Local Artists – Page 6

Nov

November’s Featured Artist: Arnulfo Pena

According to Wikipedia, November is a month of many observances: it’s National Novel Writing Month, Native American Heritage Month, and National Veteran and Military Families Month. Of course, it’s also the start of the holiday season.

Lucky for you, gallupARTS has you covered. We’re celebrating all of the above with special events, workshops and art shows. Check out our November Calendar for all the info.

This month’s featured artists also checks several of November’s boxes. Born Arnold Peña, Arnulfo Peña is a native Texan of Mescalero Apache descent. Arnulfo just recently moved Zuni, NM and we are very pleased to have him showing at ART123 Gallery as part of our Veteran Artist Group Show.

Arnulfo has had a long career as an artist: he sold his first painting when he was in the fifth grade and he says that early success set him on a lifetime of painting. After serving a tour in Vietnam in 1969 and earning 3 bronze stars, Arnulfo received a full scholarship to the University of Texas at Tyler where he pursued and earned his Fine Arts degree.

He describes his style as “Southwestern Art.” However, he says it is constantly evolving and changing. “I have redefined my style again recently, relying on themes that are closest to my heart,” he says. These themes include his adopted Zuni family, Pow Wow friends, American Indian culture, heritage, stories and traditions as well as his experiences in Vietnam. With the bold strokes and aggressive style, Arnulfo says hopes to stir in viewers the same emotions he feels when he is with his people, “the Native Americans who are proud descendants of a rich history.”

“This painting is inspired by historical events of the treatment of American Indians. The Face is painted white because the Government wanted us to be white. The Lips are painted white because we were not allowed to speak our own language. The Eyes are painted red for the tears of blood that was wrongfully spilled.”

Arnulfo has had several solo shows over the years and he regularly participated as a featured artist in the annual “Santa Fe Days” Event in Carrollton, Texas. Among his career highlights and honors he includes the murals he has painted, a painting commissioned by a German gallery and a show at the Fort Worth Public Library downtown.

In addition to painting, he enjoys teaching art, mentoring young artists, and being with friends and family. He also enjoys attending and participating in the Renegade Nation Color Guard activities of which he is a member.

“This painting is inspired by John Trudell. Freedom is never free.”

See four of Arnuflo’s paintings in ART123’s Veteran Artist Group Show, opening on Saturday, November 11 from 7 – 9pm and running through December 5.

Oct

Q&A with ART123 Member Artist Fitz Sargent

Local artist Fitz Sargent’s work is part of the fabric of downtown Gallup. In the last five years, he’s played a fundamental role in starting three art galleries here: he helped organize the original ART123 Gallery, of which he is still a member artist, launch the Shallow Gallery (which has sense transitioned into the LOOM Indigenous Art Gallery), and, most recently, form opo Gallery, which just celebrated its 1 year anniversary in September.

In conjunction with opo’s anniversary last month, Fitz opened a solo show at the Gallery called “SILKSCREEN TOWERS”. Lucky for you, it’s on view through this month! As part of the ongoing celebration of Gallup’s newest Gallery and its latest in a series of stunning shows, we asked Fitz to reflect on his career, what keeps him in the game, and what he’s been working on recently.

The opening of SILKSCREEN TOWERS at opo Gallery.

Q: How long have you been practicing art? How did you get your start?

A: Since I can remember. My mother would send all of us out of the house with a sketch book, some pencils and watercolors. While my sisters focused on horses I was usually doing perspective drawings of buildings. For about 30 years I practiced architecture full time and then I spent 10 years teaching printing, painting, ceramics. glass work, blacksmith and foundry work in a wonderful high school in Maine. Since I have been back in New Mexico (I grew up in Albuquerque) I have been doing a bit of everything…..but most of it 3 dimensional.

Q: What have you been exploring in your art recently?

A: I am drawn to patterns…..repetition…..5 years ago I had a show at ART123 called the Power of Repetition….1000 golf balls…10 dozen eggs….100 old sewing machines…that kind of thing has a big impact on me. I am having a show right now at opo gallery….SILKSCREEN TOWERS. These pieces are definitely about patterns and repetition and also color.

Q: What keeps you motivated as an artist?

A: I love “doing” the work. I try to choose projects that will teach me something new. I make a lot of mistakes some of which turn out to be great and from the rest I learn what not to do. When my hands are dirty and cut and bruised I know I’m working….when they are pink and soft I’m not very inspired. I do appreciate people who buy things….artists need to eat and stay warm too!

