EXHIBITIONS

Palace Jewelers at Manitou Galleries will be showcasing fine diamonds and fine Native jewelry. Featured artists include Masha Archer, Star York, Carlos Eagle, Kathy Adams, Louise Perkinson and Palace Jewelers Designs. Show will be on exhibit for two weeks.

Specializing in handmade gourmet dark chocolate, Santa Fe’s Chocolate Smith will provide a tasting of fine chocolates paired with complementary wines from New Mexico-based winery, La Chiripada.  The same evening is the West Palace Art’s District’s First Friday Art Walk.  

New Mexico's finest landscape painters will be on display for this early Spring group show. 

Artists on exhibition include: Tom Perkinson, Jurgen Wilms, Fran Larsen, Harry Greene, William Haskell, Jerry Jordan, Z.Z.Wei, Roger Hayden Johnson, Douglas Aagard & Kim Wiggins.  Show will be on exhibit for two weeks.  The same evening is the West Palace Arts District’s First Friday Art Walk.

Douglas Aagard is a Utah landscape painter known for his use of color, texture and light. His subject matter is as varied as the Utah landscape itself. From the high mountain pines and aspens to sage and cedars with a whole lot of farmland in between.

Fran Larsen's interpretive landscapes and interior spaces are metaphors of her reaction to New Mexico’s geological grandeur and vibrant cultures. Each painting is accented in a hand-carved brightly painted frame that Larsen says," reasserts that the painting is an object as opposed to a representation."

Harry Greene paints semi-cubist compositions of New Mexican vernacular architecture. Utilizing understated and earthy colors, Greene's work reimagines early pueblo style with caring dynamism.

Jerry Jordan paints colorful scenes of Southwestern landscapes with Native Americans reminiscent of the Taos Society of Artists painters. Jordan continues to draw inspiration from the Taos masters. His paintings are rich and vivid; seeming to capture not only beautiful images of Taos landscapes and pueblo life, but also the feeling of Taos itself. Using his mastery of color and strong brushwork to create incredible texture, Jordan breathes life into the images of his beloved land. 

Tom Perkinson's work with watercolor and pastel captures the drama of light and shadow and the mystery that characterizes the geography of New Mexico. After receiving his Master's Degree in 1968, he taught art at the University of New Mexico for two years. In 1970, he committed his life to painting full time. His work is included in private and public collections across the globe, and he is represented in the collections of many museums, including the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.

Since the early 1980’s Bruce Cody has been regarded as one of the premiere painters of large urban and small town architectural motifs. His contemporary images range from high-rise towers with busy urban activities to small, purpose built structures, such as gas stations, motels and theatres.

In all of his paintings the rich light and shadows of the Western landscape are the primary motive for selecting his subjects. Light pouring on a sign covered façade reflects his interest and early years spent in his father’s neon sign shop. Learning to create hand painted signs was the seminal experience that led him to serious fine art studies and printmaking.

Roger Hayden Johnson captures the rich colors of sunlight at dawn and dusk in his architectural landscapes. He travels the back roads of the Southwest, Spain, and Portugal, as well as those of the Italian and French regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Burgundy, Provence, and the Perigord, in search of old and indigenous architectural structures. In the few short minutes right after sunrise or the fleeting moments before sundown, he takes photos in his favorite light--that spectacular long-shadowed light of intense, rich color and cool, deep shadow. It's this special light that brings a sense of stillness and tranquility to Johnson's paintings.

Classic western images by gallery artists: Gregg Albracht, Marlin Rotach, Billy Schenck, William Suys, Gail Gash-Taylor, and Don Weller.

Gregg Albracht's photography bespeaks of his unending passion to capture what Henri Cartier-Bresson, called the "decisive moment." Albracht says, ”to experience a magical moment when everything is just perfect is a rare thing, but when it happens, to be there to capture it, experience it...to hold that moment forever in a photograph is what drives my life."

Marlin Rotach has known since a very early age that painting was his lifelong ambition.  Born and raised in Salina, Kansas.  He earned a B.F.A. in painting from Kansas State University.  While attending K-State, he met and married his wife Carol.  Rotach went on to complete his M.F.A. at the University of Nebraska.  He then taught design, drawing, and painting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Since the mid-1990's Marlin Rotach has worked almost exclusively in watercolors, doing paintings for both galleries and private commissions.

