Santa Fe has been called the art epicenter of the Southwest since Georgia O’Keeffe began living there. After their recent trip to New Mexico, Isms members agree.

Isms, the student art group at DU, holds many events throughout the year, including a Halloween party, gallery openings, the senior BA and BFA shows, and the trip to Santa Fe.

The Santa Fe trip included five DU students and Sarah Gjertson, a new professor in the School of Art and Art History. While in New Mexico, members visited Shidoni Gallery and watched a live bronze pour, had a guided tour of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, visited many private galleries and dropped in a glass blowing shop. They also ate diner at Maria’s (home of the Margarita), were serenaded by a live mariachi band, ate blue corn pancakes, went to the local clubs, toured the Santuario de Chumayo and shopped in Santa Fe.

During the trip, they spent one evening at The Huey House, an artist cooperative that was started by a DU graduate Aaron Huey. The gallery opening included a visit to the gallery, tour of the estate (which includes four buildings, three teepees and a wood-heated hot tub) and a chance to get to know some of the local artists. The opening at Huey House rivaled Santa Fe’s best nightclubs.

One of the highlights of the trip was the bronze pour at Shidoni. Bronze sculptures are not made in many shops, and the long, hot process isn’t usually open to observers. At Shidoni, anyone can watch the fire-red bronze drip into a lost-wax mold and then splatter into flames on the floor as the mold fills to the brim, like a miniature volcano in the middle of a metal shop.