WHO: Todd Reed
WHAT: "Rockstar" Diamond Jewelry
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: December 5 - January 4, 2009
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

When you’re a young jewelry artist and Tina Fey, Terri Hatcher and Jennifer Connely appear in magazines like Elle, W and Vogue wearing your work, you might start thinking you’ve “arrived.” If that doesn’t tip you off, selling pieces priced in the six digits and consulting for DeBeers, just might. In the 16 years since artist Todd Reed first discovered rough diamonds, he has achieved a level of acclaim that is rare in the world of studio jewelry.

When Reed first discovered the beauty of rough diamonds, just a handful of artists were using them in jewelry. Unlike faceted diamonds that render one crystal virtually identical to another, each rough diamond is unique. Some even look…well, like rocks. Colors range from warm greys and browns to shades of gold and red. Some retain the polycrystalline coating that renders them opaque and others are the clear, brilliant material that we traditionally think of as diamond. Instead of hard angles and crisp cuts, the stones’ surfaces can be creased and the forms, rounded and irregular. He has recently introduced estate stones and old mine cuts, to his pieces. He even has stones specially cut to replicate the look of stones cut using the old methods.

In the best and true rock star tradition, Reed’s career began with a creative and passionate young man experimenting with something he found cool. A self-taught jeweler whose first metalsmithing efforts involved fashioning silver buttons for leather clothing he made, Todd Reed was drawn to the rough stones for their unusual, earthy beauty and the challenge they posed to prevailing ideas of value. They were a bit subversive and the fact that most people just didn’t get it made it all the more gratifying when someone really did.  

Today, Reed acknowledges that he has come full circle. By combining faceted and rough diamonds and setting them in 18k gold and platinum, rather than challenging notions of precious, he has created a whole new standard for it. His style is unique and instantly recognizable.

Patina occupies a special place in Reed’s heart. He remembers that early in his career, the gallery sold the first piece he made that he considered a work of art. He is excited to return to an artist mode as he prepares for his exhibit here. He plans to create more than thirty new works for the show, including many pieces for men.

Life has changed dramatically for Reed since he began making jewelry and viewed rough diamonds as social statements. With DeBeers showing interest in raw stones, the material is clearly losing its counter-culture allure, and that’s ok. Reed has moved beyond that statement and is using his status to challenge convention in larger, more active ways. He is now a strong ethical presence within the world of diamond mining and cutting. He buys stones only from the most environmentally sensitive companies and has attracted international attention for his insistence that the cutters with whom he works, pay fairly and ensure decent work conditions. In exchange, he pays more than the market rate per carat, a gesture that has made him the darling of cutters everywhere.

The exhibit title Rockstar references not just the materials and an artist’s lifestyle, it also references what the most respected rock stars of our day sometimes do. From Bono to Willie Nelson and Eddie Vedder, musicians use their success to advance the lives and causes of those in need. By promoting healthy and green practices in his “industry” and championing the cause of workers in developing countries, Reed extends his success to others.

In this, the gallery’s 10th anniversary year, Patina is proud to welcome back an old friend. This is the second Patina exhibit of Reed’s works. A reception will be held for Todd Reed from 5:30 – 7:30, Friday December 5, 2008

WHO: Polly Whitcomb
WHAT: "Erosion, Corrosion & Clay" Wall Sculpture
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: August 29 - September 28, 2008
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

A tangle of rusted metal beside the door to sculptor Polly Whitcomb’s studio provokes twinges of nostalgia. An old spouted oil can, a heavy 50’s bike rim, bed springs and other familiar junk in flaking shades of rust are remnants of an era past. Pulling a small barrel from the heap, she admires it, “I love this surface.” She runs her hand over the pits and corrosion and indicates, barely discernable, the familiar Texaco star.

Finds like these might only be possible in desert climates like New Mexico’s. There is just enough snow and moisture here to rust metal without eating it entirely away. Though the barrel is dinged and bent, it is intact and recognizable after 60 years in a neighbor’s backyard dump.

These are the materials and heart of Whitcomb’s assemblages. Combining rusted scrap with clay elements of her own fabrication, she constructs concise, beautifully composed wall pieces, mature and succinctly designed. At 69, Whitcomb is a woman who knows herself.  She is pragmatic and focused, grounded, with an unerring eye for design

Her rustic home and studio in a rural New Mexico village, is a long stone’s throw from the Pecos River. The studio is a former schoolhouse, then dance hall and car repair garage. In the dance hall days it was called La Sala and a primitive sign above the door announces it still. It is a place frozen in time, always quiet, always slow.   

Whitcomb uses stoneware to create simple, voluminous forms and glazes them inmuted tones to complement the aged surfaces of the found materials. Her vocabulary of shapes is deliberately small; spheroids, pods, and disks are sufficient for her purpose. So direct and unembellished, they entice touch while providing dimension and contrast to the found elements she combines. And just as she works with a small selection of forms, she designs within a select, limited palette of color: shades of ochre, grey, and blue.

Whitcomb has never previously shown her sculpture with any gallery and seems surprised by the enthusiastic reception it has received. Surprised, but not surprised. Given the short time she has been making this work and its high level of development, one senses it had been evolving even before she began.

Whitcomb has supported herself with production pottery, selling tableware and tiles in one or two small galleries, for many years. She has a degree in painting but hasn’t really painted since. Nonetheless, she has lived and worked among artists all her life. Though she has lived in San Francisco and New York, New Mexico is her home. 

Whitcomb has been creating these assemblages for almost 4 years but observes that in the past year, since the start of her relationship with Patina, she has been making more of them and they comprise a larger share of her work than before.  She brings twenty five new wall pieces to this exhibit.

Ivan Barnett, gallery director at Patina, is very excited about the discovery of this new artist. “Polly has such a brilliant design sense and she’s so sensitive to the nuance of surfaces. Her work has wit, humor and sophistication in the tradition of Calder.

Her juxtaposition of the clay pieces she fabricates, with the found, creates a totally harmonious marriage of materials and ideas.” Whitcomb will be featured prominently among the 20 other artists Patina will bring to the international art fair, SOFA Chicago, in November of 2008.

Whitcomb will attend the opening Friday, August 29, from 5:30 – 7:30.

