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Collectors Corner!

 Ed Sandoval Gallery's Newsletter

119 Quesnel Street, Taos, NM 87571

 www.edsandovalgallery.com

edsandovalart@gmail.com

(575) 770-6360

If you live in or are a frequent visitor to New Mexico, you are probably familiar with our vast forests of piñon trees. Drive from Taos to Ojo Caliente, for example, or north from Taos toward Questa, and you go through dense, old-growth forests teeming with piñons. Every four years or so, when rain has been plentiful all year (especially in the spring), their sticky cones appear and are absolutely bursting with delicious little piñon nuts. Not every year mind you – it only happens on special years with lots of rainfall, and people go crazy! Along every road, there are parked cars and trucks, with families going under and through the trees to collect as much as possible.

For most New Mexico families, picking and eating piñon is a sacred memory going back generations upon generations. Roasted and salted, the small, dark nuts are the perfect snack as you sit around talking on a cold night. You crack each one with your teeth to get out that sweet tiny nut, but they are so tasty – worth the effort! Grandma always told me not to eat too many raw ones because they will make the back of your throat itch, but it was hard not to eat a few while waiting for the others to roast.

I found a fabulous article about the Navajo Nation's tradition of harvesting piñon. It says: “The process is similar to munching sunflower seeds or pistachios, except that the shell can’t be mechanically loosened ahead of time for easy snacking — the hard exterior must always be cracked and shucked by hand. Though piñon closely resemble pine nuts to the untrained eye and palate, a local around Gallup will quickly correct you. ‘Pine nuts are big and bland,’ Tanner says. ‘Piñon are small and sweet.’" (Source)

Our home is surrounded by piñon trees, and this year I was determined to get in on the picking action. As an adult, however, I had forgotten exactly how to roast them and looked it up online. A new method in a microwave looked promising, so I soaked some in a LOT of salt water and stuck the bowl in to zap them. Later that night, I proudly presented the nuts to Gwen. She tried one and looked confused. “Why are they all wet? And why is the nut mushy? How long did you roast them?” I said for a full seven minutes like the recipe directed. She thought about that, put her fingers in the bowl and brought them out dripping with water. "Did you roast them… in the oven?” Well… No…. LOL. Needless to say, she quickly suggested we drain off the sea of salty water and fire up the oven. Wow, that did the trick! They were so much easier to extract and tasted so firm and sweet.

When my sis-in-law and her friend visited, we wanted them to have the experience of harvesting too, so I took them out back and we collected quite a few from our trees. It is addictive to see all those cones bursting with goodness… you are compelled to pick and roast some. Since it is such a painstaking process, piñon nuts sell for quite a bit of money, which explains why so many people and families are out collecting them. Much needed revenue and a tasty treat besides. A win-win every four years in enchanted New Mexico.

2025 Calendars Arriving Soon

To inquire or request a high-resolution photo, contact 575.770.6360 or email edsandovalart@gmail.com. All available original oil paintings are located HERE.

"Autumn Hacienda" (24x36)

"Winter's Emergence" (24x24)

"Distant Village" (30x36)

Introducing the "New Mexico Church Series." My goal is to paint 12 of our historic adobe mission churches for the 12 Days of Christmas. To date, I've finished four (below).

I feel a responsibility to paint and preserve the spiritual essence and beauty of our historic churches. Born here in the 40’s, they were the center of our lives going back generations for centuries. As a kid in Nambe, I remember there was a “bultos,” a three-dimensional wooden figure of Santo Niño, that belonged to the church. It was passed from family to family, who kept it in their home on an alter until it was time for the next family to be its keeper. Traditions and memories like that… they are important, and since I’m old enough to remember them, it’s my duty and honor to share them in paintings and in stories.

"Nambe Light" (12x16)

"Snowfall at San Geronimo" (16x20)

"Generations of Faith" (16x20)

"Pathway of Light" (16x20)

My Teaching Days in Salt Lake City

Last month, I shared our trip to Eastern New Mexico University, my alma mater, to donate two paintings and reconnect. We had a glorious time touring the campus and meeting all the wonderful folks (Read HERE). Before graduating in 1970, a recruitment team from the Salt Lake City school system showed up, offering teaching positions with lots of perks. I signed up. Thought I'd continue my education story into my teaching/counseling career.

If you recall, I had a young family: Vicki and Tammy, my daughter. One perk was special financing for teachers buying a home. It was a screaming deal – way too great to pass up. My first home, a two-bedroom one bathroom house with a car port, was only $24,000!

I taught art at West and Granger High Schools and adult painting classes at Cottonwood. After a year, I was approached and told they needed more minority school counselors. If I signed on to counsel students as well as teach, they'd pay for me to attend the University of Utah to attain a master’s in psychology. Another sweet deal, so I said yes. By this time, we had another child, Bryan, and I thought it was a great opportunity for advancement.

The next years are a blur. Besides shoveling snow... a lot... I taught at multiple places during the school year, took psychology and more art courses at the university, counseled students and worked with at-risk youth during the summers. I enjoyed taking the kids who were having troubles up into the Wasatch Mountains – it was sort of a work therapy program where we built campsites, rock fire pits, bridges over streams, etc. I had fun, and the kids learned skills, earned some money, made friends and had an overall positive experience.

By the time I got my master's, I was pretty homesick for New Mexico. A position in the art department at Los Alamos (where I graduated from high school) opened up, and I applied. I never dreamed I would get the job, but I did! So many wonderful journeys in our lives.