4th Annual Group Exhibition
July 9 - August 2, 2024
Reception: July 12, 5-8pm

Strata Gallery is thrilled to announce its Fourth Annual Group Exhibition, showcasing the incredible talents of both Established Members and Emerging Members. The exhibition kicks off on Tuesday, July 9th, with a special reception on Friday, July 12th, from 5-8pm. Mark your calendars for an evening of captivating art and engaging conversations!

Since its establishment as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in August 2021, Strata Gallery has become a beacon of diversity and innovation in Santa Fe. Renowned for its commitment to showcasing artwork based purely on artistic merit, Strata offers a bold and refreshing perspective in the contemporary art scene. Our artists, rigorously peer-reviewed by esteemed professors from college art departments nationwide, bring unparalleled creativity and vision to the gallery.

A highlight of Strata’s mission is the mentorship of emerging artists by Established Members. Each year, five emerging artists are selected for mentorship and given the opportunity to present a solo exhibition at the gallery.

This year’s exhibition features twenty-two exceptional artists from across the country:
Adrian Aguirre (TX), Anne-Katrin Spiess (NY), Bernice Ficek-Swenson (MN), Beverly Todd (NM), Carlos Canul (TX), Chloe Hanken (NM), David Olivant (NM), Emma Ressel (NM), Jandey Shackelford (AZ), Jane Shoenfeld (NM), Katie Simmons (CO), Keanu Jones (NM), Margi Weir (NM), Max Sorenson (NM), Millian Giang Pham (AL), Mirabel Wigon (CA), Peter Chapin (NM), Shelby Shadwell (WY), Stephanie Gonzalez (TX), Susan Stephenson (CA), Tulu Bayar (PA), and Xuan Pham (MA).

The works on display delve into a myriad of urgent and thought-provoking themes, reflecting the pressing concerns and discoveries of our time. From hybridity and fragmentation, cultural identity, and the nature of consciousness, to border politics, myths, rituals, and archetypes, each piece offers a unique and innovative perspective. 

The exhibition also addresses issues such as accountability, climate change, environmental degradation, landscape nostalgia, tradition, materiality, decay, and the adaptation of aesthetic principles to meet contemporary challenges. Join us at Strata Gallery for this exciting exhibition and experience the powerful and diverse voices shaping the future of art!

Strata Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. For more information about Strata Gallery, the current exhibit, and the future schedule of events, please visit the Strata Gallery website, Instagram, or Facebook.

“Illuminating the Void” explores a series of light-box sculptures produced by Houston-based multi-media artist, Stephanie Gonzalez. Curated as an exhibit to kick off The Woodlands Pride Festival, these expressive, meditative, light sculptures visually comment on all of our inherent, often inescapable internal anxieties, a metaphor trapped as light within each individual box. Prominently displayed in Glade’s central rotunda, these chromatically diverse sculptures pulsate light, bathing the darkened gallery space in a soft, colorful glow.

Energy, Frequency and Vibration. The Power of Thoughts
A mixed media painting exhibition by: Stephanie Gonzalez

This exhibition engages the mind through a series of repetitive dots which is a technique called point cloud or pointillism. This is a technique I learned while taking courses at Glassell under Professor and artist Brian Portman.

I am using the repetition of dots to represent a feeling that comes over you when you are constantly thinking that something might happen. When you are feeding yourself things, they become things. These pieces explore the idea of frequencies and operating in different frequencies that could stem from hanging out with new people who live in a different reality or frequency. These new people are in this reality because of the things they do, the way they spend their time, and the things they think about. If you want to make music then you hang out with more musicians. You jump on their frequency and by doing so you shift your focus and reality and become better at making music.

Hopefully the work displays a lot of energy due to my use of various mixed media techniques. The application of the paint is both very loose but also very structured. These pieces have been changing or evolving. Some started as a completely different piece but now they are in their final state and will be released to the public as a series based off the above ideas. I am hoping these pieces suggest that you can start to change your reality using your own energy.