WHO: Enric Majoral
WHAT: Sand Jewels "Adornment For The 21st Century"
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: August 15 - September 14, 2008
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

Patina presents an exhibition of Spanish artist Enric Majoral’s newest works. In this third exhibit from Patina’s Summer 2008 exhibition cycle, Adornment for the 21st Century, Majoral introduces Sand Jewels, one-of-a-kind rings, necklaces, brooches and bracelets in silver and 18k gold. New York’s Museum of Art and Design has recently acquired Majoral’s work for its permanent collection. 

Majoral’s refined jewelry often reflects an architectural integrity while remaining delicate and wearable. In them we recognize an enduring fascination with relationships of space and volume. His newest works, Sand Jewels, have a more organic feel and move away from the precision of earlier pieces. They are crusty, organic and seem dredged from the waters of a remote, ocean grotto.

Now, as always, his work is deeply influenced by Nature and his island home of Formentera. Earlier collections bear such names as Posidonia (Poseidon), Plui (Rain) and Trossos de Formentera (Pieces of Formentera.) He is self-taught and unlimited in his creative interests. A sculptor and designer, too, Majoral’s willingness to creatively explore and experiment is almost without limit.

Born in 1949 and raised in Franco’s Spain, Majoral left school at fourteen to help support his family. As an apprentice in an architect’s office, he learned drafting, drawing and to think spatially. At night he attended a school for industrial arts where he was introduced to carpentry, weaving, and pottery.

Majoral was 19 and traveling extensively when he discovered Formentera, a tiny, little developed island off the coast of Spain. Warmed by the sun, it was a refuge for sea birds and an intrepid young man who wanted to remain there. But how?

Majoral answered this question by drawing upon his training in architecture and traditional craft. He created jewelry he could sell in markets on the island and in time, found in his craft an expressiveness and deepening vocabulary for ideas. Today, we have the mature, fully realized works of one of Europe’s premier jewelry artists.

Majoral has lived and worked as an artist for the past 30 years. He maintains a home on Formentera, dividing his time between the island and cosmopolitan, Barcelona. The trajectory of his life has carried him from post-war Europe to the present, creatively rooted in a tradition of craft that provides the foundation for a distinctly contemporary, 21st century aesthetic.

An opening will be held on Friday evening August 15, from 5:30 – 7:30

WHO: Michael Zobel
WHAT: Zobel Curates European Studio Jewelers "Adornment For The 21st Century"
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: July 11 - August 10, 2008
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

Patina Gallery is honored to announce a first of its kind Soul Stirring studio jewelry event. At Patina’s invitation, the esteemed German jewelry artist, Michael Zobel, curates an exhibition of studio jewelry for the first time in his career.

Zobel’s reputation within the field of studio jewelry cannot be overstated. For nearly forty years, Zobel has been creating and designing the most intensely exotic jewelry of our time. His work is held in the permanent collections of European museums and collected by the world’s most beautiful and fashionable women.

Zobel’s selection of nine other artists is drawn from across Europe, Kyrgyzstan to Spain. Each artist will present 10 signature works. The range of styles is broad and represents the great diversity of technique and materials utilized in contemporary studio jewelry.

For example, Spanish artist Ramon Puig Cuyas, works with a variety of materials, often layering silver and enameled copper with touches of steel and acrylic. His works are planned, sketched and fully imagined before execution. One brooch is a dynamic silver and enamel composition, layered over a dim photograph laminated to silver. A single lustrous pearl softly anchors the industrial tone of the work.

Wilhelm Buchert, of Germany, provides an exquisitely composed 18k textured gold brooch, round and sculptural; five tiny seed pearls rest on a recessed shelf and are accented with a black opal and diamond.

Claude Chavent, of France, will exhibit his classic, geometric trompe-l’oeil gold and platinum pieces. Subtle surface treatments create the illusion of much greater depth and dimensionality in these works.

Other artists participating in the exhibit are Karl Heinz Reister (Italy), Isolde Baumhackl-Oswald (Austria), Gisela Seibert Philippen (Germany), Enric Majoral (Spain), Peter Schmid (Germany) and Victor Syrnev (Krgysztan). Michael Zobel also presents 10 works of his own with this exhibit.

Rare is the discussion of Zobel and his works that does not include mention of his enormous and generous personality. He embodies a beautiful marriage of sophistication and warmth, a largeness of character that transcends place or nationality. It is no wonder that his works exude an opulent, sensuous confidence, for so does the man.

As part of the exhibition, the participating artists were asked to provide brief statements about

Michael Zobel. To the one, they responded with remarks about Zobel’s love of life, generosity and creativity.

Artist Isolde Baumhackl Oswald offers this, “Michael glows with creativity and is full of life. His jewellery is sexy, luxurious yet not overdone. I love Michael because he has been my friend for ever.”

Ramon Puig Cuyas writes this. “… I find very interesting the vital trajectory of his work. Michael's works reflect his attitude toward life, they express his attitude of freedom…it inspires all of his creations. For me, his works are a clear example of the desire to satisfy curiosity and go far beyond limits and conventions that is necessary to be an artist like him." 

Writes the Krgysztani artist, Victor Syrnev, “In August, 1997, I wrote to Michael asking him to participate in the big international project East-West Dialogues, The Great Silk Road. He wrote back to me “Yes, with pleasure.”  Since then we have worked together and become friends.

Michael is a surprising person. He feels at home in any culture and is warm and harmonious among all people. He is a person of the World. I admire him greatly.”

Enric Majoral speaks of Michael’s work. “Professionally, I have always admired his personal, honest work as a reflection of his personality. Coupled with enviable technical execution, this makes him a benchmark for so many jewellers, both German and international, as there is no doubt that he is one of the most cosmopolitan contemporary goldsmiths.”

The stature of the artists, Michael’s friends, may be unknown to many Americans but within the international circles of art jewelry, all are well known and highly established. Most have works in the important collections of Europe, some in the United States, as well.

Puig Cuyas, quoted above, is included in the recently published volume, Ornament As Art, Avant Garde Jewlery From the Helen Drutt Collection, named for the traveling exhibition and collection whose permanent residence is the Museum of Fine Arts, in Houston, Texas. He can also boast inclusion in museum collections in Spain, Germany, Paris, Montreal and New York.

Zobel thinks of his jewelry as though painting with metal and stones. When viewed through this lens of insight, one perceives the deftness of his treatments as deliberate decisions pertinent to beauty’s highest expression. “A piece of jewelry is, above all, a concept, an idea. If on the one hand such a concept has to be subordinated to the material, it is on the other also deeply inspired by it. Through the connection of precious metals, stones and unconventional materials, I create unique objects, which make the extraordinary, wearable. For over 30 years, this has been the stimulus and demand of my creative work."

