In Downtown Albuquerque, Sheri Crider is reimagining what development can be

Sheri Crider is creating renovated bright spots in the Downtown Albuquerque area, although she prides herself on being a very different kind of developer.

She keeps rents low for artist studios, and, in her latest venture at the Gizmo building on Central Avenue, she also plans to offer five free housing units for former inmates.

It’s part of Crider’s mission as a “social practice artist” who has spent her own time behind bars and trying to survive on the streets.

“I’m not trying to make huge profits,” she says. “I’m on the ground working. I do a lot of the interior finishing myself, so that’s how I can do such a project and keep the rents low.”

Crider, who once owned a tile company and plays competitive pool for fun, began her owner/developer career in 2015 by purchasing and renovating the Sanitary Tortilla Factory, a former restaurant that she turned into a studio and exhibition space.

She has sold that property and, thanks to her construction license, is in the midst of building out her new endeavor — the four-story Gizmo building. Once a JCPenney outlet and then a surplus store, it offers 53,000 square feet compared to Sanitary’s 7,000 square feet.

Crider says her impetus for creating affordable space also stems from her own experience in art, post-graduate degree, and her disenchantment with the institutional art world.

“In the 2000s, when I got out of graduate school, there weren’t spaces specifically for people of color, emerging, queer artists,” she says. “So I decided to create it — creating magic, which is creating community.”

What’s your vision for the Gizmo project?

A thriving arts community that is a significant contributor to the community. My artist practice is geared toward community engagement. The reentry housing on the top floor fully realizes that. I saw such a need, so I started going to the jail (Metropolitan Detention Center) every other week, and there’s nothing for people who are incarcerated. If you go behind the walls, you’ll find that so many people are very creative. Art is very therapeutic. But the other stuff is just basic. Like showing someone a pathway.

How are you funding this?

It’s all money that I’ve created through sweat equity. I sold Sanitary for $120 a square foot, and I bought Gizmo for $35. I see so many nonprofits constantly just trying to raise money, and then they’re becoming a chameleon to the grant. And now we’re in this moment where everyone is losing their grants. And so I want to build an organization — and I’ve been able to do that at Sanitary — where I don’t have to have a grant. We just established a nonprofit. Once we get Gizmo up and running (and) we have all the tenants in there, we’ll be able to build the apartments.

Please explain how your own difficulties have fueled your projects.

I kept getting arrested. I lived on the streets for almost a decade, and I was probably at my third court-ordered drug program (in Arizona) when I had a counselor ask me what I’m good at. No one had ever asked me that question. And I remembered that in fourth grade, I got an art award. This woman also showed me museums … and said, “You could be an artist.” So just asking the questions: “What are you good at? What do you love to do?” I had no idea what she was talking about, but she … gave me the support that I needed to make those first steps on creating a different pathway. That’s the blueprint. Maybe you’re good at painting cars. There are a million iterations of creative (expression.)

What turned you off about institutionalized art?

In graduate school, I had all these realizations about art and institutionalized art — what audiences go to museums. I quickly realized that it was essentially the same 150 people going and looking at each other’s work, and for me, that didn’t hold a lot of interest. I was more interested in a larger expanse of people. People coming from a lot of different places.

What are you proud of?

I got a grant two years ago … from the state doing art and mental health for Gordon Bernell Charter School at MDC. I’ve been working with a young woman — now she’s 18 — who had a rough path. Her father was in prison, and now she works at Sanitary once a week and she’s going to be graduating. For me, it’s about de-mythologizing career paths for kids. We don’t do that very well. It’s going to that same question, “What are you good at? What’s the biggest dream you could imagine?” And then pairing them with spaces in the community that mirror that to them and give them career pathways.

What do you do in your free time?

Well, sadly, I love working. You know, working on our property is a lot of hard work. This barren dirt (in Los Lunas) and now it’s 80% native grasses. It’s just so satisfying to work really hard and see something grow — literally. And then playing pool is just some sort of strange place where I can mentally not work. You don’t have to think about anything, and I find it a very interesting sport because there is such a huge variety of pool players.

Any pet peeves?

Cleaning up after yourself, like basic housekeeping. In construction, it never happens. You’re constantly cleaning up after other people, which is annoying. And just really being a person of your word. If you say you’re going to do something, do it.