Collector’s Focus: Farms and Barns
Chris Morel grew up in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians in rural Maryland and drew its farms and barns from an early age. Today he lives in Taos, New Mexico, still fascinated by farms and barns and by the vastness of the New Mexico landscape. Referring to farm structures he says, “The older the better. I want to capture the buildings before they’re gone.”
Late September Canyon Plaza depicts a typical scene to be found in the area with the house and farm buildings possibly still in use— you can’t always be sure. The rusting, peeling and sagging metal roofs are typical of northern New Mexico. The yellow chamisa is at its height complementing the blue green sage.
Dinah Worman, who also lives in
Taos, literally takes a different view of the landscape, stacking its forms into a geometric abstraction, the rolling landscape a geometric construction of forms with roads joining them vertically. Rectilinear buildings fit right in and cows are simplified to forms of black and white.
She began her stacked landscapes when she experienced the phenomenon herself while driving through Oklahoma. “There’s something about seeing something in nature that moves you enough to pull off the road to paint or photograph,” she says. The fields of Oklahoma caused “a shift in the way I was looking,” she explains. “It’s all about retelling the story rather than copying the story in front of you. My interpretation is more important to me than the scene itself.”
Kim Wiggins is a largely self-taught painter who paints the historical and contemporary life of New Mexico in a colorful, expressionistic way that is uniquely his own. There was something in the air near Roswell in southern New Mexico, where he grew up. His neighbors were Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth Hurd, daughter of the illustrator, N.C. Wyeth and sister of Andrew. Wiggins was able to take a masters class with her at Santa Fe Art Institute and credits her husband among his influences.
Springtime Along the Upper Rio Grande is full of Wiggins’ undulating, colorful forms. A farmer follows the curves of his field as he plows. Another farmer has driven his trusty pickup to the banks of the river to fish with his son. The river is enriched by snow melt from the nearby mountains and has
deposited fertile soil for millennia. Fruit trees flourish and vineyards dot its banks while the rocky walls of its gorge rise behind. Wiggins says, “a work of art must expand beyond the image to a timeless message that is central to both the quality and expression of the work. Throughout history the artist has sought to penetrate the surface of appearance to explore the intimate visions, passions and spirit of their cultural environment.”
The long history of the Rio Grande and its blending cultures animates the work of Nicholas Herrera who lives in northern New Mexico and descends from people who arrived there in 1598. He follows in the line of traditional Santeros celebrating the themes of his Catholic faith but addresses the perils of everyday contemporary life with compassion and often with humor.
San Isidro interprets the story of the San Isidro Labrador (Saint Isidore the Farmer) who lived at the turn of the 12th century in Spain. Isidro angered his fellow workers for always showing up late to work because he had gone to hear Mass. They complained to the landowner who went to the fields one day and saw an angel plowing the field for him. The painting shows the planted fields and the river behind with a grave yard honoring the generations who have gone before. San Isidro, who is said to have been over 6 feet, 5 inches tall is represented in a carved bulto standing behind two angels plowing with a team of oxen. He was made a saint in 1622 and is now the patron saint of farmers as well as the city of Madrid.