2010 Local Treasures

Local Treasures 2010 will honor seven artists (see below) who are representative of the diversity, community spirit and quality of the over 1,000 artists who live and work in Albuquerque. This will be a month-long celebration beginning with a city-wide Artscrawl and ending with the GO Arts Festival in Downtown Albuquerque. Click on image for a larger version and picture of the artist. Join us for the awards ceremony Sunday, Sept. 19, 1-3pm at The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History.

Lea Anderson, 2D and 3D painting & drawing

Lea Anderson is an incredibly gifted artist who received her MFA from UNM in 2006. She has since been teaching at The Harwood Art Center, UNM and CNM while steadily creating a large body of challenging work She was awarded Best Work on Paper at the SW Biennial and has shown across the world from the US to Thailand and Japan. She empowers her students with her creativity and enthusiasm. Her work centers on the theme of micro-macroscopic semi-living drawings, paintings and sculptures but her expression of these subjects continues to expand and deepen. Lea’s disposition is one of hard work and service to others. Bright Rain Gallery is proud to represent Lea’s work and nominate Lea as a Local Treasure for 2010. See more of her work at

www.leaandersonart.com She is the featured artist at Bright Rain Gallery in December 2010.

Teresa Archibeque, Handcrafted Silver Jewelry

Teresa Archibeque is a fourth generation Albuquerquean. This self-taught jeweler has been executing her craft for more than 40 years. Her one-of-a-kind pieces are all hand fabricated using a variety of traditional silversmith techniques and semi-precious stones. After graduating from UNM, Teresa spent a number of years working with groups supporting Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers here in Albuquerque and in Califonia. She was a research consultant for Mexicanos Unidos which established pilot arts programs for barrio children in Phoenix. After 25 years as an Engineering Technologist, Teresa has retired and continues to work at her passion of designing and fabricating jewelry. “As a New Mexican who is 4th generation on my mother’s side and 3rd on my father’s side, I continue to benefit from both the Anglo and Mexican heritage I was blessed with. In the wonderful South Valley of Albuquerque where I grew up and still live, I am continually exposed to the same spirit of colors and shapes, peoples with rich traditions and art which I hope translates somewhat into my designs… My designs are an attempt to link the past to the present.” Sumner & Dene Gallery is honored to be Theresa’s exclusive gallery in Albuquerque and will feature her work in an exhibit during September 2010.. See more of her work atwww.teresaarchibeque.com and at the Albuquerque Museum Gallery Store.

Farrell Cockrum, A Native Modernist

From the Blackfeet Nation of northern Montana, Farrell Cockrum’s great passion in life is informing the world of his rich Native American heritage through his contemporary works of art. Steeped in the traditions and culture of his native ancestors, Farrell captures the spirit of the Blackfeet in each of his unique and colorful paintings. Vivid color, rich texture and striking subject matter are core ingredients in a Cockrum painting. His subjects include native figures, wildlife, and horses. Add a touch of abstract expressionism and streaming colors to a portrait of a Blackfeet Chief and you are entering Farrell’s world. He studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe in the early 1980s and is well known throughout the southwest and collected across the world. He lives and paints in Albuquerque. Last fall, the interior design staff from the Home and Garden Television network selected one of Farrell’s paintings for inclusion in the 2010 HGTV Dream Home being built in Sandia Park, NM. Farrell has never failed to give back to his community through his work as an artist and through his faith and his church.  The Blackbird Gallery is proud to be one of only four galleries nationally that represents his outstanding and unique work.

Thais Haines, representational painter

Thais grew up traveling around the world in a military family. She graduated from UNM and began a career as a Registered Medical Technologist at UNMH. She has resided in New Mexico since 1972 and she and her husband live in Placitas where the Sandia Mountains meet the Rio Grande and the broad expanse of the Jemez mesas. Whether painting nearby or traveling, the inspiration for her paintings is always the ever-changing, magical effect of light. Thais is a signature member of Women Artists of the West, the NM Watercolor Society and the Pastel Society of NM. She is a co-founder of the Rio Grande Art Association. She has been a member of Oil Painters of America since 1997 and has been juried into national and regional shows. In 1997, she was invited to participate in the U.S. State Department’s Art in the Embassies Program which displays American art in embassies abroad. She has been featured in many publications and her paintings have won many local and national awards. She has volunteered with the Pastel Society and oil painting groups and has represented New Mexico around the world. Her work can currently be seen at Framing Concepts Gallery and Concetta D Gallery in Albuquerque and Glendinning Gallery in Morristown, NJ.Framing Concepts Gallery is proud to honor her with a solo exhibit and artists reception in September 2010.

Oscar Lozoya, Photographer

Oscar Lazoya’s favorite pasttime as a child was drawing and painting. In his early teens, he took up music and for many years made his living as a professional musician. Oscar discovered photography and soon knew it was what he wanted to do. He opened Lozoya Studios in his old South Broadway neighborhood in Albuquerque and began shooting commercial photography, specializing in people. His Fine Art Photography is what has earned him the Local Treasures nomination, being exhibited in museums internationally and represented by Andrew Smith Gallery in Santa Fe and in Latin America by Dr. Enrique Cortazar of the National Fine Art Institute of Mexico. Amherst Media publishes his books on black and white photography. 13 times he has been named Photographer/Director of the Year through the Professional Photographers Association of New Mexico. In 2003 he became one of the first photographers to receive the newly created Excellence in Imaging Award from the PPA that requires a minimum of 13 national loan prints to quality. Visit his website at www.lozoya.com to see more of his work. The 105 Art Gallery is proud to feature his work during September 2010.

Dan Stouffer, Representational Watercolor Painter

Dan Stouffer was born and educated in Ohio. His early professional career was in book design and production management. Dan’s first years in New Mexico were spent at the University of New Mexico Press. During that time, lured by the mystique and beauty of the land, he began painting. He began to earn recognition at local and regional art events and in 1979 he left UNM and became a full-time artist. His work has been shown in several museums and is in corporate collections throughout the country. He has won 60 national and regional awards along the way, some in such prominent competitions as Watercolor USA, Rocky Mountain National, the Adirondacks National Exhibition, Paint the Parks Mini50, and Arts for the Parks where his work has been accepted eight times for the Top 100 traveling show and has received the Grand Prize Purchase Award. . He is currently a member of Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Society and Watercolor USA Honor Society. His work has been featured in many publications and he is listed in Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in the West. He currently resides in Bosque Farms with his wife Jean and their two canine buddies. He is a generous and talented artist whose work is often included in non-profit charity events. In NM his work can be seem at Weems Galleries (Albuquerque) and The Cutter Gallery (Las Cruces). Weems Gallery is proud to represent his work and nominate him as a Local Treasure. You can see more of his work at www.danstouffer.com.

Mary Sweet, Painter and Woodblock Printmaker

Mary Sweet was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and has lived in Tijeras, NM since 1970. She has drawn and painted all her life and her media are acrylic on canvas and paper, woodblock prints, watercolor, monotype and artist books. The landscape has always been her primary inspiration; she discovered the pull of the canyons and deserts while still a teen. She still spends much time in such places – hiking, camping, and painting. Her work can be seen at The Johnsons Galleries in Madrid, Weyrich Gallery, Albuquerque Museum and DSG of Albuquerque. Because woodblock printing is not easily understood, she has done demonstrations for many groups and organizations. She has participated in the Open Space Visitor Center fundraising exhibits, taught workshops, and served as a Juror for the 1% For Art Project. Her work was selected for the Art in the Embassies Program to go to Lusaka, Zambia, Africa in 1999.Weyrich Gallery is proud to represent her work and host a solo show for her during September 2010. See more of her work at www.mfsweet.com.