SUrFaCE
emerging artists of new mexico
JUNE 12 - JULY 26, 2025
HArWooD ArT CENTEr
SUrFaCE
emerging artists of new mexico
Harwood Art Center
June 12 - July 26, 2025
Curated by Helen Atkins, Jordyn Renteria and Julia Mandeville
COVER: Inga Hendrickson, these cracks weep, aqua resin on plywood, silicone and plastic tubing, plastic buckets, galvanized steel trough, 60” x 80” x 30”, 2025; Page 5: SURFACE 2025 Installation, Photos by Aziza Murray & Harwood Art Center, All Rights
Harwood Art Center is pleased to present SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico and Oops, Blurt by Inga Hendrickson. SURFACE is an annual juried exhibition, endowed awards and professional development program presented by Harwood Art Center, to support the creative and professional growth of emerging artists and to expand their visibility and viability in our community.
This year’s SURFACE exhibition in Harwood’s Hall Gallery features Benjamin Tobias, Chris Kemler, Christine Sullivan, Desara Boehm, dylan lilla, Geo Evans, Jared Putnam, Latasha Hagan, Linden Eller, Marie-Pier Frigon, Maya Perez, Ocelotl Mora, Olivia Berkey, Roxanne Márquez and Yu Yan.
Each year one artist receives the Harwood Art Center Solo Exhibition Award, presented for artistic excellence, originality of vision and dedication to practice. The selected artist works for a year with support from Harwood staff to make a new body of work to exhibit the following year during our SURFACE Emerging Artists program at Harwood. In SURFACE 2024, Inga Hendrickson received the Solo Exhibition Award, and this year, showcased her work in the Front gallery.
SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico is dedicated to cultivating the creative and professional growth of artistic talents and to expand their visibility and viability in our community. Each year Harwood Art Center invites emerging artists from around New Mexico to submit their artist materials and artworks for consideration. Invited SURFACE artists are eligible for four named awards and a solo gallery exhibition award, and all receive a $250 honorarium for their participation.
SURFACE is open to individuals working in any media and from diverse creative fields, including drawing, painting, printmaking, jewelry making, fashion, design, architecture, digital media, etc. We encourage submission of new and / or experimental works. Harwood takes a broad approach to “emerging artist,” and applicants are asked to self-identify with this description. Applicants must be currently living, working and/or studying in New Mexico.
SURFACE artists enjoy a seven-week exhibition in Harwood Art Center’s Hall Gallery throughout June and July. Artists also participate in a private day-long professional development workshop. Workshop sessions are led by professional artists, gallerists, public relations/communications specialists, curators, and local media, and focus on refining artist statements/ written materials, developing a web and communications presence, audience and collector cultivation, as well as an exhibition walkthrough with feedback provided on each artist’s work.
Harwood has a generous community of supporters, funders and partners. With support from the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, New Mexico Arts & National Endowment for the Arts, and the McCune Charitable Foundation, we are able to present the SURFACE Emerging Artists of NM Award & Microgrant of $250 to each artist.
As part of our mission to cultivate the growth of artistic talents in our community we recognize our artists with awards. Some awards are endowed with honoraria and opportunity, while named awards recognize the unique talent within each cohort and honor the legacy of creatives who have been integral to Harwood’s community.
2025 SURFACE Emerging Artist Award
Each participating artist receives the SURFACE Emerging Artist Award which recognizes their dedication to practice, unique vision, and exemplary talent. Building on Harwood’s ongoing missional commitment to value the arts, artists, and labor, with their award SURFACE artists receive a $250 honoraria.
Reggie Gammon Award: Since 2011, Harwood has honored the memory of painter, printmaker, and longtime member of our creative community, Reggie Gammon, by recognizing and presenting an endowed award in his name to a New Mexico-based emerging artist of exemplary caliber, character and dedication.
This year’s recipient is an oil painter, photographer, and art teacher who has been making artwork in some form since he was a small child. The 2025 Reggie Gammon Awardee is Geo Evans.
Marion & Kathryn Crissey Award: The Marion & Kathryn Crissey Award was established and endowed to support the endeavors of emerging artists who demonstrate a commitment to their artwork, their on-going education, and the community in which they live.
The practice of this year’s recipient is rooted in research-driven projects that explore the complex layers of migration, displacement, and memory. The 2025 Marion & Kathryn Crissey Awardee is Yu Yan.
Meghan Ferguson Mráz Award: The Meghan Ferguson Mráz Award celebrates an emerging artist based in New Mexico who explores themes of personal and social significance, exhibits noteworthy care for and skill in their craft, and invites reflection on connection, compassion, and gratitude.
This year’s awardee collaborates with willing friends and family to capture authentic moments of vulnerability, joy, and contemplation. The 2025 Meghan Ferguson Mráz Awardee is Latasha Hagan.
Valerie Roybal Award: The Valerie Roybal Award recognizes an emerging artist based in New Mexico who – with Valerie’s spirit of curiosity and courage – channels identity, circumstance, and experience into creative practice, generating work that considers transfiguration, metamorphosis, or transmutation.
The recipient of this year’s award draws on her experiences within ecological research to create art that incorporates themes of decomposition, hidden microbial life, and healing. The 2025 Valerie Roybal Awardee is Roxanne Márquez.
Harwood Solo Exhibition Award The Harwood Solo Exhibition Award is presented annually for artistic excellence, originality of vision, and dedication to practice, and culminates with a show concurrent to SURFACE in the following year.
This year’s recipient explores the emotional depth of the human experience and the pursuit of balance. The Solo Exhibition Award winner is Maya Perez.
