Hi, and welcome to Santa Fean magazine’s Gallery Watch, your weekly guide to gallery openings around town. Every week, I’m your host, publisher of the Santa Fean, Bruce Adams.

Be sure to check out SantaFeanCalendar.com for art events and nightlife.

It was so great to see everyone out last Friday night—Canyon Road and the Railyard were like the old days, with a buzz in the air and beautiful art and people everywhere. Well, tonight’s another big night so don’t miss the action. It all starts at The William&Joseph Gallery, which is right across from Geronimo at 727 Canyon Road. Tonight, the gallery is featuring two fine contemporary artists—one an abstract painter, and the other a linear sculptor.

The show is titled Abstract to Linear with new works by Stephanie Shank and Rand Marco. The intuitive, emotional lines of Stephanie’s new series balance the perfection of Rand’s architecturally inspired woven aluminum bowls. Both artists prefer the use of bold color, be it in Stephanie’s broad strokes or the shiny surface of the coated sculptural pieces created by Rand. Both delight and both are inspired by form and color.

One of the gallery’s most collected artists, Stephanie Shank, holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She also devoted five years of intensive studio studies, focusing on sculpture and painting, with a variety of artistic mentors in Kansas City. Today, her highly successful career has garnered many write-ups in national magazines including the Santa Fean, and her works are held in collections around the country including that of Arizona’s Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Her paintings have been shipped to homes around the world!

Rand Marco watched his grandfather work with various metals to create works of art as well as innovative inventions. When Rand was about 10 years old, his grandfather handed him a piece of metal and told him he could do it too. He’s been doing it ever since. His remarkable pieces are incredible three-dimensional works of metal art. They’re simple yet sculptural, organic, and industrial.

Again this is Rand Marco and Stephanie Shank at The William&Joseph Gallery tonight, 727 Canyon Road.

Just down Canyon road a bit from William&Joseph is New Concept Gallery with a show for Kathleen Doyle Cook images, often described as “sensory landscapes.” The images evolve from color, texture, and energy produced by layers of media and brushwork. These rich surfaces invite an exploration of the levels of awareness found in spaces between a “known image” and its layers of possibilities. Although these are abstract images, Doyle Cook’s color palette, compositions, and sensuous surfaces reflect an obvious reference to northern New Mexico. 


Downtown in the GALA Arts District, the galleries are celebrating First Friday with an opening at POP Gallery on the corner of Lincoln and Marcy. Their fifth annual and very campy Pop Femme Sugar Coated Strange features new works from New Brow Contemporary artists Valerie Rangel, Phresha LeVandale, Junker Jane, Kristen Margiotta, Emily Trovillion, Susi Brox Nielsen, and Vahge.

Head around the corner to Palace to see my friend of 23 years, Al Wadle. Tonight, Wadle Galleries, at 128 W. Palace Ave, will host an exhibition called New Mexico State of Mind. The exhibit will celebrate the work of Irby Brown, whose paintings are highly collected for their depiction of historic downtown Santa Fe during different seasons throughout the year, and for the way they capture the unique quality of the sunlight as reflected by the New Mexico snow. Irby is a true New Mexico icon with many awards and an acclaimed career. The gallery and the artist are both classics.

Over on San Francisco Street, check out Due West Gallery at 217 West San Francisco Street, just below the Santa Fean offices, where they’re showing The Women of Due West, which highlights Western art by Tara Roberts, Amy Watts, and Jaime Ellsworth. Between Palace and San Francisco, by Milagro, is Eggman & Walrus with a show from original Los Angeles–based Ferus gallery artists, who were innovators of the nascent postwar West Coast art scene.

And remember, for a complete listing of all the fun cultural events Santa Fe offers, be sure to check out SantaFeanCalendar.com.

This is Bruce Adams wishing you an art inspired weekend of fun. See you next week.

5/25/12: Listen to this week’s Gallery Watch

Hi, and welcome back to this year’s Santa Fean magazine Gallery Watch—your weekly guide to the gallery openings around town. Every week, I’m your host, Bruce Adams, publisher of the Santa Fean.

The galleries kick off the season tonight with a ton of openings all over town. I can’t think of a better place to start than one of Santa Fe’s newer galleries, Beals & Abbate Fine Art, right in the heart of Canyon Road (713 Canyon) with a show called “Texture,” featuring the expressive works of Patrick Matthews. I’ve known Patrick and his highly textured paintings for many years and love how his style has progressed. Patrick Matthews’s success is propelled by two unusual gifts. Both immediately relate to how he sees things. The weather, the smell of the forest, the sounds of water and wildlife, the wind, the temperature, the stillness, the solitude—the color and texture of the oil paint seem to create their own energy. And the force of these combined energies is greater than the parts.

Using traditional palette knife and brush strokes with contemporary colors, each canvas has a true impressionist derivative with a unique appeal to the abstract. His colors have softened over the year, which actually accentuates the more textural, almost sculptural quality of his work.

In Matthews’s most prominent subject—the aspens—color is king and each leaf is found shimmering, bringing the canvas to life. Pull through the aspen paintings of Patrick Matthews and find a serene mountain range, a crystal blue lake, or a wild field of flowers. This May, enter into the landscape of Matthews’s mind and walk away with a genuine appreciation of nature! As you walk through our local forest this weekend and on into the summer, you’ll think back to these paintings and how they capture the colors and serenity of the forest. In one’s home, these colorful and moving paintings will inspire you and keep the outdoors alive in your soul. Remember, Patrick Matthews’s stunning landscapes are at Beals & Abbate Fine Art, just across from Geronimo at 713 Canyon Road. I promise you, this will be one of the biggest openings of all tonight, as Bobby Beals knows how to throw an opening like no else.

