32nd Anniversary Season 2018—2019
The Placitas Artists Series is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs,
May Visual Artists
Visual Artists Reception
May 19, 2019 at 2 pm
All artist images are copyright protected and may not be duplicated or shared
without the express consent of the artist.
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Robert Benjamin got excited about New Mexico landscapes in 1971. He
spent his formative years in northeastern Ohio, executing his first oil
painting at the age of ten. In New Mexico he worked as an illustrator, art
director, lithographer, and art bronze foundry owner before deciding his
true love was landscape painting. His expression and artistic vision of
the innate beauty of the New Mexico landscape continues to be celebrated
in museums and private collections alike.
Robert says: “As a landscape painter, New Mexico’s incredibly diverse and
magnificently beautiful terrain, skies, and forests afford me a myriad of
subjects to share. My greatest joy is when a viewer remarks, ‘I know where
that is’ or ‘I have been there.’ Artists paint for others. I love New Mexico.”
Karen DeMart always enjoyed photography going back to her first Brownie
camera. Enjoying retirement and a new digital camera, her interest in
photography has grown. She has been a member of Enchanted Lens Camera
Club in Albuquerque. She has taken classes with Keith Bauer, Kim Ashley,
Jeremy Stein, Robert Medina Cook, Sandra Corless, Janice Worne, and
Maria Hanley. DeMart’s work has been in the following juried exhibitions:
Insight Women's Shows, Annual New Mexico Photographic Arts Shows,
New Mexico Art League Small Works an Black and White Shows, and
Shades of Gray Show.
Karen says: “While photographing, I work intuitively, responding to what
feels right and hoping to convey that captured moment in time. I am fascinated
by light, color, and shape. I enjoy creating a series such as macros of flowers,
landscapes, old gritty broken-down objects, still lifes, or whatever else attracts
my attention. I have become interested in converting some of my color photos
to black and white and the results have been surprising. Hopefully, my photos
engage the viewer for a little contemplation. There is always beauty to be
found. I enjoy being outside in the fresh air behind my camera.”
Originally from Georgia, Erin DeRosa has exhibited her work regionally
and nationally. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University
of Georgia and her Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts. As a curator at the Desotorow Gallery in Savannah, DeRosa
coordinated over 10 shows with the gallery. In Philadelphia, she painted
and installed eight large-scale murals with the City of Philadelphia Mural
Art Program. She is currently the director of the Downtown Albuquerque
Arts & Cultural District.
Erin says: “My work explores color compositions found in nature and the
built world, and the similarities found in human nature. I utilize oil paint’s
thick and thin qualities to construct and deconstruct these explorations,
resulting in multi-layered large-scale paintings.”
Born and raised in New Mexico, Anthony L. Smith is a native son to the Land
of Enchantment and is a self-taught artist with many different influences
throughout the years.
As the son of an artist, Smith has a deep love for the art world. His father
taught art to the Navajo children on the Crown Point reservation in the early
1950s. Anthony was inspired by the influence of Native American Rock Art,
and in his early twenties created art on flagstone. Later, he began to work
with acrylics and canvas. It was not until he was in his late forties that he
began to create his works with canvas and oil. Smith has shown his work
mostly in New Mexico, with a majority of his art located in private collections.
Anthony says: “I love to create what I see and hear through my art. To me,
sound and color are the same. Graeme Edge, poet and song writer for the Moody
Blues explained it this way:
‘Between the eyes and ears there lie
The sounds of color and the light of a sigh.’
I like to think that my art expresses this thought.”
