Chroma Studios Featured on the Channel 7 News Last Night!

We are so thrilled to have been featured on channel 7 news’ “Project Economy” last night! All thanks to a blog post on Duke City Fix! I couldn’t figure out how to imbed the video, but here’s a LINK TO THE VIDEO.

Of course, I gave a plug to the DCF, thanks again to all the great people at Duke City Fix that have given us such an awesome outlet for publicity!

They didn’t mention it in the story, but don’t forget, April 3rd, 6-10pm is our One Year Anniversary show! Open Studios and Artist reception, featuring the work of Paula Manning-Lewis and Chris Schelling, plus more art by all the other Chroma Studios artists!

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Tomorrow Night: The Real Matt Jones!

Singer/Songwriter Matt Jones will be performing at Chroma Studios tomorrow, Friday, March 20th at 7:00pm. He will be the second performer in Chroma’s new Intimate Concerts Series.
Matt Jones is a singer/songwriter that looks to the idiosyncrasies in life and magnifies them to the point where listeners say, “Oh yeah, I can see that.” Matt is originally from Albuquerque, NM and has performed in numerous areas all over the United States (he just needs to get the East Coast now) and in Canada. He would like his brand of light-hearted pop/rock to be challenging yet palatable in the ears of his listeners, and for them to be able to whistle his tunes the rest of the day.
The emphasis in Matts music is on songwriting, vocal ability, and rhythmic nuances. While Matts songs are resoundingly pop-oriented, he likes to entice listeners with interesting arrangements and subject matter. These elements tie together to make music that has great replay value, and is easy to remember.
Matt is currently touring with his latest musical effort, Passerby. Matt is a two-time New Mexico Music Industry Award nominee; in 2005 for Best Mainstream Rock song for his song Magic recorded with guitarist/producer Larry Mitchell (Tracy Chapman), and in 2006 for Best Rock/Alternative Song for his song Hang Around. Matt also played in the showcase for the 2006 Durango Songwriters Expo in Santa Barbara, and was also a featured performer at the 2004 Expo. Matt has shared the stage with a number of different artists including Paolo Nutini, Brett Dennen, Sister Hazel, Michael Martin Murphey and Matt has even opened for the great Rod Stewart. . .is this the Matt Jones for you?

One Year of Chroma Studios!

Next month marks the one year anniversary of Chroma Studios. To celebrate, we are opening the upstairs studios along with the downstairs gallery for First Friday. Besides all the killer art, we will have several musical acts playing in the gallery, out in the courtyard and upstairs on the patio! Featured artists for the month are Paula Manning-Lewis, co-owner/founder of Chroma Studios, and Chris Schelling, Chroma Studios artist.

There will be lots of new work from the other studio and gallery artists. Chroma Studios currently has 14 studio artists including Aaron Lewis, Sarah Rose, Don Miller, Marcie McKenzie, Jennifer Ruden, Carlos Contreras, Colin Hazelbaker, Amy Schelling, Chris Schelling, Brendan Gould, Terri Hansen, Spring Griffin and Paula Manning-Lewis. They are not only painters, they are musicians, poets, writers, mixed media, fabric, ceramic artists and photographers!

As always, there will be refreshments and plenty of friendly faces to answer your questions. It’s shaping up to be a late night event, advertised hours 6-10pm, but we will be here as long as there are people having a good time. Come on over and help us celebrate one year in business!

First Friday, March

This past Friday was our First Friday opening reception for March. Sarah Rose was the featured artist in the front gallery, with Astara Mills, Justin Simenson, Raine Klover and Bryan Beck showing in the back gallery. Spring Griffin, one of our newest Chroma Studios artists, showed her new series of vintage inspired paintings. We also carried last month’s featured artist, David Lloyd Stewart, into this month’s show.

Sarah Rose's work

More of Sarah's work

We had an awesome turnout, and as usual, I didn’t get many pics during the crazy busy times. Most of these photos were taken before people started showing up and after most, other than the artists, had left. I am happy to report that our receptions are becoming more and more popular, with regulars and new art lovers showing up in bunches! We even had the curator of the Albuquerque museum show up to see the show!

This month was all about young, emerging artists. Most are still students or just getting their art career going. I was very impressed with all our emerging artists and look forward to seeing where their art will take them!

Sarah and Moses (a very sweet 6 month old puppy)

Spring Griffin's work

Astara's work with David's sculpture in front

Aaron playing guitar for Astara

The artist's corner at the end of the night

First Friday, March 6th, 6-10pm: Featured artist, Sarah Rose

This month’s emerging artist show features the work of Sarah Rose, a UNM Graduate student and Chroma Studios artist. In addition to Sarah’s amazing oil paintings we have oil pastels by Astara Mills, photography by Justin Simenson, and a graphite drawing by Bryan Beck.
Along with the emerging artists, you will find the incredible work of last month’s featured artist, David Lloyd Stewart, who will show his work at Chroma for another month. I am happy to announce a new Chroma Studios artist, Spring Griffin, and her nostalgic acrylic paintings done on stretched vintage bed linens. Last but definitely not least, Raine Klover has brought us some of her new encaustic pieces.

The Clearing, Oil on board, raccoon, Sarah Rose

Sarah’s statement;

My painting has consistently exemplified my experience as friend and observer of various canine species which have inhabited my immediate natural surroundings where I have lived, both within the US and abroad. My environments have persistently been in a state of gradual decay due to human impact. In the extinct palm forests in the desert of Northern Bahrain; the rural Mississippi woodland; and in the Gila National Forest, I witnessed how feral dogs, coyotes, and wolves adapt to and suffer from disruptive human development. These disordered backdrops of afflicted desert and forest have heavily influenced my painting. As I walked with feral desert dogs, or tracked and observed coyotes and wolves, I collect imagery and decayed animal remains from the crumbling landscape and bring them back to my studio.

My living canine subjects usually appear in my work indirectly in the form of an alter-ego as I “ingest” my scavenged findings into oil painting compositions and mixed media pieces.

The focus of my current body of work is the amalgamation of paintings and sculptural representation by applying visual installation methods as used in natural history museum dioramas. I find that the combination of both two and three-dimensional pieces in an interpretive tableau is an effective response to my continuing canine-habitat experiences because I appreciate the notion that nothing in nature originates in isolation, but instead comes out of complex interrelationships. My subjects become myth-like as I display them in this fashion, particularly when my emotional interpretations are presented as scientific specimens, and this allows me to inject alternate meaning and anthropomorphism into my scavenged animal remains while uniting them with my paintings under a unanimous broader meaning, such as a conservationist’s perspective.