After seeing this fine exhibition, check out the other openings all up and down Canyon—it’s their final Friday night gallery walk. For example, just down the street is Jane Sauer’s lovely gallery with paintings by young Puerto Rican artist Patrick McGrath Muñiz whose work is a strange mix of Classical and Christian figures intermingled with cartoon characters. The figures reveal themselves to be pagan gods; heroes and saints surrounded by a declining empire invaded by lively, well-loved Disney figures turned evil. You gotta see this stuff—Jane Sauer Gallery at 652 Canyon.

In the 225 Complex, Meyer Gallery is showing Chris Young and his figurative and still life work. Jacob, the boys, and Meyer always throw a good opening.

At the base of Canyon is Hunter Kirkland’s annual show for Abstract expressionist Jennifer Jones. Her paintings explore color, sensuality, and nature. Right in front of Hunter Kirkland—at the base of Canyon—is Arroyo Gallery, and my good friend Scott, with their third anniversary group show. Be sure to see his eclectic and unique show.

Now, it’s time to head downtown to Pippin Contemporary where tonight the gallery features Suzanne Wallace Mears’s “Tribal Explorations.” This show features new kiln-formed glasswork—colorful, energetic, and whimsical—all at Pippin Contemporary, 125 Lincoln Avenue.

It’s a big night at the Railyard as it’s their fourth Friday event with most of the galleries having openings and events. Not to miss is Zane Bennett at 435 South Guadalupe with a show called “Under Thirty-Five” with works by artists whose styles, techniques, and concepts are constantly being invented, recycled, updated, and discarded. William Seigel Gallery is showing sculpture by Tom Waldron at 540 South Guadalupe, and—for your grand finale—you’ll find a big party at the grand opening of the new David Richard Gallery at 544 South Guadalupe. This impressive gallery makes its debut in the Railyard—you need to see their historical modernism and cutting edge images.

And remember, for a complete listing of all the fun, cultural events Santa Fe offers; be sure to check out santafeancalendar.com. Sponsored by Beals & Abbate Fine Art.

            Issa Nyaphaga is an artist, an activist, a political cartoonist and most of all a humanitarian. He grew up in Nditam, Cameroon, a village without access to running water, electricity, medicine or education. His work was published weekly in several national newspapers before he was repeatedly censored and jailed. One of the newspapers, “Le Messager Popoli” (“The Messenger of the People”) published the top news stories in the form of cartoons and comics for the very large illiterate population living in urban areas. Issa now lives part time in Santa Fe where he teaches art to elementary school students and shows his work at local galleries.

            On the 24^th of February, Issa put on an event at El Museo De Cultural called ‘The First Art for Health Benefit’.  In his time in exile Issa has turned to art for therapy, a creative outlet and as a source of revenue. He has collectors all over the world coveting his works that comment on politics as much as they do the human condition.

            The event in February featured drumming, Storytelling, Political Cartoons, West African Dance, speakers and fabulous African food. Issa shared his signature performance art piece where he begins by painting himself with a paintbrush in geometric shapes and then uses his hands and feet to paint a large canvas on the floor, all to the rhythm of live drummers.

            The Art for Health Benefit raised funds to help women in marginalized conditions rural area of Cameroon. Since 2009, Issa has been bringing water projects, wheelchairs, sustainable agriculture, and medicine to isolated villages in Western Africa.

Check out more about the man and his work at www.hitip.org and www.issanyaphaga.com

Issa and his work

by Sophie Rousmaniere

Side show freaks, Radiation man, flashing lights and ping pong over the ring of fire – sounds more like a carnival than an art exhibit, but that’s what you’ll find featured at Eggman and Walrus’ Artcade exhibit upstairs in their West Palace space this winter.

A favorite was the ‘Garden of Eyeballs’ – cast resin eyeballs ranging in size from ping pong to billiard balls of varying colors perch on aging brass candlesticks inside a small picket fence surrounded by a legion of poisonous rubber snakes, all under the watchful eye of the mother eyeball – a two and a half feet wide eye watching from it’s perch on the wall. In the tunnel of love, a diorama of the classic featured Barbie and Ken on the ride into darkness. The artist, Esteban Bojorquez, is fascinated with the carnival freak show – “My generation grew up going to carnivals that were darker and freakier than they are today….my work recalls Dadaism, it is my way of dealing with the crazy messed up world we live in today”. An interactive part of the show features an opportunity for visitors to spin the ‘wheel of fate’  - a roulette wheel depicting a variety of potential fates from diamond rings and palm tree islands to radiation signs and syringes. Step right up and visit the Artcade and tempt your fate…

This year My husband and I decided to make our xmas presents for a number of reasons –1. Sometimes the holiday feels like a ridiculous game of seeing how many random things I can buy my family that they don’t really need or want. 2. It’s often more cost effective, 3. It’s fun!

 I noticed on our fabulous calendar here that Registered Aroma therapist, Linda Byington was conducting a workshop on making gifts with an aromatherapy component at Milagro Herbs and I signed up.

In a small workshop room next to Milagro herbs on Paseo De Peralta, My husband and I cozied up to a group of lovely ladies and got crafty. We started with the solid perfume. With coconut oil warming on a hot plate, Linda explained some of the basics of aromatherapy and the properties of coconut oil as a healthy saturated fat used not only in foods, but as an ingredient for use in various skin and body products.  We worked with Almond oils, powdered milk, raw dried herbs and some delightful scents throughout the two-hour class to create a solid perfume, a soothing milk bath, an herbal sachet, and a luxurious bath oil. Generally we got a little messy, had a lot of laughs and learned a lot.

Linda is currently holding classes and lectures monthly at Milagro herbs 419 Orchard Dr. Santa Fe. www.milagroherbs.com.