Laura Wacha’s 50th Birthday Gallery Opening and Celebration

In honor of Laura Wacha’s 50th birthday she exhibited 50 paintings and paper mache sculptures for her solo show. The painting most related to turning fifty is called, “So Long”. It represents moving on in life and saying goodbye to the past.



So Long


Laura Wacha

The paper mache sculptures were a big hit at the opening! They are colorful and seem to have personalities of their own. Here is Lynn Johnson, Artist, looking at “Target”.


Lynn Johnson and Target


Wall of characters


Laura’s Paper Mache


Egg Sucking Dog


Scissors from Above

The show was well attended. Laura is a mother of two and an art school teacher on top of being an artist. Here is her son.


Laura’s son


Laura and Clients



Laura greeting friend


Many thanks to Elena, intern, Anise, server, Sarah Hartshorne, volunteer and Matrix Artist and Jeff Simpson for taking the photographs! And to Kai for cleaning up the gallery! :)


Kai

Anise


Laura and Sarah Hartshorne

Kuzana Ogg’s new paintings are big and bold in “Super City”

Kuzana Ogg was born and raised in India and has traveled widely which continues to influence her work. Not only does she deserve a price for “best dressed artist during a reception” she also should receive the “most prolific artist on the planet” award if there was such a thing!



Her April 1 reception was well attended and a lot of fun. Next door, New Grounds Print Workshop & Gallery celebrated its 15 year anniversary which called for properly mixed cosmopolitans!



Over the last three years, Kuzana’s oil paintings slowly experienced a transformation from organic images of Mangos to patterned shapes resembling silk saris to geometric urban shapes. Her new work combines all of these motifs and adds a new element, houses, to her repertoire. These images were inspired by the time she spent living in Korea as well as her time in England. Although this seems like an odd combination of influences it works. Fields, gardens, urban architecture merge into lush, yet slightly quirky abstract landscapes.



Kuzana says about her work: “The mangos are a nostalgic reference to my childhood in India, the seeded fields to a desire for order and continuum, and the windows to the multiple iterations of humanity.”

The show runs until April 30. It’s a fabulous body of work, so don’t miss it! www.matrixfineart.com.

Archer Dougherty’s paintings enchant with magical creatures

Archer


Archer and friends

Archer Dougherty’s reception for the show “In the Attic” was another fun and well attended event at Matrix Fine Art. And what’s not to love – her paintings are amazing and Archer’s bubbly and outgoing personality just added to the event.



Archer finds her inspiration in nature, and her childhood phobia of the dark. Monsters with shark teeth, huge glowing eyes, and claws like tigers whirled through her imagination when the sun set. Her paintings always feature animals, and people, and sometimes a mixture of the two.


Thank you everybody for coming out. If you missed it, Archer’s show runs until March 25. www.matrixfineart.com


Tanya and Regina

This blog was submitted by Tanya Landin, gallery assistant, and Regina Held, gallery director. Photography by Jeff Simpson and Mike Rudahl.

Leo Neufeld exhibits work at the Jewish Community Center in Greater Albuquerque area

The Jewish Community Center in collaboration with MATRIX Fine Art present:
Leo Neufeld- Capturing Yeshema/ Soul of Life
Exhibition Dates: January 27 - March 2, 2011

Reception: Sunday, February 13, 4:30 - 6:00 PM
(directly following A Taste of Honey)

Show Location:Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
5520 Wyoming Blvd. NE
between Spain and Academy

Contact person: Phyllis Wolf, JCC Program Director
348-4500 or phyllisw@jccabq.org.

Hours: Mon-Thu 5am-10pm; Fri 5am-5pm; Sat 1pm-7pm; Sun 7am-7pm

Wave Mechanics drew in a whole new crowd!

With the New Year came an exhibition unique to Matrix Fine Art. Jim Coker curated the video art show “Wave Mechanics”. He is showing a video installation in the show called, “Atomic”, which interprets a contemporary symphony.



The majority of the artists came from Santa Fe to participate in this group show. All the artists highly respect Steina and Woody Valuscka as some of the early video artists.



Steina

Many of the videos were collaboration projects between two or three artists. Susanna Carlisle and Bruce Hamilton collaborated on these three videos. They are all mixed media and the videos themselves are created by Susanna, the craftsman is Bruce Hamilton.






Mike Root came to the opening. He is a collaborator in Apperception 01.
WindowExchange.org was started as both a space and distribution system for online video art. The Snowflake Series, an ongoing collaborative ambient video series, was the first to be hosted by WindowExchange.org. Brian Bixby, Charles Buckingham and Mike Root are all contributors to the Snowflake Series.



Anne Farrell had two screens with videos playing titled “Mannequins”. The clips of people, horses and the like showed on the screen for a few minutes then switched to another creation. Here are some examples of the mannequins.




Many new clients came to see the show that night! It was great to see new faces in the gallery.




Thanks to Anise for serving us and to Regina Held and Tanya Landin for all their hard work. James Coker did an amazing job curating the show and keeping up with the technical aspect of putting together this exhibiton.


Anise


Tanya and Regina
Photographs by Jeff Simpson

Sara D’Alessandro’s sculpture and Frank McCulloch’s paintings are a perfect marriage!

Frank and Patsi

This was another lovely reception at Matrix Fine Art. Frank McCulloch’ new landscapes are vibrant and energetic; there seems to be now slowing down for Albuquerque’s favorite octogenarian. As a special treat we are also displaying some of Frank’s older and more abstract lithographs.


Sara and her work

D’Alessandro surpassed herself with this body of work. These pieces are elegant, abstract, and yet retain some of the quirkiness we have come to expect of there work.





Sun Transit Dancers

This was a fun evenings with a lot of surprise visitors such as Russell Hamilton and his wife.



Frank and Russell




Frank and the Kalishmans

Thanks to all of you who came to the reception. If you missed it, the show has been extended through December 3. www.matrixfineart.com.

This blog was written and submitted by Matrix director Regina Held and gallery assistant Tanya Landin

Regina and Tanya

Images by Jeff Simpson.

Pat Malcolm's solo show!

Marilyn Dillard moves into full color!

Known for her subtle earth palettes, Dillard's new work is infused with an exuberant color palette. Way to go, Marilyn!

Magical Meadow
12 x 12"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas


Late Season
12 x 12"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas


Falling into Red
12 x 12"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Canvas