CARMELLA PADILLA
Great Scott
Literary icon N. Scott Momaday told contributing writer Carmella Padilla about his trepidation knocking on Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú door: “I was about to meet one of the great artists of the world, and I was a little bit intimidated.” Padilla felt the same way meeting Momaday but found him to be kind, hospitable, and New Mexican to the core. A native Santa Fean, Padilla has received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. She co-edited the book A Red Like No Other: How Cochineal Colored the World (Skira Rizzoli), winner of the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for distinguished scholarship in art history, and edited Borderless: The Art of Luis Tapia (University of Oklahoma Press), available this fall.
OLLIE REED JR.
Shane Comes Back
Born in the Deep South, Ollie Reed Jr. fell hard for the Old West, fired up by comic books, TV shows, movies, novels, and summers at a grandfather’s cattle farm. He followed his fervor to New Mexico in the 1970s, where he has worked since as a newspaper reporter and freelance writer. “Writing about Jack Schaefer and his novels Shane and Monte Walsh put me back in that innocent time when I believed that a brave man on a good horse could make anything right. I found some comfort there.” In 2016, Reed received the Rounders Award, presented by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to people who “live, promote, and articulate the Western way of life.”
SERGIO SALVADOR
Hog Wild for County Fairs
Albuquerque photographer Sergio Salvador spent two days at the Socorro County Fair, at first seeking images of the rodeo, parade, and livestock auction. “But I found some particularly wonderful moments when I turned my lens on the folks there to enjoy the fair,” he says. “There was a tangible sense of excitement and community that I hope I was able to capture.” A creature of habit, Salvador cherishes assignments that disrupt his routine and provide a glimpse into a part of New Mexico that he otherwise might miss—and visiting Socorro, he says, was one of the most memorable yet.