“1 x 15” Photography show explicitly kicks off the New Year!

The cold weather and the Holiday did not prevent us from having a successful opening reception on January 1. The gallery was filled with visitors - of any age - all evening long.






This exhibition is the brain child of Pat Berrett, a well-known Albuquerque photographer. He invited fifteen photographers to take pictures of professional model Stephanie Ann. The resulting images range from the classic nude to those dealing with gender and identity to scenes fresh out of “The Lord of the Rings.”

Susie Edwards


Tim Anderson


Pat Berrett


Stephanie Anne and her self portrait

Other highlights in Matrix are fabulous new pastel paintings by Iva Morris, and previews of upcoming shows by Raul Dorn, Kuzana Ogg and Sarah Hartshorne.

Iva Morris' wall

Thank you everybody for coming to our shows, and thanks to the many volunteers from New Grounds and Matrix who helped to make this another successful evening! If you missed the reception, the show runs until January 30, and the gallery is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 AM to 6 PM, and Tuesdays from 10 AM to 4 PM.

“The Quiddity of Clay” by Sara D’Alessandro

I really enjoy gallery talks when I am able to attend them. Since I work here it makes it convenient to go to the talks that are scheduled. Sara D’ Alessandro talked about what she liked about working with clay. She loves the plasticity of clay versus other media; e.g. marble, steel, wood, etc. Plasticity is the ability to retain a shape attained by pressure deformation (Wikipedia). She enjoys that clay can be molded and holds its shape. Sara likes putting layers of texture on clay to give the piece history. Clay has been around for thousands of years and she likes to record history in her sculptures.

Sara uses slab and coil techniques to create her pieces. She is influenced by nature and does not have any 90 degree angles in her work. She recently started forming sculptures out of solid pieces of clay that weigh over 1,000 pounds, then hollowing them out to fire. The terra cotta that she uses for her pieces are low fired and under glazed. Sara is not a fan of shiny glazes. Her pieces are meant to be viewed in an outdoor setting and a shiny glaze would not be ideal in sunlight. The terra cotta sculptures will last more than a lifetime outdoors as long as they do not sit in a pool of water, they are raised off the ground and water does not drip on them constantly.

If you missed the show it is still on view through Saturday, March 28!

Tanya Landin

Gallery and Workshop Assistant

Deborah Donelson opens solo show with a packed house

There is no doubt that Deborah Donelson has a large number of fans in Albuquerque. Matrix was filled with a constant stream of visitors during the November First Friday reception and they could not get enough of Donelson’s work. If you love figurative work and you are not the timid kind, check out her work on the Matrix Fine Art website: Deborah Donelson.

See Kahn’s review of her show at Duke City Fix! http://www.dukecityfix.com/profiles/blogs/trackstracesvestiges-1

A Big Thank you to Wesley Pulkka and Brendan Picker

A big “Thank you” to Wesley Pulkka of the Albuquerque Journal and to Brendan Picker of Local IQ for not only reviewing Mary Zaremba’s show, but also for writing beautifully and with much insight.

Picker interviewed the artist which added a nice more dimension to his review. He starts out by saying:

“This new photo series, entitled Life After, by local artist Mary Zaremba, belies her energetic, spunky and ultimately engaging personality. Not that this series of images isn’t engaging; they are, but the images are so “still,” it’s as if her delicately wrinkled subjects – decaying flowers and other organic materials – are frozen in crystal.”

Picker quotes the artist as she comments on her use of the scanner as her camera:

“Its’s another window to see. My house has dried flowers and seed pods in every room. I let them go and watch them transition til the bitter end. I like watch them evolve into something completely different but equally beautiful.”

He comments:

“With this technique, certain qualities become heightened. She is able to magnificently display each twisted spine of a curled vine. The fuzz on a petal of a Proteus plant becomes larger–than-life. The again botanicals are soft hued, shriveling and ultra fragile and Zaremba’s images have a depths of field that is simply stunning, with a highly detailed subject I the foreground that swiftly falls away to black. “
“My favorite piece is Blue Thistles. The sharp prickles almost explode off the paper and the blue is otherworldly. Her Daffodil portrait looks like some exotic deep-see creature, descending into the darkness. Zaremba uses this tool to play with scale and depths of field, making theses natural objects appear almost supernatural.”

He ends with “…..using the scanner – is a way to interpret the world with a new set of “eyes.” Her results are stunning.”

It seems that Picker really liked the show!!!!

Mary Zaremba, (center, looking at the camera), during her exciting reception.

Pulkka was positively exuberant about Zaremba’s work (and she deserves every bit of this praise)

“Zaremba is an excellent photographer who instills a sense of awe in viewers. Her well-crafted and painstaking imagery of dead flowers and seed pods is beautifully elegant and timeless. “Golden Rose 3” and “Daffodil I” are reminiscent of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Shroud of Turin. The faded petals drained of life but still revealing the veins that carried nutrients to the living blossom, have the brittle beauty of faded parchment or carelessly folded linen. Zaremba offers her images as a life after life. Through photography she resurrects what was once vibrant and transforms its purpose from fertility to reverence. Through her scanner Zaremba creates monuments to the lost struggle for immortality that every living thing experiences. The show is divided between seeds, stems and dead blossoms lending it a hope/despair dichotomy. Though the life force continues to defeat entropy, it does so at the expense of its constituents. Through the technique of isolating her images on opaque dark backgrounds Zaremba emphasizes the natural sculptural structure of botanical forms. Aside from his controversial pictures Robert Mapplethorpe was the consummate floral photographer. Zaremba is playing in Mapplethorpe’s league. She is the kind of artist that makes reviewing art worthwhile.”

Did he say she is in “Mapplethorpe’s league?” Wesley, you are a dear. And did I mention that Mary’s show was a huge success? Not only was the Matrix packed for the duration of the reception, but pieces were FLYING out of the gallery. Mary presents her photography in small editions, and her work continues to be featured at the gallery – just in case you missed her show .

When walking through the gallery, Pulkka’s well trained eye caught the very unusual work of Archer Dougherty, who just had her solo show in March. This emerging artist deserves to be recognized and Wesley was generous enough to throw some praise her way as well.

“Dougherty is a 26-year-old sculptor whose work is well crafted and detailed. In “Kylemore Abbey,” Dougherty presents five elongated forms that act like stained-glass windows as seen from the outside looking in. Their faces open through a series of vertically hinged doors. These well-executed mixed media works are rooted in architecture and include figuration, drawing, painting and carpentry. She continues to dazzle the eye in “Blossom” and “Construct.” If Dougherty avoids graduate school and eschews getting a real job she could evolve into the next Erika Wanenmacher.”

Archer during her March gallery talk

Wanemacher??!!! If you do not know about this artist you have to google her. She is fabulous. Most pieces in Archer’s show sold, but since then she has brought in some amazing artist books encased in very unusual hand-made boxes – she never seizes to amaze us.


Follow this link for the complete review from 04/05/08!
ABQJOURNAL VENUE: A Fine Showing in Nob Hill