Surrounded by museums, galleries and public art, La Fonda on the Plaza could be easily upstaged by its surroundings. And yet the hotel, through careful curation of its art collection and unique partnerships with artists, has become one of the great art destinations in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The collection is still growing, with new changes ready for Santa Fe Indian Market.
The new presidential suite at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The suite features a new painting by Marla Allison, modernist painter from Laguna Pueblo.
The hotel, which has been a place for visitors to lay their heads for more than a century, recently unveiled a new presidential suite with prime views out over the Santa Fe Plaza. The new suite, like all the rooms at the property, is filled with original art that speaks to the culture, diversity and traditions of Northern New Mexico. The featured artist in the room is Marla Allison, the modernist painter from Laguna Pueblo who has had a long friendship with the property. A new Allison painting fills a wall inside the suite, and one of her works has also been turned into bathrobes at the historic property.
The bathroom of the new presidential suite with one of the new bathrobes with Marla Allison’s painting on it.
“I have painted the doorways of my life, levels of where I was to where I am going. Lots of paintings in La Fonda Hotel carry my journey. Similar to the incredible rooms and levels of the historic hotel of La Fonda, each painting is an experience,” Allison says. Some of her works in the collection include Hint of Blue in front of the hotel’s restaurant; a triptych with Mateo Romero and Ryan Singer titled Water Carrier II near the ballroom entrance; and Fire and Water in one of the rooms. “Lots of moments of me are within the hotel’s collection and it feels like I have also become a part of Santa Fe’s great story through history and historic art seen by the many travelers entering the doorways and rooms of La Fonda Hotel. Most recently, I was commissioned to make a landscape painting of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains which was color matched to some colors of the newly renovated rooms. I gave it the title The Mountain Holds Stories. As time has gone by, I feel I have left a lot of historic markers of myself in my paintings. I am thankful to have a place which houses so many together so when I return to La Fonda, it feels like I returned home, in a way.”
Craig George (Navajo (Diné)), Marketing Gathering, oil
Views into the Santa Fe Plaza from La Fonda’s newest art-filled room.
In addition to Allison’s work, the hotel features art by Tony Abeyta, Sheldon Harvey, Shonto Begay, William Lumpkins, Dolores Purdy and Gerald Cassidy, whose large paintings in the lobby are some of the most recognizable paintings in the Southwest. A new work, Marketing Gathering by Craig George (Navajo (Diné)), was recently acquired by the property and is already on view in Santa Fe.
Native American Art and Western Art Collector are media partners with La Fonda on the Plaza, and routinely cover art shows and events at the famous property, including Sovereign, held this year from August 15 to 17. Visit lafondasantafe.com for more information about the hotel. —
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