The paintings I make are expressions of geomorphology and time.  They are physical geographic recordings.  The way I like to think about painting as an artistic practice is that it is a series of movements within a certain time frame.  The geographic surfaces I record are also about time.  I seek out exposed rock beds and boulders and use soil from the site to make surface recordings of the earth.  I move the natural pigment, water, and pastel through the erosion path and texture of the rock. The result is a record of place and time.  

Arousing a sense of vulnerability - of one’s skin, of wounding, of bandaging - the work speaks to questions of nurturing: in how we craft it, instruct it, or protect it.  Through the manipulation of materials, the work becomes a second skin, seen as maps or geographies of one’s own inner landscape, roadmaps of broken systems and fragmented patterns. They present different ways one may have traversed life, navigated growth, and began a process of healing.

Kristin Bortles presents “Otherworld” , new works in sculpture and paper.

Many of these works are sparked by the phenomena of stones, to be exact, concretions, found in the arroyos of Santa Fe. The stones date about 1 million years ago in creation, are sometimes called moqui marbles, and comprise a sandstone center with a gradual encrustation of iron-heavy, crude hematite. They must have formed in suspension or movement, or both, in the sea that covered this terrain at the time. As a result they are often almost perfect spheres.

These potent forms compel configuration, arrangement, presentation. The resulting compositions are seeming transmissions from another time. They evoke fetishes of an imagined tribe from another world. They tap into an innate sense of belonging, to deep time, pre-language, and meaning-seeking through non-verbal methods.

Join us for the opening reception of “In the Time of Spirits” Saturday, July 6th from 5 to 7 at our Santa Fe gallery.

Eli Walters is a largely self taught oil painter living in Taos, New Mexico. He uses the full process of oil painting from the grinding of the pigment and oil to the final highlights to express his interpretations of perspective, to create visual cohesion and to question linear, sensical assumptions.

Eli began painting 15 years ago, focusing primarily on still lifes and the figure. With this new body of work, he focuses on capturing the compositions and sentiments of his everyday life. Observing and embracing the naturally occurring arrangements in a world of flux and chaos. 

Ophelia Cornet was born in Belgium to a family of artists and designers. For the last 30 years, she has made her home in New Mexico. Ophelia’s lifelong passion for photography and oil painting has developed into a distinctive style pairing the two mediums, a technique she calls Fotura (fotografia y pintura).

This multi-step process involves posing and photographing subjects; printing, cutting, and assembling images; and applying layers of plaster and paint to actualize the vision. In moving from real images to surreal compositions, this work suggests our innate ability to transmute the mundane into something alive and inspired.

This sense of alchemy is a common thread throughout Ophelia’s work. Rather than identifying with our bodies and accomplishments, we can enjoy an intimate and expansive reconnection with the present moment. While anyone can relate to this message, Ophelia is particularly interested in women’s experiences and relationships with themselves. Her compositions often fête female protagonists in snapshots of an intimate otherworldliness.

Sterling silver repousse cuff bracelet.

Trunk Show with Martin Bernstein

Join us for an in person artist reception for local painter Shawn Demarest in our Taos gallery, Friday August 25th from 4pm to 6pm.