Tuxedo Hop - Laurel Peterson Gregory

“Nothing makes me happier than seeing someone smile and laugh with my work,” says Laurel Peterson Gregory. And her whimsical pieces of dancing creatures cast in bronze never fail to bring a smile or a laugh or a giggle to the surface.

“I want my pieces to lift the viewer and take them to a better place for a timeless moment,” she says.

A classically trained sculptor, Laurel has twice served as the director of the board for the La Scuola Classical Sculpture School. A love for figurative expression and for the freedom she finds in impressionistic interpretation inspire her creations.

Laurel’s exceptional ability to work with bronze has been honed in a variety of ways throughout her life. She earned a degree in Industrial Arts from Humboldt State University in Northern California, after which she took on a variety of jobs, including master electrician, building official, and finally sculptor.

Pause for Reflection - Laurel Peterson Gregory

Her uncommon ability to observe and capture motion in clean lines is the hallmark of her work. Her process always begins with careful observation of motion. After hundreds of sketches, she has honed in on a particular position that articulates the essence a movement. The animal she chooses to represent the movement is also carefully selected for its lines and ability to convey an emotion.

Laurel is also intimately involved in achieving the rich patinas her work is known for. She carefully applies multiple layers of chemicals and oxides to each piece. The range of effects she is able to pull from each piece is simply astounding.

Stop in at the gallery the next time you need to smile. Laurel’s pieces will never fail to bring levity to your day.

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Field Study- Cimarron Crossing - Bernard Marks

A born artist, Bernard Marks put his painting career on hold for much of his adult life as he pursued interests in the business world. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago and started an advertising and marketing agency, where he worked for many years. But his love of painting never quite loosened its hold on him.

In the 1990s, he began handing off some of his duties at the company he had founded and started devoting more time to painting. By 2003, he had moved to Santa Fe permanently and transitioned to the life of a full-time artist.

“While I was primarily a figurative painter at one time, my work gained a new focus after I moved to the Southwest in 2003 and began spending more time doing plein-air painting,” he says. “I’m especially inspired by the long vistas one experiences in the West.”

Workshops and mentorships with artists such as Robert Wade, Arne Westerman, Eric Wiegardt, Frank LaLumia, Alvaro Castagnet and Albert Handell helped him hone his skills over the years. Today he divides his time between plein-air painting and studio work.

“I would describe my work as ‘idealized reality,’” he says. “At least that’s what I strive for. If you compared one of my paintings to the actual scene that inspired it, you would have no trouble making the connection. But I believe you would also recognize what I’ve brought to the scene, which is a product of my emotional reaction, past experiences and color sense.”

Bernard’s work can be found in the gallery throughout the summer. He is also excited to be one of four Waxlander artists participating in the Quick Draw at Passport to the Arts on Mother’s Day weekend. Andree Hudson, Barbara Ivey and Cheryl Koen will join him in the event, and each artist will be asked to produce an original work in just 30 minutes. The finished pieces will then be auctioned off as soon as the paint is dry. We hope to see you there!

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Hidden Gate - Phyllis Randall

An East-Coast Girl Finds a Home Away from Home

Sketched in bold relief, Phyllis Randall’s pastels distill the colors, shapes, and shadows of the Southwest, casting them across the canvas with a hint of whimsy.

A self-proclaimed East-Coast girl from Maryland, Phyllis first visited the Southwest in 1993 and promptly fell in love. When she returned to the East Coast after that fateful trip, she began experimenting with the bold colors and shapes she had experienced in New Mexico, working first in oils and then switching to the more vibrant medium of pastels.

“I was smitten on my first visit to Santa Fe,” she says. “The light and shadow captured my heart, and the organic adobe architecture fired my imagination.”

A graphic designer by trade, Phyllis soon found herself devoting more and more time to painting, unable to get the shapes and colors of the Southwest out of her head.

“My years of working in advertising and graphic design shaped my geometric style, and the exploration of this mysterious architectural form illuminated by the sun set my imagination free,” she says.

Looking-Up - Phyllis Randall

New Directions

We welcomed Phyllis into the Waxlander family in December of last year. She was a part of our hugely successful online art auction early this year, and she will join artists Marshall Noice and Sangita Phadke in our first ever group pastel show, entitled Not Your Mother’s Pastels, in early June.

While her past pieces have tended toward exploring the lean architectural lines and vibrant colors of the Southwest, her latest body of work, Pastel, Pigment and Passion, is a study of nature.

“From potted plants to wildflowers and overgrown weeds, my work is sprouting a new floral element and texture,” she says. She has also added to the work’s sense of the whimsical with the likeness of her cat, Velcro, who pops up in unexpected places throughout the pieces.

Sneak Peek - Phyllis Randall

Light Savers

Recent travels to the Mediterranean have inspired a new perspective on the use of light, which will be evident in her pieces in the pastel show.

“I studied how the different angles of the sun and the time of day influence the architecture—the diffused sun in Tuscany as opposed to the severity of the sun in Santorini,” she says. “The similarities and differences have sharpened my eye to the play of sunlight in Santa Fe.”

Randall describes her style as Cubism-inspired art meets architecture and her biggest influence as Georgia O’Keeffe. “It is her use of simple shapes and color that I relate to,” she says. “I’ve always felt that I saw things through similar eyes, that my mind breaks subjects down to their least complex and most basic forms, shapes, planes and colors, as depicted in most of O’Keefe’s works. Even her earliest paintings of New York City through her window have that basic quality of light and shadow, geometry and depth that I so admire.”

More than 20 years after first visiting New Mexico, Phyllis has not lost the sense of wonder that overcame her on that first trip. As the years have passed, her work has evolved and she has grown as an artist, but her love for the Southwest is still evident in every piece.

Best in Show

Not Your Mother’s Pastels will feature new work by Phyllis Randall, Marshall Noice and Sangita Phadke. The show will run from June 5-18, with an Artists’ Reception on Friday, June 8th from 5 to 7 p.m.

 If purchasing a piece off the blog, mention that you found the piece on the blog and get a special discount!

Angels of Tranquility - Richard Pankratz

Born with the soul of an artist, Richard Pankratz took a winding path to the life of a full-time artist. After graduating art school, he found, as all young artists do, that he needed to make money. When he accepted a job teaching high school art he didn’t think it would mean giving up his craft. But eleven years later he found himself still in the classroom and longing for the time to devote to his creative pursuits.

With the rise of the crafts movement in the 1970s, he saw an opportunity to return to his first love — art. Formally trained in painting, printmaking, and jewelry design, he took up the medium of clay and began experimenting with pottery and ceramics.

Now thirty years later, Richard has fulfilled his dream of being a working artist, and his work has expanded and grown through the years. He now works in wood and metal as well as pottery and ceramics, though he admits that clay is the medium he is most drawn to.

“In all the years I’ve been working as an artist, I have always been most enamored by the magic of clay—drawn to it as though it is part of my being,” he says. “If I push on clay it will conform to the pressure of my hand and record the imprint of my will. When subjected to fire, it becomes permanent and will survive long after I am gone.”

While he may love the malleable nature of clay, he also excelled in the metals. His series of bronze angels reveal his love for working in the metals and his expert ability to manipulate the medium.

Stop by our sculpture garden to see Richard’s angels in person. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the gardens, they come alive, revealing the unique depth of vision he infuses into each of his creations.

If purchasing a piece off the blog, mention that you found the piece on the blog and get a special discount!