This very important jewelry exhhibition reflects a changing world and changing Santa Fe in which we now acknowledge mastery within an international arena of talent. Patina is honored to call Michael Zobel a friend, and make new ones with these esteemed artists and studio jewelers.

Michael Zobel will attend the opening on Friday, July 11, from 5:30 – 7:30.

WHO: Charon Kransen
WHAT: International Jewelry Collection "Adornment For The 21st Century"
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: June 6 - July 6, 2008
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

Charon Kransen, the preeminent curator of avant garde European, Asian and American studio jewelry, brings to Patina Gallery a selection of Soul Stirring Works by the most innovative and uncompromising jewelry artists working today. Ever seeking the most fresh and distinctive works, Kransen travels the world to discover emerging artists and meet with the already famous artists in the field.

Charon Kransen established Charon Kransen Arts in New York City in 1993, to promote studio jewelry from around the world. This is Kransen's third Patina Gallery exhibition and it promises to be as refreshing and aesthetically innovative as those in the past.

A partial list of artists participating in this exhibit includes Brigitte Bezold, Anamarie de Corte, Babette von Dohnanyi, Reiko Ishiyama, Mette Jensen, Vicki Mason, Renate Scmid and Jung-Gyu Yi.

Kransen's view of studio jewelry surges beyond traditional norms of adornment. "I always think, if I can't get excited anymore, having seen a lot of jewelry in my 40 years of professional life, how can I communicate excitement to customers. Perceptions of value, beauty, aesthetics and content, change by exposure and result in a different kind of understanding and appreciation."

There is an impatience about Kransen. He is emphatic about changed perceptions of value and beauty. Appropriate to our times and shifting identities in the 21st Century, Kransen understands that jewelry, itself, has acquired a new identity, as a reflection of the wearer's depth and character rather than income and status. Alternative materials like steel, wool felt, enamel and bone bring new content to the medium and a new capacity for expression.

Since the mid-twentieth century, the dialogue within the field of studio jewelry has been identical to the dialogue within the broader realm of art. Largely because of the efforts of Charon Kransen and galleries like Patina, jewelry has emerged as an art form as legitimate as any sculpture and 2 dimensional art. Studio jewelry artists embrace the challenge of presenting conceptually developed works within a wearable context.

A public opening will be held at Patina Gallery on Friday, June 6 from 5:30 to 7:30.

WHO: Patrick Shia Crabb
WHAT: "FracShard"
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: May 2 - June 1, 2008
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432
Walt Borton walt@waltborton.com 505.982.2605

California artist Patrick Shia Crabb brings twenty new works in clay to an exhibition opening in April at Patina Gallery. He will provide a range of works that includes several small pedestal pieces along with several wall pieces. He will also bring his signature tall vessel forms.

Crabb’s work is found in the collections of several important museums including the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, the International Ceramics Museum in Florence, Italy, the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, Arita, Japan and the Yingee International Ceramics Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

Patrick Shia Crabb is widely known for his reconstructed clay vessels and sculptures, and cites Rick Dillingham as an important influence. Dillingham conceived of the clay vessel as a whole object, made up of numerous pieces. He was among the first to deliberately crack his work, only to reassemble it. Describing his first experience of Dillingham’s work, Crabb says “When I first saw his work in the mid-seventies it completely blew me over. Prior to that, I thought of a crack as an impediment.” There are obvious similarities in their work but differences, too. “Dillingham controlled the cracking of his work, I break mine with a two by four.“ 

Crabb also finds inspiration in primitive and ethnographic sources. He elaborates, “I have always looked at clay in historical terms. Japanese Jomon ware, African sculptures, pre-Columbian tripod vessels and American Southwest Indian art are important influences. Going to cultures outside of Europe, I discover really interesting forms.”

New to this exhibit is a group of works in matte monochrome, accented by sparing shots of warm color. Crabb has decoupaged newsprint on some, juxtaposing snippets of current event reporting with the shadings and tone of his palette. “In the world of clay,” says Crabb, “there is a tendency to stay within established ‘clay technique.’ Clay artists don’t decoupage.”

After an initial firing, he takes the perfect vessel and breaks it.  The shards are painted and glazed so that when the vessel is reconstructed, the arrangements of color and pattern are random. By snipping the corners of the shards with scissors, he heightens the appearance of fragility.  “The idea of taking broken pottery and turning it into a coveted aesthetic is quite remarkable!” says Crabb.

Last year the Smithsonian Museum’s Renwick Gallery acquired Buckeye, a Bauermeister work from his “Stone” series. Works by the artist are also in the permanent collections of the Mesa Museum of Contemporary Art, in Mesa, Arizona and the University of Michigan Museum, in Ann Arbor.

Bauermeister’s signature wood sculptures are often columnar, broad at the top and tapering to the base. They can range in height from two, to more than eight feet. These powerful forms are infused with energy and still project a spirit of calm, of energy wisely expressed and contained.

“One idea feeds into the next…I like change but don’t feel that I need to reinvent the wheel.” One sees clearly the relationship of old work to the new. The tone evolves quietly, in small ways and remains familiar. Given the strength of that tone and the continuous and satisfying variations of theme, each piece offers something fresh and different from the others.

A recent trip to Seattle has inspired new work that evokes the essence of moving water. The surface undulates, swells and dips, with a hewn, dappled surface, pigmented with myriad shades of blue. Other wall-mounted pieces explore figurative subjects and suggest stained glass from the Nouveau period. 

Having committed his life to making art, Bauermeister works constantly, enjoying the physicality of the work and its meditative nature. He selects local woods, cut down by the parks department and landscapers. Any milled wood comes from a local sawmill, opened recently, just outside St Louis. Bauermeister is excited about some elm burl and especially some maple he found there. “It has a beautiful coloration, blue streaks. They’re called domestic exotic because these woods have become so rare.” Rare, too, is the beauty of his work, towering, washed in beautiful pigments, steeped in color.

WHO: Roberto Cardinale
WHAT: “Inspired”
WHERE: Patina Gallery 131, W. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: December 7 – January 6, 2008  
CONTACT: Walt Borton  waltwrites@cybermesa.com    Kim Alderwickkim@patina-gallery.com   

The great cathedrals of Europe date to a time when the Church dominated village life. Vaulted ceilings, window-tinted light and the play of incense and sound imparted an experience of transcendence and communion with the Divine. The mystical beauty of these spaces no doubt contrasted dramatically with the physical lives of those who prayed there. Even the humble interiors of our New Mexican churches, built from mud and wood thousands of miles from their cathedral cousins, also succeeded in this, perhaps all the more so for their humility and bond with the earth.

