The Making of Blazing Light with Mimi Plumb and David Chickey

Santa Fe Workshops collection of free online events, Creativity Continues, features a special presentation with photographer Mimi Plumb and David Chickey, Publisher, Designer, and Creative Director at Radius Books. Their conversation explores Mimi’s extensive career and the process of bringing her work together in her new monograph, Blazing Light.

Through images and conversation, Mimi and David look at three major bodies of work featured in Blazing Light: The White Sky, Landfall and The Golden City, and The Reservoir. Together, they trace more than five decades of image-making and explore how these projects reflect Mimi’s ongoing interest in California and the West. They also discuss the process of translating such an extensive body of work into a single volume and how the three projects come together.

Mimi Plumb is a socially engaged photographer whose work explores people, places, and the changing environments around them. Her photographs often convey narratives that are simultaneously ominous, seductive, and compassionate. She is the recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, John Gutmann Photography Fellowship, California Arts Council, and California Humanities, and her work is held in major museum collections. Blazing Light, published by Radius Books in 2025, accompanies her first solo museum exhibition, organized by the High Museum of Art.

David Chickey is the Publisher, Designer, and Creative Director of Radius Books, a nonprofit publishing company based in Santa Fe. Founded in 2007, Radius Books publishes and donates books of artistic and cultural value, with its titles receiving international recognition and numerous awards. David brings a deep understanding of the relationship between photography, bookmaking, and the presentation of an artist’s work.

The program concludes as Mimi and David engage in a live Q&A with the webinar audience. For those unable to attend live, a recording is available to all registered participants.

Creativity Continues is a program that collectively develops creative voices by offering connection and encouraging expression. Because the goal is to engage all within our creative community, we encourage you to extend invitations and share Santa Fe Workshops Creativity Continues events with anyone who expresses an interest.

Produced in conjunction with community partner