Art Santa Fe 2024 returns to the Santa Fe Community Convention Center July 12-14. This year, Redwood Art Group is honoring four Spotlight Artists. Get to know Vivienne Riggio below.
Q: Introduce yourself — who you are and what your vision as an artist is? What is your background?
A: My name is Vivienne Riggio, I am a Santa Fe-based sculptor. My artistic journey is a testament to a life infused with observation and the transformation of the mundane into the extraordinary. As a way of manifesting my vision, I fabricate large-scale mythical creatures that connect us to another time, another place.
I draw from my experience in operatic costuming and apparel design and use traditional Southwestern embroidery techniques, sheep’s wool up-cycled paper, and unusual objects.
My desire is that these shaman-like sculptures evoke a departure from conventional imagery to an unfamiliar place of wonder. Ultimately, I hope the viewer connects with that other place, a departure from their day-to-day thinking. For some these pieces take on a lifelike presence and others just enjoy the craftsmanship and appreciate them just as a work of art.
Born in Murphysboro, Illinois, my path to becoming an artist was as intuitive as it was inevitable. From my earliest memories, I was captivated by shapes, images, and designs, finding intrigue and expression in the arts from a tender age. My childhood, characterized by introspection and a deep internalization of my surroundings, laid the foundation for a unique artistic language, which I began articulating through three-dimensional art as early as five years old.
My grandparents emigrated to the US from Southern Italy and eventually settled in the Midwest. Their daily lives, though extreme from what Sicilia offered, gave them sustenance and a sense of belonging to something larger.
In the late fifties, my parents heeded the California call and settled in the Bay Area, a small town ripening with revolutionary fervor. As teens, my siblings and I drank up the culture outside our front door questioning nothing and everything.
This is a small taste of what I inherited and was exposed to. As a young girl, I stood back and observed family dynamics, Catholicism, and academics and spent much of my time creating unusual art as a way of processing and expressing. It’s been that way ever since.
In my late thirties, I discovered New Mexico after a summer of picking fruit in British Columbia. Once landed outside of Albuquerque, I worked at the state fair, at restaurants, and wrote short stories. After a gig at the Santa Fe Opera as a seasonal worker in the costume shop, my artistic vision leaped toward larger dimensional pieces. I eventually settled in Santa Fe, but not before going back and forth to the West Coast and moving where my work took me.
I dedicated my career to labor rights, traveling to factories throughout Latin America, Asia, and North America, interviewing workers and factory owners. I’m now a permanent resident and live a stone’s throw from the Santa Fe River.
Q: What is your work philosophy and how does that impact your work?
A: The core of my artistic philosophy lies in the genuine, unfiltered interaction with the world around me. Whether I am surrounded by the tranquility of nature or immersed in the vibrant energy of a city, every experience is a wellspring of inspiration. My art is a means of distilling these experiences, transforming them into a language of shapes, textures, and forms that resonate on a visceral level. This process is not just about creation but is a form of communication, a way of sharing my perspective and inviting others to see the world through a different lens.
What motivates me to create is the endless potential for transformation—an object, a piece of fabric, or a fleeting image can become a conduit for profound expressions and conversations. I aim to create art that not only captivates visually but also engages on an emotional and intellectual level, prompting reflection and eliciting a sense of wonder. Through my work, I strive to offer a moment of connection, an opportunity for viewers to engage with their surroundings and their inner selves in new and unexpected ways.
Q: What artist(s) inspire you?
A: Magdalena Abakanowicz for her ingenuity to repurpose and courage to go big. Bette Saar to bring renewed life to the discarded. Louise Bourgeois for her courage to express sensuality and objects that cause a reaction in viewers. Graciela Iturbide- for her photographs of rural Mexican women. Christian LeCroix and Alexander McQueen for their otherworldly fashion
Q: What is the best advice you’ve received?
A: It’s a special gift not to be like the others.
Q: When you are not working, where can we find you?
A: Exploring the high road to Taos and hidden pockets of New Mexico. Exploring Museums and Galleries. Open space reserves. Golfing. Looking for new life in my garden
Q: What does exhibiting at Art Santa Fe 2024 mean to you?
A: Exhibiting at Art Santa Fe 2024 is an opportunity to share my work with a wider audience with broader tastes, to observe reactions from the general public, from collectors and gallerists, and peers. To interact with a diverse audience.
