Part I

Retrospective of 40 to 50 years:  The reason for the variable is this:  50 years ago while a student in the PhD Literature program at UC Berkeley I finely (after long years of debate!) made up my mind to be an artist.  I had done a series of water colors from a trip to White Sands, put them up in my meditation closet,  looked at them altogether a few days later, and discovered:  I am an artist!    And from then on my path was clear and certain.  While still in the PhD program I pursued pottery, sculpture and batik.   40 years ago in Santa Fe I renewed that commitment, I was newly married and we had a son of 1 year old, and my art career took on it's next phase: one year of watercolors, one year of etchings and  the third year I began interiors of Santa Fe, restaurants, cafe's,  hotels, Indian Market etc. and even a series of the Balloon Fiesta.
After my 1st retrospective at St. John's college, inspired by a long somewhat disconcerting discussion with a an art critic working for the New Mexican, I began my series:  Journey of the Fool and changed from oil to egg tempera.right in the middle of a Master Class with Henriette Wyeth-Hurd, totally in a different direction from what she and her son Michael were teaching, uninspired by their more concrete almost scientific approach, I was catapulted into my fertile imagination.   Many woman artists feel they must devote themselves totally to art giving up motherhood and family to "get ahead" -    I felt different, all of life experiences are material for my paintings.  Being pregnant and having a child was an unforgettable experience and grist for  art.    My husband and I both having had some deeply traumatic childhood experiences, reached out to 3 other children through adoption, enriching ours and their experience.   And while my painting time became more limited, my concentration and discipline were deep and steady.was .  (next part while contain images as well.)

NMHU Painter's Exhibition at Kennedy Hall

A SEA Gallery artist, Monika Steinhoff will have three  pieces featured in the upcoming 6th Annual Painter's Exhibition at New Mexico Highlands University, from September 8th though October 31st of this year.   The first painting, "Early Meltdown "  was inspired by a trip to Alaska where her oldest son was starting  school at the University of Alaska, but wanted to snowboard at Valdez on his way. 
Steinhoff states:  "I love cross country skiing and took advantage of my time while my son pursued his favorite sport.  It was late January '97.    The foggy atmosphere and unusual warmth was both  magical and disturbingly dreamlike.    I skiied straight ahead (according to my compass)  mesmerized by the pools around the trees which mirrored small rainbows, to find myself facing a building that looked exactly like what I had left an hour earlier. How odd I thought.  It took me a few moments to realize i had skiied in a circle!    Later that year as I worked on this painting, I felt it was a clear sign of 'Global Warmng.' "

Early Meltdown

Head Above Water

Interrogation

Geier's show 6-21 to 7-23 2019

Yaa!  We are back in!      Now we are getting ready for a show of Friedrich Geier's new work,  (it is  brighter, more vibrant even than before). 

Opening on June 21, Friday 5 - 7 pm, and a gallery artist talk on Saturday between 3 & 5, discussing Geier's work and methodology.  How much planning drawing, revision does an artist do,  how much is intuitive trusting what comes through ones  psyche?  etc.    Refreshments will be served both days. 