Santa Fe artist Roberto Cardinale grew up in an Italian Catholic family. Leaving college after nearly completing a degree in math, he entered a monastery to pursue a life of religious devotion. As a Benedictine monk, he inhabited a world informed by the design of its sacred spaces. He studied ecclesiastical architecture there and knows well what he terms, “…the nature of Church, the idea of spiritual and intellectual elevation reflected by the structure itself, lifting, soaring to the heavens.” After five years, he left the monastery, though his love for its structures and sacred ideas persisted. Today, he builds churches.

Cardinale’s sculptures are interpretations of famous church edifices. Some are well-known European cathedrals, like Notre Dame, in Paris, but his favorite subjects may be the country churches of New Mexico, like the Santuario de Chimayo. He constructs his sculptures from pine and includes details like metal door hinges, window frames and crosses. They are substantial in scale, sometimes two feet long or more.

The surfaces of his pieces are hewn, never quite flat, but made up of multiple faces. He paints them, then sands and paints again until multiple layers are applied. The final sanding reveals shades of color which he finishes with a wax coat. This deepens the tones and gives the works an aged appearance.  The result suggests the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn, an artist Cardinale greatly respects.

There is something quintessentially “Santa Fe” in Cardinale’s story and more to his life than his occupation in the monastery. He is a former Museum of New Mexico director and came to Santa Fe from San Antonio where he was president of the Southwest School of Art and Craft and before that, he was also on the faculty at Boston University. All along he desired to create his own work and claim his identity as an artist and seeker.

Through Cardinale’s treatment, even the grand and imposing Medieval cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris, is imbued with humility. More than the glory of God, we see in his works the glory of the people who built them, prayed and celebrated within them. No doubt he is concerned with questions of faith and soul, and man’s place within the sacred order. Because he humanizes these structures with such sensitivity, one senses in his pieces that man is as central to the Divine, as the Divine is to man.

WHAT: Patina announces Lost & Found 2: Missing in Plain Sight
A group exhibition curated by art historian Kathryn M Davis
WHEN: October 5 to November 18, 2007
Reception: Friday, October 5, 5 to 7pm
Private Press Preview/ Champagne Reception with Artists
Thursday, October 4, 4 to 6 pm
WHERE: Patina Gallery 131 West Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 505/986.3432
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick kim@patina-gallery.com  or Kathryn M Davis kathrynmd@msn.com 

Patina Gallery, Santa Fe’s premier fine craft exhibition space, presents its second annual community art exhibition, Lost & Found 2: Missing in Plain Sight, curated this year by art historian Kathryn M Davis. Patina director, Ivan Barnett, invited Davis to curate this event based on her broad knowledge of contemporary art and familiarity with important artists working in this community.

Five prominent artists participating in the exhibition: Bob Haozous, Marie Romero Cash, Meridel Rubenstein, Kim Russo, and May Stevens. They, in turn, invited another artist to participate in the show: Kimberly Hargrove, Heidi Brandow, Delilah Montoya, Ann Gaziano, and Tom Miller. Each of the ten will show one piece, exploring themes of visibility and identity in northern New Mexico.

The artists were asked to consider and perhaps relate their works to LosDesaparecidos, the thousands of political activists who were “disappeared” by dictatorial Central and South American governments during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. The plight of Los Desaparecidos is the focus of a series of exhibitions opening this fall at leading art venues including SITE Santa Fe, the Institute of American Indian Art Museum, the Center for Contemporary Arts, and the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Although the overt political suppression resulting in LosDesaparecidos does not occur in New Mexico or the US, it is the curator’s belief that ongoing societal tradition has forced millions of “illegals” to become invisible—in fact, to “disappear” themselves for their own safety. We as a nation, through our actions or inactions, are party to this disappearance. Our complicity renders invisible millions in this country, some because they are “illegal,” others because they are different—different in race, economic status, sexual preference, religious belief, ideology. When people lose visibility, we not only lose their contributions to valid and vibrant subcultures, we impede their access to the basic social services and legal protections fundamental to a humane society.

The works of the exhibition’sindividual artists will best communicate their intense personal perceptions of these realities. It is the curator’s intent that the theme reminds us of our individual responsibility to cease enabling the “disappearance” of our fellow human beings.

In that reminder lurks an unsettling question. Where are we on the continuum of social violence that begins with acceptance of an ethnic slur, devolves to the suppression of individuals for their sexual preference, political ideas, or gender, and ends at the gas chambers of Auschwitz, the villages Darfur, the street corner carnage in Israel, Palestine, Iraq? Where are we on thatcontinuum, as a nation, as a society, as individuals, when millions of our brothers and sisters in our own country remain Missing in Plain Sight?

Missing in Plain Sight represents a departure for Patina, an internationally respected fine craft gallery. Works featured in this show will include sculpture, photography and painting: media commonly associated with “fine art,” rather than “craft.”

Last year’s exhibition, Lost and Found, curated by artist Mary Bennett, addressed the issue of local artists lacking gallery representation in Santa Fe. Additionally, each artist was asked to incorporate a “found” object into a piece.

WHO: Atelier Zobel, German jewelry artists Michael Zobel and Peter Schmid
WHAT: Atelier Zobel 2007
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: July 6 – July 29, 2007
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick   kim@patina-gallery.com   505.986.3432


Patina is proud to present the sculpture of Atelier Zobel, internationally renowned for impeccably crafted works in platinum, high carat gold and oxidized silver. This exhibit reflects the depth, range and variety of classic Zobel works. Some will feature the rarest of precious stones and others, the most beautiful of common minerals.

You will recognize the work pictured here as jewelry, and certainly it succeeds as such. This wearable and elegant sculpture enhances a woman’s beauty while reflecting something about her to the world. And it is more. It is a dynamic collaboration, a synergy between artist and wearer. Both are more fully expressed when the work is worn.

This is Patina’s seventh Zobel exhibition in eight years and the first time that the works will remain with the gallery for a full three weeks. Past exhibitions usually remained for four or five days, and for the first time, Allison Barnett, co-owner of Patina, has personally selected each of the pieces in the collection.

