A stroke of hope: 'Gallery with a Cause' benefits NM Cancer Foundation patients
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Step inside the New Mexico Cancer Center to see the work of 17 blossoming artists.
The center鈥檚 Gallery with a Cause is showing 360 works by emerging artists, with 40% of each sale targeted toward the New Mexico Cancer Foundation. The money supports patients鈥� non-medical needs.
Photographer J. Alan Constant started working in composites about a year ago. A 2021 Albuquerque transplant from San Francisco, he created 鈥淥ffering鈥� by combining an abstract image with a more traditional photo.
鈥淚 took an abstract image and the picture of the hand is from a sculpture in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,鈥� he said.
鈥淲hen I do things, I don鈥檛 really have a specific idea in mind,鈥� he continued. 鈥淚t looks like the hands are reaching out, giving something to the viewer.鈥�
A retired process server, Constant has worked in photography for 45 years, including stints in commercial photography in interior design.
鈥淚鈥檝e learned by the seat of my pants,鈥� he said.
Constant鈥檚 work has been featured in a solo show in Mill Valley, California and in the Albuquerque Museum鈥檚 Arts Thrive fundraiser.
Originally from Mexico, Rosario Glezmir paints expressionist images of women from her Namb茅 studio.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a series I was making with woman,鈥� she said. 鈥淎ll my work is related to women and the resilience in women.鈥�
The cat in her painting is her own, named Ruti from her 鈥淪enses鈥� series.
鈥淚t was trying to depict how we connect with life, how we interact with life through the sense,鈥� she said.
Until 2017, painting was her hobby.
鈥淚 got divorced after 32 years of marriage,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ife changed completely; I had to reinvent myself. We think we have one life but there are many things we can do.鈥�
Glezmir took painting workshops in Oaxaca and Tijuana, Mexico. She has exhibited in Baja, California, in San Diego and in Paris, France.
鈥淚 use a lot of color, but maybe that鈥檚 because of my culture, where there is color everywhere,鈥� she said.
Kirsten Harvey painted 鈥淒uet at Dawn鈥� after taking a photograph of the cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.
鈥淲e went there in the early morning to see the animals,鈥� the Albuquerque resident said.
Harvey鈥檚 compunction to paint began in the fifth grade. Her career spanned radio, TV, school counseling and owning her own medical device company. Now retired, she has taken workshops in her first love. Today she concentrates on landscapes, florals, birds and seascapes.
She and her husband travel the globe. She takes photographs and paints from the results. She has painted scenes from Greece, Africa and nine countries across Europe.
Compulsively creative, she also sings and acts.
鈥淚鈥檓 just a very creative person,鈥� she said, 鈥淎nd if I didn鈥檛 do that I would just feel lost. I can share my gift.鈥�
As for painting, 鈥淚t鈥檚 an escape,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very calming, it鈥檚 very soothing. I love to be out in nature.鈥�
