“Southwest Textures: Fabric and Earth” is the title of the combined works of punch quilt creator Cristina Diaz-Arntzen and potter Sandra Moench. These are Amapola Gallery’s Featured Artists for August.
Diaz-Arntzen, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, emigrated to the United States with her family when she was 16. After 28 years as a bilingual educator in Wisconsin, she moved with her husband to Albuquerque. Her passionate love for the Southwest, Native American cultures and her wide-ranging interest in the arts, led her to punch quilts, a method of creating fabric wall hangings without stitching. Cristina combines her drawing and design skills, Southwest designs and diverse fabric colors and textures to create distinctive works of wall art.
Sandra Moench is the potter of “big enough” coffee mugs. They hold enough! The handles don’t cramp your fingers! It’s a miracle! But Moench, with a med. tech background working on several Navajo homelands, doesn’t stop there. Her bowls, pitchers, mugs, platters and vases evoke the texture and “feel” of sand paintings. Moench is awed by the shapes and contrasts of our Southwest landscapes. Her subtly colored glazes of rose, blue, sage and off-white, contrasting with unglazed areas of the clay body, reflect the sun-scorched desert. The borders of her pieces are inscribed with various organic designs. A series of new large vases are ornamented with tree shapes inspired by a recent trip down the Grand Canyon.
“Southwest Textures : Fabric and Earth ” is available through August at Amapola artists’ co-op Gallery. Meet the artists and learn more about their techniques Friday, August 3 from 4 to 7p.m.
Amapola Gallery, all local all the time, at 205 Romero N.W, on the Plaza in Old Town. (505) 242-4311 or amapolagallery.com.
