecological issues. The 2017 Aldo Leopold Writing Contest will culminate as part of a special Leopold event on April 23 at Albuquerque's National Hispanic Cultural Center.

An exhibit on view through April 14 in UNM's Zimmerman Library gives individuals living with mental illness a chance to share their stories with the public. Mentored by working photographers, these 18 amateur artists are each represented by a 12" x 12" photograph as well as a personal narrative of that photograph. Untold Minds was put together by the Santa Fe non-profit, Compassionate Touch Network . Executive Director Michele Herling says that sharing their perspectives with the wider public

The music might not be what you expect. For six years now, the Iridium Quartet has been exploring new works for multiple saxophones. What they've found is not jazz, not band music, but classical chamber music for the 21st Century. This month, the Iridium will be in concert at Albuquerque's Cathedral of St. John and also take part in the 2017 John Donald Robb Composers' Symposium . The Quartet's baritone saxophonist, UNM music professor Eric Lau, says the Quartet has spent "a lot of time working

After a successful premiere in Barcelona in 1911, the music disappeared. Cant de les Estrellas ( Song of the Stars ) by Spanish composer Enrique Granados wasn't heard again until almost 100 years later, in a new recording on the Naxos label. Responsible for that recording, and for retrieving this lost score, is New Mexico pianist, and Granados scholar, Douglas Riva. Douglas will perform Cant de les Estrellas with Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico on March 24 at the Cathedral of St. John in

In Washington D. C., the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company is a cultural institution. Performances marking its 25th anniversary will take place this year at the Kennedy Center and the National Portrait Gallery. The celebration will also include a special week-long residency this month in New Mexico. That's because choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess is a native son -- he grew up in Santa Fe and received his dance degree from the University of New Mexico. Company performances and workshops will

Starting in the 1990's, women became eligible for a greater number of positions in the military than ever before, including, since 2013, combat. What have been the challenges for these women? Eight local veterans shared their stories with a group of New Mexico poets recently, and the poems inspired by these conversations make up Women on War , presented in early March by the Albuquerque organization Artful Life . The founder of Artful Life, poet Valerie Martinez, says the performance is "part

The Surface Design Association , a New Mexico-based alliance of fiber and textile artists, recently asked its members to express their feelings about "place" -- the suddenly explosive topics of borders, bridges and sanctuaries. The result is SDA's third international juried exhibition, Shifting Landscapes , on display February 24 - May 20 at the Santa Fe gallery, form & concept . Danielle Kelly, the Executive Director of SDA, says these embroidered interpretations of landscape represent the