Sip, Sense, and Sustain: An Evening of Art, Botanicals, and Love for the Land
Join us for a Valentine-adjacent evening celebrating art, botanical flavor, and land stewardship at CHOMP Food Hall in Santa Fe
Art • Botanicals • Conservation
CHOMP Food Hall | Loft Gallery
505 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, NM
February 12th, 6-8PM
The night begins in the Loft Gallery with an artist talk by photographer Christina Selby, whose work is featured in Gestures from the Land, an exhibition exploring our relationship to place and the natural world. From there, guests will be guided through a sensory botanicals tasting with Jennifer Savage, Manager of Bottega del Vino at CHOMP.
Jennifer will explore the aromatic heart of botanical drinks, highlighting how plants, herbs, spices, roots, and flowers shape flavor when layered into thoughtfully crafted drinks. Guests will then enjoy a specially priced botanical beverage inspired by nature’s palette.
CHOMP food hall features a diverse variety of cuisines including Brujas Pizza, Picnic NM, Nath's Khmer Cuisine and 2 Floyds Southern Kitchen.
Prints for Plants: Supporting Native Plant Conservation
Thirty percent of the evening’s fine art sales will benefit three organizations working to protect and restore native plants and ecosystems in New Mexico and beyond:
Institute for Applied Ecology – advancing science-based conservation and restoration of native species and habitats
Santa Fe Botanical Garden – cultivating understanding, appreciation, and conservation of native and regional plants
Native Plant Society of New Mexico – promoting education, stewardship, and advocacy for New Mexico’s native flora
Representatives from each organization will be onsite with tables to share information about their work and how you can get involved.
Come sip, sense, and sustain with us.
ABOUT GESTURES FROM THE LAND
The Gestures from the Land exhibit invites viewers to witness the intimate language of wild plants—through the lens of Santa Fe-based conservation photographer Christina Selby. This collaborative exhibition explores the extraordinary biodiversity of New Mexico and the greater Southwest, revealing native wildflowers as essential contributors to ecosystem health, vital allies to pollinators, birds, and wildlife, and quiet companions to the human spirit. Through this body of work, Selby asks us to celebrate these botanical treasures—and to protect them.
Artist’s Statement
“The land speaks to us through gestures... If we listen to the land, we will know what to do.”
—Terry Tempest Williams, The Open Space of Democracy
Every spring, public lands across the Southwest erupt in breathtaking floral color—living tapestries of rare and native wildflowers. These lands—national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and Bureau of Land Management areas—are more than scenic, they’re essential sanctuaries. With space to grow, protection from development, industry, agriculture, and relatively undisturbed ecosystems, public lands provide the conditions rare and native plants need to survive. They also offer us the opportunity to witness, appreciate, and advocate for the fragile beauty of natural communities.
In my wildflower photography, I seek to capture the gesture of plants—the subtle lean of a flower toward a rainbow after a storm, a bloom opening its petals in response to the vibration of a pollinator’s wings, or a cluster of wildflowers gathered together like a community. These small movements reflect a larger language—an expression of life, resilience, and connection.
I experience wildflowers as gifts rom the land—ephemeral works of art scattered like blessings across the landscape. They act as spiritual messengers, reminding me to slow down, to delight in the details, and to honor the present moment. I listen for their stories—tales of survival, adaptation, and relationship—and I translate those into images. In return, I share their voices in the hope that others will fall in love with them too, and feel moved to protect their habitats.
Prints for Plants
The exhibition is a collaboration between Christina Selby and The Institute for Applied Ecology, Native Plant Society of New Mexico, and the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
30% of the profits from the sale of fine art prints at CHOMP supports the conservation work of these organizations. Purchasing a print gives these incredible plants and their habitats on public lands a chance to thrive!
