“I want to make the ordinary extraordinary and depict beauty in the unnoticed and represent the ambience of a place and time that has a special, memorable, or familiar iconic presence. Many of the places I paint are rural scenes that include abandoned buildings that have a long history. I try to capture the beauty and a sense of time and place, focusing on light and shadow and the abstract qualities in the puzzling shapes that warp over a surface. I use the colors and tones, along with bright contrasting whites and shadows created by the hot sun. I was raised in Indiana but lived in Massachusetts, New York City, Europe, then Montana and Santa Fe. With 40 plus years as a dedicated painter I am still looking for complex and hidden compositions in the seemingly simplest of places.” Sheila Miles has exhibited in over 300 gallery and museum exhibitions, in 150 public collections, and is an art consultant, mentor, and teacher.

 

A native of Los Angeles who has lived in New Mexico on and off for decades, Wyatt Welker now makes his home in Santa Fe. Although originally a cartoonist, he now primarily paints portraits in acrylic, a medium often overlooked simply because it is bad. He soldiers on, however, driven by his current obsession with the human face. His favorite movie is the one where Anthony Edwards dies in the La Brea Tar Pits in the end.

 

Santa Fe artist working primarily in oils. For the past ten years Raquel's paintings have focused New Mexico churches, Southwest architectural features, and high-desert plant life. These have lead to her current series and original interest and passion: indoor still-lifes–be they traditional florals and fruit, or more quirky subjects. She grew up primarily in Oregon, Texas and Italy and spent several years in North Africa and France as a teen. Travel has always been a passion, but living in Northern New Mexico has awakened in her the fascination with light and shadows, color and form. She hopes this passion shows in the many subjects she paints.