Photo by Bill Diven

Sharon Schwartzmann
Signpost featured artist of the month

Layering thought and oil

—BILL DIVEN
In her decades as an artist, Sharon Schwartzmann rarely strayed from oil and canvass.

Maybe a little monotype work here, a touch of collage there, but always oil and canvass.

“Everyone I know is painting on wax paper or doing mixed media to the max,” Schwartzmann said. “I'm just an old-fashioned painter.”

A simple sister of the brush, perhaps, but one who places strong figures against bold backgrounds spread across large canvasses. The expressionistic result may reflect little of where the painting began as elements move, appear and disappear through successive layers of thought and oil.

“I kind of like the danger of that,” Schwartzmann said. “To lose something in hopes of getting something more expressive.

“I just don't want to settle for what I think other people can do.”

Painting in a converted Corrales barn, Schwartzmann can be whimsical deciding a pair of goat legs aren't finished until dressed in pantaloons. Often she wanders through the layers as in another work not liking a chair on one side so it becomes a figure while the figure already in the image becomes a chair.
But the work remains a puzzle until four lines from an oil stick imply floor and walls.

“So she now has psychological space as well as real space,” Schwartzmann said.

The Washington state native said she always managed to paint during the years of child rearing, work and life changes that followed her 1973 degree in art technique from Mills College in Oakland, California. The commitment to art strengthened in 1992 when she left the West Coast for Santa Fe and, five years ago, Corrales.

“In Santa Fe I started getting up at five o’clock in the morning and painting before work,” she said. “I always managed to keep the brushes wet.”

She also showed and sold in Santa Fe's Segretto Gallery before it closed and last year was as accepted into the New Mexico Women in the Arts juried show at the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts. She still works although now it's part time at Wadle Galleries Ltd. in Santa Fe.

While Schwartzmann doesn't consider herself a colorist, she uses strong color mixed and remixed and not necessarily in harmony.
“My palette is a mess,” she said. “My colors are never pure.”
Schwartzmann's work is not currently in galleries although she showed at the now-closed Arte Loca and Katrina Lasko galleries in Bernalillo. Her studio is open by appointment by calling 922-0642, and she markets her work through her own Web site www.sharonschwartzmann.com.

A sample of her work also can be seen on the Signpost Web site by clicking on the Featured Artist link at www.sandovalsignpost.com.

Entrance to Wine Country, oil painting, by Rudi Klimpert. Selected by the New Mexico Wine Festival by board to be the commemorative poster for 2006.

Rudi Klimpert wins poster competition for NM Wine Festival at Bernalillo

Mayor Patricia A. Chávez and the executive board of the New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo have announced the selection of Entrance to Wine Country, by Placitas artist Rudi Klimpert, as the commemorative art poster for the 2006 event. Mayor Chávez stated, “the painting was selected by a public vote, and is one of four finalist paintings placed in Bernalillo restaurants where patrons voted for their preferred selection.”

The image of a well-worn door suspended in the imagination of a traveler, caught in the beauty of a New Mexico landscape, leads the viewer through Entrance to Wine County. Of his image, Klimpert says, “I like to think of viewers standing eight or ten feet away to take in the painting as a whole, and then walking up close and discovering a whole other level of nuances that are hidden from afar.”

Maria Rinaldi, executive director of the wine festival, commented, “This image greatly enhances the collection of commemorative paintings that represent the tradition of New Mexico's wine-making heritage.”

Mr. Klimpert grew up in New York City and studied for four years at the famed Art Student League. He has lived in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Klimpert exhibits his work at the Canyon Road Contemporary Art Gallery, in Santa Fe, and in galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Salado, Texas.

Commemorative posters will be available for $10 on July 1. A limited edition of two hundred posters with the artist's signature will be sold for $20 each at the festival and at poster-signing events prior to the festival. The artist is scheduled to sign posters at the Bernalillo Farmers’ Market on August 18, and at Jackalope in Bernalillo on August 19.

The Town of Bernalillo MainStreet Association sponsors the New Mexico Wine Festival as an economic and tourism development project. The American Bus Association has named the event a Top 100 Event in North America. The New Mexico Wine Festival will be held on Labor Day weekend, September 2-4. Go to www.TownofBernalillo.org for festival details.

Rudi Klimpert is the longtime staff cartoonist for the Signpost. Congratulations, Rudi!

Calling all artists—July 21 deadline

The twenty-fifth annual Placitas Holiday Sale applications are now available on-line at www.placitasholidaysale.com.

This is an extremely popular juried art event to be held on November 18 and 19 in the village of Placitas at three locations: Placitas Elementary School, the big tent next to the Presbyterian Church, and Anasazi Fields Winery. You do not need to be an artist in Placitas to apply. A new requirement this year is that all images for jurying must be digital. All details are available at the Web site mentioned above. If you cannot get the application on-line, call Mary, at 867-5740, to have one mailed to you. The deadline for all applications is July 21.

Juried fine-arts show in Corrales calls for entries

Artists are called to enter the eighteenth annual Corrales Fine Arts Show, a New Mexico multi-media art exhibition and sale, in Corrales at the Historic Old San Ysidro Church, October 7 through 15. Jurying will take place on August 24. Entries will be accepted on Wednesday, August 23, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. and Thursday, August 24, from 9:00 a.m. to noon.

The works must be gallery-ready. There is a $30 entry fee (no refunds). For details and an entry form, please call Hope Grey, at 897-3942, or Deb Kennedy, at 344-2110.