Art jewelry is often relegated to the periphery of “serious art,” perhaps because of its traditional status symbolism and the intrinsic value of the materials. The ancient and respected role of jewelry as an expression of stature persists in cultures throughout the world, even our own. In wealthier countries, paintings on the wall and sculpture in the courtyard perform a similar function. For many, fine art and jewelry serve the same end. Though “fine art” is usually expanded in scale, it also provides evidence of position, education and cultivation. It is ornament worn large.

The critical standards we apply to fine art are also applied to the assessment of jewelry.Relationships of surface, texture, tone, scale and proportion are central to all informed discussions of the medium. Concept and content are increasingly important, too, and the finest jewelry is always distinguished by the finest craftsmanship.

This sculpture demands from the artist an exceedingly high level of technical proficiency.  In spite of this, Atelier Zobel’s work conveys an effortless elegance. So masterful in its execution, technique becomes invisible. One discovers that this work is really not about precious at all, but pure beauty. 

Atelier Zobel’s works are included in the permanent collection of the Rosengartenmuseum in Constance, Germany.

WHO: Allison Barnett, curates
WHAT: “What Lies Beneath” group exhibition of artist jewelry
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHEN: May 4 – June 3
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick, 505.986.3432, kim@patina-gallery.com

Allison Barnett curates “What Lies Beneath,”an invitational jewelry exhibition featuring works from fifteen of the most acclaimed metal artists working today.

The exhibit explores the theme of layers, dimension, depth and the mysteries therein. Barnett, an authority on the subject of studio jewelry, understands that the best art jewelry has a conceptual basis as well as an aesthetic one. It transcends, and aspires beyond, pure ornament.  

The artists invited to participate are among the most important working in art jewelry today:Petra Class, Andy Cooperman, Sandra Enterline, Pat Flynn, Barbara Heinrich, Harold O’Connor, Tod Pardon, Phil Poirier, Todd Reed, George Sawyer, Sam Shaw, Alexandra Watkins, Jeff and Susan Wise, Gill Galloway-Whitehead and Michael Zobel.

The techniques of these artists and their use of materials vary widely. Petra Class, for example, is known for the softness of her metal work, organic forms and use of raw precious stones. Pat Flynn works with blackened iron. Phil Poirier hand forges the challenging Damascus steel. Jeff and Susan Wise create highly colored, almost toy-like, kinetic pieces in high carat gold.

Barnett invited the artists to approach their work with a specific concept, the theme of “What Lies Beneath.” In her invitations to the artists, she suggested as examples, “gemstones, veiling or revealing a hidden surprise, or pierced metals casting light on stones or other surfaces.”

Barnett requested that each artist create a new pin/pendant exclusively for this exhibit. She also asked the artists to provide a brief statement to accompany their piece. Through these statements, we are offered a rare insight into the mind of an art jeweler.

Allison Barnett, who co-owns Patina Gallery with he husband, Ivan Barnett, has a BFA in metalsmithing from Syracuse University. She has an intimate technical understanding of the art and thorough knowledge of the field. Her highly discerning aesthetic has been cultivated over time.  For the past eight years, she has been selecting the jewelry artists who exhibit with Patina and so, in a way, is already an experienced curator.“What Lies Beneath” is Barnett’s first thematically organized exhibition and the first exhibit for which the title “curator” has been applied.

Many of the artists are represented in the permanent collections of important American and European museums such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Art and Design, and the Smithsonian.

WHO: Clay Foster, New Works in Sculpted Wood
WHAT: “Fostering the Sacred”
WHERE: Patina Gallery 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN:  April 6 – May 6, 2007  
CONTACT: Kim Alderwick  kim@patina-gallery.com

Krum, Texas is an hour’s drive and a hundred years from Dallas. It’s a frame of mind, more than a town, and it’s really quiet. You can hear coyotes from the front porch where Foster and his wife, Penny, enjoy a home-brewed beer after a full day in their studios. 

Foster was raised in a conservative, Protestant family and though he does not embrace the religion of his childhood, it has left him with a love for the Bible, its stories and the deep thoughts that inform his art work.

He calls his signature works, “fonts,” sculptures that range in height from 2’ to more than 7’. They have a deliberately primitive quality and evoke tribal artifacts, particularly African. Carved from wood he salvages, the fonts are characterized by a tall pedestal upon which he rests a turned bowl.

Foster’s fonts reference ritual bathing, a practice found in nearly all the world’s cultures. The elements are often embellished with rusted wire or beads, and frequently feature intricately carved patterns. The patterning is significant to Foster, for pattern and rhythm are integral to life. “There is a rhythm, a pattern to life, a cadence, a suspending and preserving of the beat. The pattern evolves, but the rhythm continues, as we work our way upward through life…”

Foster’s work reflects an interest in the spiritual, rather than a specific orthodoxy. His “Three Views” is a purely sculptural work depicting three towers, each with a window facing a direction different from the rest. The three polished wooden towers represent Islam, Christianity and Judaism and share a large stone base, the story of Abraham, the roots of all three.

In recent years, Foster has completed several commissions for churches near his home. They include church entry doors, a lectern, altar and furniture. The church doors were a collaboration with his wife, Penny, a stained glass artist with whom he shares a studio.

One senses a quiet humility in Foster, a bit of the solitary frontiersman. He is disinclined to explain himself or his work, but speaks with reverence for “the endurance of common things…They take on a sacredness with usage….”

Deep in the Texas countryside, he leads a meditative life, making things, reading and spending time with Penny. His is the heart of an anthropologist, fascinated by indigenous cultures and inspired by questions of faith.

WHO: New Works of Tod Pardon with Work from the Estate of Earl Pardon
WHAT: “Relativity,” contemporary jewelry
WHERE: PatinaGallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: December 1, 2006 – January 7, 2007

We are proud to announce a first ever Patina Gallery exhibition of works by two important American artists, Tod and Earl Pardon.  Pieces from both contemporary jewelry artists are found in the Smithsonian and New York’s Museum of Art and Design. Tod Pardon brings twenty new works to the exhibition and twenty-two works from his father Earl’s estate, a group that includes earrings, brooches, and rings.

