Art Gallery

The Art Gallery at South Broadway Cultural Center showcases local and regional arts.

Current Exhibit

Albuquerque Art, A Look Back

May 9th - June 22nd

“Albuquerque Art, a Look Back” Opens at South Broadway

May 9^th Exhibition Opening Features Documentary Film

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—On Thursday, May 9^th, an ambitious exhibition will open at the South Broadway Cultural Center Gallery featuring works from the 1940s and 1950s created by Albuquerque artists of the post World War II era, a period of time often overlooked.

In the post-war era of the GI Bill, when tens of thousands of GIs returned to college to gain their education, the University of New Mexico drew many artists who created a strong community and blossomed with ideals of modernist thought.

Honoring their contributions to the Albuquerque art scene, the South Broadway Cultural Center Gallery and the City of Albuquerque are pleased to present this exhibition, entitled “Albuquerque Art, A Look Back,” that features the works of Richard Diebenkorn, Herb Goldman, Connie Fox, Robert Walters, Adja Yunkers, Pat Smith, Frank McCulloch, Bob Hooton, Peg Hooton, Alice Garver, Jack Garver and Billie Walters.

A free public reception will be held at the gallery on May 9^th from 6 – 8 p.m., followed by the screening of the documentary film “Herb Goldman—A Life of Limitless Possibilities,” sponsored by the Albuquerque Film Office.

Sculptor Herbert J. Goldman’s works are on display in New Mexico, Michigan, Texas, California, Kentucky, Arizona, Colorado—and Africa. Ninety-four commissioned works are registered with the Smithsonian Institution’s inventories of American Painters and Sculptors. Since serving in the Navy during WWII, and receiving his BFA from UNM in 1949, his work has gained interest and acclaim throughout the land and as far away as the Ivory Coast, Africa.

Patricia Waterman Smith is a multi-media artist who is proficient in modeling, carving, welding and casting, working in wood, stone, bronze, steel, ceramics, plaster, polyester resin ad hammered lead. The granddaughter of Mabel Dodge Luhan, she spent summers in Taos in her early years and was greatly influenced by the arts of New Mexico. Moving here permanently in 1952, she has exhibited works at numerous New Mexico venues

Richard Diebenkorn served in the Marine Corps during WWII and took advantage of the GI Bill to study at the California School of Fine Arts. Settling in Sausalito, he became a faculty member of the school prior to enrolling at UNM to further his art education in a new environment. His master’s degree exhibition, “The Albuquerque Period,” represents the first mature statement of his distinctive and powerful presence on the American avant-garde art scene. He taught at the University of Illinois and the California College of Arts and Crafts. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts from UNM in 1985. After returning to California his career flourished prior to his death in 1993.

Adja Yunkers was born in Latvia and studied in the (now-named) St. Petersburg prior to traveling extensively and settling in Cuba in 1926. A restless traveler, he lived in Mexico, Sweden, Berlin, California and other locales throughout his life. In 1960 he began learning lithography at the Tamarind Workshop in New Mexico, as well as pastel drawing and painting. He taught painting and printmaking at the New York School of Social Research and taught as Visiting Professor at UNM during the summers of 1948 and 1949. His work is included in private and public collections in the US and Europe. He died in Manhattan in 1983.

A well-known presence in the New Mexico art community, Frank McCulloch was born in Gallup and received his BA at UNM, Master’s at New Mexico Highlands University, and MFA at the Institute Allende in Mexico. His works have been exhibited throughout the Southwest, in California, Nevada, Texas, New York and New Jersey. His colorful southwestern landscapes and mixed media works are popular with New Mexicans and visitors from all over the world.

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Connie Fox is a native Coloradan who found her inspiration in nature as she experienced the Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and palm trees of Southern California, Europe as viewed from a bicycle, rural Northern Denmark the Berkeley Hills, the Ohio River in Western Pennsylvania—and the bays and ocean of Eastern Long island. Her high school years were during WWII. Her wide-ranging career in art brought her to UNM where she taught for a time. Other teaching stints include: Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Long Island University, Southampton, NY, and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont.

Artist Robert Walters earned his BFA at UNM in 1950. The Indiana native served with the U.S. Naval Underwater Demolition Team in the Pacific during WWII, and became an architect who was Professor Emeritus–Architecture at UNM’s School of Architecture from 1971–1990. His work has been exhibited in New Mexico, New York, Europe and Latin America. He died in Albuquerque in 2008.

Billie Walters in now 86 years old and following the philosophy of Japanese artist, Hokusai, who said while reviewing his career at age 75, “When I reach 80 years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at 90, to see further into the underlying principles of things.” Walters is midway along the creative path described by Hokusai and continues to search for clarity and simplicity in her clay pieces. She has worked in raku, porcelain and currently, stoneware.

Robert Hooton earned a BA in Architectural design and served as U.S. Naval Construction Draftsman, period in which he also served as combat artist for the invasion of Iwo Jima. After living and painting in Guatemala for four years, he came to Albuquerque to study at UNM’s College of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited in public and private collections around the country and in Guatemala. His diverse and innovate works utilize acrylic, oil, pastel, mixed media collage and handmade paper works, among other materials.

M. Nelson Hooton, known as “Peg” to all, arrived in Albuquerque with her husband, Bob, in 1950. Active in New Mexico’s arts scene since, they were instrumental in the development of The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History and were deeply involved in the founding of the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair. She studied at the New Orleans School of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and other schools where she honed her talents as a painter who has also worked in mixed media sculpture. Her diverse interests have included creating ojos de dios, the traditional weavings composed of sticks, textured wools and yarns, silversmithing to create beautiful jewelry, and pottery, ceramics and fabrics. A versatile artist, her works have been exhibited in New Mexico galleries and private collections.

Jack Garver studied at Fort Hays University (Kansas), earned his BFA at UNM in 1949 and a MFA from Highlands University in 1964. He was considered by Raymond Jonson to be one of the most talented of his students. His work has been exhibited from coast to coast. He worked as an architectural draftsman and taught at Rio Grande High School, a high school in California, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The painter and sculptor gained a strong following in the southwest and other climes, with his works exhibited in California, Maine, New Mexico and New York. Garver died in New Mexico in 1987.

Alice Garver was an artist who painted and made prints, shaping clay pots in her large hands. Her abstract watercolors are full of life and movement. The wife of Jack Garver, she was often uprooted as the family relocated for her husband’s work, typical of the time. She studied at the Toledo Museum of Art, Skidmore College at Saratoga Springs, NY, and the University of Chicago before coming to the University of New Mexico. During their time in Albuquerque her work began to be recognized and she received a commission to create murals at the prestigious First National Bank Building downtown. She produced not one, but twenty murals, one for each floor of the only “skyscraper” in Albuquerque. The talented artist died suddenly in 1966, and sadly, her beautiful murals no longer exist, but were covered over. Fortunately, there is an opportunity to see her talent on display in this exhibition.

South Broadway Cultural Center is managed by the Cultural Services Department, City of Albuquerque, Richard J. Berry, Mayor. The facility is a multi-cultural, visual, performing and literary art center that promotes, preserves and educates the community about the cultures and ethnicities that define Albuquerque. Located at 1025 Broadway SE, the unique architecture and colorful design of the building’s exterior is an attraction in the area. SBCC shares the facility with the South Broadway Library and collaborates with the library on a number of events and activities. There is free parking immediately adjacent to the facility.

For more information on events and activities at SBCC, visit www.cabq.gov/sbcc or call 311. TTY Users call 711. For handicap accessibility, call 505-848-1320.

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Gallery Images

Images of the South Broadway Cultural Center's Art Gallery.