My Page: Leon Sterling

Land Use and Literature

Just like their counterparts in “the oil business� and big tobacco, it seems that land developers may not be ruled by interest in their fellow man so much as the almighty dollar. Apparently, their short-term financial interests out-weigh our collective near-term future. Why should this be of concern to us? Because so many of us live along the Rio Grande, and some of us live in some of the most arid land in the U.S. [more]

Artists of Albuquerque: Deanna McGuffin

Is there an article of clothing more universally and instantly recognizable than the American cowboy boot? Or more appealing to both Americans and our admirers? Cowboy boots are often referred to as “western wear,� but that indicates their origins more than their current locale, which can be in any of the 50 states. Nearly anyone, anywhere who has been drawn to a pair of cowboy boots fully understands the lure, even if they barely understand the logic.

And if anyone tries to convince me that cowboy boots are “retro,� I shower them with facts – cowboy boots have continued to evolve and grow and strike out in directions that cowboy boot admirers have never seen or imagined before.
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Artists of Albuquerque

By Leon Sterling

One of the first things you notice about anything Ben Forgey makes is that it’s remarkably eye-catching, whether it’s his functional art or his pure art – constructions made with his favorite materials: found wood and driftwood. His work makes you stop, look and smile. And even though Forgey only began making functional and creative art when he moved to New Mexico in 1990, he’s by no means limited to this state. He has had highly successful shows in Italy and Spain, and created custom furniture for several clients throughout the U.S.

For me, having arrived in New Mexico just over a year ago, Forgey’s work somehow became emblematic of the state. It cheers you up just to see it – pretty much the way New Mexico’s sky, mountains and landscape affect your spirits. [more]

It would seem that once, just this once, my musings may have preceded published thoughts in the New York Times. I wondered "aloud" whether blogging was killing democracy after the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor. Yesterday's Times echoed those sentiments in relation to our literary history: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/books/review/04DONADIO.html [more]

New Westerners

On Friday, September 2nd, Ed King’s latest show, “Abstract Impressions,� will be opening at Gallery 5 in the Old Town Frame Shop, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The show will run through September 30. One of the most remarkable aspects of this opening is that it has been close to fifty years in the making.

Although King started out wanting to be an artist (he won a National Scholastic Art Award for a water color in junior high), in-between his college years and 2003 when he returned to the studio in Albuquerque, there were only eight early shows (1954 to 1960). After university, he taught graphic design and had a stellar, internationally award-winning, forty-year career in graphic and book design. He worked with such well-known publishing names as George Braziller, The Seven Arts Book Society, The Johns Hopkins Press, and The University of Missouri Press. [more]

By Leon Sterling

I had a kind-of, sort-of girl-friend in my junior year in high school who prevailed upon me to do her a favor. A huge favor. A monumentally enormous favor. She had a friend (whom I’d never met) graduating from a Beverly Hills high school, and her friend didn’t have a date for the prom. (Yeah, I know, this is starting to sound like The Big Chill.) [more]

With the announced retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor, a great many thoughts began swirling around my head. Mostly depressing thoughts. [more]