WILD HEARTS GALLERY
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JOAN A. FENICLE
Joanf41@gmail.com
www.joanfenicle.com
505.771.4007
 
I am a multi-media artist who enjoys process, the mess of the acrylics and construction materials that go into the mixed-media pieces, getting oil paint on my hands and clothes, mounting my photographs on wood panel and coating them with cold wax as a finish. Creating the image is only half the challenge. The designs begin in my mind, inspired by the images collected during my wanderings but usually take on a life of their own once I begin working on them.

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where my mother and grandmother were born in the high mountain mining camps. They were content to stay planted there. My father's people were in this country before the Revolutionary War but came west, some in search of gold, some in search of adventure. My father was born on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming where grandfather had come to live among the Shoshone and build schools. I have called New Mexico home since the 1970s.

I have been roaming the caminos and callejones of New Mexico and Colorado for over 50 years, capturing their villages and vistas in pixels and paint. As I travel the back roads, I am looking for stories. An ancient tree, a village chapel, an old truck, abandoned buildings or just a dramatic cloud formation catch my eye and become part of the image collection that holds negatives, slides and digital images. Bits and pieces of various images may end up in the final piece.
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Joan was honored with the 2016 Albuquerque Art Business Association President's Award, part of the Local Treasures program which recognizes artists that are devoted both to giving back to the community and encouraging young talent to continue the legacy of New Mexico’s diverse culture. She is a founding member of Wild Hearts Gallery and manager of Placitas' low power FM radio station, KUPR.
Back in the studio, an image may be simplified or integrated into another image to produce a study for a painting or may become a fine art photograph or a page in a book. Even the more abstract mixed-media pieces are inspired by nature, mostly geologic formations. Occasionally an image takes a strange turn and becomes part of my “Lost in a Dream” fantasy series that is home to all kinds of shape shifters and spirits. I generally work in series and while the series themselves may be vastly different, the pieces within a series are tightly connected and presented as a whole. The gallery images below represent a selection from each series and two books sold through the gallery.
La Bajada is a tiny farming village along the Santa Fe River at the bottom of the abandoned road that used to be the only way to venture from the Rio Grande Valley 
to Santa Fe. As we followed the path of a raven, the magic of the moment was enhanced by that earthy scent 
produced when rain falls on dry soil. We call it Petrichor from the Greek pera (stone) and ichor (the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.
The Cieneguilla BLM site near Santa Fe is a new discovery for me and a short hike revealed many petroglyphs. The big horn sheep is a common image throughout New Mexico and they once numbered in the millions.

The waterborne wax used in this artwork behaves much like 
encaustic. As the wax dulls, simply polish gently with a soft cloth.
A few autumn leaves and lichen painted a picture for us on a hike near Fourth of July Canyon.

The waterborne wax used in this artwork behaves much like 
encaustic. As the wax dulls, simply polish gently with a soft cloth.
The mountain lion is a solitary creature and mostly nocturnal. 
By observing the grace and power of the mountain lion, you 
can learn how to balance body, mind and spirit. If a mountain lion comes to you in a dream, it may be a time to lead yourself where your heart wants to take you. 

Archival pigmented ink print on cold press paper, mounted on panel with a cold wax finish.

The waterborne wax used in this artwork behaves much like 
encaustic, As the wax dulls, simply polish gently with a soft cloth.
In the high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains (over 13,000 feet), life is stubborn but persists in even the smallest spaces like this crack in a granite boulder.

Highly textured mixed media piece using acrylic paints, air-dried clay, small pebbles and common construction materials like stucco patch and spackle. Although inspired by nature, they take on a life of their own.
I have always found refuge in nature. Whether marveling at the grand vista of a majestic mountain range or sitting quietly on the 
banks of a beaver pond, there is nothing like the outdoors for lowering blood pressure. Breathe in the fragrant air, close your eyes and listen to the birds and the wind moving through the trees, drink in the solitude. Even where the influence of humankind is present in these images, the footprint on the land is    gentle and often dwarfed by the landscape. 

In this book, I have taken a step back in time, to my darkroom days, reducing the images to their bare bones in black and white.
This book is about acts of faith. It’s about the beautifully simple 
architecture and the memory of the carpenters who cut the timbers and those who made the adobes, the women who did the plastering (mudding), the Santeros who carved the bultos and painted the retablos, and those who lovingly restore them now. The images span decades of traveling New 
Mexico’s back roads (callejones) with many more miles to go.

We hope you will enjoy the book on many levels - the melody of the words, the beauty of the architecture and the idea of Faith (however you define it
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221-B State Highway 165, Placitas, New Mexico, USA 87043

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Hours

Tue-Fri 10 am-4 pm
Sat-Sun 10 am-2 pm
and by appointment

Telephone

505-361-2710

Email

info@wildheartsgallery-nm.com
  • Home
    • Bunny Bowen
    • Alan Charlee
    • Lisa Chernoff
    • Jon and Nancy Couch
    • Roger Evans
    • Joan Fenicle
    • Colleen Zacharias Gregoire
    • Karl and Mary Hofmann
    • David Johnson
    • Sandy Johnson
    • Marce Rackstraw
    • Laura Robbins
    • Judith Roderick
    • Dana Patterson Roth
    • Riha Rothberg
    • Geri Verble
  • Virtual Tour
  • Featured Artists
  • Contact
  • Join Us
  • Members