Weasel & Fitz

Purveyors of Curious Thangs

2878 St Hwy 14,

Madrid, NM 87010

505-474-4893

Kenny Chavez

Kenny Chavez is an Albuquerque recycle folk artist. His long-time store, In Crowd , (1984 to 2003) along Nob Hill's Central Avenue retail strip, stirred the pot of creativity for the Albuquerque arts community for many years. 

Kenny has shown his work at The Contemporary Hispanic Market in Santa Fe and The Heard Museum’s Spanish Market in Phoenix, as well as at a number of other venues.

“I enjoy recycling and saving in some small way Mother Nature,” says Kenny. “I've been inspired to make my work from as far back as a child watching my Uncle Tobias make his locally famous folk art. So seven years ago I got into the habit of going out to the land (anywhere) and salvaging rusted bottlecaps, old cans, bottles, photos, bailing wire, and weathered barn-wood..”

Since that time, he has constructed hundreds of retablos (wall plaques), crosses, frames, and signage.

Janet de Mello

Janet De Mello specializes in found object faces, whimsical creations made out of nuts bolts, pipes, gaskets, scissors, and almost any found object imaginable.

Her “faces” express surprise, confusion, satisfaction, amusement, joy, hunger, and a myriad of other emotions.

Her creations are backed by a special concrete mixture and formed from: "Just about anything I can find at a salvage yard or garage sale.” The faces can be also be framed to accent their individuality.

Janet recently relocated to New Mexico from San Diego.

Liz Falconer

Truly a local artist, Liz lives here in Madrid. She has an eclectic background but most recently has been focused on her artistic endeavors.  Her art has been shown at various galleries and shows throughout New Mexico, Washington, and California.

According to Liz:

“I paint because I love the paint and the surprises it affords me…I paint because the process of intense concentration take me into my “zone” where time stops and I communicate with something joyful and kind.  I paint things to be balanced and beautiful….”

Alison Franks

Textile artist Alison Franks is based out of Albuquerque, NM.  Her “dolls”—small textile figures bedecked with found objects—have comforted the ill, commemorated milestone birthdays, and traveled with a business man to remind him of home.  All the natural objects, including bones, shells, whiskers, and the occasional feather, are found objects.  No animal has unwillingly relinquished a part for the cause.

Ghost Town Trading Company

All of the furniture in the store used for displays and storage are for sale and were created by Ghost Town Trading of Albuquerque. Ghost Town builds its furniture from discarded fence posts and old barn wood for a unique and uniquely beautiful effect.  Weasel & Fitz is proud to be able to offer custom-made furniture from Ghost Town as well as the items on the gallery floor.

Janet & Jay Hevey

Janet and Jay Hevey, of Red Crow Folk Art, live in Albuquerque. They are from very different backgrounds yet share a similar, bemused view of the world. Janet, a member of Jemez Pueblo, was raised in Albuquerque. Jay, raised in Baltimore, took the words "road trip" seriously and headed West. They met during the hazy days of the mid-70s and never looked back.
 
Janet has always been an artist. She remembers tearing blank cover pages out of books to draw on as a child. She went on to more formal training at the University of New Mexico earning a degree in Studio Arts. Pueblo Clowns, like the Koshare and the Mudhead, are frequent and popular subjects for her.
 
Jay never thought of himself as an artist and still has trouble with the label. Coloring books on rainy days were as close as he ever came to an art lesson. He has learned, with time and bandages, how to carve chunks of wood into recognizable objects.

The folk art of Janet and Jay Hevey can be found in private collections throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

Kwytza Kraft

The idea is simple: collect post-use, single-use chopsticks from restaurants, thoroughly clean them, sanitize them at extremely high temperature and pressure, and use them to make high-quality accents for the consumer’s living space. The idea is Kwytza (pronounced k-why-tsa) Kraft.

Kwytza Kraft was the original idea of founder Bryan Parks an American who lived in China for several years. One day during lunch—which was of course being eaten with single-use chopsticks, Bryan rather nonchalantly asked his lunch partner how many chopsticks did he imagine were used per year considering China’s population size. This simple question would prove to be the catalyst for an innovative coupling of art and conservationism. Research showed that literally billions of single-use chopsticks were consumed annually.

The more shocking revelation was that it took, by some estimates, 25 million trees and bamboo plants to support that resource waste.  After extensive research and development efforts, including a unique process for reclaiming and thoroughly sanitizing chopsticks, Kwytza Kraft was born. In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, the colored chopsticks are all dyed using natural plants from China.

The future of single-use chopsticks and the impact to the world’s forests are unknown. The folks at Kwytza Kraft genuinely hope that one day they will no longer be able to make their recycled products as a result of heightened preservation efforts. However, until then, they hope you will enjoy their exquisitely designed accents of enduring quality and ecological significance.

Lane Patterson

A childhood spent in a junkyard in Illinois laid the framework for Lane’s artwork, which is focused on lamps and figures created out of recycled materials.  For the lamps, the shade is intended as part of the sculpture.

Lane recycles primarily old metal parts into pure sculptural forms, with special focus paid to the patina of each piece.  His pieces are whimsical, inspired, fun, and functional, and may cause you to look at common household objects with new eyes.

Lane taught interior design, weaving and textile at Minnesota State University, Mankato from 1968-1989.  He currently resides in Tucson.

Los Muertos (Stacey Sullivan & John Maldonado)

The Santa Fe-based husband and wife team of Stacey and John collaborate to produce colorful and imaginative artwork inspired by the beautiful celebration of Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. 

'Los Muertos' art is meant to show life and death as one--in understanding death, as a part of life, one can embrace and accept it rather than fear it.  “Los Muertos” art also encompasses the belief that souls are eternal and that each new birth or death is another stage in a person’s soul journey.

Luke Renberg

Luke moved to New Mexico from Connecticut in 1982 and it is clear that he has found a home for his art in the Land of Enchantment.  From his well-known Balloon Fiesta paintings on display at the Albuquerque Balloon Museum to his southwestern landscapes. Luke breathes life onto canvas through his use of vivid yet true colors.

Makin' Time (Cynthia Goldner and Carol Baum)

MAKIN’ TIME Computer Clocks are individually handcrafted high tech timepieces. Most one-of-a-kind clocks incorporate a hard drive platter or a CD as the clock face and an embellished circuit board as the background. Other models are crafted from CDs, floppy disks, drive housings, video laser disks or main frame drive platters. Each clock offers a whimsical view of our rapidly changing technology, preserving it as art rather than landfill. In addition to their functionality they help contribute to the overall recycling effort by utilizing obsolete, discarded or surplus computer components.

Monaco Designs (Tom Kennedy)

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Tom has been in business making leather Western apparel and contemporary jewelry in New Mexico since 1970. His silver, copper, and turquoise (along with other local stones) jewelry is heavily influenced by 20th Century Industrial Design.

Otra Vuelta Tire Recycling

Otra Vuelta Tire Recycling is an “Earth Friendly” enterprise with a goal of helping to clean the environment.  Otra Vuelta removes deteriorated, unattractive tires from landfills and backyards and transforms them into useful and attractive mats and bowls.

Recycled tire material is resistant to water, steam heat, oil, grease and other chemicals. They are ideal for restaurants, bars, butcher shops, machine shops, and any industrial uses and will even withstand the brutal punishment dealt out by children and visiting in-laws.

Otra Vuelta also makes custom mats, truck bed liners, and mats for horse and livestock trailers. We would be happy to provide contact information for custom orders.  Otra Vuelta is located in Los Ojos, NM.