Karen Wray Gallery owner Karen Wray, left, and assistant Jean Uher in the gallery at 1247 Central Ave. Courtesy photo
Karen Wray Gallery News:
Due to the uncertainty involving the Cerro Pelado Fire, the Karen Wray Gallery decided to postpone its Spring 2022 Group Art Exhibition by a couple weeks.
The exhibition will run June 10 to July 8, and the community is invited to the opening reception 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, June 10.
The second-best kept secret in Los Alamos
At the reception, patrons will be first to see the latest creations from the artists in the gallery. Each artist has been incredibly secretive about what they are working on, and all the new artwork has been kept under lock and key until it’s finally unveiled at this reception.
At the reception patrons can mingle with the artists represented by the gallery, ask questions, and enjoy spending time in the gallery.
Breathing a sigh of relief that the community didn’t have to evacuate
This art show was originally scheduled for late May. But the Cerro Pelado Fire put those plans on hold. The Karen Wray Gallery is thankful that the fire did not lead to an evacuation of Los Alamos, but the process of preparing for a possible evacuation put the Spring Exhibition plans on hold.
More than 32 local artists are represented at the Karen Wray Gallery:
- Erin Breneman. Using colored pencils Breneman captures flowers in astounding lifelike detail. She was featured in a solo exhibition in October of 2019. Her drawings have been very popular and most of them have been sold. Some are still available at the gallery and on the website.
- Anthony Ortiz. Ortiz is an award-winning artist who lives in White Rock and crafts bowls, lamps and platters out of beautiful and exotic woods like cedar, pine, cocobolo and zebrawood. Each piece is inlaid with a unique turquoise design. See his pieces here.
- Betty Nance Smith. Smith paints beauty she sees in the obscure and obvious. Flowers, intricacies, light touch leaves, small children’s explorations, accurate portraits and grand seascapes are all within her reach. The artist’s sensitive figurative works share a moment in time with the viewer. She prefers to paint from life unless the subject can’t stay still. Painting “celebrations of life”, even in the midst of tragedy, became her career emphasis after the Cerro Grande fire destroyed so much in Los Alamos in 2004.
All of the artists have pieces in the gallery now, but their newest pieces will not be available until the June 10 reception.
Stop by BEFORE June 10 and get entered into a drawing for an art class
If you have always wanted to take a painting or drawing class, this is a great opportunity to join a class for free. Everyone who comes into the gallery before the new exhibition starts will be entered into a drawing to join one of our upcoming art classes. These classes have a value of $250. All you have to do to enter is stop by and provide your name, phone number and email address so we can contact you. The winner will be announced at the June 10 reception.
The Karen Wray Gallery is at 1247 Central Ave. in downtown Los Alamos. Call 505.660.6382.