BENJAMIN TOBIAS
Benjamin is a father, an educator, a community servant and a lifelong learner. Originally from Houston, TX, he has called Albuquerque home for the last 16 years. He graduated from CNM/UNM with a degree in Art History focusing on Medieval, Gothic Art and Architecture in the Iberian peninsula. He will start his Master’s in Education Psychology in Fall ‘25. He lives with his 9 year old son in Downtown Albuquerque. Benjamin has worked at various art non-profits in Albuquerque, a Montessori school, and currently at Central New Mexico Community College. Benjamin is grateful to serve the community in his current role at CNM and is happy to call Albuquerque his home.
Benjamin draws inspiration from abstract expressionist. The use of color to convey emotions is something that draws Benjamin to abstract color field paintings. He grew up in a religious household and went to catholic school from 1st-12th grade. Being exposed to religious iconography his whole life he utilizes color and gold leaf to elevate his paintings and connect them to a spiritual level. Benjamin is inspired by his friends, the community he participates in and the natural beauty found in the multiple areas of New Mexico and its culture. Benjamin has experimented with various mediums such as intaglio, oil, acrylic, mixed media, fiber arts, writing and photography. However, he most enjoys painting and photography as his forms of expression.
instagram.com/abd_al_rahman_iii
THE USE OF COLOR TO CONVEY EMOTIONS IS SOMETHING THAT DRAWS BENJAMIN TO ABSTRACT COLOR FIELD PAINTINGS.
Page 8: Benjamin Tobias, RWLM, Oil and metal leaf on wood, 12x12, 2025
Page 9: Benjamin Tobias, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
CHRIS KEMLER
Chris Kemler has been an artist working in Las Cruces, New Mexico since 2021. Previously, Chris worked on his furniture craft, winning awards at the Texas Furniture Makers Show in 2010 and 2011 and being included in Craft Texas 2012 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Currently Chris works on custom commissions and sculptural pieces while participating in local art shows, including a solo show at the Jo-an Smith Gallery in 2024 and an upcoming solo show at the Mad Hatter Gallery in October 2025. Chris has also had the honor of being invited to join the Border Artists and has been a member since November 2024.
Chris Kemler, born in 1976 in Lawrence, Kansas and residing and working in Las Cruces, New Mexico is a contemporary artist working predominantly in wood. His works use the medium in its various incarnations to create works that are at once tempting and tactile while encouraging the viewer to consider their preconceptions of the material and form. Chris is interested in the interactions of these forms whether it is two forms in a sculpture or a furniture object and the user. His furniture encourages interactions like the mindless dragging of fingers along hidden surfaces or specific poses to find the moment when the object and user are in unison. Sculptural works explore balance and tension at inflection points such as dancers supporting each other or lovers learning that they are lovers. All of which explores the dichotomy of wood as an artistic medium and an artistic media.
chriskemler.com
HIS WORK EXPLORES
BALANCE AND TENSION AT INFLECTION POINTS SUCH AS DANCERS SUPPORTING EACH OTHER OR LOVERS LEARNING THAT THEY ARE LOVERS.
Page 10: Chirs Kemler, Sculpture Of A Chair (Ode to Lillian Bassman), Ebonized Mahogany and Macassar Ebony, 24”x41”x22”, 2012-2024; Page 12: Chris Kemler, Hall Chair, Cherry Wood, 23”x64.5”x23”x 2011 & 2024; Page 13: Chris Kemler, Anticipation For A Moment, Wood and Enamel Paint, 16”x32.5”x6”, 2023
CHRISTINE SULLIVAN
Christine Sullivan lives in Lamy, New Mexico and dedicates herself to her interdisciplinary conceptual art practice, after a long career as a graphic designer in New York City, working with the Guggenheim Museum and other arts-related clients. In 2022, Sullivan exhibited “Choice” in Albuquerque as part of a billboard project by Save Art Space. Earlier that year, she created “Hope Dies Last,” an art installation in Santa Fe’s Railyard, paying homage to social justice advocates. In 2020-21, Sullivan received a grant from the City of Santa Fe for “Felt During COVID,” a community art project showcased at the Public Library Gallery, and virtual auction benefiting Navajo Nation COVID Response Fund. In 2020, her work “Flowers Grow Out of Dark Moments—Corita Kent” graced a billboard outside SITE Santa Fe as part of the museum’s “2020 Silver Linings” project. Sullivan’s art continues to evolve, leaving a lasting impact on our cultural landscape.
Christine Sullivan, a interdisciplinary, conceptual artist, employs painting, screen printing, and fiber arts to engage viewers in a dialogue that challenges established paradigms and offers fresh perspectives. Sullivan uses wool felt—traditionally associated with craft and domesticity—as a medium to question and reinterpret societal norms and symbols, particularly the grandiose messaging found in religious, political, and corporate spheres. Her text-based felt works highlight the repetitive language of corporate and religious doctrines, exposing the tension between truth and illusion and their effects on society’s well-being. In her latest explorations with felt, Sullivan pushes the boundaries of the medium. Moving beyond text, she seeks a more visceral mode of communication, harnessing the material’s sensuality and presence to convey meaning in a purely corporeal way.
csullivanstudio.com
Christine Sullivan, Indoctrination; or Prayer Beads, Wool felt and wire on canvas, 18” x 18” x 4”, 2024
IN
HER LATEST
EXPLORATIONS WITH FELT, SULLIVAN PUSHES THE BOUNDRIES OF THE MEDIUM.