Earl Pardon was an important pioneer and teacher in the early years of the studio-craft movement. He graduated with an MFA in painting from Syracuse in 1959 and his work reflects the design interests of the mid-century period. He worked in mixed metals, often combining them with enamel, bezel set colored stones and diverse non-precious materials such as shell, bone and ebony. Ever the fine artist, Pardon treated his enamels like paintings, each a minute work of art. Shapes dance and float over mottled backgrounds, suggesting Calder’s mobiles, Kandinsky and the paintings of Miro. This marriage of fine art and fine craftsmanship explains why Pardon is a pre-eminent figure in American studio jewelry history.

Tod Pardon never set out to be a jeweler, preferring to carve his own path in painting and ceramics. Nonetheless, he found himself drawn to the scale and craftsmanship of the art. Also a graduate of Syracuse with an MFA in painting, Tod Pardon’s experiments with various media converge in his works. His techniques are derived from studies of ceramics and painting, and working closely with his father in the studio during Earl’s last years. 

The aesthetic relationship of these two artists is apparent. Their works reside on the same stylistic continuum but there are important differences. Tod loosens the line and the shapes morph softly. While his jewelry retains a vaguely mid-century quality, it is figurative and has an emotional content that contrasts with the abstractions and geometry of his father’s. Acknowledging the essential ambiguity of jewelry, most of his works are brooches which he presents on tiny pedestals for exhibition as sculpture. Rather than enamel, he uses pigmented glass in a cold binder, in combination with various stones and wood, set in silver.

A trip to Kenya years ago strongly influences Tod’s work. The attenuated “necks” of his works, the tribal patterning and color are all the result of time spent among the Massai.  A recent group is based upon the mythical figures of the peoples of Bali.

The lives of fathers and sons are always entwined, perhaps even more when both are working artists. For Tod and his father, the twining runs deep. Their identities are rooted in art and creativity, a shared love of color, craftsmanship and design.  

Tod Pardon has shown his works with Patina Gallery since 1999 and this is a rare, second Patina Gallery exhibit for an artist. Patina is pleased to be the first to present this exciting exhibit.

WHO: Mary Bennett curates          
WHAT: “Lost and Found,” a group exhibition
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHEN: October 6 – November 5, 2006

Paintings at Patina Gallery? Found object sculptures? In a break from the exhibition of museum quality fine craft, Patina Gallery opens “Lost and Found,” an exhibition featuring the work of thirteen prominent New Mexico artists. The exhibit is organized by Mary Bennett, Santa Fe artist and curator.

Among the artists participating are Colette Hosmer, Steven Deo, Isabella Gonzales, Rebecca Bluestone and Zachariah Rieke.

Curator Mary Bennett is a well-known figure within the Santa Fe arts scene and beyond. In addition to her own art work and busy exhibition schedule, she has curated several events, notably the critically acclaimed 2004 group exhibition, “Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism.”

This first-of-its-kind event for Patina crosses the boundaries of fine craft and fine art. “Lost and Found” presents the works of long established New Mexico artists. The thirteen selected by Bennett had been “lost” from the Santa Fe gallery world and at the time of planning, none had Santa Fe gallery representation. Taking the “lost” theme one step further, each artist is submitting one piece of work incorporating a “found” object.

“All of these artists live and work in New Mexico. They have contributed mightily to the caliber of work being made here. And I like them. That’s the unifying thread of this event.” says Bennett. The only guideline offered by Patina is that the artists’ works incorporate a found object. Consequently, the show includes paintings (a first ever, in Patina’s seven years), a feather embellished garment, ceramic sculpture, photography and paper collage. The invited artists reflect the broad demographic of New Mexico in range of ages, gender, experience and ethnicity. 

As Bennett points out, the artists participating in this event have earned their prominence among collectors, and very importantly, the respect of their artist peers. The list of participants, below, includes portions of their artist’s statements or descriptions of the work they have prepared for “Lost and Found.” Also included are brief lists of shows and collections of which they are a part.

Marcus Amerman, bead artist: "I combine the pictorial bead work of the Plateau tribes with the graduated peyote imagery of Oklahoma tribes into a style with which I can capture shadow, light, and form…. When I seek and find that new idea which is both beautiful and powerful, then I take it on, I confront it, fearlessly."

Selected Collections: Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC, and Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM.

Beverley Ashe, painter: “I’m not interested in conventional forms of beauty – rather in the kind that has scars, deformities, bared teeth, the occasional malignance.”

Selected Exhibitions: Extreme Dream, curated by Geoffrey Gorman, Meditations on Small, Gallery Zip, Glorietta, NM, Gallery at Summerlin, Las Vegas, NV, Box Show, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

Rebecca Bluestone, weaver: “I am a contemporary abstract artist using traditional tapestry techniques and hand-dyed silks of varied textures. …Some of the major influences in my work are color, music, the Fibonacci sequence, and nature.”

Selected Collections: Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL, Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, Albuquerque Museum, Albuqerque, NM

Madelin Coit, mixed media artist:  “While working on Shredder: an Autobiography, I tracked shreds to the house, down the path to the barn garden, around the south arroyo, wherever I walked. Each Autumn I pick up the Finch nests that are abandoned and find that the Finches had picked up shreds and woven them into their nests. They had woven my life into theirs. Sweet.”

Selected Collections and Exhibitions: The Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles, CA,Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Steven Deo, mixed media artist: “As a contemporary artist of Native American descent, identity has been a constant point of reference. Often, I've looked into the past through the eyes of the camera, at images of my personal family or images that are provided in the context of Western history. In this examination and comparison of the Indian of the distant past to the present, the Native American is a reflection of his environment. As his environment has changed through theprocesses of modernity, so has his self perception.”

Selected Exhibitions: Biennale Internazionale Dell’ Arte Contemporanea., Florence, ITALY, Received 5th place medal for sculpture. Changing Hands II, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, NM, Changing Hands II, Museum of Art and Design, New York City, NY, Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Tom Emerson, sculptor: “I have built figures from found materials for nearly thirty years. There has never ceased to be a fascination with the material itself. …During the creative process thereareinnumerable moments when the energies that drive the universe and those that drive the individual are known to be the same energy….”

Selected Exhibitions: 2 Man Show, Price Dewey Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Donna Karan Showrooms, Fashion Week, NY, NY, Conlon-Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Isabella Gonzales, ceramic artist: “I grew up in El Paso and left in the manner of someone leaving a burning house. …The nine pieces presented in Reclamation will incorporate objects foundat nine separate locations there. I am reclaiming old triumphs and hurts and incorporating them into a larger reality I was unable to understand or appreciate in my youth. I always understood my alliance with the landscape. Now I am acknowledging alliances with the border culture which has always been a part of me."