For the past 41 years, Billy Schenck has been known internationally as one of the originators of the contemporary "Pop" western movement and an American painter who incorporates techniques from Photo-Realism with a Pop Art sensibility to both exalt and poke fun at images of the West.

William Suys is a master painter whose work is included in local, national and international collections. His paintings and commissioned portraits have been included in national and international shows, including the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition, Salon International at the International Museum of Masters of Contemporary Fine Art, and the Portrait Society of America.

Multiple award winning artist Gail Gash Taylor's work is included in more than fifty public collections; among these are numerous national and international museums.  Gail's work is also in many private collections. She has completed commissions for both corporations and individuals. 

Don Weller is a master watercolorist whose fine art paintings are informed by his decades of experience as a graphic designer. After creating work for clients such as Time, the NFL, the Olympic Games and the U.S. Post Office, Don has focused his efforts on watercolors of Western subjects.

Kim Wiggins’ dramatic expressionist oil paintings of his native New Mexico are populated with ribbons of color, bulbous clouds, anthropomorphic mountains and sinewy trees. Concerned foremost with composition, Wiggins carefully plans out the placement and elements to each painting and depicts the spiritual essence of his subject.

Laurie J. Rufe, former Director of the Tucson Museum of Art states, “Like Van Gogh, Wiggins' style is based on a pictorial language of heavily impastoed brushwork, bold color, and dynamic surface movement. Wiggins draws upon Post-Impressionism, Expressionism, American Regionalism, and muralist and folk art traditions, and it is this union that makes his paintings truly unique and unexpected.”

Liz Wolf works with clay, bronze and wood to channel the spirits of animals into mythical forms. Wolf also creates figurative pieces depicting strong contemplative women appearing as spiritual guides or disciples. Her work is an eclectic statement from visual and spiritual experiences from all that surrounds her. Wolf says, "When a work of art is not art for art’s sake, but instead holds a place in everyday life it possesses a religious or magical quality and may even capture a part of one’s spirit or soul."

Nestled in a high desert terrain, the villages of Northern New Mexico inspire artist William Haskell to create exquisite watercolors which reflect his passion for this unique and diversified landscape. Weathered adobe structures are drenched in a crisp white light beneath New Mexico mountain ranges in many of Haskell’s colorful watercolors. His focus on detail in his work goes beyond mere description of subject and draws the viewer into the painting for a more intimate connection with everyday forms and a sense of place.

Working primarily in watercolor, Haskell has become known for the depth and quality of his glazes. He says, "With the use of dry brush techniques, I am able to take the watercolor to a different level by working as translucently or opaquely as needed. I use 300-pound Arches watercolor paper with a smooth, hot press finish. I seal, dry-mount and archivally varnish the finished painting. This removes the need for glass, which traditionally protects a watercolor. This allows the user to get closer to the work."

Two very different artists working with wood will be on display at  Manitou Galleries' Canyon Road location in July: retablo artist Virginia Maria Romero and segmented woodturner Kim Beesley.

Virginia Maria Romero's work consists of contemporary religious retablos inspired by the culture of New Mexico. Her Polish/Irish heritage are just as strongly driven by her own experiences, setting her works apart from others of that genre. Romero’s retablos, altars, and crosses are done using carved and/or adzed pine panels, homemade gesso, water-soluble pigment, hand collected ground pigments as available including; ochre, cochineal, black walnut, and sealed with homemade piñon sap varnish, & wax. Romero’s artwork is in national and international private and museum collections, as well as featured in books, film, periodicals, and numerous group and solo exhibits.

Kim Beesley is a self-taught woodturner, using only books on segmenting to point him into the right direction.  His approach is somewhat unconventional, using machines such as routers and table saw techniques that most segmented turners normally don’t use. In 2009 he discovered segmented wood turning and turned a hobby into a full time career. In Kim's process, he starts out with a general size and shape then searches for a Native American symbol or design to anchor the piece.  He then designs the rings and there sizes to complete the entire vessel.

His past experience working for an aerospace manufacture has aided him in his ability to use precision measuring devices to accurately cut and measure the segments.  Precision is kept to width of a human hair to eliminate any hint of a gap between segments or rings.