Happy International Artist Day!
Iāve never lived anywhere with a prolific art scene, so I took advantage of Denverās while I was visiting, and went to the Sante Fe Art District. I went on a Friday, which turned out to be a decent day to visit, since a lot of the galleries and studios are not open most of the week. I would definitely recommend looking up gallery hours before planning a visit.Ā
I highly enjoyed strolling down the Sante Fe district and visiting galleries, and I found a few artists I really like.Ā
I grappled with the ethicality of posting pictures of someone elseās artwork here and on my bookstagram, but I concluded that if I do it the right way, it can only bring them more recognition. (By the way, Iām not profiting off this monetarily.) Iām only going to post one (or a select two) picture of an artistās work, and Iām going to provide links so you can check them out yourself.
If I were a kindly grandma, I would say that I was really impressed with the customer service at the Artists on Sante Fe gallery and studios. If I were one of those peppy optimists, I would say, āOMG, they were so nice!ā Unfortunately, right now, I canāt seem to conjure a happy medium, but you get the idea. One of the artists, Chris Jezzini, found out I like to do portraits, and she unlocked the upstairs gallery for me to see Yuta Okkotsuās artwork, since he only shows the first Friday of every month, and I went on the second Friday. Cue the gushy āOMG, so nice!ā I donāt have a picture of her work, and she doesnāt post a lot of it on her instagram, but sheās a super sweet person if you want to check her out on instagram: chrisjezzini2849 or on the gallery website.
Anyways, check out my favorite of Yutaās work: āGeorgia.ā
There is so much expression in the eyes and the mouth. He really brought her to life. I also really liked āAlison,ā so go to his insta to check it out.
Another artist I really enjoyed was James Garnett. I donāt usually gravitate towards pottery, unless they are portrait sculptures, but a lot of Jamesā work is very aesthetically pleasing.
Finally for the first gallery, I was attracted to Susan Helbigās more monochromatic, less colorful works. She mainly paints abstract, and I was drawn to the seeming visual simplicity of some of her pieces.
There were plenty of beautiful works in the Grace Gallery, including a lot of gorgeous photography, but one artist stood out to me: Christopher Schranck. Heās a mixed media artist who finds objects and incorporates them into his artwork. I couldnāt decide which piece I wanted to show you, so hereās two out of his vast array of artworks:
I was fascinated by the amount of texture Carrie MaKenna built up on her canvases. It adds an entirely new element to her work. Itās not pictured here, and I donāt remember the name of the painting (I couldnāt find it on her website either), but it had a feather on it that I could have sworn was made out of acrylic, dried, and glued on the painting. I could be wrong, because there was a group of people nearby, and Iām socially awkward, and didnāt want to linger and start a conversation, so I moved on quicker than I wanted to. As someone who has experimented with how to use dried paint chips, I was very interested in her work.
Artemesia was my favorite gallery that I visited. I loved almost every piece that I saw. It may be the smallest gallery on this list, but it definitely has high-quality exhibitions.Ā
One of the artists that kept attracting my eye turned out to be the owner of the gallery: Jeffrey Harrison. It was hard to decide on one painting to post; I decided on this one because it was the best picture I personally was able to take. But I was amazed by how he captured movement in his oil painting āArianrhod.ā It never ceases to enthrall me.
As is the case with most paintings, Bill Bateās looks better in person, since it really catches the light in a gallery. But the picture is still really cool.
Links to Bate’s work:
Street Art
I went to the Sante Fe Art District hoping for galleries open to the public. When I went, every gallery I went into was free, but I wouldāve gone simply for the street art. Here are some of my favorites.Ā
I hope you enjoyed some of these artists! If you did, go give them some love on their social media, and I hope you have a fantastic Artist’s Day!