Page 16: Christine Sullivan, Coco; or,That Logo Looks Like a Vagina andThat’s What Makes it Great!, Wool felt on cradled board with frame 24 x 24 in, 2023; Page 17: Christine Sullivan , installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
DESARA BOEHM
Desara Boehm is an artist living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who uses landscape as a language to explore how emotion shapes her understanding of memory, time, and place. Through drawing, painting, and bookmaking, she translates personal experiences into visual narratives that bridge the internal and external worlds. Her practice employs natural pigments, charcoal, pastels, and watercolors to capture both the fleeting quality of light and the enduring textures of her surroundings, with each handmade book serving as a tactile archive of memory. Driven by a commitment to technical precision and poetic intuition, Boehm transforms the act of making into a meditative refuge—a process that turns transient moments into enduring connections. Through her work, she invites viewers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the natural rhythms that shape our lives.
“Living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I use landscape to explore how emotion shapes my understanding of memory, time, and place through drawing, painting, and bookmaking. With every brushstroke, drawing, and bound page, I translate personal experiences into visual narratives that move fleeting moments into enduring connections. I strive to authentically express the intimate moments that have given me a language to interpret life. Each handmade book serves as a personal archive of memory.Time and place are captured with natural pigments, charcoal, and watercolor. Light, form, and texture convey the significance that material has in expressing emotion in my work.This dialogue between the inner and external worlds has transformed the act of making into a refuge—a meditative practice of being fully present. When viewing my work, I hope to provide a space to pause and connect with the natural rhythms that shape our lives.”
instagram.com/desaraboehm_artist
Desara Boehm, Chupadera Foothills Archive Book, Book: Glass Vials, Cotton Cord, Linen, Leather, Grommets, and Book Board. Paintings: Watercolor and Earth Pigment on Paper. 6” x 17” x 30” Open View, 2023
WITH EVERY BRUSHSTROKE, DRAWING AND BOUND PAGE, DESARA TRANSLATES PERSONAL EXPERIEINCES INTO VISUAL NARRATIVES.
Page 20: Desara Boehm, Norski Trail Archive Sketchbook, Charcoal on Paper, Glass Vials, Cotton Cord, Wax Paper, Cardstock, Site Samples, 6”x 24” Open, 2022; Page 21: Desara Boehm, Culmination, Painting: Watercolor on Paper, Book: Linen Book Cloth, Chiri Mulberry Paper, Tyvek, Whimzy Mulberry Paper, Burlap Cord, Cotton Thread, 9” x 9” Closed, 9” x 24’ Open, 2025; Desara Boehm, Chupadera Foothills Archive Book, Book: Glass Vials, Cotton Cord, Linen, Leather, Grommets, and Book Board. Paintings: Watercolor and Earth Pigment on Paper. 6” x 17” x 30” Open View, 2023
DYLAN LILLA
dylan lilla is a queer trans-nonbinary, colorblind artist, and twin. They were born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2012 they received a BFA in Ceramics from Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver, Colorado. They have been in group exhibitions at the former Bemis Underground, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Joslyn Art Museum, KANEKO, and a solo show at Project Project in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2017 they moved to Brooklyn to be the first at the Jungle Lounge Residency, culminating with a solo show. Lilla has been working in the contemporary art world for over 20 years, most recently as Registrar/Preparator at Carvalho Park in Brooklyn, NY, and the Operations Manager at Denny Gallery in Tribeca, NY. They are currently pursuing a MFA in Studio Art along with a Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at University of New Mexico.
dylan lilla creates work that centers queer/trans joy and experiences. Their ideas are guided by queer theories like queer assemblage, affect, and intraaction. They center queer/trans joy because that joy, in the face of active oppression, is an act of resistance. The fabric lilla uses is recycled or donated by the folks portrayed in their work. lilla’s pieces manifest as highly colorful portraits using crafts such as appliqué, collage, embroidery, and weaving. Though lilla is attracted to the bright colors, because they are colorblind they usually have difficulty interpreting those colors in their work. They sometimes use their inability to differentiate colors to speak to the erasure of queer/trans folks.
instagram.com/dylanlilla
dylan lilla, syd & pothos, cotton, wool, thread, recycled fabrics, archival glue, 9 x 4.75 x .5”, 2024
DYLAN CENTERS QUEER/TRANS JOY
Page 24: dylan lilla, ...as in resistance, recycled fabrics, ink, archival glue & paper, (framed) 13.75 x 8.75 x 1.125”, 2024
25: dylan lilla, the fear of clause 3 in house rule I, cotton, wool, hair tie, 65 x 21.5 x 4.5”, 2025
GEO EVANS
Geo Evans is an oil painter, photographer, and art teacher. He has been making artwork in some form since he was a small child. He is from New Mexico. He has a Bachelor’s of Studio Art from the University of New Mexico, as well as a Master’s degree in Art Education. He has lived in Malaysia where he developed his skills as a photographer and illustrator. He is on the autism spectrum and has overcome many social challenges throughout his life, growing and developing as an artist, educator, father and husband. Yes, he pays taxes.
As an oil painter he utilizes a variety of techniques to achieve an observational and surreal aesthetic. Most of what can be seen in his work is a navigation and interrogation of a Neuro typical world. Being Neurodivergent he finds solace and understanding by analyzing and reinterpreting artwork, including his own, during the process of creating, discussion, and reflection. He hopes to gain a greater understanding of the world, in addition to shedding some light on his personal perspective and observations of people in his community. instagram.com/theartofgeomondragon
GEO SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON HIS PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND OBSERVATIONS OF PEOPLE IN HIS COMMUNITY.
Page 26: Geo Evans, Perseverance; Page 28: Geo Evans, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
Page 29: Geo Evans, Diego; Geo Evans, Classes in the Hallway
JARED PUTNAM
Jared Putnam was born in New York City to John Putnam- Art Director of MAD Magazine and Jane Putnam- Painter. He has been living and working in Albuquerque since 1990. He has been a professional musician for over 25 years, twenty of those years he has spent playing with the gypsy jazz group- Le Chat Lunatique. During the pandemic, music work pretty much ground to a halt, and so he decided to take up painting. Also during that time, he began dating UNM Art Professor- Raychael Stine, who has aided and abetted him with this recent foray into making art. He finds he quite enjoys it and has not looked back since.
