Debra Barrett

Debra Barrett
"Fishing By Moon and Stars"


Debra Barrett
" Four Teacups"


from Marcia Aldworth:

Debora Barrett, a well-known Santa Fe and New York ceramicist, has a passion for experiment.  In fact, she considers her studio a laboratory where she can explore and push the limits of the medium she’s working in.   An observer can sense the passion in her work.   Her artistic instincts are primal and basic.
 
Debora may start with a basic balanced shape, like a pot or a vase, but the traditional shape transforms itself into something new as she works.  “I start with a balanced object, then try bringing it closer to nature, which isn’t balanced”.
 
On the shelf of her studio, which is filled with soft natural light, is a tall vase with petals at the top.  The base is what you would expect, but as the eye travels up to the top, the lip of the vase begins curling and almost melting.  The gradual change from bottom to top is surprising and fresh.  How does she mysteriously transform a solid medium into a seemingly fluid one?

Exploring the borders between ceramics and painting is another of Debora’s accomplishments.  She creates wall hangings out of clay tiles, linen, and found objects which appear under plexiglass, in a shallow box.  The images are disparate and whimsical, though they often address serious subjects.  “They’re political, but they didn’t necessarily start out that way.  I collected items that developed into a theme.”   The developing theme is present for the observer as well, gradually unfolding in a complex, surprising way.  I call them my News Broadcasts.   

In a sense, Debora Barrett’s entire body of work is a self-portrait -- not of a person, but of an artistic process as it develops its own internal system of growth and evolution.  As one looks at this impressive body of work, that process is exposed, unfolding before the observer’s eyes.   As a result, this collection has what every art collection should have: life, meaning, and lasting beauty.

 

Patricia Aaron

Patricia Aaron
"Youngstown, Circa 1967"


Patricia Aaron
" River On Fire"

Patricia Aaron was born in Youngstown, Ohio.  She earned a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Maryland and later trained as an artist at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts in Massachusetts.  In 1998 she received her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Denver.

Aaron has had numerous solo and invitational group exhibits both locally and nationally.  In addition, she has received commissions to design and fabricate work for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Washington DC, IGW Records in Littleton, Colorado, and sculpture installations for the Museum of Outdoor Arts in Englewood, Colorado.  Her work is also featured in many private collections.

Aaron teaches sculpture courses at local universities and colleges as an Adjunct Professor and Visiting Artist.  She has previously taught at University of Colorado, University of Denver, and Regis University, all in Denver, as well as Arapahoe Community College in Littleton.  Aaron has taken residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in Sweet Briar, Virginia, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado.

 

Ramon Valdez
"Ambrosia"


Ramon Valdez
" A New Beginning"

 Ray has lived in the beautiful southwest for over 35 years. He gained his skills & experience working in custom cabinet shops in the area. Ray has an immense respect for nature and is very passionate about his work. He believes that his tools are the means by which he leaves a trace of his spirit on the soul of a tree. Ray’s creates meticulously crafted pieces utilizing features such as inlays, wooden hinges, dovetail joints, secret compartments and especially marquetry, an ancient art of creating precise intricate and detailed pictures using hundreds of different pieces and species of wood veneers.  Ray creates accents utilizing exotic woods from around the world including, Purple Heart, Bubinga, Paduak and Wenge.

Paul Reinwald


Paul Reinwald
"Lockheed Elektra"



Paul Reinwald
" Running Horse, Bandelier National Monument"

Paul Reinwald


Drawing and illustration were fields of interest and excellence in the childhood of Paul Reinwald.  His original intention was to become a biological illustrator, so he chose pre-med as his major in college.  Dissuaded by the mathematical demands of pre-med, he changed his focus, first to the study of painting and printmaking, then to photography, the field in which he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Kansas City Art Institute, and in which he was immediately hired as a teacher. He quickly became Assistant Director of the Media Center and Photography Department at the Kansas City Art Institute and worked there for nine years. He visited New Mexico on several occasions and finally became so enamored with the dramatic lighting, awe-inspiring geography, and dry climate of New Mexico, he moved permanently to Santa Fe in 1982. Black and white photography has been his medium of choice ever since.  For the five years ending in 1992, Reinwald worked as Assistant to Paul Caponigro, making prints and taking charge of finishing.In tightly controlled compositions Reinwald exposes the harmony of design he sees in the natural and man-made forms that comprise his subject matter. Reinwald combines autobiographical, metaphorical, and geographical aspects of landscape photography, using the powerful vocabulary of black, white and the infinity of grays in between to express a unique vision. Reinwald’s photography invites the spectator to get up close and personal with his subjects. Honest and true in detail, gestalt, and setting, they invite contemplation on more symbolic planes. His photographs reveal a strong and perceptive empathy for his subject matter and an abiding appreciation of the photographic process. Reinwald’s photography is displayed in collections large and small throughout the U.S. and Europe. Corporate collectors include Microsoft Corporation, Sierra Club National, the Taft Broadcasting Company, and the Continental Corporation. Among honors accorded Reinwald are a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a grant and purchase award from the Art in Public Spaces Program in Kansas City, Missouri, and inclusion of his portfolio in the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.  
“I use black and white film exclusively to pull out the pure essence of light on form,” says Reinwald. “My photographs present my perception of the moment. Certain key elements, including simple divisions of space, arrangement of environmental components and contrasts of light and shadow, make a moment right. Careful transformation of these elements through the photographic medium results in an image that might at first seem uncomplicated but then reveals subtleties and  complexities on closer viewing. Photography enables me to express my inner spirit in a tangible way, derived from a complex and disorderly world. Design is my pre-eminent concern. With its greater degree of abstraction from reality, black and white provides the vastness of expressive range I need.”

Paul Reinwald’s photographs are archivally processed, fiber-based silver gelatin prints, mounted and matted with PH neutral museum board.