Patina Gallery in downtown Santa Fe honors connections and creativity with A Season of Blue.
What do you associate with the color blue?
“It’s everything from the sky to the sea,” says Patina Gallery co-founder and creative director Ivan Barnett. “When you think about that range, it’s a little bit like the range of life. We love the idea of clear sailing and open skies. But what might come up? Things change in our lives. We have dark, sad parts, deep places.” Artists will explore this range through a multimedia spectrum of work throughout Patina’s A Season of Blue to commemorate the gallery’s twenty-third anniversary between June and September this year.
The concept is inspired by the friendship, persona, and performance power of opera soprano Angel Blue (of Fire Shut Up in My Bones fame). “She connects with the color blue. We had to do this, in a way, because she has had such an impact on us. Her coming into the gallery, borrowing Patina jewelry, and wearing it on the opera stage was all magical,” says Barnett.
Also magical will be the exhilarating breadth of creativity on display during Patina’s A Season of Blue. For example, in true Santa Fe spirit, Street Blue, a collectible auto exhibition by JP Gonzales, will line downtown Santa Fe’s Palace Avenue with a show of collectible cars in various shades of blue on September 16, and automotive photographer Michael Furman will sign book collections of his sleek, dynamic images. Jewelry artist and maker Peter Schmid of Atelier Zobel will delve into blue depths of metal and stone with his stunning Infinite Blue exhibition in August. Barnett presents Abstracting Blue, a series of abstract photographs (“It’s a very heartfelt color,” he reflects). Designer Claire Kahn shows a collection of special beadwork jewelry in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine in July. A percentage of proceeds from her exhibition More than Blues will be donated to Save the Children.
And there will be much more. “Artists are taking this theme and making it their own,” says Barnett. The celebration of artists and their creative freedom is core to Patina’s mission. “Artists just want to create. There aren’t many galleries that are founded and operated by artists. Because we’re makers, too, we have an extra affinity and understanding with the artists. We ask them to do what they do best: what they love.”
Another defining characteristic of Patina Gallery is its connection with the people—from collectors to the creatively curious—who visit. It is these relationships, more than anything, that A Season of Blue will honor.
“Over the last few years, especially during COVID, we realized that we wanted to create even deeper connections with people. 2022 is a year of deeper meaning. We don’t just work with clients and customers; these are friends and family, people who deeply believe in what we’re doing,” says Barnett. “I want people to know they can come here, enjoy themselves, see beautiful art, relish the aesthetic environment, and relax. It’s like an oasis.” A place of beauty, serenity, and rejuvenation—a place of sparkling blue in the high desert.
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