Episode 89– You can also listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon Music

Rebroadcast from 5/8/24 –  Something about Abiquiú, New Mexico is just magical, And it seems like no one knows that better than Connie Burkhart and Becca Fisher. Connie’s love for Abiquiú and Northern New Mexico brought her back so many times she eventually decided to stay,  purchase the enchanting Abiquiú Dome and turn it into her studio and gallery space. On this episode, Bunny talks to Becca and Connie about what exactly the Dome is, how it functions today and many more reasons to visit the Abiquiu area.

Links:
Links to Abiquiú Dome website
Connie Burkhart’s website
Instagram & Facebook: @abiquiudome
Airbnb Tiny Home Copper Canyon Casita
Abiquiu News
Connie’s Ghost Ranch workshop
Abiquiu Lake
I Love New Mexico blog page
Bunny’s website
I Love New Mexico Instagram
I Love New Mexico Facebook

Original Music by: Kene Terry

Featuring:

Connie Burkhart

Widely known as ‘The Dinosaur Lady’, Connie B. Burkhart has embraced her multifaceted interests and talents to create a life that allows her to follow her dreams. She is a metal design artist, singer-songwriter, musician, mother, educator in earth sciences, and a true renaissance woman! For Connie, creative inspiration comes from many things, whether it is finding a treasure in a pile of scrap metal, exploring the land, watching the sunset as it washes the land in warm light, or finding a sunflower that grows in the sand.

Episode Transcript

Bunny : (00:00)
Hi there. I’m Bunny Terry, and you’re listening to the I Love New Mexico podcast. Whether you’re a native new Mexican, who’s lived here for your entire life, or you’re just considering a visit, this episode is for you. Join us as we share a lot of New Mexico stories. Talk about all things New Mexico, and include topics like what’s magical here, where you ought to visit, what’s happening, and the things you absolutely cannot miss in the land of Enchantment. We’re excited that you’re here and we can’t wait to show you what an amazing place New Mexico is, because let’s face it, I love New Mexico. One of the coolest things we get to do on the I Love New Mexico podcast is talk to people that we’ve talked to before who are doing things that are even more exciting than what we talked about the first time. And for those of you who listened to our podcast last year at this time, uh, about the Abba Q Dome, um, if you’re like me, you got a lot of questions asked, answered about what that structure is, but you also hopefully got out to the dome to, um, learn about what, um, Becca and Connie are doing there. But instead of me telling you, I wanna hear, I wanna hear from our guest what’s happening in Abba Q. Well,

Connie: (01:32)
A lot. We had a great year, uh, last year and all, a lot thanks to you. And, uh, the podcast that we did, we got our new gallery space in last year, if you remember. We were just moving that into spa into the place next to the dome. So we have increased our gallery space and we’re looking forward to this year because it was really wonderful to experience that uptick in business and the visitors that came in through ABA queue with so many questions about the area.

Bunny : (02:04)
So I, so I want real quickly, because I know there are gonna be people on listening today that didn’t hear, um, last time. So first I want you to talk about the dome itself, where let’s give a, um, the folks who listen to refresher, but let’s, let’s explain what is the Abba Q Dome?

Becca: (02:26)
Yeah. Do you want me to take it? Yeah. Okay. . So the dome is about a 17 foot tall, um, 12 foot square, adobe building. Um, we’re located right on the side of Highway 84 in que New Mexico. Um, just about three and a half miles north of Bode’s general store in the village of Abi Q. So that’s kind of where we’re located. So the dome structure itself was built by Northern New Mexico College out of El Rito by Quentin Wilson was the professor that led that course. And it was all to, um, build Adobe domes in traditional Byzantine style architecture. So they utilized ancient sixth century, early sixth century Byzantine architecture to build the dome using all Adobe, um, which they source from a local farm, Adobe farm nearby. And, um, that’s, that’s the story. Do you have anything

Connie: (03:29)
To add, ? Well, I have her tell the story ’cause she can say architecture perfectly and I can’t, so, , um, , uh, the one really wonderful thing that happened last year was Quentin Wilson, who, you know, headed up this program, came with his wife a few times to the dome, and it was pretty emotional actually for all of us and for him to see the dome up and running, um, and being cherished and talked about. And, uh, so that, that was a really special time. Uh, one thing that happens for us, and we love it very much, is that people will come by the dome, not just to shop or see my middle work or other artists’ work, but to visit. You know, we, we kinda like to hang out and chat and talk. And I think in doing that, it kind of creates a really nice place for community and people to learn more about AQ itself and, uh, and go stretch where I teach and work some parts of the year. So that’s, uh, you know, I think, I think that Quentin Wilson was really pleased with what was going on, uh, remembering back to when his class built that dome in 2006. So that, that’s kind of a little side thing to the business part of it, you know, it’s the relationships with people.

Bunny : (04:55)
That’s, that’s so cool. I also because we, you know, we have people from all over the world, I’d love for you to tell them a little bit about Abiquiu itself. Where is it located? Why is it, I mean, other than being one of the most beautiful places on earth, why is it so significant in the art world?

Connie: (05:19)
Well, yeah. Okay. You should, you should take it. Well, of course, you know, it’s, George O’Keefe came here in 1934 and, um, you know, in her, in her little car driving from Taos up the Chama River Canyon, um, because she wanted to get out to Ghost Ranch where she eventually moved to. But in her, uh, in her love of finding New Mexico in this landscape, it was really in the Abiquiu area and up on the Colorado plateau, which is just up the road from us, actually we’re on the edge of the Colorado plateau. Here were the rocks that spoke to her. And where, um, her art became her soul. You know, not that it wasn’t before, but it was her home. When she first put her foot on the ground here in New Mexico, she knew she was home. So, of course, you know, being Georgia O’Keefe, it has captured the attention of people around the world that have admired her work, her choices in life.

Connie: (06:26)
I you know, interestingly enough, I find a lot of strong, independent women that are, that kind of migrate here to Abiquiu. We’re located just an hour northwest of Santa Fe, and it is the main highway that goes from Santa Fe up to Pagosa Springs in Colorado. So it’s a well traveled highway that actually kind of mirrors the old Spanish trail. So Abiquiu has an ancient rich history here culturally, um, dating back to, you know, migrations of the Native Americans from Chaco Canyon up to Mesa, ver and Aztec, and down through the Rio Grande Drainages. That being said, I think I said before, you know, you could spend hours just talking about each component of history here, let alone the geology, which makes this area unique and visually different, impactful

Becca: (07:30)
For artists, you know, to interpret in their own way.

Connie: (07:33)
And, you know, that, that draws artists. I mean, we, we think of this place as a, a thin place, a place that the unseen world and the seen world are connected very thinly. Which allows, I know for me, in my work, a lot of inspiration to flow freely as an artist. I draw my inspiration from the area around me, the mountains and mesas the rivers, as do many artists. Most artists . Yeah.

Bunny : (08:07)
So, so talk to me about this summer. I mean, what’s who’s in the gallery, what, when do you open, give us some details about how people can find you and enjoy what you’re doing.

Becca: (08:22)
Yeah, so we open the first weekend in May, so we’re seasonal business, so we’re open May through October. Um, previously we were just open Saturdays and Sundays 11 to four. Um, but we decided this season to add Fridays, so that’s super exciting. Um, you know, not everyone can get to us on the weekend sometimes. So starting May 24th, we’ll be open Fridays through Sundays 11 to four. Um, but the first weekend in May, we’ll, we’ll be open Saturdays and Sundays 11 to four, and we are doing an opening day reception that’s open to everyone. Um, so we’ll have a lot of the artists that are participating this season will come and join us. And, um, we’re gonna have live music played by a local Spanish guitar player. Um, and it’ll just be really fun snacks and beverages and everyone can experience the dome and meet and greet some of the

Connie: (09:16)
Artists. Not to mention we’ll have a new photo opportunity. It’s a giant huge Adirondack  that I still have to sand and paint, so wish me well, , but it’s going, it, um, it has a story all of its own that will share if you come to the dome, but it’s a giant share that we’ll put with the dome in the background and take photos. Yeah, yeah. On opening, opening day it’ll be . And then tell ’em about the artists that we’re gonna have. Yeah.

Becca: (09:46)
We do have some returning artists that are going to be bringing in some exciting new work. Um, Barbara Clark being one of them, we carry her small work, original oil paintings that are all from Northern New Mexico region and a lot from ABA Q. And people just love her work. So we’re bringing her back. Um, we have some, um, like Lino Cup block print and ceramic artists. Beautiful, um, stoneware and Barbara Campbell who’s been, um, just like a legend around here with pottery and ceramics teaching at Ghost Ranch, and, um, also part of the New Mexico Part Potters Association. Mm-Hmm. , is that right? Mm-Hmm. . Um, so we’re excited to have her work. She doesn’t show anywhere. Um, so that’s exciting. Um, and a a ton. We have a lot of artisans, um, joining us in the gallery shop, the new gallery shop next to the dome, um, soap and candles and just lots of really fun special goodies. Yeah. Um,

Connie: (10:51)
And my son, Jesse Fisher has his photography there, as always. He, he and I started doing ABA Q studio tours in the dome in 2019. We started that and then kind of covid got, you know, kind of waylaid that for a while. But anyway, he has, uh, work there and we’re excited about it being a family affair and in so many ways, you know, but the really wonderful thing is that we have artists approaching us now, you know, saying, can we show our stuff? Can we, so it’s, uh, it’s a real honor, it’s a privilege, you know, to be able to show other people’s artwork. And, in fact I kind of got inspired this winter. You know, our weather here in New Mexico this spring has been odd. It’s been colder and windier and more snow flurries. And my studio, my metal studio is outside.

Connie: (11:50)
So I have to, I have a fine balance of when I can get in the studio and work, and I thought, gee, I need to be doing more than welding and creating art through welding. What else can I do? So I developed a new jewelry line with, uh, copper wires and, and pendants earrings. And so far it’s, it’s beautiful. It’s been really well received when I’ve showed, uh, friends and family and a few posts on Facebook and stuff. So I’m really excited ’cause I can sit in the warmth of my home and work on these things . So weather dictated that inspiration, for my upcoming art to be shown.

Becca: (12:32)
Right. And if it’s not obvious, of course, we show her work as well. So her metal art right in the dome, so her beautiful pieces, um, and then her new jewelry line called Spirit Echoes. So we have that as well. Yeah,

Bunny : (12:48)
I think that’s, it’s interesting that I mean, it’s not just that people can come up and look at art or look at sculpture or, but, but that you’re also going to have jewelry. I mean, I know there’s a, there’s an entirely different crowd for that, but, I wanna go back for a little bit to, um, the story kind. This is such a great story because it’s such a New Mexico story of how you chose to end up in New Mexico. I love this story. So can you tell our listeners a little bit about how New Mexico’s sort of snatched you away?

Connie: (13:26)
Old me in ? Yeah. I mean, uh, if you, if y’all heard last, you know, we did our podcast last time, you’ll remember I grew up in Southern California and in Hollywood area, and my best friend from the age of 10 up was Marie Osmond of the Osmond family. Um, and so, you know, that was kind of my life and all through the Donna Marie years. And I just thought I would be in the entertainment industry in some aspect, and I wanted nothing more than to do that. And then I went to college just to see what they would know, um, . But I got involved in archeology. I took a, you know, a general ed archeology class, which included the five day field trip to Four Corners area. And that’s what changed my life and my trajectory of who I wanted to be.