Some of Jared’s paintings are based on drawings he makes at work on brown paper bags while he is supposed to be working. Others he designs on a drawing app whilst hunched over his phone squinting. He cannot draw a straight line to save his life so he cheats by using masking tape. The three paintings in this show are among his first attempts at using watercolor. He decided to experiment with watercolor after learning that this curious medium does pretty well at staying within the confines of a masked edge. He also likes how it tends to pool at the edges of the tape creating a line. This allows him to place adjacently the same color without the edge disappearing. After filling a masked cell with watercolor, he uses a blowdryer to swish the color around until it dries into its signature mysterious patterns. instagram.com/jaredisraelputnam
Jared Putnam, No. 72“An Underwater Contrivance”, watercolor on paper on panel, 22”x22”x3/4”, 2025
HE DECIDED TO EXPERIMENT WITH
WATERCOLOR AFTER LEARNING
THAT THIS CURIOUS MEDIUM DOES PRETTY WELL AT STAYING WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A MASKED EDGE.
Page 32: Jared Putnam, No. 69“C.M. Blues”, watercolor on paper on panel, 22”x22”x3/4”, 2025 Jared Putnam, No. 71“A Copper Contrivance”, watercolor on paper on panel, 22”x22”x3/4”, 2025; Page 33: Jared Putnam, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
LATASHA HAGAN
Latasha Hagan is a photographer whose creative journey began in Beaumont, Texas, in 2016. Captivated by film photography, Hagan honed their skills and developed a passion for capturing the environment around them. A pivotal moment in their career came when they were gifted a Canon, marking the transition into digital photography. In Beaumont, Hagan was an active member of the local arts/music community, serving as a proud board member of The Art Studio Inc. until 2018. Their involvement in the organization was important to their growth as an artist, providing both inspiration and an avenue for collaboration. After relocating to Colorado, Hagan focused on other aspects of their creative journey. However, it was in New Mexico that their passion for the medium was reignited. Surrounded by the state’s beauty and culture, they rediscovered their love for photography, diving back into it with renewed enthusiasm and a fresh perspective.
“This series of four photographs is part of an ongoing project that explores the power of light as the central narrative inspired by Petra Collins and her dreamlike approach to her work. From inspiration and by manipulating light and its colors, I aim to create a visual language that speaks to the depth of human emotions. Working with a controlled setting—using a black backdrop to emphasize the interplay between light and shadow—I collaborate with willing friends and family to capture authentic moments of vulnerability, joy, and contemplation. Each image reflects a unique aspect of human expression and self expression, allowing the light to illuminate not just the subject, but the rawness of their emotional journey.”
instagram.com/latashahagan
Pages 35: Latasha Hagan, io, Photography, 11’x14’, 2024; Page 36: Latasha Hagan, KAI, Photography, 11’x14’, 2024; Page 37: Latasha Hagan, SHAWN, Photography, 11’x14’, 2024
LINDEN ELLER
Linden Eller, (b.1984, Phoenix, AZ) spent her youth in the urban Sonoran desert before moving to Southern California to obtain her BA in Studio Art. She’s since lived and worked across Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the northeast region of the US. Linden’s work has been published and exhibited internationally. She also works as an illustrator and art educator. She currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her partner and son.
Linden’s work explores a dichotomy between memory architecture and present experience. Enamored with mixed media, she uses materials like paper, found fragments, transparencies, sewing thread, paint, pencil, ink, and pastels. In honoring the “now,” she often incorporates items from her immediate surroundings—plants, petals, tea leaves, receipts, scattered desk papers— supporting her aim to increase sustainability by giving purpose to the plain, trash bound items and renaming them as curious offerings of texture, or poignancy. Her work gently nudges us to loosen our hold on the past, celebrating the science of memory as fluid—full of alterations, renewals, and inaccuracies. Embracing intuition, experimentation, and play, many parts of her process are intentionally unplanned—an exercise in mindfulness and acceptance. She thinks of her work as layered field recordings: multiple perspectives and repetitions of the same shared story. As Richard Powers writes, “Memory is always a collaboration in progress… You’re not just you.”
lindeneller.com
Page 38: Linden Eller, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
LINDEN’S WORK GENTLY NUDGES US TO LOOSEN OUR HOLD ON THE PAST, CELEBRATING THE SCIENCE OF MEMORY AS FLUID.
Page 40: Linden Eller, Unknown Bouquet No. 4, Acrylic, paper, petals, alcohol marker, graphite, pastel, colored pencil, oil stick, vellum and cotton thread on canvas (Framed in Douglas Fir), 12 x 12 x 2”, 2024; Page 41: Linden Eller, Unknown Bouquet No. 3, Acrylic, paper, petals, alcohol marker, graphite, pastel, colored pencil, oil stick, vellum and cotton thread on canvas (Framed in Douglas Fir), 12 x 12 x 2”, 2024; Linden Eller, Unknown Bouquet No. 2, Acrylic, paper, petals, lace, alcohol marker, graphite, pastel, colored pencil, oil stick, vellum and cotton thread on canvas (Framed in Douglas Fir), 12 x 12 x 2”, 2024
MARIE-PIER FRIGON
Marie-Pier Frigon is a photographer currently based in Albuquerque, NM. They began photographing intentionally in 2012 when they created a portfolio of images to apply to film school. They later transferred into a photography program after falling in love with still images. Marie-Pier’s work seeks to capture and preserve moments of nostalgia and transition that feel like a distant dream. They love the tactile feeling of handling film and frequently work with 35mm, medium format, and Polaroid film. They feel that the unpredictable and imperfect nature of film reflects the transitory nature of human existence. Marie-Pier received their BFA in Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco (May 2017) where they received the Director’s Choice Award at the 2017 AAU Spring Show. Their photos have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post, as well as included in several juried group shows.
