Mark Horst ~ Figures & More

Last Saturday, July 5th, was the opening reception for Mark Horst’s Figures & More exhibition at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art. Positive energy filled the gallery as many friends and locals came by to see the latest series in Horst’s signature artwork.

Horst is a figurative expressionist painter with a large following; Many who have become as enamored with his art work as I have. Author, teacher and painter Martin Shaw says, “Mark Horst carries a quiver full of painterly gifts. His startling work reveals wild pinpricks of the eternal, often in the subtlest of images. Make no mistake, the paintings sometimes hold our feet to the flame-a door between a collectively understood image and some new paint-spirit that comes hurtling through. Not always a comfortable experience. Horst is one of the few new painters to hold the paradox of tradition and innovation within him- there is brilliance here.”

Angus Macpherson ~ Milestone: Celebrating 30 Years in the Art Business

Last Friday’s ARTScrawl at Sumner & Dene gallery was the opening art reception and book signing of Angus Macpherson’s new book “Paintings ~ Quotes ~ Artist’s Notes.” The entire second floor of the gallery was filled with Macpherson’s images, acrylic paintings of dramatic skies, often in radiant translucent layers of twilight and dawn hues with fluid compositions of the grand and intimate simultaneously. Well-known for his ability to juxtapose the chaos and absolute serenity of nature in his dramatic landscapes, many of which are derived from the balance of ever-changing skies to earth over his native New Mexico. Macpherson’s paintings reveal explosions of color in which the results are not necessarily predictable yet create breathtaking beauty in all directions.

Raymond Wiger: 26 years of Wire Mesh Sculpture

Amid the monsoon rain, last Friday’s ARTScrawl at Sumner & Dene was the opening reception for the Taos sculptor Raymond Wiger. With a noted seven year absence from exhibiting his work due to illness, Wiger was back in perfect form and with him he brought 20 of his small and large wire mesh creations. His sculptures are both exquisite and mesmerizing. Wiger describes his sculpting process as follows, “Sculpting in wire mesh equally involves the use of the right and left halves of the brain; the creative and the analytical. Beginning with a square, rectangular, triangular or other polygonal piece of mesh, the transformation to figure occurs without the use of any tools but the hands – in essence, skin against skin. As important, the integrity of the initial geometric shape is never compromised by the removal of "excess" material. To do so would be to reduce a rather complex process to merely one of just cutting out paper dolls. The final piece must include all the original material intact.”

Wiger first started working in wire mesh as a sculpting material in the late 1980s. Beginning with screen left over from repairing a window in a cabin in a national park, after six months discovered a more workable material with the same properties while sitting in front of a fireplace screen in Seattle, Washington. He uses no models or photographs from which to work, but relies for reference on a background of anatomical studies at the anthropology and art departments of the Smithsonian. Since the 1980s, Wiger has exhibited his work in galleries throughout the Americas and Europe, and his sculptures can be found in private collections around the world.

Wiger was born in Washington, D.C. in 1960 and received his education in parochial and public schools and at the University of Maryland. From 1978 until 1992, he spent part of each year working at the Smithsonian Institution or the Library of Congress, and from 1982 through 1997 a part of each year working as a park ranger in National Parks across the United States. Each year he travels around the world living among other cultures while studying their history and art. Wiger's training in art is derived from his years of work at the Smithsonian Institution, and since the early 1980s it has been in the quiet moments and solitude of the National Parks where he has found the most conducive environment for his artistic and writing pursuits. He currently lives in Taos, New Mexico.

Raymond Wiger: 26 Years of Wire Mesh Sculptures will hang through July 29 at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art, 517 Central Avenue, NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 505.842.1400, www.sumnerdene.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

Dan Garrett & David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal

Last Friday’s ARTScrawl at Sumner & Dene was the opening reception for the two person abstract show of Dan Garrett and David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal. Snow is an Albuquerque artist who works with copper plates coated with powdered glass then fuses the work in a kiln. His imagery ranges from abstracts, figuratives, cityscapes to florals. Spectacular color, texture and sheen describe his rich contemporary enamels as seen in his Eye Dazzler and Journey In Green.

Garrett creates abstracts out of metal and mixed media. He applies layers of paint and mixed media to his metal canvases. He then manipulates them with heat, compressed air and an assortment of high speed metal working tools. This creates various textures as seen in Garrett’s Amarelo Atual of welded and painted steel acid patina, his Klasik of welded and painted steel found object, and his Luna Nox of welded and painted steel aluminum and acid patina. 

Garrett comes from a very artistic family and was encouraged from childhood to explore different art forms. He started with pen and pencil sketching and developed an interest in pointillism as a way to express himself in a more dimensional style. A spur of the moment purchase of used welding equipment was the seed to Garrett’s latest endeavor. Garrett is an accomplished landscaper and exterior designer, so his initial metal work revolved around art to enhance an outdoor setting. Many of his creations translated to interior art, which is where his primary interest now lies. 

This intriguing art show featuring both the contemporary enamel work of David Snow and the abstract three dimensional metal work by Dan Garrett makes this two person show a worthwhile experience.

Dan Garrett and David Snow ~ Abstracts on Metal will hang from March 2nd - 31st at Sumner & Dene Creations in Art, 517 Central Avenue NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102, (505)842-1400, www.sumnerdene.com