Part 1: A Ballad of Sound + Color // Pollinating a Desert

"Night Breed by Frank Gonzales"

Over the last few years, there are two large-scale paintings that profoundly represent my personal experience of opening Lapis Room. “Santuario” by Reyes Padilla (which you all know and love), and “Night Breed” by Frank Gonzales. You may be less familiar with this painting because it only hung in Lapis Room for a short time before Alex and I added it to our personal collection. It’s an amazing painting that depicts two bats night pollinating saguaros. You may already know this, but nectar-feeding bats are the true, unsung heroes of maintaining fragile desert ecosystems. I’ve hung this painting in multiple locations throughout my career and I have an indescribable emotive connection to it.

You know that feeling.

I’ve already gotten ahead of myself… so, let’s go back.

First Installation at Lapis Room of "Santuario" by Reyes Padilla

I (Laura) had first been introduced to Reyes Padilla’s work though Lapis artist and friend, Frank Gonzales. Frank hangs his hat as Lead Preparator at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (MCA) and is notably one of the most humble artists I've ever met. He is always championing for other creatives and in my opinion is one of the most esteemed botanical artists of our time.

Circa 2018 he was working with Reyes on an installation at MCA and I was working as the Manager of Exhibitions + Exhibit Design at the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Phoenix. There, I worked with an incredible female-run department and we installed many dream shows including Frank’s solo exhibition “Untamed”.

In 2020, during the very early stages of prospecting our beloved Lapis Room, I reached out to Reyes and we sat down at Old Town's very own Blackbird Coffeehouse and talked through every possibility of a contemporary art space in Plaza Don Luis. Reyes was so generous to share his hopes and desires, not only for him, but for his community. We talked through the good, the bad, and the ugly of what could be- it was an inspired review of Southwest art and placemaking. It was there that Reyes instilled the confidence in me (and Alex) to create this space, and for that we will be forever grateful.

Then began countless evenings of what I’d like to imagine as night pollinating- dreaming, scheming, and simply, hanging art.

I'm telling you all this because ‘Santuario’ by Reyes Padilla has been acquired and will be continuing on to it’s next community location- the CNM Campus. We are so thankful it’s in great hands and that it will be prominently placed in Albuquerque. I’m feeling so sentimental about this particular shift in our space because Reyes helped create our sanctuary not only with his steady and quiet strength, but with this profound painting that has been the backdrop of so many incredible shared experiences at Lapis Room.

These two paintings have been my constant - a reprieve for each day and each night. They also represent a beautiful string of curation that led to filling our walls with "artists’ favorite artists" and having this traceable line of a remarkable community lifting each other up. Over the years, it has been impossible to service all of the amazing artists of the area, but we have tried to create as many opportunities as we darn well could while aspiring to fill our sanctuary with people that truly care about each other.

Of course the bats of "Night Breed" represent Alex and me, but they also represent Frank and Reyes. They represent Meg and Mauve who've dedicated so much of themselves to this space. They represent Heather, James, Elaine, and Bruce who fill the room with music and dancing. They represent Dustin, Luis, and Javier who show up like clockwork every install night to help us hang, just because they care. They represent our friends and family who've flown through the space leaving pure love. They represent the musicians, the poets, the artists that fill the space with inspiring ideas and objects.

They represent our community who catch, support, and cultivate those ideas...

all the while not realizing that they are pollinating a desert.

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Lapis Room is just a room without all of you.