“I photograph to catch what is always slipping away: moments that move in and out of conscious focus, places heavy with memory, and versions of myself I am still trying to understand. I feel as though I am gathering fragments of time and mulling them over.
I find a surprisingly ambiguous boundary between memory and the present in my work. I mourn what has shifted, and cling to what remains steady, hoping it will help me understand myself.
Across my bodies of work, there is a similar feeling. A nearly desperate grasp towards a memory I feel is just on the tip of my tongue, yet hazily out of reach. Like deja vu, or a distant dream, I photograph moments that make me feel connected to something lost. I was here, I think. I am in this moment now. And yet I must leave.”
mariepierfrigon.com
LIKE DEJA VU, OR A DISTANT DREAM,
MARIE-PIER PHOTOGRAPH MOMENTS THAT MAKE HER FEEL CONNECTED TO SOMETHING LOST.
Page 44: Marie-Pier Frigon, Lillies, Polaroid film, 11x14, 2024
Page 45: Marie-Pier Frigon, Deep Shadow, Polaroid film, 8x8, 2024
MAYA PEREZ
Maya Perez, a proud New Mexican, is Diné of the Mountain Cove Clan, born of the Folded Arms People, Black, and Mexican. She embraces her diverse culture and integrates it into her art. She is also the creator of Skinny Legend Creations, named after her beloved dog and companion, Zeus, an Italian Greyhound/Chihuahua mix.
“As a contemporary visual artist, I am known for my distinctive“pop art” female portraits and intricate geometric mandala designs. Drawing inspiration from my Diné and New Mexican culture, as well as my personal journey, my work explores the emotional depth of the human experience and the pursuit of balance. I primarily work with acrylics, using bold, vibrant color combinations to bring my visions to life.”
instagram.com/skinnylegendcreations
Maya Perez, Warmth, Acrylic on canvas, 14”x20”, Jan. 16, 2015
MAYA’S WORK EXPLORES THE EMOTIONAL DEPTH OF THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND THE PURSUIT OF BALANCE.
Page 48: Maya Perez, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
Page 49: Maya Perez, Sunshine, Acrylic on canvas, 20”x20”, Jan. 10, 2025
OCELOTL MORA
Ocelotl Mora (el/he/him) is a transgender man and a Mexicano/Chicano/ Pocho who lives a borderlands experience that Gloria Anzaldua described as “Ni de aqui, ni de alla,” meaning “neither from here or from there.” He is a caregiver and advocate for trans people, disabled people and queer elders. He is also a two-spirit Indigenous traditional medicine practitioner, which deeply shapes his artistic process and how he designs his installations. A self-taught, interdisciplinary storyteller, Ocelotl brings the Chicanx aesthetic of rasquachismo, “lifestyle of the underdog,” to photography blended with digital art, writing, sculpture, installation, dance, and sound. Ocelotl has exhibited his work in Albuquerque, NM, San Antonio, TX and Salt Lake City, UT. With raw vulnerability, he integrates community voices as he exposes his personal struggle to live authentically within his culture, illuminating the dire need for TransMale visibility and supportive healthcare for all Transgender people.
Ocelotl is a social practice artist whose projects weave together four primary threads: storytelling, somatics, ritual, and community. Rooted in the heritage and spiritual traditions of Curanderismo, Ocelotl’s work invites self-exploration, relational connection, and holistic healing. A trained medicinal practitioner, his process is grounded in dialogue sessions with fellow Transmasc individuals, holding space for the sharing of individual experience and the co-creation of collective belonging. In consent and collaboration with these circles, Ocelotl then facilitates the building of large scale immersive installations inspired by their personal and collective learning, and designed for public engagement and reflection. Embracing a Neurodivergent and interdisciplinary approach, his central art forms are photography, sound, and sculpture. Oceltotl is curious to honor the particular questions of being in a Trans body and to explore the infinite question of being in any / every body.
https://mividatrans.com/
Ocelotl Mora, La Transcena, Photography, 80x96 inches, 2023
OCELOTL’S PROCESS IS GROUNDED IN DIALOGUE
SESSIONS WITH FELLOW TRANSMASC INDIVIDUALS, HOLDING SPACE FOR THE SHARING OF INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE AND THE CO-CREATION OF COLLECTIVE BELONGING.
OLIVIA BERKEY
Olivia Berkey is an artist working in ceramics, performance, and choreography. She holds a BA in Dance and Art History from Bard College (2020), where she received awards for her work in both arts scholarship and performance. Born and raised in North Carolina, she was first exposed to the region’s rich history of woodfired ceramics at age eighteen. In 2021 she moved to Taos, New Mexico to apprentice with woodfire artist, Logan Wannamaker. In Taos she has remained— digging, kiln building, walking, dancing. She can also be heard hosting a biweekly radio show on KNCE Taos. Her work, across mediums, has been exhibited from New Mexico to the East Coast and abroad. Last fall she sunk her hands into volcanic clay as a resident artist with Arquetopia Foundation in Puebla, Mexico. She looks forward to closing out 2025 with residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramics Arts in coastal Maine and Open AIR in Butte, Montana.
