Hannah Holliday Stewart (1924 - 2010) had her work exhibited in over 40 venues including The Smithsonian, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Art; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and others. Her work and her career were instrumental to the increased recognition of women sculptors in the United States. The International Sculpture magazine wrote :

"(She) forged the way for serious women sculptors. Uniting Greek mythology and contemporary energy concepts ... (her) work fuses both primitive and futuristic sensibilities."

At a time when the art world marginalized women artists, she chose to create her own world from metal and stone and helped lead the way for a generation of women sculptors. Though she had achieved a high level of success and recognition, she eventually turned her back on the art establishment and continued to work in isolation for the last twenty years of her life. After her death in 2010, sculptures, consisting of work that spanned her entire career, were discovered in her studio - from pieces that are only a few inches tall to one bronze that is over nine feet.

A written statement discovered in one of her notebooks eloquently records her own thoughts on the origins and principles underlying her art work:

When I was eight years old, I asked my mother what the wind really looked like. I remember spending hours ... days ... sitting with my hands open wide or running with my lightning-bug jar, hoping to catch the wind. I wanted to SEE the wind, that magical force that could bend the huge oak tree in a summer storm, gently caress me on a hot summer day or sing to me as it played through a tree or around the house.

This early interest in natural forces has sustained me throughout my life as a sculptor. My goal is to render visible the hidden realities of pent-up contained energy. The direct fields of reference are Sacred Geometry, Astronomy, Myth & Physics ... Each Sculpture is an energy form, the movement arrested in space, a form sustaining an energy. My work is a response to these patterns and delineations and communicates with viewers through the universality of symbolism and form.

The Matthews Gallery is pleased to show this pioneering artist and reacquaint the world with her work. If you would like to learn more about Hannah Holliday Stewart, we have created a website dedicated to her life and work which includes a 163 page online catalog of her work. Click Here to visit the site.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love" offers a moving and thoughtful way for artists and all creative individuals to envision the creative process in these challenging times. If you or any of your friends are questioning your life as an artist watch this and be comforted and inspired and share with anyone you know who needs reassurance.

We were pleased to be featured in the December issue of the Santa Fean in an artilce titled: "Collector's Choice". The article, which begins on page 32,  talks about galleries which feature "high end" art. We fit that category because we show by artists such as Modigliani, Matisse, Leger, Miró etc. but we also show established contemporary artists as well.

The article does point up the fact that Santa Fe galleries are increasingly showing art genres that are broader than the "Southwestern" category.

To read the article click on the magazine icon below and scroll to page 32.

#Sculpture by Robert Hinds and cast shadows recently in the late afternoon #Santa Fe sun

 

For over 25 years Jamie Chase has been creating memorable paintings. His continuing exploration of the human form is on display this year in one of our gallery's most anticipated exhibitions.
 
"Time Capsules" brings together 26 new works by Jamie and those of you who have followed his work over the years will notice some innovative new variations on his style and themes.
 
Join us for the opening of this exciting and memorable show this Friday September 2nd and meet Jamie from 5- 7 pm at the gallery. Can't make it? Click this link to preview selected works from the show.

We have just released an online catalog in conjunction with Kate Rivers' solo exhibition of new mixed media works.

Ms. Rivers' show opens Friday, August 5th and continues through August 18th. The artist reception for Ms. Rivers is from 5 - 7 pm August 5th - join us to see this great new body of work

Just added this iconic Miro lithograph to the gallery inventory. It has one of the best titles in all of art history. The French title is: Le chien aboyant à la lune reveille le coq le chant du coq picote le crane du fermier Catalan posé sur la table à coté du pourron. Or in English: The dog barking at the moon wakes the cock, the song of the cock pecks at the head of the Catalan farmer resting on the table by the flask of wine.

This lithograph is number 12/80 of the signed limited edition (not the ubiquitous Verve edition).

