As artists and collectors converge in Arizona for Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week, Blue Rain Gallery will exhibit work from their stable of renowned artists including Rosetta Santiago, GL Richardson and Preston Singletary.
Roseta Santiago, Indian Stories, oil, 60 x 36 in.
One of Santiago’s most recent paintings, titled Indian Stories, will be showcased at the event. It was inspired by the ledger drawings and Indigenous pottery she first encountered when she moved to Santa Fe 25 years ago, and it captures the openness and free expression that occurs at the very beginning of the process of creating art. “I feel it is important to show the full expression of the ideas and the journey of the artist,” she says. The process of creating a painting can involve many fleeting thoughts that don’t necessarily make it to the final version, and Indian Stories captures the spirit of a work still in progress.
GL Richardson, No Quit, oil on wood panel, 21¾ x 35¾ in.
“There is so much behind the creation of my work. The research is a joy,” Santiago says. She immerses herself in the process, listening to her models’ life experiences, observing the creation of pottery, and even learning how to bead. “It all informs my work. [I] want to have it all visible and share this wealth with the collector.”
After beginning his career in advertising, Richardson reset his life by working on a New Mexico cattle ranch for a year, which then inspired him to pursue a career as a painter. “I had to reset my life, goals and direction in general,” he says. “I needed something real.”
Among his work on view at Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week is Chamisa Whispers, which features a woman and a palomino horse walking through an arroyo filled with chamisa, a common shrub of the New Mexico landscape. “A unique color, smell and wildness,” Richardson says. “The horse’s name is Yellow, and I used the chamisa (as it’s a yellow flower) as a stand-in for his name.” The result is a communion between the figure, her horse and the landscape.
Roseta Santiago, Dreams and Destiny, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in.
Singletary works with glass to create sculptures inspired by his Tlingit cultural heritage. His sculpture People of the Forest depicts a bear, and the animal holds a special place in Tlingit culture. “They are part of the traditional stories, and it was assumed that they could understand human language,” Singletary explains. “This caused the bear to become a crest symbol to represent specific families.”
Another of his sculptures, Raven is Always Hungry, puts the bear at the top of a totemic sculpture that alludes to the story of how the raven and the bear became friends. In the tale, the raven took refuge in a cave that happened to be the bear’s home, and the two learned to share salmon. “There are many stories where Raven encounters people and commands them, ‘Feed me!’ Maybe because ravens are scavengers by nature,” Singletary says.
Preston Singletary (Tlingit), People of the Forest, blown and sand-carved glass, 24 x 10 x 6 in.
The work of Santiago, Richardson, Singletary and other Blue Rain Gallery artists will be on view throughout Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week, which runs from March 20 through 23. —
Blue Rain Gallery at Scottsdale Ferrari Art Week WestWorld of Scottsdale, 16601 N. Pima Road Scottsdale, AZ 85260 » www.scottsdaleartweek.com » www.blueraingallery.com
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