The best of both worlds – life as a silversmith and painter

Michael Schmaltz loves painting women, all kinds of women, as they go about their daily activities. He photographs them in not your typical pose and what he gets is an image for a painting.  However, his current work is a painting of his daughter when she was 10, sitting on the floor reading the “funny papers.”

He plans on giving this painting to her when he is finished.

A once passionate jewelry maker in his prime years, he is now embarking on living his lifelong dream of an artist, something that his parents heavily discouraged him in pursuing when he was a teen. He says that he always knew in his heart since...

If you are ready to experience a little piece of tropical weather in the dead of this cold winter, hit up the Arts Crawl on Jan. 9. It could warm your soul as you allow your imagination to relax on the sand among the palm trees, beach-side.

Among the places to visit will be ART123, which will be hosting an artists’ retrospective, and attached to that gallery is the Open Studio/Outsider Gallery, hosting works by a number of artists in a variety of mediums.

Scott Halliday will be playing one of his hand-crafted cigarbox guitars at Makeshift Gallery and Ten Minutes Max will be performing at 233 W. Coal. More music available at Coal Street Pub by the group, Picked Clean, and the popular...

Martha Kruis is the mother of twin girls born on New Year’s day. Daughter Ora Rose Deschene born at 8:21am and Daughter Bailey Joy Deschene  born at 8:41am. Martha’s oldest daughter, Vivianna Marie Deschene, 14 months old, enjoys being with her sisters. Photo Credit: Courtesy of RMCHCS

CHURCHROCK – Things have really changed in Churchrock. It’s been 56 years since this small village to the east of Gallup had a new school. Before that school was built in 1959, classes were taught in a small collection of what can only be described as sheds; 16’ X 24’ wooden buildings with leaky roofs, inadequate heating or cooling, windows that would not close or open fully, doors with big gaps around all the edges, and floors that creaked and bent with every step.

How does this writer know these details? My mother was a teacher at this school starting in 1956.

The wait is over now, and the community came out in force to celebrate the opening of the Catherine A...