That Little Park at Marcy and Paseo

 

It all began with a photo-text from Monica & Bram showing a statue of a long-haired man painting at an easel and the message, “that little park at Marcy and Paseo; looks like it might be a research project.”  And, as such things often do, grew like Topsy from there.  But we promise – we will get back to the mystery maestro.

The visual arts play a major role in Santa Fe’s ambience and personality.   Home to more than 250 galleries, plus hundreds of artists and craftspeople the town is the third largest art market in the United States after New York and San Francisco and has been honored with UNESCO’s “Creative City” designation – one of 408 worldwide, NY & SF are not.   “The two major factors that make Santa Fe a major tourist destination for over one million visitors a year are the cultural heritage and history of the city and the art that reflects this legacy.” (santafe.com)

And it’s been that way basically forever.

From 1050 to 1609 Santa Fe, then named Ogapoge (oh-gah-POH-gay, “White Shell Water Place,”) was comprised of several Pueblo Indian villages and served as a major commerce center for the exchange of pottery, jewelry, turquoise, and textiles with neighboring Pueblos, Navajo, Apache and Plains tribes.

Ogapoge potters incorporated black and red on white designs into their works for spiritual, utilitarian, and identity-based reasons.  Geometric patterns, clouds, feathers, and cosmological elements offered prayers for rain, agricultural fertility, and protection.  Different patterns distinguished Puebloan groups from one another and established ownership by a specific clan or household.  

In 1598 the Spanish took over what they called Nuevo Mexico and in 1610 renamed Ogapoge to “La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís” (Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi.)  Then built their new territorial capitol city on top of existing Pueblo settlements forcing Indigenous Natives to construct their adobe Spanish-style government buildings and Catholic churches.  Most of these structures were burned or destroyed during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt which drove the Spanish out of their colony for a dozen years.  The Spanish reconquered in 1692, and reconstructed their version of Santa Fe.

They also reorganized the Indigenous commerce system establishing annual fairs that featured captive and slave trade, agricultural goods, buffalo hides, European tools and horses thereby changing the region's economic dynamics.  Spain prohibited any Nuevo Méxicano from doing business outside of the Spanish Empire.

Because of its geographic location what is now called Mexico provided easy entry for incoming goods from Spain and direct availability of materials like silver and tin for which there was a workforce of skilled, trained-in-Spain artists and craftspeople.  Nuevo México, due to its isolated location did not have any of these things.  As a result Mexico received and/or created high quality works of religious art for its Catholic houses of prayer and home chapels.  Nuevo México – nada.

Nuevo Méxicanos were 24/7/365 Catholics and sacred iconography was important for their personal devotions and for the Franciscan priests in their conversion of the Native Americans.  Thus, in the late 1700s, the Santero tradition was born when local, untrained artisans began creating “santos” (devotional art) using natural pigments derived from in the earth and vegetation around them – “retablos” (two-dimensional paintings on wood) and “bultos” (carved statues).  The artwork remained within Nuevo México.

Then in 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain, became its own nation (which included Nuevo México) and opened the Santa Fe Trail.  Nuevo Méxicano marketeers began swapping mules, wool and locally produced blankets for American manufactured cotton fabrics, iron hardware, and tools.   Good for most residents – but not the Santeros because the mercantile traffic brought with it a supply of tin in the form of large discarded containers (kerosene, smoked oysters, lard, etc.)  The tin was used in lieu of silver to make decorative, religious items like nichos, frames, and sconces – many incorporating off-the-rack devotional images on paper which U.S. merchants brought with them.  The need for santeros dried up and the craft basically died out until the tourist influx in the early 1900s.

In 1847-48 Nuevo México became a U.S. Territory now called New Mexico and in 1912 a state.

