May Flowers at The Old Schoolhouse Gallery

The Old Schoolhouse Gallery has moved their first Friday ARTScrawl to the second Friday of each month. This month's exhibition titled May Flowers proved to be a double treat. In addition to the gallery artists who submitted various art mediums with a focus on flowers, the gallery hosted an opening for Nancy and Stephen Attaway who create one-of-a-kind jewelry designs.

Nancy has been cutting gemstones since 1987. She learned to facet colored gemstones from several master gem cutters in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Steve carves gemstones and renders the gold work with hand-fabrication and lost wax casting.

Nancy and Steve's designs are true collaborations as sometimes they even work on the same gemstone. In 2004, Steve and Nancy were involved in a special project with the Smithsonian Institution studying the Hope Diamond. Nancy has three gemstones in the Smithsonian's gem collection, including a replica of the French Blue Diamond, from which the Hope Diamond was cut. 

Also, noteworthy in the gallery this month are paintings by Tricia Love, Semiramis and George Howard Hayes III. Hayes, nicknamed Hauie, which often appears on his artwork, paints with vivid colors and subtle nuances; all carefully crafted with precise attention to detail. Hauie’s broad range of paintings include everything from Abstract, Fantasy, Flower, Myth to Nature and Portraits. He has a handful of visually pleasing paintings at the gallery but to really understand the breath of his work you must visit his website at www.hauieart.com.

May Flowers will hang through May 31st at The Old Schoolhouse Gallery, 12504 North Hwy.14, San Antonito, NM, 505.281.1250, www.theoldschoolhousegallery.com

Travis Bruce Black - New Kungfu

Carolyn Carroll of Bright Rain Gallery invited me back to her gallery for the opening reception of Travis Bruce Black’s New Kungfu exhibition. What a treat to meet the artist behind the Chirp watercolor series that has attracted a steady stream of loyal fans since Black himself owned the Bright Rain Gallery from 2007 - 2011. His new figurative works are tightly composed and watery with the color saturation turned way up. The environment of these pieces are clouds of color with a hard edge architectural structure.

The bird portraits of Travis Bruce Black are in a category by themselves. These are not your ordinary birds. Black’s technique pulls viewers into his paintings until their reality blurs with his fantasy. Vivid colors and subtle flirtations are paired with his abstract technique, bringing a dreamy quality to his artwork. 

In particular, Chirp 200, his milestone piece and largest watercolor to date at 37 x 51 inches, shows it’s domestic scene of two magnified birds perching on an oversized geranium branch. Black, a graduate of UNM, contends, “My aim is to create compelling works that bring joy, optimism, and mystery; art that expresses my lust for life and the simple exuberance of being.

He also states that, “To express the fullness and my experience of life, I try to work in paradoxes like straight lines vs. curved lines, for example the difference between architecture and plants. Even more interesting to me is how curves and lines commingle, like in the aesthetic of shoes or cars. I try to show the spectrum of difference between abstraction and naturalistic form to illustrate how layered reality is and to flesh out a more inclusive picture of what “real” feels like. An overarching theme for my work is how complex creatures are and how every living thing is a little package of total mystery.”

Travis Bruce Black’s New Kungfu exhibition will run through May 31 at Bright Rain Gallery located in Old Town’s Patio Market, 206 1/2 San Felipe NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, (505) 843-9176, www.brightraingallery.com

Frank McCulloch ~ Imagenes de mi Tierra

The art show and book signing for Frank McCulloch opened Friday, May 4 to a standing room only crowd at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art. The gallery buzzed with positive energy as many locals came to meet McCulloch in person and to admire his life’s work. McCulloch, who is best known for his modernist-leaning landscapes and geometric abstract prints, was warm and welcoming to all who stopped by to visit with him.

Born in Gallup in 1930, McCulloch began his craft, painting, as a child. He then went on to earn a BFA from UNM and a Masters of Arts from NM Highlands University, along with a MFA from Instituto Allende in Mexico. He is one of the most prolific and successful artists in the state, as well as a musician and a retired teacher whose students often became successful artists themselves, such as Angus Macpherson. McCulloch has often been called the “granddaddy” of Albuquerque artists. His retrospective exhibit in 2008 at the Albuquerque Museum was a testament to his vast career and enormous talent. 

A recipient of the New Mexico Governor's Award in the Arts, University of New Mexico Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravos Award, and AABA Local Treasure, is just a partial list of his recognition as a painter and an artist. McCulloch’s legacy has been covered in Southwest Art Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, Art News, and American Artist to name a few. He has a steady base of collectors who love his New Mexico landscapes, abstracts and prints. If he is not in his studio painting, you can find him somewhere in town performing with his band, Frank McCulloch y Su Amigos, keeping old New Mexican folk songs alive. 

Frank McCulloch’s art exhibition will hang through May 26 at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art, 517 Central Avenue, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505) 842-1400, www.sumnerdene.com