Fine-craft artisans called for December Corrales show

Artists are called to enter the eighteenth annual Fine Crafts Show, a New Mexico crafts exhibition and sale in Corrales at the Historic Old San Ysidro Church from December 1 to 10. All fine-craft media are eligible. Jurying will take place on August 30. Entries will be accepted prior to August 26. There is a $30 nonrefundable entry fee. For details, please call Hope Grey, at 897-3942, or Deb Kennedy, at 344-2119.

Rio Rancho commemorative posters now available

Reproductions of the winning selection from Rio Rancho's 25th Anniversary Poster Contest are now available for purchase at the offices of The Rio Rancho Observer, Rio Rancho City Hall, Rio Rancho Chamber of Commerce, and all city-sponsored events. The cost for the “Visions of Rio Rancho”-themed poster is $10.

The contest was sponsored by the Rio Rancho Art Association, Department of Cultural Enrichment, and The Rio Rancho Observer. Artists submitted original art reflecting the many unique and distinct images that constitute the City of Vision. Early in 2006 a mayor's select committee selected seven finalists from submitted entries. Of those images, one was selected to be reproduced into a twenty-four-by-eighteen-inch commemorative poster to coincide with the city's twenty-fifth anniversary of incorporation.

Also available for purchase are sets of note cards containing all seven contest finalist images. A packet of seven cards can be purchased at all designated poster-retail sites for $7. For additional questions in regard to purchasing posters or note cards, you may contact the city's Cultural Enrichment Department, at 890-5015.

Wendy Day to play all-Chopin

Pianist Wendy Day will present an all-Chopin program on July 22 at 2:00 p.m. at Keller Hall, UNM Center for the Arts, in Albuquerque. Tickets for adults are $15; seniors and children, $5. For further information, please call 277-4597.

Historical Society to hold ice-cream social with jazz

The Sandoval County Historical Society will present a summer concert and ice-cream social on July 9 at 7:00 p.m. at the Delavy House in Bernalillo (on Highway 550, west of Coronado State Monument). Come tap your toes to the Dixieland music of the Howling Dog Jazz Band. Members are asked to bring cookies or cakes. Ice cream will be provided. The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 867-2755.

Anasazi Fields to host seventh poetry reading

The Duende Poetry Series of Placitas announces the seventh in its reading series at Anasazi Fields Winery of Placitas. “Shaking The Foundations of Poetry” will feature Bob Holman, from New York City, and Gary Glazner, from Santa Fe. The reading will begin on Sunday, July 23, at 7:00 p.m.

Bob Holman has been a central figure in the reemergence of poetry in our culture. The series he produced for PBS, The United States of Poetry, features over sixty established poets, from cowboy and traditional to slam. He has appeared on Nightline, Good Morning America, ABC News Magazine, MTV's Spoken Word Unplugged, and The Charlie Rose Show. For more information, check out bobholman.com.

Gary Glazner, author of How to Make a Living as a Poet, has been featured on NBC's Today Show, NPR's All Things Considered, and the Voice of America. Glazner is the author of Ears on Fire: Snapshot Essays in a World of Poets, La Alameda Press, which chronicles a year abroad in Asia and Europe meeting poets and working on translations. He’s the founder of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project and editor of Sparking Memories: The Alzheimer's Poetry Project Anthology. For more information, check out alzpoetry.com.

Anasazi Fields wines will be available for tasting and purchasing. Books by the poets will be for sale. Admission is free. Any donations will go to the poets.

The next reading in the Duende Poetry Series, on Sunday, September 17, at 7:00 p.m., will be “Blood On The Porch—Tales and Songs of the Real West,” with Mark Weber, Todd Moore, and Bayou Seco (Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie.

For further information, contact Anasazi Fields Winery, at 505-867-3062, anasazifieldswinery@att.net, or Cirrelda Snider-Bryan, of the Duende Poetry Series, at 505-897-0285, cirrelda@laalamedapress.com.

Get your licks on Route 66!

—DARRYL WILLISON
Well, it is that time of year again, when all of Bernalillo is abuzz with the scent of the Bernalillo Wine Festival in the air!
Art Gallery 66 will be participating this year by hosting a first annual Chocolate and Art Festival at its location north of 550 on historic Route 66. The event will run the same days as the wine festival, with the hours yet to be determined. The gallery will host several delicious chocolate makers, such as Señor Murphy and Eros Truffles, both from Santa Fe, who will have sampling available. AG66 and Señor Murphy are also talking about working together on a benefit for a local animal shelter. Rand Reed, owner of Señor Murphy Candy Company, said he'd be pleased to participate in a function that would benefit our four-legged pals.

Art Gallery 66 invites all chocolate makers to participate in the chocolate-and-art event by calling the gallery, at 867-8666, Fridays through Sundays. Art Gallery 66 will also have an artist open house, so that chocolate-eating guests can meet the artists whose art also makes us smile.

The gallery met with the Town of Bernalillo's community coordinator, Maria Rinaldi, who wholeheartedly supports AG66's chocolate and art event. The idea is to bring people into Bernalillo and keep them in Bernalillo to see all that it offers. Both the wine festival and the chocolate-and-art festival are open to all.

There is no fee to attend the indoor swamp-coolered chocolate-and-art festival, and there is plenty of free parking. Keep an eye out for ads for the event giving times of the festival, as well as any additions to the festival. Art Gallery 66 wants this to become as much a part of the Bernalillo landscape as the wine festival, and hopes to see the community come out and support its candy makers and artists.