“From the point of view of east coast Anglo culture, Santa Fe looked like a backwater in 1900, but by the early 1920s it boasted a thriving, nationally-known art colony …  a byproduct of a larger effort to culturally revitalize Santa Fe by preserving and promoting its Hispanic and Native architecture as a draw for tourism.  The driving force in this effort was the newly formed Museum of New Mexico [led by archaeologist, anthropologist and ambitious visionary Edgar Lee Hewitt who] realized that high-profile artists could play a useful role in their preservation efforts and actively solicited their participation.”  (canyonroadarts.com)

The first member of the new Art Colony was New York artist Carlos Vierra who joined the Museum in 1904 followed by other east-coasters such as Sheldon Parsons, Paul Burlin, Gerald Cassidy and Robert Henri who observed, “here painters are treated with that welcome and appreciation that is supposed to exist only in certain places in Europe.”   In 1917 the city opened its Art Museum – the first in the Southwest dedicated to artists of the region.  And things grew from there.

Not among the joiners however was the artist whose name is probably most associated with The City Different.  Georgia O’Keeffe was too reclusive to live in New Mexico’s growing capital – “I find people very difficult.”   In 1940 she instead found solitude in an isolated part of Ghost Ranch Dude Ranch in the out-of-the-way village of Abiquiú.   Nine years later she built a larger house within that hamlet and traveled between the two sites until physically unable.  An increasingly frail O’Keeffe moved to Santa Fe in 1984 and died two years later.  

In 1997 the private Georgia O’Keeffe Museum was opened celebrating the painter’s “art, life, and independent spirit.”  The building holds the largest collection of her work in the world including 140 oil paintings, sketches and personal items.  And is among the top art-tourist attractions in the city along with Canyon Road (a half-mile walkway featuring over 100 art galleries, studios, and restaurants) and Meow Wolf’s “House of Eternal Return” immersive art installation (one of Time Magazine’s “10 Most Influential Travel and Tourism Companies of 2026.”) 

One tenet of the UNESCO Creative City movement is “showcasing heritage arts.”  In the 1920s Santa Fe civic leaders established “Indian Market” and “Spanish Market” to preserve each group’s art traditions and support local artists.  Today they draw an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 visitors apiece annually.

Then there are the large number of lesser-known locals who, attracted by this art-appreciative ambience almost 1,000 years in the making, now contribute to the composition of this creative city.  Such as, at long last, the long-haired man painting in that little park at Marcy and Paseo. 

Known as “El Diferente” Thomas Silvestri Macaione was a creator of colorful, post-impressionistic plein-air paintings of flowers and landscapes as well as an occasional barber, failed mayoral and presidential candidate as well as “an eccentric, a humanitarian and a delightful spirit known and loved by many.”

Thomas Macaione was born in New London, CT in 1907 to a Greek father and Italian mother who after their divorce moved to Sicily where (per New Mexico Magazine) “he began studying the old masters with such passion that [he] would forget to eat.”  He returned to New London at the age of 15 and began formally studying art first with a Yale University graduate student, then at the Art Students League in New York and lastly Rhode Island School of Design.  He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII learning barbering on the side, which he used to support his art.

He arrived unplanned in Santa Fe in 1952 while hitchhiking from Florida after having been dumped by friends during a planned cross-country drive to San Francisco.  And stayed until his death in 1992 becoming such a town figure that the “little park at Marcy and Paseo” is named in his honor and Nov. 13 (his birthday) has been proclaimed  “Tommy Macaione Day.”   In Santa Fe his work can be found in public places such as City Hall, Shed Restaurant, Santa Fe New Mexican and Santa Fe City offices in the Railyard.

Perhaps inspired by Santa Fe’s artful ambience Marsha’s knitting projects have become more complex out here.  In search of more new challenges she will be taking a “free form” knitting class this summer at Santa Fe Community College.  Jim hasn’t made pottery for 30+ years but inspired by Marsha is resuscitating his clay-building skills with a wheel-throwing and hand-building Raku class at the same school.  

Currently there are 77 developed parks and 26 undeveloped spaces in Santa Fe  – many of them still looking for a name.  (That’s one park for every 864 residents.  Nationwide, the average is one park for every 2,400 residents.)  

It’s too late for Miss O’Keeffe to nab one – she’ll just have to settle for a world-class museum and international recognition instead of an eponymous public recreation area.  But maybe if one of us can get some of our own creations out there in the public domain and become friendly with the right people…