The April Show

gallupARTS is pleased to announce The April Show at ART123 Gallery, opening Saturday, April 13 and running through Tuesday, May 7. 

Just in time for the beginning of spring, The April Show will highlight artwork that is inspirational and transformational. This mixed media show will feature a diverse group 20 local  artists—photographers, painters, a jeweler, emerging artists, established artists, Native and non-Native artists. 

Each artist has a unique take on The April Show’s spring theme. Jeweler Benjamin Sears creates wire-wrapped jewelry from stones sourced from the New Mexico desert and heritage mines. He also creates jewelry from electroformed leaves and other organic materials gathered from the landscape and turned into copper.

  • Electroformed copper pendant by Benjamin Sears.
  • By Alexis Callahan.

Photographer Alexis Callahan says, “As a gal from the mid-west and recent transplant to New Mexico, when I think of spring, storms come to mind. Storms are a renewal of the land for the coming year. The sky here is beautiful when storms roll in.”

Sage Addington celebrates new beginnings with work that reflects on her  renewed relationship with her dad, which has grown through road trips. “Maybe it’s the thrill of just being around my dad or the beauty of New Mexico, but everywhere my dad takes me feels like a foreign planet,” says Sage. “The goal in enhancing and playing with the saturation in the already compelling photos of New Mexico is to give the looker the same bright, foreign, and enchanted feeling I get when I take road trips with my dad.”

Mountain Pass by Sage Addington.

Artist Ken Van Brett has a spiritual take on the theme. “The imagery in my work relates to the emergence of prayer, the cycle of seasons and transformation,” he says. “The feather portraits are a part of this on-going narrative, expressing the spiritual through the physical.”   

  • By Ken Van Brott.
  • By Padma Komaravolu.
  • Little Water by JR Sanders.

Plein air landscape painter JR Sanders says he aims “to capture what nature reveals to me as I stand in front of her with a brush in hand. My work will be centered around this concept as spring comes to life in the Gallup region.”

Finally, artist Padma Komaravolu connected the theme to her culture: “I have been living in Gallup for 9 years but I am originally from South India. Every start of spring we celebrate a festival called Holi welcoming the new season, which is also the start of our New year.” 

The opening of The April Show will be Saturday, April 13 from 7 – 9pm (during ArtsCrawl).

Additionally, an Artist Talk by Padma Komaravolu will be held in conjunction with The April Show as part of 2nd Look on 2nd Street on Tuesday, April 23. 2nd Look from 2nd Street runs from 6 – 8pm and the Artist Talk at ART123 will be at 7:30pm. Making the Artist Talk extra special, event attendees can sample Padma’s Ugadi Pachadi, the traditional Indian dish of neem flowers, mango, tamarind, jaggery, salt and chillies eaten to welcome Spring. The flavors of this dish—bitter, sour, sweet, salty and spicy—symbolize the essence of life. Padma will also set up a photo booth, where visitors can play with colors à la the Holi festival (where participants throw colored water on each other).  

The April Show is on view through May 7. 

ART123 Gallery is open Tuesday – Friday from 1pm – 5pm and Saturdays from 12pm – 4pm.