“My dances, often solo in practice and presentation, are conceived of as an imagined duet with unseen and sometimes inanimate partners: the dreamt presence of other bodies, mountains, rocks, desert fields, myself in duplicate. My ceramic work, too, excavates the relationship between body and earth, human and geologic time.The methods are physical. I dig wild clay and pigments; I woodfire slowly and by hand with fuel that is similarly local and earthen.The vessels, ranging from sculptural to functional ware, are produced as a solo dance: repetitive, rhythmic acts of rearranging space, material, and body.The endurance and rigor at the heart of my process inevitably give way to physical tire, evoking the issue of archiving the ephemeral. A worn body, through documentation, may be preserved. Similarly, by way of firing clay, I pause a state of eventual earthen disintegration and decay.”
instagram.com/oliviaberkeee
Page 54: Olivia Berkey, Extraction Series, 1 ; stoneware, wild New Mexico black clay, slip ; 22” x 10” x 10” ; 2025
Page 56: Olivia Berkey Extraction Series, 2 ; stoneware, wild New Mexico black clay, slip ; 20” x 9” x 6” ; 2025
Page 57: Olivia Berkey, Salt Cellars ; various local wild clays and slips, woodfired, reduction cooled ; 4.5” x 4.5” x 2.5” ; 2022-2025
THE VESSELS, RANGING FROM SCULPTURAL TO FUNCTIONAL WARE, ARE PRODUCED AS A SOLO DANCE: REPETITIVE, RHYTHMIC ACTS OF REARRANGING SPACE, MATERIAL AND BODY.
Á ROXANNE MARQUEZ
Roxanne Márquez (she/they) is an interdisciplinary Chicana artist and scientist based in Albuquerque, NM. She is focused on creating art that communicates our (meta)physical entanglements with ecological processes and with other organisms. The majority of her work is process-based and research-based, involving decomposable materials, textiles, drawing, creative writing, scientific research, and often extends into collaboration with soil, fungi, bacteria, plants, humans, and other animals. She draws on her experiences within ecological research to create art that incorporates themes of decomposition, hidden microbial life, and healing through the restorative visceral experiences of the body and the land. By leaning into these subjects, she hopes to contribute to broader-scale change that prioritizes restoration of self, the land, and our relationships with other beings — regardless of species.
Roxanne’s current work engages with the veneration of ancestors and plants, and the idea that artistic pieces can function as “altars” that help us commemorate and understand our complex relationships with humans, plants, and ecosystems. Two of the pieces portray the Datura plant and their multifaceted entanglements with other beings. The Sphinx moth, the moon, humans, and fungi, all bring light to the many roles of this powerful night-blooming flower. The largest textile piece focuses on exploring the stories of their own ancestors and how the passing down of stories and genetic information is ultimately an ecological process. Ancestry is a series of stories passed from seed to plant to soil to seed again — where our ancestors’ experiences echo through our lives and continue beyond us. Through these pieces, Roxanne asks, which relationships/legacies of our past do we choose to nourish and which do we choose to compost?
https://www.roxannemarquez.com/
Roxanne Márquez, Ancestros/Ancestors (detail), 23” x 74”, 2025, Photo by Aziza Murray
ROXANNE ASKS, WHICH RELATIONSHIPS/LEGACIES
OF OUR
PAST DO WE CHOOSE TO NOURISH AND WHICH DO WE CHOOSE TO COMPOST?
Page 60: Roxanne Márquez, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
Page 61: Roxanne Márquez, To what I hold — sincerely., 8” x 12” x 3”, 2025, Photo by Aziza Murray
YU YAN
Yu Yan is an interdisciplinary artist based in Santa Fe. She earned her Master’s degree in Art, Design, and the Public Domain from Harvard University and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Studio Arts from Smith College, where she was awarded the Megan Hart Jones Prize. Her practice is rooted in researchdriven projects that explore the complex layers of migration, displacement, and memory across both natural environments and human landscapes, using photography, video, and installation. Her work has been exhibited across the United States, Greece, the UK, Scotland, Poland, South Korea, Japan, and China. She was an artist-in-residence at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel from 2020 to 2021. Recent exhibitions include Wassaic Project 2025 Summer Exhibition in Wassaic and SONA Immersive Storytelling Festival at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Alongside her artistic practice, Yu has held roles at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Magnum Photos, and the Aperture Foundation.
“Rooted in the landscapes of migration, displacement, and memory, my work explores how power and identity are embedded in both natural and constructed environments.Through installations, photography, and video, I examine the impermanence of symbols and the contested narratives they inhabit. In my“My Fellow Presidents”, I captures the spectral remnants of discarded presidential heads through thermal imaging, revealing the thermal traces of these eroded figures.These infrared images are transformed into postage stamps, a deliberate inversion of monumentality. As the smallest operational units of a nation’s symbolic postal system, these stamps’invalid postage status mirrors the cyclical failure of political promises.Their“to be returned”designation constructs a temporal critique of democratic accountability—akin to citizens’perpetual surveillance of leaders, forever suspended in an unresolved tense. By questioning the ideological permanence of these structures, my work invites reflection on the fragility of national myths and the impermanence of power.”
https://www.hiyanyu.com/
Yu Yan, My Fellow Presidents No.4, Infrared Image on Handmade Stamps, 12 x 12 in., 2025
YU’S WORK EXPLORES HOW POWER AND IDENTITY ARE EMBEDDED IN BOTH NATURAL AND CONSTRUCTED ENVIRONMENTS.
Page 64: Yu Yan, My Fellow Presidents No.15, Infrared Image on Handmade Stamps, 12 x 12 in., 2025
Page 65: Yu Yan, installation, Photo by Aziza Murray
OOPS,BLURT inga hendrickson
Inga Hendrickson’s recent work explores corporeal existence and material environment both in and outside of human and more-than-human bodies. Wax, fabrics, water and plastic are some of the materials that the interdisciplinary artist enlists to make her amorphous sculptures. Sculptures often reminiscent of the body, plant matter or sometimes a hybridity of beings. She considers where boundaries are blurred within and around the edges of things. Through bundling and repurposing materials, she explores the intermingling of self with more-thanself as a framework for considering coexistence and reciprocity. Bodies and landscape all parts of a teaming, caressing, churning, absorbing, expelling tumble.