Connie: (14:22)
And I ended up double majoring in theater and archeology, got degrees in both. And, um, that eventually, you know, led me to field work in the southwest. And one of my friends said, Hey, there’s this place called Ghost Ranch. This is, I was pregnant with my youngest child. And she said, join us there next year. You won’t believe this place. It’s beautiful. The Red Rocks, there are pottery classes, there are, you know, the history’s amazing. And so, lo and behold, 32 years ago, 33 years ago, uh, we came to Ghost Ranch here in New Mexico. We were gonna stay for a couple days. We stayed for a couple weeks and every year, I’ve never missed coming. The kids grew up there, but it really spoke to me, New Mexico, what I had walked away from, um, my love of the Southwest, you know, thinking, you know, be a mom and live in Southern California.

Connie: (15:19)
And, and when I came back here, I realized that I was coming back to myself, and that in order to be the best mom that I could be in person. And he was to be everything I was created to be, which included my love of the Southwest and the canyons. And I took this little art class, an art welding class there, , and I never put down the torch. It brought to me the ability to create the images of the southwest that had changed my life and spoken to me lots of spirals and ancient images. Um, and so I, you know, I was always drawn here. And then I found this property that I currently live in, and right in front of it was this little dome. And I said to, you know, who owns this? Found out, my neighbor did. And then I spoke to them and I said, okay, give me, if you ever wanna sell, please give me first right of refusal.

Connie: (16:20)
And lo and beholden, 2016, uh, they offered me the opportunity to buy the Abba Q Dome, which meant that I had to take a leap of faith and I had to just trust that that was what I should do. And I had to leave my job, uh, in Colorado was in the financial industry. I had lost my husband, uh, a couple decades earlier. And so, you know, I did what you have to do to take care of things in life. Just sell my house. My youngest son had just was graduating, see you boulder, and make the leap and come down here. And, uh, made no sense financially. , it made no sense on paper, but it made sense in my heart and my soul, and I knew this is where I was supposed to be. And, um, it was scary and wonderful all wrapped up in one.

Connie: (17:16)
Um, and you know, I, I still feel this way about, about New Mexico, and especially this area in, in Aku. It’s very sacred. It’s very ancient. It’s full of so many stories and, uh, not only of ancient stories, but people that come here to renew and be lifted up by this, you know, we’re called the Land of Enchantment for a reason. It’s, uh, it’s just an amazing thing that happens within your spirit and soul if you, if you allow yourself to tap in into this stream of magic . So that’s how I ended up here on the old Spanish Trail  in, in Abi Q. But

Bunny : (18:00)
I wanted to hear, um, I mean, there’s a whole different, um, story about how it is for a mother and daughter to work together. How, how Becca did you make that decision? And how’s it going? Can you tell me with your mom sitting next to you? ?

Becca: (18:18)
Yeah, yeah, I’ll

Connie: (18:19)
Leave you .

Becca: (18:21)
No, it’s been really good. Um, it’s like a very unique dynamic, but I think we work really well together. I mean, I think we both offer very different strengths, um, in what we do. So that’s helpful because we can look to each other for those kinds of things and, um, kind of, you know, uh, piggyback off of each other in, in a good way. And, um, I mean, of course, it’s like, sometimes it’s stressful, you just have to figure things out, but that’s the nature of anything, or working with anyone or dealing with any business, especially a small business. It’s, you know, it’s a lot of work. Um, but I think we do really well together and, and, um, you know, I curate the business, so I do, um, I manage all of the artists that we bring on board and, and, you know, vet everybody and, um, you know, kind of curate what we want for each season and kind of run the business end of things from head to toe.

Becca: (19:24)
So that’s a lot of my strengths and social media and all of that, you know. Um, and then my mom works really well with like, designing the spaces and sort of like, um, giving artistic input in that way. And then also just kind of letting her be the artist as much as she can, um, to get, you know, to get art made and, and flourish in that way, and not have to be bogged down by, you know, the business end of things so much. But, um, but I think where, you know, where she’s really great, um, at things, it’s like, it help. We, we just help each other. It’s a really nice, like symbiotic.

