Category Archives: Art Studios

Chroma is Expanding!

Chroma Studios is expanding! We now have three locations, two with band studios and one with artist studios.

Our Band studiosΒ are located downtown on the NE corner of 1st street and Roma and near Nob Hill at 210 Manzano NE. There are a variety of spaces and rents(ranging from $200-600), totally secure with 24/7 access, central heat and air. We rent to all types of musicians and bands, and have a great community atmosphere. Availability of studios varies. We are usually full and have a waiting list, though with the new location, openings happen more frequently.

Contact Paula at 505-259-6320 for more info or to be put on our waiting list, or email me at paula@paulamanninglewis.com.

Chroma Studios was named the “Best New Business” in downtown Albuquerque at the annual 2009 LOOK awards. We are now in our 13th year of operation.

News Flash!

There are changes afoot at Chroma Studios. At the end of June we are giving up our lease at the Central location of Chroma Studios. The location will still be rented/used as artist studios, but someone else will be running it as a new business. Paula and Aaron have moved their studios home and will continue to run the Downtown location as band/music practice studios.

While we are a bit melancholy about leaving Central after 9 years, it was time to make a decision and the decision was that it was time to let it go. One of the conditions of leaving the lease was that the space would still be used as artist studios, because Albuquerque already has a shortage of space and we couldn’t bear the thought of closing it down completely after all these years. Paula is ready to work full time as an artist again and running the studios made that difficult.

Huge thanks to all the artists who made Chroma their studio home all these years! We appreciate you all! We like to look at it not as an ending, but as a new beginning. πŸ™‚

Studios Available!

We currently have 2 band studios and 2 art studios available!

Studios Available Downtown: (musicians/band location)

Studio #10: 11.5 x 13′ room, big enough for a 5-6 piece band, $250 per month, $250 deposit.

Studios #17: 10.5 x 11.5′ room, enough room for a 3-5 piece band, $225 per month, $225 deposit.

Contact Aaron at 505-908-1392 for more info.

Studios available on Central: (artist location)

Studio #2: 10 x 20′ room with a wall of north facing windows, $360 per month, $360 deposit. Available June 1st.

Studio #11: 10 x 20′ room, no outside windows. $315 per month, $315 deposit. Available Now!

Contact Paula at 505-259-6320, Aaron at 505-908-1392 or email at plewis11@comcast.net.

February Open Studios, Saturday 4-7pm

This Saturday is our monthly open studios event. Several of our artists will open their doors to the public. This free event is open to all! We invite you to stop by, look at the art, talk to the artists, get a peak at our behind the scenes workspace, buy a great painting you can’t live without, sign up for our email list, hang out on our roof top patio…..you get the idea! We are open 4-7 pm and we are located at 1606 Central Ave SE suite 201. We are located upstairs, sorry, no elevator. See you there!

Looking up at our window from the street below

The stairs

The stairs

The view from our rooftop patio!

The halls

Comfy place to sit in the reception area


Inside window

View from the couch!

Another angle


Landscape painting by Cynthia Zeedyk

Mixed media piece by Dee Alexandria

Spiral Abstracts by Paula Manning-Lewis

Flowers by Cynthia Zeedyk

Abstract paintings by Jamie Wynter

February at Chroma Studios

First off, I’m happy to announce that we are at 100% capacity. We have started a new waiting list, so if you are looking for a band or art studio, please contact us to be put on the list. Work continues on our plans for purchasing a building for Chroma Studios to expand into and if all keeps going as planned, we should have a new space and more studios to fill by May/June!

ChromaFEST is coming up soon! If you are an artist who would like to participate, remember, our submission deadline is February 15th. For more info, see THIS POST. It’s looking like there will be room for everyone so far! Get those submissions in as soon as you can, we have to start promoting the show in March, so I can’t take late submissions.

Our crowdfunding campaign is getting close to launching. We hope you will be able and willing to help us spread the word! There will be lots of great rewards for your donations, including tickets to our ChromaFEST show on April 8th.

Saturday, February 18th is this month’s Open Studio event at our Central Art Studios location. We have changed the times to 4-7pm to make it easier for everyone to make it. We look forward to showing you around the space and the art. Please stop in and say hi!

 

January Open Studios

This Saturday from 4-7pm at our Central Studios, 1606 Central SE, suite 201. We have a couple new artists this month. We look forward to showing you around and showing you our art work! 

This is a short post today, my husband and I are currently at the hospital waiting for our first grandson to be born! Needless to say, I’m having a hard time concentrating on anything else right now. Come see me this Saturday and I will probably have photos to share! Have a great rest of the week!