EACH YEAR ONE ARTIST RECEIVES THE HARWOOD ART CENTER SOLO EXHIBITION AWARD, PRESENTED ANNUALLY FOR ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE, ORIGINALITY OF VISION AND DEDICATION TO PRACTICE. THE SELECTED ARTIST WORKS FOR A YEAR WITH SUPPORT FROM HARWOOD STAFF TO MAKE A NEW BODY OF WORK TO EXHIBIT THE FOLLOWING YEAR DURING OUR SURFACE EMERGING ARTISTS PROGRAM AT HARWOOD. INGA RECEIVED THIS AWARD IN 2024 AND THIS YEAR, SHOWCASED HER WORK IN THE FRONT GALLERY.
Oops, Blurt includes:
Page 75: spew, aqua resin, tubing, pigment, 6” x 60” x 18”, 2025
Page 69: flood line, dyed fabric, textie waste, polyfil, feathers, acrylic paint, 30” x 60” x 30”, 2025
Page 74: gavage, aqua resin, tubing, gauze, beeswax, pigment, dimensions variable - approximately 40” x 48” x 8”, 2025
Page 70: eat your heart out, velvet, polfil, black beans, plywood, dimensions variable - approximately 35” x 40” x 18”, 2025
Page 71: counter balace, wooden dowel, concrete, plastic container, waxed canvas string, textile waste, steel rod 15” x 73” x 8”, 2025
Page 67: intravenous / extracorpus, plastic container, gauze, pigment, aqua resin, rebar, steel wool, silicone tubing, 23” x 85” x 14”, 2025
Page 68: touch me, please, dyed fabric, textie waste, polyfil, beeswax, acrylic paint, dimensions variable - approximately 40” x 96 x 36”, 2025
Page 72: these cracks weep, aqua resin on plywood, silicone and plastic tubing, plastic buckets, galvanized steel trough, 60” x 80” x 30”, 2025
Inga Hendrickson (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist exploring corporeal existence, human connection and the material environment both in and outside of the body. Her recent work uses dyed fabric, beeswax, plastics, dirt and water as part of a set of materials with which to make amorphous soft sculptures. She enlists color, gravity, tension and precarity to bring an abject dynamism to the forms. Inga studied photography at Parsons School of Design and holds an MFA in Studio Art program from Maryland Institute College of Art. She lives and works in Santa Fe, NM, land still recognized as O’ga Po’geh (White Shell Water Place) with her partner and two children.
www.ingahendrickson.com
ABOUT HARWOOD ART CENTER
HARWOOD ART CENTER’S GALLERIES
is dedicated to providing exhibition, audience expansion and professional development opportunities to artists working in any media and from diverse creative fields. Our gallery program is curated and managed by our Chief Programs Officer and Associate Directors of Opportunity and Engagement. Artists are invited to exhibit during three of our annual capstone events, Encompass, Residency for Art & Social Justice & 12x12, the rest of our exhibitions are awarded to individuals and groups through a competitive application process. Most of our applications are free to apply, any collected fees allocated to replenishing Harwood’s endowed cash awards for the program. Each featured exhibition is a supportive process, we work with the artists from concept development to installation in the galleries. For each exhibition we create comprehensive outreach and digital materials including exhibition catalogs, virtual archives and artist talks to support the unique visions and voices of our gallery artists.
Seeded in 1991, Harwood Art Center blooms the philosophy of our parent organization Escuela del Sol Montessori, with recognition that learning and expression offer the most resilient pathways to global citizenship, justice and peace. Harwood engages the arts as a catalyst for lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and social change, with programming for every age, background and income level. We believe that equitable access to the arts and opportunities for creative expression are integral to healthy individuals and thriving communities. In all of our work, we cultivate inclusive, reflective environments where everyone feels cared for. We nurture long-term, multi-faceted relationships with participants, building programs with and for diverse communities of Albuquerque. We integrate the arts with social justice, professional and economic growth, and education to cultivate a higher collective quality of life in New Mexico.
HARWOOD ART CENTER’S OFFICIAL GALLERY & EXHIBITION PHOTOGRAPHER
We are so thrilled to have an official Harwood Photographer for our galleries program this year! We are able to present the SURFACE Emerging Artists of NM Award and Microgrant of $250 to each of this year’s artists thanks to the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, New Mexico Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the McCune Foundation.
Aziza Murray is a New Mexico based artist working primarily in photography. In 2015 she graduated with an MFA from the University of New Mexico where she also worked as a pictorial archiving fellow for the Center for Southwest Research. Since then, Aziza has worked in different capacities in the film industry in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, further piquing her interest in cinematography. Much of her work stems from a well of nostalgia for objects and moments, the materiality of photography, and her personal history—from experiencing tragic loss at an early age, to her multilayered experiences as a biracial person growing up in Washington, DC. She has shown her work in DC at Connersmith and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Albuquerque at the Harwood Art Center, the UNM Art Museum and the National Hispanic Cultural Center and, at MASS Gallery in Austin, TX.
azizamurray.com azizamurray@gmail.com
Many thanks to our genrous supporting partners: Albuquerque Art Business Association / ARTScrawl, Albuquerque Community Foundation, Downtown Neighborhood Association, McCune Charitable Foundation, New Mexico Arts and National Endowment for the Arts, City of Albuquerque Urban Enhancement Trust Fund, US Bank, and A Good Sign. Special thanks to Nusenda Foundation and Sandia Foundation for support of our Creative Roots program and to Fay Abrams and to Debi & Clint Dodge for support of our exhibiting and commission artists. As well as to Marion & Kathryn Crissey and Reggie Gammon for establishing our endowed awards for this program, and to Meghan Ferguson Mráz and Valerie Roybal for their unwavering support and constant inspiration – and for whom we named new annual awards in 2019. SURFACE would not be possible without our extraordinary local collaborators.
