And, now that scientists have created superintelligent rats, getting rid of the pesky things will be even harder. Maybe that’s why SITE Santa Fe is giving them away. For SITE’s 2004 biennial, artist Kim Jones created a grotesque facade made of rubber rats and, apparently, the place has been infested ever since. This year, highfalutin art rats are handed out willy-nilly at the organization’s holiday book sale. SITE has a hell of a library of art books and artist catalogs for sale this year, at discounts of up to 50 percent. A modest purchase enters one into a drawing for a limited edition Lorna Simpson print; additional prints are on sale at benevolent-baby-Jesus prices. SITE is open Christmas Eve for those procrastinators among us, but the sale goes on into the new year. Disclaimer: Rats aren’t entirely free. They come with a $50 purchase; but having been hanging out on art books, they won’t just be superintelligent, they’ll be hyper-cultured.

Sunday through Tuesdays Dec. 13, 14 and 15, and Dec. 20, 21 and 22.

St. Michael’s High School sophomore Amanda Romero was shopping for a violin as a Christmas present for herself. “I want it to look nice and sound good,” she told David Slocum of Abiquiú, who played several of his restored violins for her Sunday at his booth at the Santa Fe Farmers Market artists fair, the New Mexico Artisans Market.

Amanda, 15, and her mother, Kathy, were among dozens of shoppers and browsers who used a dreary Sunday afternoon to walk indoors among the booths of about 35 artisans at the market’s weekly Sunday show.

“It just takes one person to make your day,” said Dominic Arquero, who with his wife, Imogene, was selling her jewelry and his Native American wildlife prints. It was only the second time Dominic, originally from the Cochiti Pueblo, and Imogene, a Lakota Sioux, had shown at the Sunday market.

Alexandra Merlino, manager of the New Mexico Artisans Market at the Railyard market site, said the artist fair is a natural, community-oriented extension of the Saturday farmer’s market held at the same location. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday.

She said local artists also appreciate having an indoor venue to show their work.

“It’s a very tight bunch, and they are very dedicated to making Sundays work,” Merlino said. A goal of the Sunday event is to bring in more growers from the Saturday market.

Several of Sunday’s participants were selling caramel apples or juices made from products they had bought from the farmers.

Julia Ives and Dwain Feeman, who have an art studio in Rinconada, bring their produce to the Saturday market and their woodcarvings to the Sunday event.

“We think this is the best show on the planet,” said Ives. “I will probably buy all my Christmas gifts here.”

Elyzabeth Stow of Santa Fe, one of the market’s “artists in action,” was busy knitting and felting slippers and cloth caps for sale at her booth. She began attending the Sunday event when it started in May, stopped coming and then recently returned.

“There is some really fine quality work here,” she said of the artists’ displays.

Other artists and participants included Holly Stults with original jewelry, Stede Barber with landscape paintings and Fred Coen, a Santa Fe reflexologist and pedorthist specializing in orthopedic footwear, massage therapist Mauro Jaramillo and acoustic blues musicians Marc Malin and Mike Handler.

Merlino said the market is preparing for its annual New Mexico Artisans Market holiday fairs Sunday through Tuesdays Dec. 13, 14 and 15, and Dec. 20, 21 and 22 in the market pavilion at the Railyard, 1607 Paseo de Peralta.

More than 50 artists and crafts people are expected to participate, as well as musicians and food vendors.

Dennis J. Carroll | For The New Mexican