Connie: (20:04)
It’s very, it’s very complimentary, but I’ll tell you, I could not do this without her in a million years. You know, I, I, as an artist, many of you that are artists, recognize the fact you make something and, and you, you price to price something that you made is hard, you know? So I’m, I make my work, I hand it to Becca, and she takes care of that aspect of it, because I always down priced myself, you know, as an, as an artist. It’s, it was hard and it still is hard to, to do that component of it and just the administrative end of art. Um, you know, Becca’s a rockstar in her social media skills and everything else. I think we have a very complimentary relationship that way. And I love her to death, of course. I mean, she’s, uh, she’s here doing this. It’s, it’s like a dream come true to have this, this family business. And, um, you know, I am, I don’t wanna cry, but I almost did . So,

Bunny : (21:13)
So tell me where on or tell, let’s tell our listeners where people can find you online on social media. Um, what’s, and, and it’s great if you can spell it, because Abba q is a hard word. Oh my gosh. For people who are listening in perhaps Scotland or Africa or, or Dubai,

Becca: (21:34)
, I made, I made it a note actually on my, um, pad of little talking points. I was expelling important  for Abi Q. Um, but, uh, besides the spelling, it’s easy to find us. So it’s abbi q dome.com is our main website. Abi Q is spelled A-B-I-Q-U-I-U, um, . So it’s just abi q dome.com. Um, and then you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at, at Abba Q Dome. If you just search our handle, you’ll find us right there. Um, my mom is also on social media. Um, her handle is at Connie B as in boy, Burkhart, or, well, actually , I messed that up. So your website is connie burkhart.com. Burkhart is spelled B-U-R-K-H-A-R-T. So connie burkhart.com is her website, um, which is also linked, you know, if you go to acu dome.com, it’ll, you, you can find her website on there and vice versa. Um, her Instagram handle is Connie b Metal designs, so that’s where you can find her on Instagram

Connie: (22:48)
or Insta

Becca: (22:51)
And all of her information. Well,

Bunny : (22:53)
So Becca, I love that you had talking points. Are there things we didn’t cover yet?

Speaker 5: (22:58)
Um,

Becca: (23:00)
You know, yes, actually I would like to mention, um, you know, you were talking about new and exciting things that have happened over the years. So, um, earlier this year, um, around the beginning of February, I joined the board for the Abi Q Arts Council. So I am working with them, um, a lot on the communications and social media end of things. Um, but just really helping, um, our organization, you know, kind of rebrand and, um, refocus and just build and, um, just improve, uh, things. And so the Abi Q Arts Council, if anyone doesn’t know, we are a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit organization, and we, one of our programs is the Abacus Studio Tour. Um, so the Abacus Studio Tour was created back in 1994, in around 2017, um, the Abcu Arts Council was created as an organization, and the Abacus Studio Tour became part, um, of that organization as one of the programs.

Becca: (24:09)
Um, so currently that’s, you know, what we’re focused on. We’re also adding another additional event this summer that’s going to be an amazing Mercado Artisan event at the Rural Event Center, um, probably sometime in July or August. And that’s inviting artists to participate from all over Rio Ariba County. Um, because our county, you know, there’s a lot going on in Santa Fe. There’s a lot going on in TAs. Um, but for Rio Arriba County residents, you know, we are a lot north. We go up all the way to Colorado, the county. And so, you know, there’s a, a lot of opportunity for artists to get together in our county, um, to do an artisan an art event. So we’re gonna be doing a very large Meca Mercado event.

