Yesterday, the pros at the Historic Santa Fe Foundation—Jacob Cisneros and Story Coleman—and I spent the day hanging Dorothy’s block prints in preparation for tomorrow night’s opening exhibition. The doors at 553 Canyon Road will open from 7–9 p.m., and the public is invited!
This beautiful venue is perfect for Dorothy’s woodblocks. Renovated in 1931 by artist William Penhallow Henderson, (one of the many friends of the Stewart sisters), the house is itself a living museum. Hand-adzed beams, cordels, lintels, cabinets, and the delicate tinware all bear Henderson’s signature rosettes.
Adjacent to the sala—the main room—is a small library. With heavy vigas overhead, a small kiva fireplace, and windows that let in the light, it feels intimate and special to hold Dorothy’s hand-blocked and illustrated books. The paintings are ones she created in the 1930s.
These books represent Dorothy’s final artistic endeavor: printing. She purchased an antique Franklin press in 1928 from a Spanish language newspaper in Espanola and produced hand-printed and illustrated versions of Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Handbook of Indian Dances, and San Cristobal Petroglyphs,a collaboration with artist Agnes C. Sims.
Dorothy Newkirk Stewart:Santa Fe Artist and Printmaker 
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