Q: What inspires you?

A: Like most of the artists I know, I like my own work when its good. When I think it’s bad I throw it out. That doesn’t mean I expect other people to like it….I get most of my encouragement from myself! As for the work of others I am inspired by serious effort, well honed skills, courage to try new things.

Q: What is your studio like?

A: My studio is full of tools….welders, grinders, saws, brushes, hammers, sanders, drills, paint, fasteners, irons, wax, glue, tape, wire, engine hoists, a machine lathe, band saw, drill press, rollers, benders, shears…..I have every tool that I ever bought or was given except a few things I have loaned that weren’t returned….and even those things find their way home sooner or later. If you use a tool of mine I will tell you, DO NOT PUT IT AWAY…IF YOU DO I MAY NEVER FIND IT AGAIN! My studio may look like chaos to you but I know where everything is and do some thorough cleaning every couple of years.

I always welcome guests and I teach welding and do workshops in batik, silkscreen, casting, you name it, on demand!

Fitz taught a Silkscreening Workshop for teens and older adults this summer thorough a US Bank grant awarded to gallupARTS.

Q: Do you have any advice for emerging artists?

A: The day you stop “emerging” is the day you died. Everyone has some amount of talent….almost no one takes advantage of all of it!

Sep

Ric Sarracino at ART123 Gallery: New Work by an Established Artist

Ric Sarracino is one of Gallup’s best-known and most visible artists. With commercial signs adorning the City, at least five prominent downtown murals and too many painted trashcans and planters to count, you can see Ric’s work almost anywhere you go in town. Ric is a virtuoso of public art, but he also maintains a meaningful and prolific private art practice. This month at ART123 Gallery, we are lucky enough to be able to exhibit some of Ric’s never-before-seen work.

“I have had a long and varied career, working in different media and in different forms of art. As an artist, you must wear different hats,” says Ric. “I am successful commercially, drawing caricatures, and doing sign design and painting. I also have achievements in the fine arts, focusing on oil and acrylic paintings, charcoals, pastels, and public murals.”

As for his career in the fine arts, Ric says that he has learned from the best: both the great artists who came before him and that most unforgiving of teachers called practice. “I have been drawing as long as I can remember,” he says. “I am blessed to be naturally gifted, and through the years, I have learned to hone my technique. I have no formal schooling; I have been self-taught. My influences are the masters and I incorporate the greats into my work.”

Lake sunset by Ric Sarracino

In Reflections on Tomorrow: Plein Air Sunsets by Ric Sarracino, opening at ART123 Gallery from September 9^th from 7 – 9pm, Ric shares a series of pastel landscapes in which the influence of 19^th-century Impressionists is apparent. Much like the Impressionists, Ric repeatedly revisited the same outdoor subject for his paintings, observing a lake at sunset evening after evening to gain different perspectives on the scene. Also much like the Impressionists, Ric is focused on capturing a fleeting moment in time with his sunsets.

Enjoy sunset views and masterpieces at ART123 Gallery all month long. Reflections on Tomorrow will be up through October 7^th.

Learn more about Ric here or visit his website.

Aug

Baahaali Chapter Young Weavers: Weaving Work, Tradition and Culture

One highlight of ART123 Gallery’s upcoming August Show the rugs and purses woven by students of the Bááhááli Chapter’s Summer Youth Weaving Employment Program (SYWP). Nine students, ages 16 to 23, joined the Program this summer for the chance to learn weaving techniques from a master weaver, develop positive work habits, and have a hands-on cultural experience.

The 2016 SYWP cohort.

For 10 years, the SYWP has been providing high school and college students with a unique summer employment opportunity. No other Chapter in the Eastern Navajo Agency is using Navajo Nation Summer Youth Employment Funds to promote cultural as well as economic sustainability. As artist and SYWP Intern Aaron Yazzie explains, “while students are learning meaningful job skills, they are at the same time preserving a cultural art form.”

Elouise Washburn at her loom (2005).

Weaver Elouise Washburn is the instructor in charge of passing down tradition. Washburn has been a weaver for 35 years. She learned from her mother and aunties, and is motivated to teach younger generations. “I see kids that are returning and they know what to do,” she says after many summers with SYWP. “I want to instill a legacy of weaving into them so that in the future they will be showing their rugs elsewhere.” Washburn jokes that she is committed to teaching “as long as she can walk.” “By that time,” she says, “there are some younger kids that can take over to keep it going because I’m not going to be here forever. But at least I taught some kids how to weave.”

