Abstracting Nature at the Albuquerque Museum, June 21-October 12, 2025, showcases works by artists who capture New Mexico’s natural beauty through abstract forms in glass, clay, steel, and natural materials.
Abstracting Nature
June 21–October 12, 2025
Albuquerque Museum
Albuquerque Museum announces Abstracting Nature (June 21–October 12, 2025), foregrounding the works of ten artists whose enduring relationships with the land have played a vital role in their creative practices: Marietta Patricia Leis, Joanna Keane Lopez, Lydia Madrid, Agnes Martin, Yoshiko Shimano, Judy Tuwaletstiwa, Joan Weissman, Emmi Whitehorse, Karen Yank, and Richard Diebenkorn.
While these artists express a profound appreciation for nature, particularly the landscapes of New Mexico, they focus on capturing deeper meanings beyond external appearances. Guided by observation, research, and intuition, they have honed their visions using specifically chosen materials—glass, clay, steel, graphite, ink, silk, and natural pigments. These earthy media become vessels for memory and meaning, weaving together threads of heritage, culture, and personal journey in a quiet dialogue between hand and land.
William Gassaway, assistant curator of art, says, “So many of us who live in New Mexico, and even those who only pass through, know the unsurpassed beauty of our state. But what’s special about the artists included in this exhibition is that they’re able to capture those split-second impressions in both glass and steel, weave them into cloth, and bake them into adobe—presenting what are ultimately very surprising yet familiar shapes. They’re able to make what is normally so fragile and fleeting into something permanent, and to capture exactly what so many of us appreciate about this place.”
Works include Joan Weissman’s needlepoint tapestry Pyramids (1999), which has subtle irregularities in geometric forms and naturally dyed fibers that highlight organic qualities and connect the work to nature on a physical level. Weissman worked with a weaving studio located in Pakistan’s Hunza Valley, first starting with a gouache study to act as a guide for the artisans’ embroidery process.
Joanna Keane Lopez’s Ghost Spell (2023) is a meditation on her great-grandfather’s house in Lópezville, New Mexico, home to multiple generations of her family. Over time, the land became largely abandoned, and its adobe buildings fell into disrepair. Nevertheless, the traditional knowledge and architectural practices persist. Adobe, formed from the earth and constantly in a state of change, becomes a living connection between a community and the landscape that surrounds it.
Judy Tuwaletstiwa collaborates with fire in works like Divination (2001), transforming grains of sand into mesmerizing forms—a delicate balance between fragility and strength. Glass elements, spheres, cubes, and organic textures embody both transparency and opacity, clarity and distortion.
Agnes Martin’s Untitled #6 (1980) uses her signature approach, incorporating lightly penciled grids with thin layers of gesso, creating a sense of both order and subtle, handmade character. Martin’s paintings serve as visual equivalents of emotional or spiritual states, especially serenity and contentment.
Upcoming Exhibition Programs
Saturday, June 21, 2 pm
Opening Conversation: Abstracting Nature with Judy Tuwaletstiwa, Joanna Keane Lopez, and Joan Weissman. Moderated by exhibition curator William Gassaway.
Sunday, July 13, 3 pm
Talk: Lessons in Abstraction: Karen Yank and Agnes Martin.
For more information, contact Albuquerque Museum at 505-253-7255 or email abqmuseum@cabq.gov.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Chicago Woodman Foundation.
cabq.gov/artsculture
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