In conjunction with Michael von Helms' solo exhibition, "The Ongoing Present Moment", which opens this Friday July 15, we have published an online catalog. The catalog has information on all the paintings in the show which is a survey of 21 year's of Michael's work. Click the above image to view the catalog in full screen

 

Above: FERNAND LEGER (1881 - 1955), Composition aux Deux Personnages, 1920, lithograph

We are featured in today's ArtInfo article - Guide to the Santa Fe Gallery Scene - along with some other great galleries. Read the story here.

Michael von Helms, "The Ongoing Present Moment: Paintings 1990 - 2011" opens at the Matthews Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico July 15 and runs through July 28, 2011.

Michael von Helms paintings are a rhythymic and passionate dance of line, forms and color. Working in the tradition of abstract expressionism, Michael has created a body of work over the years that is powerful and sophisticated and accomplished. This exhibition brings together a survey of his paintings from the last 21 years that display the depth and range of his considerable talent.

ARTIST INTERVIEW:

MG: This show covers more than 20 years of your work. How do you feel your work has changed over the years?

MvH: I think the work is more controlled now, from a technical standpoint, than it was in earlier years. I also now sometimes paint over a painting 3 to 4 times during a five to ten-year period. Therefore they are perhaps more worked but I still think they are as vibrant and active.

MG: What inspires you to begin a new painting?

MvH: Pain. I hesitate from time to time to begin because it's too difficult. When the avoidance of going to the studio becomes more painful than the painting itself I will begin again.

MG: How do you begin a painting?
    
MvH: After priming the canvas I generally throw color on it and mop it off with towels or brushes or paper and from that I begin drawing, sometimes elaborately and sometimes just a few lines. Then I'll rotate the canvas and begin the process again. I rotate the canvas through all of the axes and then start to make marks using charcoal or an oil stick. After the surface acquires some form of mature stability within the process, I select an area and begin to repeat the entire process until I feel the painting is completed.

MG: What are the physical aspects of making a painting?
    
MvH: Applying the paint itself is comprised of larger and smaller strokes, thousands of them, and it is at times exhausting. Depending on my mood, I either attack or court the canvas. There is a moment when the brush is loaded with just the right amount of paint and the pressure you apply is just right that the tactile sensation becomes sensual.

MG: What part does emotion play in the nature of your work?
    
MvH: I am always aware that emotion drives me rather than pure intellect or reason. Emotion initiates the energy necessary to begin a painting. There is a general anxiety in making the work that comes about because of the uncertainty of whether I will find a resolution. Initially it makes me work with great speed and large gestures. Further along in the process I settle down into a contemplative response to the challenge. This is true of all my work.

MG: Do you see a relationship between your painting and other art forms?

MvH: Theater, because my painting is a record of the visual dialogue that results from a continuing conversation with myself  - processing emotions and abstract thoughts. You are asking a question and the painting is the answer.

MG: What do you want a viewer to come away with after having seen your paintings?

MvH: My job is done when I finish the work, the viewer's begins when they see the work. So I hope they can approach it with an willing and open mind, allowing themselves to appraise the work with open eyes and hearts.

MG: What makes a serious artist?

MvH: Commitment and the willingness to struggle like Jacob with the angel with the larger questions that art poses.

MG: What do you feel are the qualities an artist must have in order to be successful?

MvH: An artist must have courage and be tenacious. An artist must be willing to destroy everything he's done up to that point in order to begin again if he feels the canvas itself is questionable or incomplete. An artist must do the work, he must go to the studio and spend time and a considerable amount of effort to achieve anything.

MG: You have devoted a major part of your life to making art. Why do you feel art is important?

MvH: It seems to me that man reaches one of his higher levels of achievement by the act of creation and this counterbalances the chaos inherent in any age. Art is a way to oppose life's darker aspects by showing a reflection of that chaos or a creating a more ennobling alternative. There is a holiness in doing creative work that is absolutely compelling and it draws me on from day to day.

To View the Online Exhibition Catalog Click Here.

To See Michael von Helms' paintings Click Here.