Iconic arts advocate Clara Apodaca honored with art wall

Clara Apodaca, 91, a lifelong advocate for arts and culture in New Mexico, was honored Monday with a dedicated gallery space at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Her art wall, on the second floor of the East Building, will feature a rotating selection of artworks.

Apodaca told the Journal: “I really appreciate the mayor and the city of Albuquerque acknowledging my contributions to the arts and culture in the state, because I’ve been doing that for a lot of years. It’s a great honor.”

Approximately 60 people were present for the dedication ceremony, including leaders from the worlds of politics and the arts. Also present were several of Apodaca’s children and grandchildren, who came from as far afield as California and Washington, D.C.

As Mayor Tim Keller unveiled the stainless steel wall plaque etched with a likeness of Apodaca and her biography, he said the Convention Center was chosen partly because it is one of only three venues in Albuquerque to host over 1 million visitors annually, the others being Balloon Fiesta Park and the airport. Given Apodaca’s belief that the arts should be accessible to all, he wanted her art wall to be seen by the greatest number of people possible.

“Clara Apodaca’s vision has helped make Albuquerque a place where art and community thrive together,” Keller said. “Dedicating this gallery space in her name is a way to honor her remarkable legacy and ensure that her story continues to inspire future generations.”

Apodaca served as first lady of New Mexico from 1975 to 1979, when her then-husband, Jerry Apodaca, was governor.

“When I traveled the whole state campaigning, I realized that the arts were not visible to a lot of children,” she said. “So, when the Apodaca administration was inaugurated in January 1975, the arts became my primary interest. And within four months, I kicked off the Governor’s Art Gallery with Georgia O’Keeffe.”

The Governor’s Gallery in the New Mexico State Capitol, commonly known as the Roundhouse, remains one of Clara Apodaca’s most visible contributions to the arts in the state.

“At that time, there was no art in the whole Capitol building. You couldn’t hang one picture, one nail, anywhere. So, we started that. And today, our Roundhouse is like a museum,” she said. “That was April of 1975, so exactly 50 years ago, this year.”

At Monday’s ceremony, Keller quipped that Apodaca’s Convention Center wall will be “the Albuquerque version of the Governor’s Gallery.”

Among her other accomplishments, Apodaca served as president and CEO of the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation and as a board member for Opera Southwest. And, at the national level, she served on the Commission on the Arts and Humanities in Washington, D.C., during the Clinton administration.

At Monday’s event, Apodaca took the podium with the aid of a walker due to an injury she sustained this March.

“I fell and had a broken hip, a broken vertebra and broken ribs. So, I went through surgery and then went through three and a half weeks of rehab,” Apodaca told the Journal. “I’m still in a walker. But I’m still going strong, because you can do a lot in politics and in fundraising over the phone, right?”

Apodaca said she refused to let a physical injury slow her down or spoil her positive attitude.

“You’ve got to be a positive thinker,” she said. “If you’ve had the long life that I’ve lived and accomplished the things I have, you just keep going.”

Apodaca’s tireless energy was a common refrain among friends and collaborators who attended the event.

“I so admire Clara’s sharpness, her clarity of mind and her never-ending energy,” said Julie Heinrich, a former executive director of the Meow Wolf Foundation, whose husband is Sen. Martin Heinrich.

Julie Heinrich said she has known Apodaca socially for “well over 10 years.”

“We’ve had lunch together on a regular basis, in conjunction with Martha Burke, who has a rich history of advocating for women and pay equity, and also LaDonna Harris, who has played a really critical role in Indigenous issues nationally and empowering young Indigenous people,” she said. “I call them my New Mexico divas.”

“Clara has an incredible capacity to connect people and to bring wealth into the community,” she continued. “We don’t have the same level of wealth in our arts community (in Albuquerque) that Santa Fe has, so it’s all the more important that we have people like Clara.”

Woody Kuehn, who sits on the board of Opera Southwest and previously served as its president for 11 years, called Clara Apodaca “a spectacular board member.”

“I’ve never met anyone else, who, when she places a call to anyone in the state, they return her call,” Kuehn said. “She organized meetings for us with all sort of important people in the state and was just an absolute delight to work with.”

Opera Southwest’s executive director, Tony Zancanella, agreed.

“Clara Apodaca’s involvement with Opera Southwest was nothing short of transformational,” Zancanella said. “The scope of the company has more than tripled since she’s been involved, in terms of what we’re doing for the community.”

Tracy Hartzler, the president of Central New Mexico Community College, said Clara Apodaca has “always been inspiring.”

“I know Clara because I’m a member of the New Mexico International Women’s Forum. It’s a group of women leaders, and Clara is one of the founding members here in New Mexico,” Hartzler said. “Clara is inspiring, not only to me, but certainly to the arts community and to our community in Central New Mexico Community College.”

Jackie Apodaca, Clara Apodaca’s daughter-in-law, said only a fraction of her mother-in-law’s contributions to the arts are known to the public. Others have not been well publicized.

“Most people don’t know that when the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation was going bankrupt, Clara was the one who stepped in and agreed to wipe the debt clean,” Jackie Apodaca said.

“She’s an absolute icon,” Julie Heinrich added.