SFCC’s Visual Arts Gallery presents Tangent/Trajectory

Released: January 15, 2020

Show featuring Don Redman and Christina Hall-Strauss opens from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14
The exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through March 26
(Closed for SFCC Spring Break March 16 through March 22)

Santa Fe Community College’s Visual Arts Gallery presents the exhibition, Tangent/Trajectory, which opens from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14. The exhibition features the work of sculptor Don Redman and painter Christina Hall-Strauss.

The two diverse artists will offer a showcase of art that conveys energy, light and motion.

Redman, who for the past 45 years created site-specific monumental sculptures for public, corporate and private collections throughout the world, was awarded a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2014.  His work consists of a wide variety of styles that reflect a classical sense of design and craftsmanship.

Hall-Strauss, who has been painting for 50 years, is in private collections internationally and nationally as well as public museums and institutions, including the New Mexico Capitol Arts Collection, the Acclaimed Artist purchase and the New Mexico Museum of Art. She is displaying a recent series “Sand Patterns” in the exhibition.

Redman’s artist statement:

“Great art possesses the power of visual seduction, repeatedly draws a viewer back to it and reveals itself more fully over time through its many layers and the viewer’s understanding. I have worked in a variety of techniques, including kinetics, to attempt this type of mastery.

I’ve been creating site-specific, monumental sculptures that use the interplay of gravity, centrifugal force, and balance. They are combined with the natural elements of wind, light and water to create complex kinetic objects, using materials including Corten steel, stainless steel, glass and Teflon.

I’m now exploring kinetics that don’t move mechanically in space, but create movement by virtue of the design of materials and interplay of light. The two-dimensional kinetic shadows change day-to-day. My ideas have evolved to create large-scale pieces that not only utilize the sun’s light to create shadows from the sculpture during the day, but also recycle energy and direct light back through the sculpture at night.

My goal is to create art with cultural significance that visually surprises the viewer and leaves a lasting impression, one that promotes an intimate connection between the viewer and the object.

Creating and installing public art becomes a life-giving way to engage the community.  Having lived in the Southwest/Sunbelt for 23 years, I have been drawn to making kinetic images that utilizes the immense resource of sunlight, for which this area is known.”

Hall-Strauss’ artist statement for her “Sand Patterns” series:

“My artwork explores the rhythms, tensions and harmonies of the natural world, reflecting my sensory perception of patterns, energies, atmospheres and relationships. I invite the viewer to experience the interplay of color and movement, form and texture in my interpretations of nature.  I work with the idea of above and below, seen and unseen, in my paintings.  By multiple layering, I create my rendition of this perception.

I was born in Tucson and have lived in Santa Fe since the mid-1970s.  The Southwestern landscape permeates my awareness of color and shape.  The cycling of the New Mexico seasons, flights of birds, native flora, the Río Grande and other rivers and arroyos, continually visit my paintings.  Travel intensifies my appreciation of the many forms and feelings in the world of nature.  Various Asian aesthetics in crafts and painting continue to be a great influence.

My recent series “Sand Patterns” began after many visits to Brittany, France. While walking the beaches there I became fascinated with the patterns I perceived in the movement and shadows in the sand. With those images in mind, I created paintings I called The Bretagne Series. Out of that series, the Sand Pattern paintings grew into a new way of expressing my love for the American Southwest, where I have lived all my life.  I wanted to explore on canvas the many movements and changing shapes encountered in those desert landscapes, and especially in the arroyos, the rivers, and the riparian vegetation growing along the banks.

My chosen medium is acrylic on canvas and works on paper.“

The Santa Fe Visual Arts Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday on the campus, 6401 Richards Avenue.  Special note: The Santa Fe Visual Arts Gallery will be closed during SFCC’s Spring Break from March 16 to March 22.  For more information about the gallery, contact SFCC’s Director of Art on Campus Linda Cassel at linda.cassel@sfcc.edu or 505-428-1501.

Santa Fe Community College celebrates its 40th Anniversary as the pathway to success for individuals and the community. SFCC provides affordable, high-quality programs that serve the academic, cultural, and economic needs of the community. The college welcomes over 10,000 students per year in credit, noncredit, workforce training, personal enrichment, and adult programs.
A “Best for Vets” and a “Military Friendly” school.

Visit sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1000.

Follow us:  Facebook | X (formerly Twitter) | LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram