A SEA in the Desert Gallery: July 4th

July 5, 2013

July 4th - work from Freedom

a SEA Gallery has taken on four wonderful, new artists: joining Robert Ensor in the Outsider Art category is Bill Kaderly whom I learned about through an article in the May THE Magazine. I drove to Gila, NM last weekend and saw Bill's gallery/studio/home which should qualify as a museum with fascinating creatures everywhere one looked, made from stones, branches and even some modern stuff that is sprayed from a can and has the look of cactus when finished: snakes, persons, birds, cats. One hallmark of "Outsider" along with self-taught, talented, acute sense of color, beauty and line, etc. is obsessiveness: the is no end to the number and variety of beings inhabiting Kaderly's space. I brought back a couple of dozen pieces, attempting a definitive selection and it is good and representative, but there is so much more
Liz Pawlak, a painter retired from a more economically calculable career has embarked on narrative paintings addressing global warming. Susan Jay's beautiful Retables are well know from the days of Guadalupe Gallery; working with tin and copper, her frames are totally part of the art work. Anne Russell's small elegant figurative ceramic sculptures are a perfect fit for the gallery, and so now we are complete!

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About our Gallery

A Sea Gallery has gone through several stages over a 10 year period. A Sea stands for "Association of Socially Engaged Artists" which began about 2002 with meetings of artist discussing the state of art in Santa Fe as well as politics of the United States and the world at this time. Most of the artists either were or had been political activists, against war, corporate exploitation, empire, etc. and committed to honoring the earth. Over the years since that time I have thought a lot about the artists roll as mirror to a society, addressing social ills and aspirations. It seemed the Santa Fe ‘art scene’ had become increasingly commercial: ‘successful artists’ making a recognizable product for wealthy private collectors or corporations. Much of the art shown was about prestige and investment. The art I was drawn to in major art centers in the USA and in Europe was deeper and more challenging than that. While Santa Fe may have more art galleries than the current economy can support I felt there is room for one more: a gallery of challenging work supported by the artists themselves- a Collective (rather than a cooperative) as the structure is evolving. It’s aesthetic philosophy: Art is shown because of its merit rather than salability. It has an owner (Monika Steinhoff) but no profits are taken out of the gallery. Artists participate in paying expenses, gallery sitting and decisions about running the gallery. Proceeds from sales are between 50 and 70% to the artist, depending on artist involvement. The gallery is small and can have up to 10 members. It has existed at its present location in the Railyard since July 1st 2011.