Selected Exhibitions: Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, U. of Texas, El Paso, TX,

Collect: Inside 8, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Charles Greeley, painter and collage artist: “Arriving in San Francisco in 1967 at a time when a visionary movement in the local art scene was just getting started…Our interests included alternative realities, the spiritualization of Nature, the fantastic, the dream, psychedelics and the study of Eastern religions…I’ve continued in my pantheist genre by creating visionary landscapes and collage with Japanese papers cut into miniscule shapes…”

Selected Collections: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Colette Hosmer, mixed media artist: “…Eventually, I found myself making art by utilizing reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and earth that I'd collected and processed. Through my work, I came to discover … that I was being offered a glimpse into the mysteries that connect one thing to another…. An understanding of life as overlapping environments is disappearing, and instead of recognizing ourselves as part of the landscape, we stand apart and view the world around us as "other."

Selected Exhibitions and Collections: European Art Center, six-month artist residency, Xiamen, China, The Food Show: Politics Pleasure and Pain, New Mexico State Capitol Building, Santa Fe, NM, , Tingley Park Project,  monumental sculpture commission, Art in Public Places, Albuquerque, NM. Re-presenting Representation, Arnot Museum, Elmira NY, City of Xiamen, China Tianjin, China, Maschinen Halle Contemporary Artspace -Potsdam, Germany

Jennifer Joseph, mixed media artist: “…I am interested in using diverse and unexpected media- especially proliferations of readymade objects. I enjoy the challenge of exploring materiality and pushing media to suit the subject. Another important aspect of the work is that it be as beautiful as possible, and often the choice of material is integral to this notion….The acupuncture needle series is an invention that seeks to move energy in those who encounter it.”

Selected Exhibitions: Constellation, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM, SITE Unseen, SITE, Santa Fe, NM, Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, Duct and Cover, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM, Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

Kate Joyce, photographer: “This piece includes two parts – a composite photographic image and a drawing that is born of the image…. I sift through negatives made during the last ten years of my life to find images that share a complimentary composition, texture, and emotional content.  I imagine my negatives as seeds and the resulting composites create hybrid sprouts bound by the transformative coherency and complexity of growth. The narrative born of this germination rests with the viewer to harvest. “

Selected Collections and Exhibitions: Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM, Duke University Perkins Library Special Collections, The Center for Documentary Studies, Durham, NC, Nomadic Art Exhibition, Bloemfontein, South Africa, Peace is Patriotic, Art and Industry, Santa Fe, NM

Marietta Patricia Leis, painter: “Luminers are a grouping of nine paintings made with Japanese inks on Japanese washi papers. I began to work with this medium during an artist residency by the Spanish Mediterranean Sea. Translucent light, blue skies and sea with the ever-changing moods of the days inspired me to try this medium….While preparing the work for the Patina show, Lost and Found, I discovered among my materials from Spain an English-speaking newspaper that I had tucked away. Since I “found” this paper it seemed perfect for the exhibit theme. “

Selected Collections and Exhibitions: The Art Gallery of NM State University, Las Cruces, NM, Arts Council of Beaufort County, SC, Fort Smith Convention Center, AK, The Harwood Museum, Taos, NM,  ATMOSPHERES: Inspirationfrom the Highlands, Gallery-in-the-Fields, VT, Nurturing the Edge, Cue Art Foundation, NYC, NY

Zachariah Rieke, mixed media artist: “There is tremendous humility in Rieke’s works, which comes from the respect and honoring of each object, natural or man-made, that has its own history and context before its incorporation into an ‘artwork.’ …The delicacy of allowing all of that information to persist and yet encourage the viewers to use their imaginations to complete the meanings is what brings this work to a very different assemblage aesthetic.” Quoted from Museum of New Mexico Catalogue Gail and Zachariah Rieke, 1999

Selected Collections: Albuquerque Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM, Warner Brothers Studios, Mountain Bell, Denver, Pacific National Bank, Los Angeles, Art Chicago, Art Miami

Bennett understands the power of art to move, to awaken, to outrage and to heal. This was powerfully demonstrated in another of her curatorial projects, Insight Out: Reversing Vandalism. In 2001, a vandal systematically defaced more than 600 books from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library. Most of the mutilated books dealt with feminist or gay and lesbian subjects.

Bennett acquired 44 of the books and distributed them to artists. She asked them to “participate in the job of making art from the vandalized volumes.” The result was an exhibit of stunning beauty and depth. It garnered critical praise from both local and national press, and the exhibit catalogue earned the Library of Congress Award.

Guided by her own fierce commitment to truth and art, Mary Bennett curates “Lost and Found,” bringing together 13 accomplished artists, driven by similar passions…driven to pursue their art, though perhaps not gallery representation.

WHO: Jane Adam 
WHAT: “The British Are Coming”    
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHEN: September 1 – October 1, 2006  

In the heart of every metalsmith there lives a scientist, a chemist and an engineer. The scientist is that part of the metalsmith's being that thrives on the experiment. It is the one that asks the endless "what ifs" and pushes the limits of the metals she works. 

When British jewelry artist Jane Adam first discovered anodozing, it was an industrial process, used to provide aluminum with a surface that would accept color. Adam experimented with it for a year before achieving the effects she desired, and continues the process of testing and challenging the medium to this day.

Adam brings to Patina her newest collection of feather-light, anodized aluminum jewelry. Cuffs, earrings, brooches and necklaces gleam warmly with painterly hues punctuated by accents of strong color.  The surfaces are softly matted, imparting an irridescence like Shantung silk. She adds dramatic texture by heating the metal or cutting holes and milling it. This also “crazes” the color, breaking up the pigment to subtlely diffuse the tones and when complete, the metal truly resembles the Asian textiles she loves.

Adam’s studied at Manchester Polytechnic and Royal College of Art in London. “I came to aluminum during the ‘New Jewelry’ movement of the late Seventies, when jewelers were exploring new materials and means of expression within their art, and were questioning the traditional focus of jewelry on the preciousness of its components.… Being of a persistent nature, I also enjoyed doing primary research into using a material which was under-explored in the artist’s studio. Its structural limitations forced me into new ways of forming and assembling the pieces.”  

Forms found in Nature provide the basis for her creations. She works with shapes that curve and sweep, and with softened, voluminous forms. Again, the scientist comes forward: "I am interested, too, in the mathematical order of organic forms. I begin with balanced geometrical proportions … and use sequences to create structure. The resulting jewelry comes alive when it then finds a wearer, forming a sensual relationship with her and becoming part of the expression of herself."