Connie: (24:58)
Um, and the dates of the studio tour this year are,

Becca: (25:01)
Yeah, studio tour dates are October 12th and 13th, so near Indigenous People’s Day, that same weekend. Um,

Connie: (25:10)
And we’ll host the, you know, we’ll be at the Dome, the Dome, I’ll be part of the studio tour and the dome, we’ll be open of course, during that time as well. But, uh, she is, she’s doing well on the board and with the communications, you know, that’s, in this day and age, so much has changed with the social media aspect and the getting information out rather than print. Um, and it, it’s been amazing to watch that she’s done. I teach, uh, welding, fired up art welding at Ghost Ranch this July for three weeks. And, you know, she puts the word out on, on social media and the classes are, are filling up and, and great. And I’m doing just in a couple weeks, I’m teaching hiking, uh, there with geology and paleontology and archeology of this area. And I bring them down into ABA Q here and visit some little known areas and restricted areas on Ghost Ranch. So, uh, it’s, it’s a great opportunity. She’s really, really helped with getting the word out on those things a lot. .

Becca: (26:18)
Yeah, you can find all of her workshops through the dome or through, you know, abbi q dome.com or through her website, connie burkhart.com. So all of her information’s on there if you wanna, if you know your listeners wanna learn more about what she has to offer.

Connie: (26:33)
You know, I was just, I was just thinking of something. We had, uh, , we, uh, had a yard sale the other day, , and which was really fun because it brought a, you know, a whole lot of different, you know, folks that would stop by that were just on the highway that would see the sign. We had it in the parking lot at the dome, even though the dome wasn’t open. But, uh, a question we got a lot from travelers that were coming through was, first of all, how do you say Abi Q mm-Hmm. , you know, they don’t know aqui, whatever. And I said, think of barbecue ’cause it’s like ABA Q and, and that helped them. But this one couple said, what is there to do in ABA Q? And both Beck and I kind of said, there’s so much and yet nothing.

Connie: (27:18)
Like you have to know there are treasures here to come and see, but they’re not just, you know, overtly out there. Uh, and, and it does take some, some digging, but as we started talking about, uh, things in Abi Q, not just Georgia O’Keeffe related it, we really became aware of, you know, how much there is to do in this area. But it does, you know, it seems like you can just drive through and there’s, there’s nothing but there’s hidden gems all over, or artists studios or little galleries tucked away. And I think that that is, is a pretty wonderful magic about, about this place in ABA Q . Yeah.

Bunny : (28:03)
Well, I’m so excited for your new season and, um, and we’re definitely gonna get up up there this year, but, um, I want people to know that we are posting links to everything, and we will, I want ’em to, to know that they can find you, um, starting in May. So, um, we guys come back on maybe right before the, um, studio tour. It seems like that’d be a great time to talk about what else is happening in Abba Q

Connie: (28:35)
Mm-Hmm, . Yeah. Yeah, that would be a great, that’d be a great time. It’s a beautiful time.

Becca: (28:39)
Yeah, it’s a good time. And there’s a lot like seasonal things that happen in Abba, you know, a lot more, um, a lot more exploring that you can do, you know, may through October.

Bunny : (28:50)
Great. So, um, everybody check out the links, get up to the dome. If you’re like me, it’s that structure that’s on the left side of the road as you head up towards Chama and, um, and now you know what it is, so you can stop in and take a look. Thank you so much for being here.

Becca: (29:07)
Thanks Bunny. It was great. Thank

Connie: (29:09)
You. Great to

Becca: (29:09)
See you again.

Bunny : (29:12)
Thanks to all of you for taking the time to listen to the I Love New Mexico podcast. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please feel free to share it with your friends on social media or by texting or messaging or emailing them a copy of the podcast. If you have a New Mexico story that you’d like to share with us, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our email address is I love New Mexico blog@gmail.com and we are always, always looking for interesting stories about New Mexico. Subscribe, share, and write a review so that we can continue to bring you these stories about the Land of Enchantment. Thank you so much.

Speaker 6: (30:10)
Here, I’m back on the road heading out west to the mountain time zone. There’s one thing on my mind mind’s a girl in New Mexico whose eyes green and hair’s, I can’t wait. Have

Speaker 7: (30:31)
New, New Mexico.