JAN
Harwood Art Center is dedicated to providing exhibition, audience expansion and professional development opportunities to working artists. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of Harwood’s historic campus. We are commemorating the occasion with a year of public programming that reflects on a century of creative expression and imagines new futures. For more information visit: harwoodartcenter.org
JANUARY
16 - FEBRUARY 22
Between Dust & Stars: The Artists of ArtStreet, ABQ Health Care for the Homeless Harwood Art Center and ArtStreet of Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless co-present Between Dust & Stars: Echoes of the High Desert, a collection of works by the artists of ArtStreet featuring surrealist landscapes and imagery honoring the past, the present and the future. This marks the 28th anniversary of this annual exhibition partnership.
Reception: Saturday, February 1 | 4:30 - 6:30pm
MAR
MARCH
6 - APRIL 12
ENCOMPASS: A Multi-Generational Art Event
An annual celebration that is both a reflection of and an offering to our community, Encompass features Open Studios, art making activities, installations by student artists, and five invitational exhibitions, including Echoes & Dreams with commissioned installations by Celine Gordon, Sofie Hecht, Mariah Rosales, Phoenix Savage, Jessica Zekus and What is Yours is Not Yours by Elton Burgest and Lisa Co.
Reception: Saturday, April 12 | 4:30 - 7:30pm
APR
APRIL
24 - MAY 31
Poetry in Place: Placemaking and Poetry in Albuquerque
This exhibit is equal parts celebration, preservation and commemoration of a critical moment in time for the literary and spoken word community in New Mexico. It presents a diverse spectrum of artifacts and experiences, honoring the history between the spoken word community and Harwood.
Reception: Saturday, April 26 | 4:30 - 6:30pm
JUN
JUNE 12 - JULY 26
SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico
SURFACE: Emerging Artists of New Mexico is the annual juried exhibition, endowed awards and professional development program presented by Harwood Art Center, to support the creative and professional growth of emerging artists and to expand their visibility and viability in our community.
Inga Hendrickson: Surface 2024 Solo Exhibition Award Winner
Reception + Artist Talk + Awards: Saturday, June 21 | 4:30 - 6:30pm
Harwood offers four annual recurring exhibition programs:
1 ENCOMPASS a Multi-Generational Art Event
2 SURFACE Emerging Artists of New Mexico
3 RESIDENCY for Art & Social Justice
4 12x12 Annual Fundraiser; all proceeds support our free community arts education, outreach and professional development
AUG
Practice // Portal
AUGUST 7 - SEPTEMBER 13
A group exhibition featuring five Harwood Studio Artists — Aziza Murray, Reyes Padilla, MB Ramos, Natalie Voelker and Chelsea Wrightson — whose work is inspired by memory, offers meditation, and moves towards the future.
Shared.Futures: A Compendium of ArtScience Collaboration
Shared.Futures is a four-month workshop where artist and scientist pairs co-create an ArtScience piece which communicates a scientific possibility through an artistic lens. This exhibition highlights work from 2021 to 2024.
Reception + Artist Talks: Saturday, August 23 | 4:30 - 6:30pm
SEPT
Artist in Residence
SEPTEMBER 25 - NOVEMBER 1
Harwood’s Artist in Residence Program supports artists working at the intersections of creative expression and social justice. The year long residency includes a private studio at Harwood, artist and material honoraria, project support and public exhibitions.
Jocelyn Salaz: Encountering Masculinity
2025 Resident artist Jocelyn Salaz explores masculinity through the lens of the performative theory of gender.
Reception + Artist Talk: Saturday, October 18 | 4:30 - 6:30pm
DEC
DECEMBER
5 - 13
12x12: Harwood’s Annual Fundraising Exhibitions
12x12, 6x6 and The Shop at Harwood feature original work by established, emerging and youth artists from New Mexico. This event includes ~200 works that remain anonymous until sold, for the flat rates of $144 (12”x12”) or $36 (6”x6”). The Shop highlights the intersections of art, design and daily living with works by notable New Mexico artists.
Exhibition Reception: Friday, December 5 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm 12x12 Online Store Opens: Saturday, December 6 | 6:00pm
Image Credits: (Left, Top to Bottom): Elton Burgest, Spiral (2022); Between Dust & Stars: the artists of ArtStreet installation 2025, Image by Aziza Murray; Shared.Futures Organizers, Shared.Futures Weavings I; Inga Hendrickson, Bundled Set, Image by Aziza Murray; (Center): Jessica Zekus, We all need prayers; (Right, Top to Bottom): Jocelyn Salaz, Remedio (side 1); Chelsea Wrightson, Quantum Vision #25; For the Love of Poetry ABQ, Sister Outsider—Dominique Christina and Denice Frohman — nationally renowned female poets will be part of a night of poetry at the Harwood Art Center, The Shop Image Credit: Zahra Marwan, handprinted T-shirt
The Shop at Harwood is a
for a
Shop: harwoodstore.square.site
boutique gallery currently representing the following artists
calendar year: Catherine Alleva, Loren Aragon, Ereesa, Stephanie Baness, Carrie Botto, Jenn Carrillo, Cheryl Dietz, Celine Gordon, Leigh Oviatt and Emily Silva