Adams’ reputation in England is enormous. She is considered an important pioneer in the art jewelry movement. Her success is surely a function of her artistry and painterly approach to color, as well as her tireless exploration of aluminum's possibilities. New to the works that Adams brings to Patina are a group of fine silver pieces. Since color and texture must have expression in her works, she combines her variously textured silver works with beads of colorful semi-precious stone. This is a new direction for the artist.

WHO: Charon Kransen
WHAT: “From Beauty’s Edge: Adornment for the 21st Century” 
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHEN: August 4 – September 3, 2006  

“From Beauty’s Edge: Adornment for the 21st Century” explores contemporary adornment as interpreted by thirty of the world’s most innovative artists. The cutting edge of jewelry artists from Europe, Asia and the United States will be featured.

New York based art curator, Charon Kransen, returns to Patina after almost four years with a collection that reaches beyond conventional notions of jewelry. “This work is really about beauty, but not in a familiar sense. I am only interested in work that transmits something unusual, or unique. It must have a quality of personality that is often absent in more traditional jewelry….”

Kransen was born in the Netherlands and studied art in Israel, Germany and Norway. Now based in New York City, he is a respected art visionary with more than thirty years of international curating experience. 

The artists he represents work not only within the medium of jewelry, but other design fields, too. Among them are furniture and fashion designers, textile artists and product designers, as well as crafts persons creating decorative objects. Many are not “bench” jewelers, per se, but working artists with successful commercial careers. Describing the artists Kransen says, “These are people who use adornment as a means to bring out qualities in the wearer that cannot be evoked in any other way.”

The collection he brings to Patina represents a broad spectrum of materials and styles. Refinement, reduction and elegance are here, and so are the outrageous, the sculptural and the bold. 

From wool felt and rubber to platinum, polymers and high karat gold, this is jewelry defined by a level of value and experience that may have nothing to do with materials. It is innovative design at its best, challenging the viewer to expand notions of beauty and ornament.

WHO: Michael Zobel, German jewelry artist
WHAT: Zobel 2006
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: June 29 – July 2, 2006

For the sixth time in seven years, German artist Michael Zobel and Atelier Zobel brings over two hundred of their newest masterworks to Patina Gallery. During this three-day event, the gallery will be dazzlingly transformed and the only jewelry displayed will be Atlelier Zobel’s.

Scheduled to coincide with the opening weekend of the Santa Fe Opera’s 50th season, Zobel is designing a special group of masterworks based on Carmen  and TheMagic Flute.

The influence of Zobel’s style is now seen in the work of many younger artists. Still, no one can match his distinctive essence, an exuberant elegance blended with artistry and exoticism.

Whether working in oxidized silver, platinum or his many shades of gold, his pieces are uniquely sensuous and classical. His delicate scatterings of diamonds are signature. They accent an array of rare gems and unusual minerals. Collectors from all parts of the globe recognize Zobel as one of the most important jewelry artist’s of our time.

In 2005, Michael Zobel announced the exciting news that long time associate and protégé, Peter Schmid, had become proprietor of Atelier Zobel. This year Schmid offers his own designs as part of the Atelier Zobel collection.

WHO: Michael Bauermeister
WHAT: “Vortex 2006” carved, wood sculpture
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM  87501 
WHEN: May 5 – June 4, 2006

Imagine wooden columns, taller than a man.  Broad at the top and tapering to the base, one is first impressed by stature and scale; they vary in height from a few feet to taller than eight. Then one discovers their surfaces, the pattern and detail, so that each is distinct from the others. These are Missouri artist, Michael Bauermeister’s, latest pieces. Patina hosts a first ever Santa Fe exhibition of his work, “Vortex 2006. “

The vortex form is found throughout indigenous cultures, as a stylized human depiction, and throughout nature, too. It is the spiral, the infinite vortex and golden mean with no end and no beginning. Here, it is a powerful construction, a massive, three-dimensional equivalent. Sometimes it towers, sometimes it undulates and sometimes it is dappled with pattern as though light plays on the surface, but the essential form remains. It is there, in much of this work.

Bauermeister offers this quote from French artist, Louise Bourgeouis:

“The spiral is an attempt at controlling the chaos. It has two directions. Where do you place yourself, at the periphery or at the vortex? Beginning at the outside is the fear of losing control; the winding in is a tightening, a retreating, a compacting to the point of disappearance. Beginning at the centre is affirmation, the move outward is a representation of giving, and giving up control; of trust, positive energy, of life itself.”

Bauermeister is careful to balance his vision with the native quality of the woods he employs. Close inspection reveals a variety of textures and pattern. Some is applied by carving into the surface, while some is intrinsic to the wood itself. Sometimes the pieces are planed to create faces and edges that run from floor to shoulder. There is variety here.

Bauermeister’s home and studio is a former general store near the banks of the Missouri. It is one of the few buildings still standing in a town forgotten since the 30’s, when after repeated floodings, the inhabitants moved on. The work of this artist is highly physical, cutting, gluing and clamping the graded rings of wood, then carving and painting to finish the pieces.

For relief from the demands of the studio, Bauermeister retreats to the Southwest, where water, wind and time have carved monuments of their own. The landscape there provided context to the ancient cultures that honor the infinite and timeless, and the energy that is “life itself.” The inspiration is obvious.



WHO: Ivan Barnett
WHAT: “In the Garden” metal garden sculpture
WHERE: Patina Gallery, 131 W Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501
WHEN: April 7 – April 21, 2006

Ivan Barnett opens his first exhibition in three years with a new group of garden sculptures. Influenced by 18th century weathervanes, these signature works blend the folk tradition of his native Pennsylvania with strong, contemporary design. Recognized as one of the first modern American craft artists to revive and interpret traditional American folk forms, Barnett is among the few living artists represented in the permanent collection of Santa Fe’s Museum of International Folk Art.

These newest sculptures are compositions of stylized symbols, human and animal forms, cut from fine gauged, oxidized steel. When creating this work, Barnett hand cuts his shapes and arranges them in layers, building up assemblages, or collages. He then paints them using specially mixed pigments. The texture and rich surface of the rusted metal impart a grainy, warm tone to the color, lending these works an aged, weathered quality. His sculptures suggest the folk art of an earlier era, except that they are fresher, spun in an exciting, distinctly contemporary way.