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

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

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. 🙂

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

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

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

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.

Artist of the Week: Mickey Bond

Mickey’s Bio:

My paintings reflect my daily response to nature’s beauty, her dynamic forces and the mystery of creation. I work in two styles: abstract landscape paintings and mixed media abstracts. Though both derive from the same plein air experience, the landscapes evoke a sense of place and mood whereas the abstracts explore an essential aspect of nature such as the sea, sky and land.

My mixed media abstract series “Bottom of An Ancient Sea,” suggests sea life as it might have existed in a mythic, primordial state, when New Mexico was underwater perhaps. I’ve imagined a place of glittering light and motion where life forms are inchoate and elusive. I know that my imagery was deeply influenced by a swim last summer over coral encrusted rocks in Hawaii, where a sea turtle led the way. I’ve layered translucent handmade paper from Thailand and Japan featuring banana, mango and unryu (mulberry) fibers with casein, acrylic paint and acrylic mediums, to form diaphanous layers and passages where forms float and seem to sway.

An abstract expressionist, I prize mark making highly and allow my compositions to grow out of direct contact with my painting media. I do use brushes but mainly non-traditional such as scrapers, cloths, sponges, knives and primarily my hands. Painting outdoors, I think of nature as my collaborator deeply affecting me and the mediums I use, sometimes with surprising results. Last winter, I discovered by accident how to make ice crystal prints on the surface of clayboards. A technique known to watercolorists but new to me, learning how to capture these delicate patterns felt like a secret bestowed by nature. My current plein air series “Trees Listening for Winter” explores the use of translucent colored crystal prints as underpainting.

I was born in Israel to parents from Poland & Bulgaria and later raised in west suburban Boston. After attending Colgate University as an undergraduate , I spent some years in Ann Arbor where I received my MA in American Literature from the University of Michigan. I have lived in Santa Fe since 1994. In New Mexico, I am represented by Matrix Arts Santa Fe located at 429 Sandoval & Chroma Studios Gallery  600 1^st Street NW, Albuquerque. You may also see my work in Arizona at Straw House Gallery (520-869-8626), located in the historic Amado Territory Ranch, 3001 E. Frontage Road, Amado.

See more of Mickey’s work at http://www.mickeybond.com

Our next Art opening and reception!

To see the SnapShots ABQ show click HERE.

te’ zins is our next featured artist and his show will open on the First Friday in September, the 3rd, from 6 – 10pm. The show runs through October 23rd.

te’ was featured in this month’s Albuquerque the Magazine, thanks to Ashley M. Biggers for the incredible writing and publicity!

You can see his Paint People series HERE.

Check back here around 8pm for video footage from the opening!

First Friday at Chroma on Roma!

November 6th, 6-9pm, is the artist reception and First Friday opening for our November featured artist, Betty Dore, and her show “Mostly Koi”. Betty’s paintings of Koi and water lilies are just incredible! This is a show you won’t want to miss. We also have several new pieces by our gallery artists and a couple of new gallery artists showing with us starting this month. There will be refreshments as always, and live music in the performance space. Make sure to stop by and say hi!

Grand Opening a Hit!

This past Friday was our Grand Opening art show and open studios event. Most of the photos posted were taken before and after the show. I had planned to take more during the show, but the place was so crowded and I was so busy talking with our guests that I ended up putting the camera away.

The show was a huge success! Many people came by to see the space and ended up staying for the three hours to enjoy the art, talk with all the artists, enjoy a little food and beverages and many even left with a piece of art or two. I have been told by several people that this was the best art opening they’ve been to in some time. I would have to agree with that, even if I am a little biased. The art was amazing, the artists friendly, the refreshments yummy and the atmosphere in general was positive.

Thanks go out to everyone that came out to support Chroma Studios. Thanks to the guest artists that brought in their wonderful work, to the studio artists for all the hard work they put into getting everything ready, to the musicians(Aaron and Michael) that created a festive atmosphere and to our good friends Kathy and Benita that prepared the awesome food!

Chroma Artists from left to right, Michael(guest artist), Barak, Vashti, Josephine, Terri, Angelo, Aaron and Paula(Chroma Artists not pictured, Diane Reitz, Chris and Amy Schelling, guest artists not pictured, Ray Maseman, Jacqui Lewnes and Brandon Atencio)