View from the Bááhááli Chapter in Bread Springs, NM.

Bááhááli Chapter Manager Gloria Skeet deCruz recognizes that one of the most important purposes of the SYWP program is to help students “learn about their Navajo identity and culture.” Yazzie agrees. “Many Native youth today are struggling to find their identity because so much of our culture is pervaded by the preponderant and homogenizing influences of ‘American’ culture,” he says. “I believe the SYWP is successfully restoring the cultural identity of youth through Navajo weaving to reconnect and rediscover their rich cultural heritage.”

A SYWP works on a rug.

As for the students, they too value the Program not only for the skills it teaches and the income it provides, but also for the inspiration they gain from it. “[What I appreciate most about SYWP] is learning the ability to weave,” shares one student. “It has taught me to discipline myself while making beautiful creations at my fingertips.” Another chimes in, “I appreciate the fun and joy in the weaving; to make a natural design and find peaceful inspiration in the skill and knowledge.”

“There is an entire history to be learned,” Yazzie says of weaving. “I find it comforting to know culture and tradition is never static but always adapting and growing into new forms with each era,” he explains.

Come see the newest generation of Navajo weavers at The August Show at ART123 Gallery, on view from August 9^th – September 2^nd. Don’t miss the official show opening during ArtsCrawl on Saturday, August 12^th from 7 – 9pm.

Aug

Best in Show Night at ART123 Gallery

This year is the 96^th Annual Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, and it’s the first year for a new Ceremonial event: Best in Show Night at ART123 Gallery. Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial and local nonprofit arts council gallupARTS are combining forces to bring you a special exhibit showcasing 21 top winning pieces from Ceremonial’s juried Exhibit Hall in downtown Gallup.

For one night only, on Tuesday, August 8^th from 6 – 9pm, oooh and aaah at the crème de la crème of Native art. Get a fist look at “Best in Category” and “Best in Class” weavings, pottery, paintings, sculpture, lapidary, baskets, katsinas, metalwork and more. Admire special award winners, and you can’t miss the overall “Best in Show” winning artwork!

Best in Show Night is the brainchild of Gallup trader Emerald Tanner. “My biggest reason for wanting to do this is to celebrate art and artists,” she says. “Ceremonial gets such incredible museum-quality pieces representative of all of the major tribes around Gallup; we wanted to share them with the public and bring a little piece of Ceremonial back downtown.”

Making this special event extra special: Ms. Tanner has borrowed artwork from Ceremonial’s past from collectors to display alongside this year’s winners. Experience the rich legacy of Ceremonial with half a dozen Best in Show awardees from previous years, including a 1937 Teec Nos Pos style weaving. Teec Nos Pos, in Northeast Arizona, produces weavings that are considered to be some of the most intricately detailed of all Navajo designs. The 1937 Best in Show winner is known for its immensely complicated border—“one of the most complicated we’ve ever seen,” notes Ms. Tanner. “It’s worth it to come to our event, just to see this rug!” she says.

Several of the historic Ceremonial “Best in Show” winners that will be on display during Best in Show Night at ART123 Gallery in downtown Gallup on August 12th.

Winners from the 1970s and 80s will also be on display. Event attendees can marvel at an extremely detailed and delicate three-piece woman’s jewelry set crafted by the “Queen of Needlepoint,” Zuni silversmith and lapidary artist, Edith Tsabetsaye. Representing Navajo jewelry will be 1982 Best in Show-winning “corn bracelet” made by master silversmith Lee A. Yazzie. Taking seven months to create, this piece is “an absolute wonder in terms of design and mechanics,” explains Ms. Tanner. Having been exhibited in museums worldwide, Yazzie’s corn bracelet is now on public view again at Best in Show Night in downtown Gallup.

In addition to the show-stopping art, Best in Show Night will offer up a Native artist demo, live jazz by Navajo musician Delbert Anderson, and light refreshments. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact gallupARTS at 505-488-2136 or executivedirector@galluparts.org.

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November’s Featured Artist: Arnulfo Pena

Q&A with ART123 Member Artist Fitz Sargent

Ric Sarracino at ART123 Gallery: New Work by an Established Artist

Baahaali Chapter Young Weavers: Weaving Work, Tradition and Culture

Best in Show Night at ART123 Gallery

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