A SEA Gallery was closed for 2 weeks due to my trip to Germany to be present at the Easter week subsitute Opening as we were unable to attend the original Opening of February 15th, 2019 due to a family emergancy.    Here are some of the paintings installed for one year at the Culturelles Historisches   Museum in Peenemuende where the V 2 Rocket was developed prior and during WW II.  Part I  of the show was the installation of  my Bronze of Werner Von Braun, commisioned by my father Dr. Ernst A. Steinhoff, in 3 editions (the first in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington  DC, the 2nd at the Von Braun House at White Sands Proving Grounds, NM).  As I understand fully that this period of German history is not popular, as Dr. Philipp Aumann, Musuem Director and Curator of the show, expressed to me, we agreed to exhibit my anti-war paintings along with the bronze.    As a student and graduate student at UCLA  and U C Berkeley in the PhD program in German Literature, I studied the Holocaust, WWI & II through it's Literature and also looked deeply at my own family history and experience of WW II (our family was bombed 13 times and I almost died from contacting Diptheria, Scarlet Fever and Whooping Cough) and our subsequent move to the USA through "Operation Paperclip"   without the adults, especially the scientists ever processing their role in being co-opted to support Hitler's war.  As an adult I became convinced there should have been some sort of  (not just "debriefing"   but moral examination and review of the Nazi conditioning that the families never totally lost and left deep scars in  psyches of parents and their off-spring of which i am one.  Once back in New Mexico to dedicate myself full time to being a painter a way of also processing and being witness to my life's  and present experiences, --- confronted by the existence in Los Alamos  of the Bomb,  [ the continuance of Von Braun's  and my fathers legacy (though they had turned long before to peacetime service to  society]  it's symbol, the Missile.

     

This is the first post since moving the gallery to our new location:  539 Old Santa Fe Trail   where A SEA Gallery has been since September 1st.  Organization is still ongoing especially in my Studio which is a separate building joined to the main by an enclosed  Pateo.  this allows me to paint un-interruptedly when I need to.    Here are some images of the new location (see next post).   

Ardell Rainwater

New Show Opening:                        Ardell Rainwater

A SEA Gallery Presents:

A "Pop Up" show for outsider, self-taught artist Ardell Rainwater.

Opening reception Friday, August 3rd, 5 - 7:30 pm; Closing Celebration August 18th, 3 - 5 pm.

"Hidden Gems Revealed"

Ardell Rainwater was born in a small town in Utah and has lived in several different states, including Alabama, Colorado, and California. Now a resident of Albuquerque, he is a self taught artist, who began with graffiti at the age of 14, and later stumbled upon canvas painting in a chance encounter.

"My subject matter is usually based on what is going on in the world at the time of painting . I often juxtapose original images and pop culture images together to convey my message. I've used images from television sitcoms like "The Simpsons" or the DeLorean from ''Back to the Future,'' all the way to reinterpreting childhood books like ''Where the Wild Things Are''.  Because I'm using references of current culture and events, I feel like one hundred years from now my artwork may not be relevant or it may not matter to anyone, but I know right now my art is new and is a new wave." 

(excerpt from artist statement)

Hans Harland-Hue

Current show                 Hans Harland-Hue 

Opening Reception: Friday, June 15th, 5-7:30 p.m. 

Harland-Hue's drawings will be on display June 9th through July 5th.

Hans Harland-Hue was born in Melbourne, Australia to an American mother and Vietnamese father. He has a dual American/Australian citizenship and makes frequent trips back to his homeland.

Hans is interested in changing the world through sustainable design and Biomimetic process. Biomimicry is the imitation of biological form and translating it into man made means. However, Hans’ focus is primarily on the metaphorical relationships between cellular structures and the urban environment. From this, he is interested in creating stimulus with given space through the movement of people. A cell can only grow with the transfer of nutrients from organelle to organelle just as people need to move from one place to another.

(excerpt from artist statement)

Familiar Faces and the Sought-After ReddOt - Paul Hillman

Please join us for an opening reception for artist Paul Hillman's works on paper:

Familiar Faces and the Sought-After ReddOt

on Friday, April 13th, 2018 at A SEA Gallery from 5 - 7 pm. The show will continue through May 21st.

Adam's Rib is Broken? 

New egg tempera painting by Monika Steinhoff








Just returned from 3 weeks in Europe [Germany and a quick trip to Innsbruck in Austria, where I drew the beautiful Alps, very high and colorful .]
I visited with Europian artist, Friedrick Geier two times who lives outside of MUNICH  in Feldenfurstbruck ("Bruck"  being a small (by European standards) river, also from the Latin root:  "brook" - an idyllic village, perfect for an artist studio.    His new work is even more vibrant in color and I will bring some pieces back when we visit him again May 2018.