Prime Artist Studio Available!

North facing windows

North facing windows. With the door hanging system taken down.

This is one of our prime studio spaces! It has been continuously occupied for the entire 8 1/2 years we have been here. The last time it was available was 6 years ago! The space is 10 x 20′, which is our largest room size. The windows wrap around 180 degrees and the majority of the windows are north facing.

West side of the room with the hanging doors up

West side of the room with the hanging doors up

One of the previous tenants made the cool door hanging system you see in front of the windows, for hanging art, since the windows take up lots of wall space. This space rents for $360 per month with a $360 deposit. Rent includes utitilities, wifi and reserved parking. Contact Paula at 505-259-6320 for more information or to schedule an appointment to see this great space! No doubt it will rent fast! πŸ™‚

East side of room with doors hanging

East side of room with doors hanging

Chroma Open Studios: Saturday, Sept. 17, noon-5pm

Reception area at Chroma Studios

Reception area at Chroma Studios

This Saturday from noon to 5pm I will be opening my studio to the public. Not just my studio, but 3-4 other artists in my building will also be here to show their work! It’s been years since we opened Chroma Studios to the public and I am so excited to share all the color and energy with you all! We have 11 studios in all, though not everyone is able to be open this time around.

We have 2 studios that are currently being moved out of, so we also have 2 studios opening up for new artists at the beginning of October. If you are looking for an art studio, stop by and see what we have available! We are always happy to welcome new artists into the Chroma Studios fold. πŸ™‚

Mixed Media by Dee Alexandria

Mixed Media by Dee Alexandria

I recently moved into a new studio that I’m sharing with another artist. Dee Alexandria has been a friend since we first met selling our art at the New Mexico State Fair almost 10 years ago! We decided to share a studio because neither of us needed a big studio to ourselves. Plus, it’s nice to have company in the studio. So often, artists are isolated from their peers. That is one of the things about Chroma Studios that makes it so nice! We have a community of artists here that help each other out. Mine and Dee’s work compliments each other perfectly as we both love color, flowers and spirals!

Landscape painting by Cynthia Zeedyk

Landscape painting by Cynthia Zeedyk

Cynthia Zeedyck is another artist who will have her studio open this Saturday. She is a lifelong artist with 45 years of training and experience in the arts, including: Fine Arts, Appalachian Arts, Poetry, many styles of Dance, Wildcrafting Herbs, and Poetry. Cynthia was awarded with an Apprenticeship Grant from Ohio Arts for Traditional Heritage Basket Making. Her works sold both nationally and internationally. She was the largest female producer of Heritage Berry Baskets in the world. Her designs and creations include landscape paintings, floral and contemporary. Newest works in Scrimshaw. Cynthia has been a Chroma Artist since 2014.

Mixed Media by Robert Medina Cook

Mixed Media by Robert Medina Cook

Robert Medina Cook has been a Chroma Studios artist off and on for at least 5 years. He began his journey in the creative arts over forty years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A native New Mexican whose local family roots go back centuries in Northern New Mexico, in 2012 Robert was one of 7 artists honored for their excellence in the arts by being proclaimed a “Local Treasure” by the Albuquerque Art Business Association. Featured in several publications, his artworks have won numerous awards and can be found in corporate, museum, public art and private collections throughout the US and abroad.

Mixed Media by Phillip Vigil

Mixed Media by Phillip Vigil

Phillip Vigil (Jemez Pueblo/Chiricahua Apache) is a fourth-generation artist residing in Jemez Pueblo. He is new to Chroma Studios. He is a self-taught artist and has been working seriously on his art now for several years. He always had a love of art since he realized at a young age that the paintings on the walls were done by members of his family. He is highly influenced by the abstract modernists of the early and late 20th century. He works a lot on paper with oil pastels, oil sticks, oil paint sticks, spray paint, oil and acrylic paint as well.

Open Studios Event!

Starting in September, we will have a monthly open studios event at our Central Ave. location. This is the place where we have our art studios. There are 11 studios with 8 artists, at least 4 of us will be opening our doors to the public on the 3rd Saturday of the month, from 12 noon to 5:00pm. We are located at 1606 Central Ave SE, Suite 201, very close to UNM, about a block west of University Ave.

The first open studios is happening on September 17th, hope to see you there! πŸ™‚

Art Studio available

Our premier, large, windowed art studio is NOW available! 10 x 20′ room with two large, tall windows. $375 per month, $375 deposit. Contact Paula at 505-259-6320 for more info or to schedule an appointment to see space.

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North facing window