Virtual Lecture Series

Doel Reed Center 2024

Oklahoma State University’s Doel Reed Center in Taos invites you to participate in the 2024 virtual lecture series.

All lectures will be presented via Zoom. To receive a link, email Doel Reed Center Director, Carol Moder at carol.moder@okstate.edu.

Oppenheimer to Ginsberg, The Manhattan Project to Project Ploughshare: New Mexico and The Bomb

Thursday, February 8, 2024, 4:00 PM Central Time

This talk is intended as an introduction to and summary of my summer 2024 leisure learning class “The Nuclear Bomb and the Land of Enchantment.” I will begin by briefly relating the metaphorical underpinnings of the course, the making of the first atomic bombs, life in the Secret City, and interactions between Manhattan Project personnel and the local native and Hispanic populations. I will then touch on the plight of the New Mexico “downwinders,” efforts in the State to use nuclear weapons for construction, and Alan Ginsberg’s “anti-nuke” readings in Taos. Finally, I will take a brief look at alternatives to technological approaches to the natural world that also have shaped New Mexico’s history and cultures, including Native American, “counterculture,” and “green” world views.

Ed Walkiewicz is a former Director of the Doel Reed Center for the Arts as well as Professor Emeritus of English and Ann and Burns Hargis Professor Emeritus at Oklahoma State. He has authored or co-authored books, book chapters, and articles on twentieth-century literature, culture, and history. At Oklahoma State he won both major teaching awards, the Graduate Student Council Outstanding Teaching Award and the Regents Distinguished Teaching Award. Ed has taught eleven different continuing education courses for the Renesan Institute for Lifelong Learning in Santa Fe and four credit or “leisure learning” classes for the DRC.

Women Artists of the Southwest

Monday, February 12, 2024, 4:00 PM Central Time

This presentation will examine the intersection between gender and geography in the U.S. Southwest. We will focus on women artists of the twentieth century who found particular freedom and inspiration in the arid climates and unique land forms of the region.

Amy Von Lintel is a Professor of Art History and Director of Gender Studies at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Her areas of research include modern and contemporary art of the American West, women and gender, fakes and forgeries in art, and the history of art history. Her publications include Three Women Artists: Expanding Abstract Expressionism in the American West, two books on Georgia O'Keeffe in Texas, and a co-authored book on Robert Smithson in Texas, along with numerous journal articles on her various research topics. She has co-curated several exhibitions, including the recent Southwest Abstractions of Emil Bisttram at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in 2021-22.

La Llorona: Just a ghost story, or more?

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 4:00 PM Central Time

The cuento of La Llorona exhibits tremendous staying power in Latin American culture, and the weeping woman herself shapeshifts based on the time and place in which her story is told. Though the origins of La Llorona extend back to the civilizations of the pre-contact Americas, Chicano/a/x authors of the American southwest continue to draw upon the figure to illustrate cultural motifs in their contemporary stories. This talk will address the varied applications of the motif in several modern southwestern stories by tracing the evolution of the folk tale from its origins to the present day.

Ryan Slesinger is a Teaching Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University. His teaching and research showcases works by New Mexican writers and artists that demonstrate the unique hybridity of New Mexican culture. His research includes monograph chapters on Rudolfo Anaya, and Leslie Marmon Silko, and projects that delve into the long history of countercultural movements in the Taos area.

The Air and the Light: Looking Beyond the Literal in Landscape Art

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 4:00 PM Central Time

Join Professor Mary Claire Becker for a discussion of abstract landscapes in historical and contemporary art, as well as an overview of monotype techniques for creating atmospheric effects. Monotype is the most painterly of the printmaking media and lends itself well to energetic and spontaneous mark-making, which makes it a great choice for responding to biomorphic landscapes. It can be used to create a variety of textures, color flats, and patterns quickly and playfully. We will discuss monoprint’s use for this purpose by artists including 19^th century Impressionists and contemporary printmakers. We will also discuss abstraction and non-representation inspired by landscape more generally, with a specific focus on the Taos Moderns, and with examples from Professor Becker’s own artistic practice.

Mary Claire Becker is an Assistant Professor in the OSU Department of Art, Art History & Graphic Design. As a studio artist, she uses printmaking, sculpture, and video animation to explore landscape in industrialized cultures. She has shown nationally at prestigious venues. She has been an artist in residence at Central Michigan University, the Jentel Artist Foundation in Wyoming, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center in Nebraska, and the Lakeside Laboratories AIR program in Iowa. In 2023, she was an OSU Hargis Fellow in residence at the Doel Reed Center and taught a highly successful credit class.

Winter Solstice Pueblo Feasts and Dances

Thursday, May 2, 2024, 4:00 PM Central Time

Winter Solstice in the seasonal cycle is the time for the seeds to rest, when the shortest days pass into the longer, when thanks are given for the change of dark into light. It is a revered time for the Rio Grande Pueblos and the villages prepare for this week many days in advance. Beginning December 23 each pueblo honors with their ceremonial dances the animals who give their lives, as well as the earth and resting corn that sustain village life. Among the possible dances of solstice week 2024 are the Deer, Buffalo, Eagle and Turtle dances at the pueblos of Taos, Santa Clara and Ohkay-Owingeh. On May 2, 2024, Dr. Martha Yates will give a presentation by Zoom on the cultural history and ceremonial dances of the ancestral and current-day pueblo people. All are welcome to join.

Martha Yates served as a District Archeologist in the Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe, New Mexico, for many years and has taught at UCLA, the University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Vermont. She guides archaeological trips through the southwest for national and local organizations, which include the Sierra Club, Santa Fe Community College, Ghost Ranch, and the Universities of New Mexico and Utah. In 2023, she led a DRC road trip to Chaco Canyon, Aztec Ruins, and Chimney Rock. Her Ph.D. is from UCLA in Greek Classics, where she studied Bronze age and Minoan archaeology. Yates has won archaeology awards, a Distinguished Scholars Award from the University of California Santa Barbara, and awards for her poetry. She is a writer with a number of publications to her credit. As a professional photographer, she worked for the New York City Planning Commission Press Office and the Mayor’s Press Office with photos in The New York Times and on WNEW-TV News. In 2008, she was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior and the White House to the Resources Advisory Council, an advisory council to the Bureau of Land Management.